peoplewhoworkinthetheatre.pdf

people who work in the theatre People who work in the theatre are very superstitious,and there are a number of unusual superstitions connected with the theatre.Many actors carry a lucky charma coin,perhaps a doll.This charm is usually one which brought the actor success early in his career,and he always puts it on his dressing-table among his make-up and“good-luck”messages.Other actors choose articles of clothing for their mascot.Many dancers have a ballet shoe which belonged to another dancer whom they admire.The American actor Glenn Ford always wore as his mascot a blue and red neck tie bought with his very first pay packet when he was employed as a juvenile lead.The singer Frankie Vaughan will never travel without his lucky silver-topped cane.The dressing-room has a set of superstitions all of its own.Many actors have a very precise way of setting out their make-up,and will not alter the position of one single object.Shoes must never be placed on the dressing-table,as this will certainly bring bad luck to the player and the production.It is most unlucky for one actor to look over the shoulder of another who is looking into the mirror,as a double reflection is linked to the old fear of being watched by the“evil eye”.You must never whistle in the dressing-room.If by mistake you do,the bad luck can be avoided if you immediately leave the room,turn around three times in an anticlockwise direction,swear vilely,and knock on the door.People in the room may then give you permission to re-enter.This superstition dates back to the seventeenth-century belief about evil witches,who could“whistle up”an unfavourable wind,i.e.the failure of the play!There is a common belief among the actors that a bad dress rehearsal means a good first night.This comes from an ancient idea that it is unwise to complete any progress as it might cause a reaction from the gods.For this same reason,the very last line of a play is never spoken during the rehearsal.Certain plays have always had bad luck,and it is quite true that misfortunes have often followed such productions.Shakespeares Macbeth is always considered to be a dangerously unlucky play.In Shakespeares time,the witches song was seen as having the power of a real curse.Even today,many actors are reluctant to take part in the production of Macbeth as they,are afraid that it will bring danger and will not even call the play by its name.Usually actors call Macbeth“that Scottish play”.On stage the colour green is considered unlucky,and so are real flowers.Knitting is also unlucky,since it is supposed to“knot”the production and cause problems.This list is endless,and of course nobody can ever prove or disprove whether these superstitions have any justification.Actors are not scientists,however,but artists,and they do not require scientific proof for what they“feel”to be true.Instead of wishing a fellow actor“good luck”as he goes on stage,he is told“break a leg!”it seems pointless to look to facts or logic for explanations.So long as actors and the theatre livesuperstitions will live!1The silver-topped cane is most probably .Aone of Frankie Vaughans clothing accessories.Ba mascot that brought Frankie Vaughan early success.Cgiven to Frankie Vaughan by some singer he admired.DFrankie Vaughans first award-winning record.2 Many actors believe that will result in successful performances.Awearing the same make-up for all time Bmaintaining the position of their make-up all along Cmake-up done by the same beauty expert Dsitting still for their make-up 3 It is commonly believed that a perfect dress rehearsal is most likely to arouse in the gods.Aenthusiasm Bsentiment Ccuriosity Dresentment 4Shakespeares Macbeth has been considered unlucky because .Ait has been cursed by witches.B“Macbeth”was a witchs name.Cthere are roles of witches in it.Dit is involved with a Scottish witch.5The author thinks that the theatre superstitions .Adeserve further study.Bvary from actor to actor.Care pointless but fun.Dare hard to justify.【参考答案及解析】1答案 A 解析 第 2 段最后 3 句分别以舞蹈家、演员格伦福特和歌手弗兰基沃恩为例说明第 3 句的观点：一些演员选择服饰物品做吉祥物，由此可见，最后一句提到 silver-topped cane 是弗兰基沃恩的一件服饰物品，因此本题应选 A。第 2 段前两句与第 3 句至末句为并列的两部分，分别描述了两种不同的幸运符，B 的 early success 在第2 段第 2 句提到，而 Frankie Vaughan 在最后一句提到，两者不属于同一点内容，因此 B 不正确；C 将有关舞蹈家的内容套到 Frankie Vaughan 的身上，也不正确；D 没有原文依据。2答案 B 解析 定位到第 3 段第 2、3 句。make-up 可以理解为“化妆”或“化妆品”，在原文中，第 2 句指出了许多演员有准确摆放他们东西的方式，从不轻易改变。从第 3 句可知这有助于他们演出的成功，故选 C。3答案 D 解析 第 4 段第 2 句中的 reaction 不能理解为中性的“反应”，根据上下文可以推断众神会对完美的彩排产生不好的反应，从而使首场演出失败，可见，reaction 应理解为“反作用”，而完美的彩排会使众神产生反情绪，这样看来，在 4 个选项中，只有 D 是贬义词，为本题答案。4答案 C 解析 根据题干中的 Shakespeares Macbeth 定位到第 5 段第 2、3句。原文中的 the witches song was seen as having the power of a real curse 表明女巫唱的歌只是“被认为”好像有真的魔力，也就是说，她们并非真的女巫，结合 Macbeth 是一部戏剧可以推断句中提到的女巫应该是 Macbeth 里面的角色，因此，本题应选 C。5答案 D 解析 倒数第 2 段第 1 句表明这些迷信难以证实其对错，因此 D为本题答案。原文该段第 2 句指出这些迷信不需要科学的证明，A与此相反，因此不正确；本文只是单纯地列举多种迷信而已，并没有要说明每种迷信都“因演员而异”，因此 B 是没有原文依据的，也与原文的主题无关；C 中的 pointless 来自该段最后一句，在该句中，作者认为去追究这些迷信的合理性是 pointless 的，可见他并没有认为这些迷信本身是pointless的且fun没有原文依据。因此C不正确。