2024年3月17日发(作者：)

新概念英语第三册课文翻译及词汇Lesson22~24

新概念英语第三册课文翻译及词汇Lesson22

【课文】

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 with he proceeded to read to the prisoner.

【课文翻译】

有些剧目十分成功，以致连续上演好几年。这样一来，可怜的演员们可倒霉了。因为他们

需要一夜连着一夜地重复同样的台词。人们以为，这些演员一定会把台词背得烂熟，绝不会临

场结巴的，但情况却并不总是这样。

有一位名演员曾在一出极为成功的剧目中扮演一个贵族角色，这个贵族已在巴士底狱被关

押了20年。在最后一幕中，狱卒手持一封信上场，然后将信交给狱中那位贵族。尽管那个贵族

每场戏都得念一遍那封信。但他还是坚持要求将信的全文写在信纸上。

一天晚上，狱卒决定与他的同事开一个玩笑，看看他反复演出这么多场之后，是否已将信

的内容记熟了。大幕拉开，最后一幕戏开演，贵族独自一人坐在铁窗后阴暗的牢房里。这时狱

卒上场，手里拿着那封珍贵的信。狱卒走进牢房，将信交给贵族。但这回狱卒给贵族的信没有