第1个回答 2013-11-22
原文重现
Lesson 22 By heart
Some plays are so successful that they run for years on end. In
many ways, this is unfortunate for the poor actors who are required
to go on repeating the same lines night after night. One would
expect them to know their parts by heart and never have cause to
falter. Yet this is not always the case.
A famous actor in a highly successful play was once cast in the
role of an aristocrat who had been imprisoned in the Bastille for
twenty years. In the last act, a gaoler would always come on to the
stage with a letter which he would hand to the prisoner. Even though
the noble was expected to read the letter at each performance, he
always insisted that it should be written out in full.
One night, the gaoler decided to play a joke on his colleague to
find out if, after so many performances, he had managed to learn the
contents of the letter by heart. The curtain went up on the final act of
the play and revealed the aristocrat sitting alone behind bars in his
dark cell. Just then, the gaoler appeared with the precious letter in
his hands. He entered the cell and presented the letter to the
aristocrat. But the copy he gave him had not been written out in full
as usual. It was simply a blank sheet of paper. The gaoler looked on
eagerly, anxious to see if his fellow actor had at last learnt his lines.
The noble stared at the blank sheet of paper for a few seconds.
Then, squinting his eyes, he said: ‘The light is dim. Read the letter
to me. ’ And he promptly handed the sheet of paper to the gaoler.
Finding that he could not remember a word of the letter either, the
gaoler replied: ‘The light is indeed dim, sire. I must get my
glasses. ’ With this, he hurried off the stage. Much to the
aristocrat's amusement, the gaoler returned a few moments later
with a pair of glasses and the usual copy of the letter which he
proceeded to read to the prisoner.
Summary writing;
In not more than 80 words describe what happened after the
curtain went up on the final act of the play. Do not include anything
that is not in the last paragraph.