New Concept English III - 22 (09/04/09)

Lesson 22 By heart

Listen\' to the tape\' then answer\' the question\' below.

Which actor\' read the letter\'\' in the end\', the aristocrat\' or the jailer?

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 jailer 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 jailer 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 jailer 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 jailer 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 jailer. Finding that he could not remember a word of the letter either, the jailer 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 jailer returned/ a few moments later/ with a pair of glasses /and the usual copy of the letter /with he proceeded to read to the prisoner.

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雖說是閉關， 因為沒有每天發Post的壓力， 太容易偷懶了。 不過，還是領會到了一點點弱讀和連讀的好處， 比如 That it, with a, with the, with this.我很想複訴，但覺得還沒能力， 一合上書， 腦子就一片空白， 所以很佩服天鵝MM 的功力。 我可能得等到第四冊吧。

Happy Long Weekend!