Упр.8 Юнит 2 Рабочая тетрадь ГДЗ Rainbow English 8 класс
8. Read the text and answer the questions after it. Many people think that Sarah Bernhardt was the greatest actress in the history of the theatre.
Решение #
Приведем выдержку из задания из учебника Баранова, Афанасьева, Михеева 8 класс, Дрофа:
8. Read the text and answer the questions after it.
Many people think that Sarah Bernhardt was the greatest actress in the history of the theatre. She fascinated audiences around the world. People adored her and called her “The Divine Sarah”. Her performances were very dramatic and so was her life.
Sarah was born in 1844 in a poor area in Paris; her childhood was far from being happy. Sarah had a bad temper and loved to break the rules. But she also had charm, passion and a strong personality. Sarah studied acting at the Paris Conservatoire for several years and made her first stage appearance at the national theatre company, the Comedie-Francaise, when she was 17. Sarah’s debut was unsuccessful. Soon she had to leave the most prestigious theatre in Europe.
At the age of 22 she joined the Odeon Theatre and studied very hard for the next six years. She performed with all her energy and passion and became a well-respected actress. Soon Bernhardt had her first great success and was on her way to a brilliant career. But at that time the Franco-German War broke out. Paris was under attack. In 1870 Bernhardt organized a military hospital in the theatre. After the war ended in 1871, the Odeon began to produce plays again, and she returned to acting. The audiences loved her and the critics wrote about her talent. The Comedie-Francaise asked her to come back to them. She gave unforgettable performances. That was when her fans began to call her “The Divine Sarah”.
The company travelled to London and thousands of people came to see her. After her last performance in the United States, 50,000 people came to the stage door to say “goodbye” to her. At the same time people told stories about Sarah. Some of them were true, some were not so true. Because she was thin and played male roles, some people said she was a boy dressed up in women’s clothes. Sarah loved the publicity and lived a life as wild and eccentric as the stories about her. The problem was that the management of the Comedie-Francaise did not like her lifestyle. When the managers told her this, she left the company and formed her own.
Sarah Bernhardt played many important parts. She was one of the first women to play Hamlet. She travelled around the world and became an international celebrity. Sarah was not like other actresses: age didn’t hurt her career. She became more brilliant as she got older. When she was 64 years old, she shocked audiences playing 19-year-old Joan of Arc. Once she hurt her leg during a performance and suffered from pain for many years. When she couldn’t play standing, she played sitting in a wheelchair. When she could no longer sit in a chair she said, “Film me in bed.” There was no actor or actress in the world like Sarah Bernhardt.
1. How many times did Sarah Bernhardt have to leave the Comedie-Frangaise?
2. How did the actress help her country during the war?
3. What was the important male part that Sarah Bernhardt played?
4. How did the actress’s age influence her career?
5. What facts show that Sarah Bernhardt was a woman of character?