Lesson22 熟记台词

Remember the Actor’s Lines

 

 

有些剧目十分成功，以致连续上演好几年。

Some dramas are very successful, which   results their continuously performance foe several years.

 

 

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。

 

 

 

Thus the pathetic will be unfortunate, because they must repeat the same stage lines night after night.

 

 

 

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。

 

 

 

People presumed that these actors may learn the stage lines by heart, and will never stutter, but the real situation is not always like this.

 

 

 

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。

 

 

 

 

 

There was a famous actor who acts a noble   character in a very successful drama, who was put in the Bastille for 20   years.

yearsyears

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。

 

 

 

At the last scene, a turnkey enters the court with a letter in his hand, and hand the letter to that noble who is in the prison.

 

 

 

尽管那个贵族每场戏都得念一遍那封信。

Though that noble have to read that   letter every scene,

 

 

但他还是坚持要求将信的全文写在信纸上。

he insist requested to write the whole   article on the letter.

 

 

一天晚上，狱卒决定与他的同事开一个玩笑，

One night, the turnkey decided to make a   joke with his colleague,

 

 

看看他反复演出这么多场之后，是否已将信的内容记熟了。

 

 

 

to see if he had remembered the letter’s content stably after acting for so many scenes.

 

 

 

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。

 

 

 

The parocheth opened and the last scene   started, the noble sitting alone in the skookum-house after the iron window.

 

 

这时狱卒上场，手里拿着那封珍贵的信。

At that time the turnkey appeared on the   stage, with the precious letter in his hand.

 

 

狱卒走进牢房，将信交给贵族。

He entered the cell and handed the letter   to the noble.

 

 

但这回狱卒给贵族的信没有像往常那样把全文写全，

But this time the letter jailer handed to   the noble was not writing all the article on it as usual,

 

 

而是一张白纸。

 

but a piece of paper.

 

狱卒热切地观察着，

The jailer observed fervently,

 

 

急于想了解他的同事是否记熟了台词。

eager to learn if his colleague learned   off the stage lines.

 

 

贵族盯着纸看了几秒钟，

The noble stared the paper for a few   seconds,

 

 

然后，眼珠一转，说道：“光线太暗，请给我读一下这封信。”

whereupon, a glimmer came into his eye,   and said “The light is too dim, please read this letter for me.”

 

 

说完，他一下子把信递给狱卒。

After his words, he handed the letter to   the jailer in a short while.

 

 

狱卒发现自己连一个字也记不住，于是便说：“陛下，这儿光线的确太暗了，我得去眼镜拿来。”

 

 

 

The prison guard found that he even couldn’t remember a word, so he said “My majesty, it’s exactly too dim here, I have to take my glasses here.”

 

 

 

他一边说着，一边匆匆下台。

He hurried down the stage when saying   this.

 

 

贵族感到非常好笑的是：

 

What made the noble feel very laughable   is that,

 

一会儿工夫，狱卒重新登台，拿来一副眼镜以及平时使用的那封信，然后为那囚犯念了起来。

 

 

 

after a while, the jailer entered the stage one more time, taking a pair of glasses and the letter using in normal times, and read it for the prisoner.