| [00:01.080] |
--- lesson 22 By heart |
| [00:05.920] |
--- Listen to the tape then answer the question below. |
| [00:11.600] |
--- Which actor read the letter in the end, the aristocrat or the gaoler? |
| [00:19.600] |
Some plays are so successful that they run for years on end. |
| [00:24.680] |
In many ways, this is unfortunate for the poor actors who are required to go on repeating the same lines night after night. |
| [00:33.280] |
One would expect them to know their parts by heart and never have cause to falter. |
| [00:38.880] |
Yet this is not always the case. |
| [00:42.400] |
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. |
| [00:53.640] |
In the last act, a gaoler would always come on to the stage with a letter which he would hand to the prisoner. |
| [01:00.480] |
Even though the noble was expected to read the letter at each performance, |
| [01:04.760] |
he always insisted that it should be written out in full. |
| [01:09.360] |
One night, the gaoler decided to play a joke on his colleague to find out if, |
| [01:15.200] |
after so many performances, he had managed to learn the contents of the letter by heart. |
| [01:21.280] |
The curtain went up on the final act of the play and revealed the aristocrat sitting alone behind bars in his dark cell. |
| [01:30.840] |
Just then, the gaoler appeared with the precious letter in his bands. |
| [01:36.400] |
He entered the cell and presented the letter to the aristocrat. |
| [01:40.680] |
But the copy he gave him had not been written out in full as usual. |
| [01:46.160] |
It was simply a blank sheet of paper. |
| [01:49.920] |
The gaoler looked on eagerly, anxious to see if his fellow actor had at last learnt his lines. |
| [01:57.040] |
The noble stared at the blank sheet of paper for a few seconds. |
| [02:01.200] |
Then, squinting his eyes, he said: 'The light is dim. Read the letter to me.' |
| [02:08.160] |
And he promptly handed the sheet of paper to the gaoler. |
| [02:11.920] |
Finding that he could not remember a word of the letter either, |
| [02:15.960] |
the gaoler replied: 'The light is indeed dim, sire. I must get my glasses.' |
| [02:22.800] |
With this, he hurried off the stage. |
| [02:25.600] |
Much to the aristocrat's amusement, |
| [02:28.360] |
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. |