Текст 12
ANTON CHEKHOV
The father of modern Russian drama, Anton Chekhov (chek. ˆof ) had trouble convincing his producers that his plays were meant to be funny. Born in 1860 in a Russian seaport town, Chekhov had a painful childhood, which nevertheless provided inspiration for his later writings. His father was a struggling grocer who had been born a serf, and the family teetered on the edge of poverty. After briefly attending a local primary school, Chekhov entered the town high school, where he remained for 10 years. He received a good education that enabled him, during his last 3 years there, to support himself by coaching younger boys.
By this time his father, having gone bankrupt, had moved the rest of the family to Moscow to make a fresh start. In 1879 Chekhov joined his family there, where he enrolled in medical school; he graduated as a doctor in 1884. While in medical school, Chekhov supported himself and much of his family by freelance journalism and humorous stories. Although much of his later writing focuses on human misery and despair, humor always remains an important element. Becoming a full-time writer, Chekhov soon became very well known, producing a large number of sketches and short stories that made him popular with the “lowbrow” public. He was less successful with the critics, who took him to task for holding no firm political and social views and for refusing to pass judgment even on his most despicable characters.
During the late 1880s, Chekhov also began experimenting as a playwright, ranging from the tragedy Ivanov (1887), which ends with the suicide of the main character, to a number of hilarious one act farces. His first important play was The Seagull, a flop when first produced in 1896, but successful in its 1898 revival by the Moscow Art Theatre. The play helped establish Chekhov as a dramatist. Already ill with the tuberculosis that would eventually kill him, Chekhov moved to Yalta, a resort on the Black Sea. In 1901 he married Olga Knipper, a young actress who had appeared in his plays.
Since she continued her acting career in Moscow, and Chekhov spent his winters in Yalta or on the French Riviera, they lived apart during most of the winter months.
Chekhov continued to write for the Moscow Art Theatre. Uncle Vanya (1899), The Three Sisters (1901), and The Cherry Orchard (1904) were his last—and best—works. They are all poignant studies of the Russian landowning class in decline. But Chekhov was not completely satisfied with the way his plays were produced, repeatedly insisting that they were comedies rather than tragedies, despite the fact that his characters frequently complain about the boredom and lack of meaning in their lives. Chekhov died in 1904, at a health resort in Germany. His influence on modern fiction and drama has been immense—even though he wrote comparatively few major plays. His works continue to be read, performed, and enjoyed around the world.
Расскажите о важных событиях в жизни Антона Чехова, опираясь на следующие даты:
1860, 1879, 1884, the late 1880s, 1887, 1896, 1898, 1899, 1901, 1904.
SUPPLEMENTARY READING
A STORM AT SEA
There was a performance at a London theatre in which there was a storm at sea. Some boys were shouting and running under a large piece of green cloth to make this storm. Each boy received a shilling a night for his work. People enjoyed the performance and a lot of people visited the theatre when the performance was on.
But the theatre director wanted to make still more money from these performances and he decided to reduce the boy's pay from a shilling to sixpence. Such conditions didn't suit the boys and they decided not to accept them. So during the next performance, when the storm was to begin, the boys began to shout but they weren't running under the cloth. So nobody could see any storm at sea.
The theatre director ran to them, looked under the cloth and asked, "What's the matter? Why aren't you making any storm?" One of the boys asked him, "Do you want a sixpence or a shilling storm?"
"All right, all right," the director said, "I'll give you a shilling a night, only give me a good storm."
The storm began, and everybody thought that they had never seen a better storm before.
Ответьте на вопросы:
1. Why did the director of the theatre decide to reduce the boys' salary?
2. Did it suit the boys?
3. Why couldn't people see any storm at sea during the next performance?
4. The director had to pay a shilling to the boys again, didn't he?
THANKFUL STRANGERS
Mr. Motion, the manager of a big company, always came to his office in Manhattan in his own car.
Once when he went out of his company to go to a small restaurant for lunch he didn't find his car in the parking lot.
Mr. Morton phoned the police who promised to find his car as soon as possible.
At the end of the working day when Mr. Morton left the company to go home he was greatly surprised to see his car in its place.
When he got into the car he saw on the seat two tickets to the theatre and a note: "Sorry for the trouble. We needed your car urgently."
Mr. Morton and his wife decided to go to the theatre that night. The tickets were very expensive and the performance was very popular. It was very difficult to get tickets for it.
Mr. Morton and his wife enjoyed the performance very much.
When they returned home they saw that somebody had been in their house. The thieves had taken all valuable things from their house.
Ответьте на вопросы:
1. What did Mr. Morton do?
2. By what kind of transport did he usually get to his office?
3. What happened one day, when Mr. Morton went out of his company for lunch?
4. Did the police promise to find the car?
5. Why was Mr. Morton surprised when he left his office to go home after work?
6. What did he see on the seat of the car?
Mark Twain at the Theatre
Mark Twain, the famous American writer was once invited to an opera by a friend. His friend was very rich. He and his wife had a box in the Opera House. During the performance his friend's wife kept talking loudly and gaily about the things that had nothing to do with the opera. The lady probably thought she was entertaining the guest. She made it impossible for Mark Twain to follow the performance and to listen to the music. Mark Twain didn't know how to make her keep quiet or at least speak in whisper. At the end of the opera the lady turned to Mark Twain saying: "My dear Mark Twain, I want you to come with us next Friday night. I'm sure you'll like it. The opera will be "Carmen". "Thank you very much", said Mark Twain. "That'll be fine. I've never heard you in "Carmen".
Ответьте на вопросы:
Where was Mark Twain invited?
Why couldn't Mark Twain follow the performance?
What did the lady say to Mark Twain at the end of the performance?
What did Mark Twain answer?