2014職稱英語綜合類新增文章：閱讀理解第三十六篇

　　第三十六篇 Lifeas a Movie Extra

　　Ordinary people have always been attracted to theworld of movies and movie stars. One way to get closer to this world is tobecome a movie extra. Although you have seen movie extras, you may not havepaid attention to them. Extras are the people seated at tables in a restaurantwhile the two main actors are in conversation. They are the guests at thewedding of the main characters. They are the people crossing the street while“the bad guy" is being chased by the police. Extras don’t normally speakany lines, but they help make the scenes look real1.

　　Being a movie extra might seem like a lot of fun.You get to see what life is like behind the scenes. But don’t forget that beingan extra is really a job, and it’s mostly about doing nothing. First-timeextras are often shocked to learn how slow the process of movie making is. In afinished movie, the action may move quickly. But it can sometimes take a wholeday to shoot a scene that appears for just a few minutes on the screen.

　　The main requirement for being an extra is theability to wait. You may report to work at 5 or 6 a. m.，and then you wait until thedirector is ready for your scene. This could take several hours. Then there maybe technical problems, and you have to wait some more. After the director says“action”and you do the first “take”，you may have to do it again if he or she is not satisfied with thescene. In fact, you may have to do the same scene over and over again. Youcould be on the set for hours, sometimes waiting outdoors in very hot or coldweather.2 You may not be finished until 11 p. m. or midnight. Thepay isn’t good, either ― often only a little bit above minimum wage. And youmust pay the agent who gets you the job a commission of about 10 percent.

　　So who would want to be a movie extra? In spite ofthe long hours and low pay, many people still apply for the job. Some peopletruly enjoy the work. They like being on a movie set, and they enjoy the companionshipof their fellow extras. Most of them have flexible schedules, which allow themto be available.3They may be students, waiters, homemakers, retiredpeople, or unemployed actors. Some unemployed actors hope the work will helpthem get real acting jobs, but it doesn’t happen often. Most people in themovie industry make a sharp distinction between extras and actors, so extrasare not usually considered for large parts.

　　The next time you see a movie，don’t just watch the stars. Take acloser look at the people in the background, and ask yourself : Who are they?Why are they there? What else do they do in life? Maybe there is someone in thecrowd who is just like you.

　　詞匯：

　　movieextra群眾演員

　　chase/ tʃeis /v.追捕

　　shoot/ʃu:t/ vt.拍攝

　　action/ ˈækʃən / n.(導(dǎo)演指令)開拍

　　commission/ kəˈmiʃən / n.傭金

　　注釋：

　　1.Extras don’t normally speak anylines, but they help make the scenes look real.：雖然群眾演員通常沒有臺(tái)詞，但他們的存在使整個(gè)場景更加逼真。

　　2.You could be on the set for hours，sometimes waiting outdoors in veryhot or cold weather.：在拍攝現(xiàn)場，你可能一演就是幾個(gè)小時(shí)，有時(shí)還要一直待在很熱或很冷的環(huán)境中。on the set：在拍攝現(xiàn)場。

　　3.Most of them have flexibleschedules, which allow them to be available.：這些人中大部分都是時(shí)間比較靈活的人，這樣他們就能騰出時(shí)間來演戲。

　　練習(xí)：

　　1.What is true about movie extras?

　　A)　Only agents get them jobs inmovies.

　　B)　They often have to wait around onmovie sets and do nothing.

　　C)　It’s a good way to get a realacting job.

　　D)　They can have drinks in arestaurant.

　　2.What might surprise movie extras the first time they do the job?

　　A)　It can take hours to do a scenethat is only a few minutes long in the movie.

　　B)　They always do the same scene manytimes.

　　C)　The actors are interested intalking to them.

　　D)　The action moves very quickly.

　　3.Why do most people work as movie extras?

　　A)　They like meeting famous moviestars.

　　B)　They think they will becomefamous.

　　C)　They want to be on a movie set.

　　D)　They will get real acting jobs.

　　4.What are the job requirements for being a movie extra?

　　A)　You have to have a part-time job.

　　B)　You must be attractive.

　　C)　You must be willing to repeat ascene many times.

　　D)　You must start working very early.

　　5.It can be inferred from the passagethat　.

　　A)　being a movie extra can be boring

　　B)　movie extras need actingexperience

　　C)　movie extras can play larger parts

　　D)　movie actors are quite differentfrom actors

　　答案與題解：

　　1.B　本文的第三段詳細(xì)敘述了群眾演員的主要工作要求是在拍攝現(xiàn)場等，不用做事，所以答案為B;第一段中描述了群眾演員的工作;他們是演員的陪襯，不用講話。雖然提到他們是在餐館里，但并沒有提是否可以喝飲料，所以D可以排除;A中的only ―詞太籠統(tǒng)，所以A不對;從第四段可以看出，從群眾演員到演員的轉(zhuǎn)型是相當(dāng)困難的，所以C也不對。

　　2.A　第二段中說明了令初做群眾演員感到吃驚的是：拍一個(gè)場景需要一整天，而播放時(shí)只有幾分鐘。雖然B、D都有所提及，但不是令他們吃驚的事情。

　　3.C　雖然做群眾演員耗時(shí)長而薪酬低，但他們?yōu)槭裁催€選擇這一工作呢?答案在第四段：他們喜歡這份工作，愿意與別的群眾演員交流，他們自己的工作時(shí)間有彈性。A沒有提到，B、D不太可能。

　　4.C　做群眾演員的條件是什么?在第三段和第四段，我們可知：要有耐心(長時(shí)間等待，一個(gè)場景有時(shí)要拍好多次)，要肯吃苦(在惡劣的戶外環(huán)境中拍戲)，報(bào)酬低，工作時(shí)間有彈性。A、B沒有提到;在第三段的第二句提到：You may report towork at 5 or 6 a. m.，表明只是有時(shí)會(huì)很早開始工作，不是每日必須的，所以D不對。

　　5.A　從本文對群眾演員的工作描述我們可以看出，群眾演員只是演員的道具，所以是乏味的。B沒有提到;據(jù)第四段的最后一句，C不對;第四段的最后一句清楚表明，群眾演員和真正的演員差別很大，所以不是得出的推論，推論是通過字里行間推出來的，不是給出的陳述。

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