2017届浙江省高考英语一轮复习训练：必修四 Unit 3《A taste of English humour》_高考复习指南

2017届浙江省高考英语一轮复习训练：必修四 Unit 3《A taste of English humour》

　　Ⅱ.阅读理解

　　(2017·贵州省六校联盟第一次联考)

　　Charlie Chaplin was one of the greatest and widely loved silent movie stars. From “Easy Street” (1917) to “Modern Times” (1936), he made many of the funniest and most popular films of his time. He was best known for his character, the naive and lovable Little Tramp. The Little Tramp, a well meaning man in a raggedy suit with cane, always found himself wobbling into awkward situations and strangely wobbling away. More than any other figure, it is this kindhearted character that we associate with the time before the talkies (sound films)．

　　Born in London in 1889, Chaplin first visited America with a theater company in 1907.Appearing as “Billy” in the play “Sherlock Holmes”， the young Chaplin toured the country twice. On his second tour, he met Mack Sennett and was signed to Keystone Studios to act in films. In 1914 Chaplin made his first onereeler, “Making a Living”. That same year he made thirtyfour more short films, including “Caught in a Cabaret”， “Caught in the Rain”， “The Face on the BarRoom Floor”， and “His Trysting Place”. These early silent shorts allowed very little time for anything but physical comedy, and Chaplin was a master at it.

　　Though Chaplin is of the silent movie era, we see his achievements carried through in the films of today. With the appearance of the featurelength talkies, the need for more subtle acting became apparent. To maintain the audience's attention throughout a sixreel film, an actor needed to move beyond constant comedy. Chaplin had demanded this depth long before anyone else. His strictness and concern for the processes of acting and directing made his films great and led the way to a new, more sophisticated, cinema.