节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-03-26
难易度:Low
关键字:performance, barrier, facial, prop, performer, out of thin air, illusion
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
I'm Carolyn.
And I'm Nathanael.
And we're glad that you could join us for day two of our lesson: The Art of
Mime.
We talked a lot about mime yesterday.
Um, we used our words; we did not mime anything.
Well, Carolyn did at the beginning.
I think she was a good mime.
But we're also going to talk about different kinds of performances right now.
What's another kind of cool street performance that you have seen, Carolyn?
Well, I actually saw a breakdancing performance when I was waiting at the
airport.
I was very surprised to see that in the airport lobby, but he was going to a
competition and wanted to practice while he was waiting.
Nathanael, have you ever seen a street performance?
Well, when I was in the New York subway, there were four people that came
through and sang one of my favorite songs My Girl.
And it was really great.
They did it really well.
I wish I'd given them some money, but I was so amazed, I didn't even think about
it.
Oh, man. They were that great.
That sounds amazing.
Maybe you've seen someone who does a street performance where they just stand
there.
They have an incredible costume, but they're just standing in a certain pose.
And maybe they change a little bit.
They move a little bit just when you look away.
And then you look back, and they have a different pose.
That's kind of a fun street performance.
There are so many different kinds of street performances.
We're going to learn a little bit more about mime today.
Let's get started with the first reading of today's lesson.
(Music).
The Art of Mime.
In the mid-1500s mime became a form of street performance in Italy.
Mimes wore masks and acted out comedies.
Because masks hid their faces, they could make fun of any aspect of society.
Everyone enjoyed these performances - young and old, rich and poor.
Mimes also traveled around Europe.
Because their art had no words, there was no language barrier.
Mime became especially popular in France.
French performers created famous mime characters like Pierrot and Bip.
These characters helped shape today's mime.
(Music).
Yesterday we start to learn a little bit about the history of mime.
And we have some more specific information today.
The first sentence says:
In the mid-1500s mime became a form of street performance in Italy.
Now earlier we talked about different examples about street performance.
And now we want to look at that word "performance." Performance.
Let's look at this Word Bank word today.
Now I think yesterday we had a similar word.
"Perform" was a word that we talked about yesterday.
Performance is what kind of word, Gabe?
Well, it's the act of performing.
So it's the noun form of this word - performance.
You can talk about someone's performance like how they did acting or dancing.
Or you can talk about someone's performance in maybe a less artistic way.
But maybe someone gave a speech, how was their performance?
That means how did they do.
Carolyn, how would you use that word?
Well, you could also talk about someone's performance at work.
How well someone does their job is how well they perform at work.
Do they have a good work performance or a poor one?
OK. Those are two different ways of using this word "performance," but both very
useful.
OK. Let's move on to the next sentence.
What does it say, Carolyn?
Well, it tells us that mimes wore masks and acted out comedies.
So mimes were meant to be funny.
And originally they were wearing masks, not face paint.
They wore masks and acted out comedies.
Well, this does seem kind of interesting.
I know that many performances still use masks or face paint when they act things
out.
And when you act things out, that means you are bringing a common or everyday
scene to life.
You're acting it out.
You're not just talking about it.
You're using your hands and your facial expressions and everything to act it
out.
Great. OK. The next sentence says:
Because masks hid their faces, they could make fun of any aspect of society.
So they had a reason for wearing these masks - so they could make fun of
anything they wanted.
But we want to talk about this phrase: make fun.
What exactly does it mean to make fun of something?
Do you usually think that this is a good thing, Carolyn, to make fun of
something?
Well, I think it depends on what you're talking about.
If you make fun of something, then you kind of joke about it.
Maybe you want to make fun of someone that you saw do something that was kind of
silly.
But it's not good to make fun of people.
Maybe you could make fun of an idea.
What are some things that you make fun of, Gabe?
Well, I do enjoy making fun of my friends sometimes.
Of course, they understand me, and so they know that I'm just joking.
And they make fun of me, too.
Sometimes they tease me about something.
But there might be a decision or some policy that the government puts into play.
Some people don't like it.
And so they will make fun of the government or make fun of the leader somehow by
acting something out maybe.
There are different ways to make fun of these things.
How do you use that phrase, Nathanael?
Well, yeah, sometimes we do make fun of our friends.
But making fun of others may be harmful.
Also, we want to have a good relationship.
We don't want to make fun of other people if they're not going to accept it or
take it very well.
Right.
OK.
But of course, back then and now, they are still making fun of different ideas
and sometimes the government.
And here we see in the next sentence that everyone enjoyed these performances -
young and old, rich and poor.
So maybe mimes were popular at this time.
What does it say next about mimes, Carolyn?
It continues:
Mimes also traveled around Europe.
So they didn't just stay in one place starting out in Italy, they went all over
Europe.
So it sounds like they were very popular if they were able to go to other
countries.
That's right.
We find out because their art had no words, there was no language barrier.
And this is great.
This is why mime is so amazing and incredible is because it can communicate to
people of many different backgrounds.
Let's take a look at that word "barrier." It's from our Word Bank.
A barrier is like a block for something.
So a language barrier means a block in communication with someone of a different
language.
Maybe because you speak Chinese, someone speaks English or another language.
you can't understand everything they're saying, they can't understand everything
you're saying.
There is a language barrier.
How could you use that word, Nathanael?
Well, just like language can be a barrier, culture can also be a barrier.
But sometimes I think we make it more of a barrier ourselves when it doesn't
need to be.
What else could be a barrier, Carolyn?
Well, we use this word to mean something that is separated.
If there is a barrier, it is separate, so.
You can also use it referring to physical things, things that you can see and
feel, like:
We needed to put up a barrier between my house and my neighbor's house.
So we built a fence.
Or we built a barrier along the street so that it wouldn't be as noisy when cars
went by.
That was a kind of barrier.
Well, we continue by finding out that mime became especially popular in France.
And French performers created famous mime characters like Pierrot and Bip.
What do we know about these characters?
Well, I think that some of these are pretty well-known.
I don't really know much about them myself, but I do think that there are some
people that are famous for also acting out these characters.
The next sentence says these characters helped shape today's mime.
They helped shape today's mime.
We want to talk quickly about this use of the word "shape" here as a bonus
today.
As a verb, what does this mean, Carolyn?
Well, if you shape something, that means that you form it.
You help it to develop, maybe even create it.
And you can shape many different things such as an idea.
What other things can you shape, Gabe?
Well, I think about that.
I think about how my ideas or my outlook on life were shaped by my parents, by
some teachers, by some authors of books that I've read.
All these things helped to shape the way that I think.
OK, great.
And now I think it is time to join Michelle in the Language Lab and see what she
has to teach us today.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.