新托福考试必备：新托福TPO（1-24）听力原文文本TPO9
2012-07-24来源:和谐英语
TPO 9 Lecture 1
Theater
Listen to part of a lecture in a theater class
Pro: As we have seen, the second half of the 18th century was an exciting
time in Europe: it was not only an age of great invention, but social changes
also led to a rise in all sorts of entertainment, from reading to museums, to
travel. And finding himself in the middle of this excitement was an
accomplished French painter named Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg.
Loutherbourg arrived in England in 1771, and immediately went to work as a
site designer at the famous Drury Lane Theater in London. From his first
shows, Loutherbourg showed a knack for imagination and stage design, all in
the interest of creating illusions that allowed the audience to suspend disbelief
completely. He accomplished this by giving the stage a greater feeling of depth,
which he did by cutting up some of the rigid background scenery, and placing it
at various angles and distances from the audience. Another realistic touch was
using three-dimensional objects on the set, like rocks and bushes as opposed
to two-dimensional painted scenery. He also paid much more attention to
lighting and sound than had been done before.
Now, these sets were so elaborate that many people attended the theater
more for them than for the actors or the stories. At the time, people were wild
for travel and for experiencing new places; but not everyone could afford it.
Loutherbourg outdid himself however, with a show that he set up in his own
home. He called it the "Eidophusikon".
"Eidophusikon" means something like representation of nature, and that's
exactly what he intended to do: create realistic moving scenes that change
before the audiences' eyes. In this, he synthesized all his tricks from Drury
Lane: mechanical motions, sound, light, other special effects to create, if you
will, an early ** production.
The "Eidophusikon" was Loutherbourg's attempt to release painting from the
constraints of the picture frame. After all, even the most action field exciting
painting can represent only one moment in time; and any illusion of movement
is gone after the first glance. But Loutherbourg, like other contemporary
painters, wanted to add the dimension of time to his paintings. You know, the
popular thinking is that Loutherbourg was influenced by landscape painting.
But why can't we say that the "Eidophusikon" actually influenced the painters?
At the very least we have to consider that it was more ... it was more of a
mutual thing. We know, for example, that the important English landscape
painter Thomas Gainsborough attended almost all of the yearly performances,
and his later paintings are notable for their increased color and dynamic use of
light. Loutherbourg's influence on the theater though, he was incredibly
influential: the way he brought together design and lighting and sound as a
unified feature of the stage, can easily be seen in English theater's subsequent
emphasis on lighting and motion.
Now, the "Eidophusikon" stage was actually a box: a few meters wide, a
couple meters tall and a couple meters deep. That is, the action took place
within this box. This was much smaller of course than the usual stage. But, it
also allowed Loutherbourg to concentrate the lighting to better effect. Also, the
audience was in the dark, which wouldn't be a common feature of the theater
until a hundred years later. The show consisted of a series of scenes, for
example, a view of London from sunrise that changes as the day moves on;
mechanical figures, such as cattle, moved across the scene, and ships sailed
along the river. But what really got people was the attention to detail, much like
his work in Drury Lane. So, for example, he painted very realistic ships, and
varied their size depending on their distance from the audience. Small boats
moved more quickly across the foreground than larger ones did that were
closer to the horizon. Other effects, like waves, were also very convincing.
They reflected sunlight or moonlight depending on the time of day or night.
Even the colors changed as they would in nature. Sound and light were
important in ** his productions realistic. He used a great number of lights,
and he was able to change colors of light by using variously colored pieces of
glass, to create effects like passing clouds that suddenly change in color.
Furthermore, he used effects to make patterns of shadow and light, rather than
using the uniform lighting that was common at the time. And many of the
sound effects he pioneered are still in use today, like creating thunder by
pulling on one of the corners of a thin copper sheet. One of his most popular
scenes was of a storm. And there is a story that on one occasion, an actual
storm passed over head during the show. And some people went outside, and
they claimed Loutherbourg's thunder was actually better than the real thunder.
Theater
Listen to part of a lecture in a theater class
Pro: As we have seen, the second half of the 18th century was an exciting
time in Europe: it was not only an age of great invention, but social changes
also led to a rise in all sorts of entertainment, from reading to museums, to
travel. And finding himself in the middle of this excitement was an
accomplished French painter named Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg.
Loutherbourg arrived in England in 1771, and immediately went to work as a
site designer at the famous Drury Lane Theater in London. From his first
shows, Loutherbourg showed a knack for imagination and stage design, all in
the interest of creating illusions that allowed the audience to suspend disbelief
completely. He accomplished this by giving the stage a greater feeling of depth,
which he did by cutting up some of the rigid background scenery, and placing it
at various angles and distances from the audience. Another realistic touch was
using three-dimensional objects on the set, like rocks and bushes as opposed
to two-dimensional painted scenery. He also paid much more attention to
lighting and sound than had been done before.
Now, these sets were so elaborate that many people attended the theater
more for them than for the actors or the stories. At the time, people were wild
for travel and for experiencing new places; but not everyone could afford it.
Loutherbourg outdid himself however, with a show that he set up in his own
home. He called it the "Eidophusikon".
"Eidophusikon" means something like representation of nature, and that's
exactly what he intended to do: create realistic moving scenes that change
before the audiences' eyes. In this, he synthesized all his tricks from Drury
Lane: mechanical motions, sound, light, other special effects to create, if you
will, an early ** production.
The "Eidophusikon" was Loutherbourg's attempt to release painting from the
constraints of the picture frame. After all, even the most action field exciting
painting can represent only one moment in time; and any illusion of movement
is gone after the first glance. But Loutherbourg, like other contemporary
painters, wanted to add the dimension of time to his paintings. You know, the
popular thinking is that Loutherbourg was influenced by landscape painting.
But why can't we say that the "Eidophusikon" actually influenced the painters?
At the very least we have to consider that it was more ... it was more of a
mutual thing. We know, for example, that the important English landscape
painter Thomas Gainsborough attended almost all of the yearly performances,
and his later paintings are notable for their increased color and dynamic use of
light. Loutherbourg's influence on the theater though, he was incredibly
influential: the way he brought together design and lighting and sound as a
unified feature of the stage, can easily be seen in English theater's subsequent
emphasis on lighting and motion.
Now, the "Eidophusikon" stage was actually a box: a few meters wide, a
couple meters tall and a couple meters deep. That is, the action took place
within this box. This was much smaller of course than the usual stage. But, it
also allowed Loutherbourg to concentrate the lighting to better effect. Also, the
audience was in the dark, which wouldn't be a common feature of the theater
until a hundred years later. The show consisted of a series of scenes, for
example, a view of London from sunrise that changes as the day moves on;
mechanical figures, such as cattle, moved across the scene, and ships sailed
along the river. But what really got people was the attention to detail, much like
his work in Drury Lane. So, for example, he painted very realistic ships, and
varied their size depending on their distance from the audience. Small boats
moved more quickly across the foreground than larger ones did that were
closer to the horizon. Other effects, like waves, were also very convincing.
They reflected sunlight or moonlight depending on the time of day or night.
Even the colors changed as they would in nature. Sound and light were
important in ** his productions realistic. He used a great number of lights,
and he was able to change colors of light by using variously colored pieces of
glass, to create effects like passing clouds that suddenly change in color.
Furthermore, he used effects to make patterns of shadow and light, rather than
using the uniform lighting that was common at the time. And many of the
sound effects he pioneered are still in use today, like creating thunder by
pulling on one of the corners of a thin copper sheet. One of his most popular
scenes was of a storm. And there is a story that on one occasion, an actual
storm passed over head during the show. And some people went outside, and
they claimed Loutherbourg's thunder was actually better than the real thunder.
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