小编特为备考
Lecture 2
1. What is the lecture mainly about?
A. The dramatic structure of an ancient Greek play.
B. The influence of ancient Greek theater design on modern theaters.
C. The design of ancient Greek theaters.
D. The role of plays in ancient Greek society.
2. What were two purposes served by the skene? Click on 2 answers.
A. It provided extra seating for the audience.
B. It served as the location for the play’s action.
C. It was used to store items needed for the play.
D. It was where the chorus performed.
3. Why is the play Hippolytus discussed?
A. To give an example of a strategy used by ancient Greek playwrights.
B. To give an example of how animals were used in ancient Greek plays.
C. To identify the first use of a messenger in an ancient Greek play.
D. To point out that ancient Greek plays typically involved tragic events.
4. What point does the professor make about the chorus in ancient Greek plays?
A. It performed only at the beginning of the play.
B. It interpreted what was happening on the stage.
C. It did relatively little singing and dancing.
D. it was less important than it is in modern plays.
5. How did Aristotle view the chorus?
A. As the author of the play.
B. As a distraction from the story.
C. As a messenger reporting news.
D. As a character in the play.
6. Why does the professor say this:
A. To emphasize the popularity of plays in ancient Greece.
B. To praise the creativity of the ancient Greeks.
C. To point out that every seat in an ancient Greek theater had a clear view of the stage.
D. To suggest that audiences in ancient Greece could hear plays better than they could see them.
Listen to part of a lecture in an introduction to drama class.
Professor: Now, throughout the history of drama, there’s been a relationship between the structure of a play and the structure of the space where the play was performed. And this goes all the way back to the ancient Greeks. The Greeks built the first theaters in the fifth century BCE. These were outdoor theaters. The architects looked for sites where you had a natural ball-like formation on the side of a hill and that’s where you set the theater.
All Greek theaters were pretty much the same. There was some natural variation to accommodate the size and shape of the sight but as far as the basic elements went, those remained constant. Have a look at this diagram. Let’s start with the area where the actors performed, like what we call the stage today. The Greeks referred to this space as the skene. There’s some confusion about the use of the word skene by different scholars. Some authors use it to refer only to the structure behind the stage while others use it to refer to the structure and the stage together and that’s how I will use the term: to refer to both the stage and the building. So, anyway the skene started as a simple wooden platform but eventually became much more elaborate. The front wall of the building was decorated like a palace or a temple and served as background scenery for the play. The building was also a storage place for costumes, props, things like that. Yes, Robert?
Robert: So, did they decorate the skene for each play or change the scenery during the play like we do today? Or did the whole story take place in one setting?
Professor: Well, everything the audience saw happened in that one setting usually in front of either a temple or palace. But the audience didn’t witness all the events in the story. Some events couldn’t be presented convincingly so the playwrights had them take place somewhere offstage where the audience couldn’t see them. And then news of the event would be reported by one of the characters. Diane?
Diane: Last summer I saw Hippolytus.
Professor: Excellent. I hope you enjoyed it.
Diane: Definitely. So at one point you see Hippolytus being sent off by his father. Then a little later a messenger arrives and describes how Hippolytus was riding in his chariot when a giant bull appeared out of the ocean and caused the chariot to crash. And then after we hear what happened to Hippolytus, he’s carried back on stage, where he dies.
Professor: Exactly. I mean, can you imagine trying to show all that action, a giant animal rising out of the sea?
Okay. The next area was a space the ancient Greeks called the orchestra. The orchestra was either round as you see here or a semicircle. In ancient Greek, the word orchestra actually meant the dancing place because this is where the chorus danced and sang. But to understand Greek plays, you need to understand an additional function of the chorus. Yes, the ancient Greek chorus did most definitely sing and dance like choruses do today. But chorus’ most important role was commenting on what the characters on stage were doing and thinking. In fact, Aristotle, the Greek philosopher thought the chorus should be considered as acting out a role in the play.
Robert: Yeah, I read that a chorus could have a distinct personality, just like a person.
Professor: Absolutely. In fact, you’ll see an excellent example of that in the first play we’ll be studying.
Okay, the last space was the seating area for the audience. This was called the theatron. In ancient Greek, theatron means seeing—that’s S-E-E-I-N-G, the seeing place. The theatron was shaped in a semicircle with rows of seating rising up the sides of the ball. It was designed to take advantage of the natural acoustic benefits of the setting. The shape of the ball captured sound and funneled it upwards. So that even in the top rows, spectators were able to hear the performers very clearly. Actually, that the name theatron means seeing place is kind of ironic. Some theaters have fifty or more rows of seats accommodating up to fourteen thousand spectators, ascending way up the hillside. And this was long before theater binoculars were invented.
Lecture 2
1. What is the lecture mainly about?
A. The dramatic structure of an ancient Greek play
B. The influence of ancient Greek theater design on modem theaters
C. The design of ancient Greek theaters
D. The role of plays in ancient Greek society
Q1
正确答案：C
定位原文：
Professor: Now, throughout the history of drama, there’s been a relationship between the structure of a play and the structure of the space where the play was performed. And this goes all the way back to the ancient Greeks. The Greeks built the first theaters in the fifth century BCE. These were outdoor theaters. The architects looked for sites where you had a natural ball-like formation on the side of a hill and that’s where you set the theater.
解析：全文教授都在说theater的构造，sites，space，structure等等，跟play没有关系，比如说到skene，orchestra，theatron这些;而且也没有和modern theaters做对比，根据选项，只能选择C。
2. What were two purposes served by the skene? Click on 2 answers.
A. It provided extra seating for the audience.
B. It served as the location for the play’s action.
C. It was used to store items needed for the play.
D. It was where the chorus performed.
Q2
正确答案：B C
定位原文：
So, anyway the skene started as a simple wooden platform but eventually became much more elaborate. The front wall of the building was decorated like a palace or a temple and served as background scenery for the play. The building was also a storage place for costumes, props, things like that.
解析：说到skene的时候，确认了自己对skene的定义是both the stage and the building，说到共用，明确说明the front wall of the building 是for the play，对应选项B;storage place 对应选项C;serve as 原文重现，这个题目的对应信息是比较直接的。
3. 3. Why is the play Hippolytus discussed?
A. To give an example of a strategy used by ancient Greek playwrights
B. To give an example of how animals were used in ancient Greek plays
C. To identify the first use of a messenger in an ancient Greek play
D. To point out that ancient Greek plays typically involved tragic events
Q3
正确答案：A
定位原文：
Professor: …But the audience didn’t witness all the events in the story. Some events couldn’t be presented convincingly so the playwrights had them take place somewhere offstage where the audience couldn’t see them. And then news of the event would be reported by one of the characters. Diane?
…
Professor: Exactly. I mean, can you imagine trying to show all that action, a giant animal rising out of the sea?
解析：教授介绍说，因为一些事件不能让人非常信服地展现出来，所以一些剧作家就设定他们发生在舞台之外，发生在观众看不到的地方，而这些事件的信息会由一位演员回报给观众，然后学生Diane说自己看了Hippolytus这部戏剧就是这样的，然后教授说，对的，你们想象一下，一个巨型动物从海里升起来的场景和动作能在舞台上显现出来吗?这就是在例证这个剧作家常用的一个策略，对应选项A。
4. What point does the professor make about the chorus in ancient Greek plays?
A. It performed only at the beginning of the play.
B. It interpreted what was happening on the stage.
C. It did relatively little singing and dancing.
D. It was less important than it is in modern plays.
Q4
正确答案：B
定位原文：
But to understand Greek plays, you need to understand an additional function of the chorus. Yes, the ancient Greek chorus did most definitely sing and dance like choruses do today. But chorus’ most important role was commenting on what the characters on stage were doing and thinking.
解析：教授强调，chorus最重要的作用是评价人物的所想所为(chorus’ most important role was commenting on what the characters on stage were doing and thinking.)结合选项来说，就是解释了台上人物的想法和行为，只能选择B选项。
5. How did Aristotle view the chorus?
A. As the author of the play
B. As a distraction from the story
C. As a messenger reporting news
D. As a character in the play
Q5
正确答案：D
定位原文：
In fact, Aristotle, the Greek philosopher thought the chorus should be considered as acting out a role in the play.
解析：关于chorus的重要性，亚里士多德甚至认为，chorus应该作为剧中的一个人物角色，对应选项，选择D选项。
6. Why does the professor say this:
A. To emphasize the popularity of plays in ancient Greece
B. To praise the creativity of the ancient Greeks
C. To point out that every seat in an ancient Greek theater had a clear view of the stage
D. To suggest that audiences in ancient Greece could hear plays better than they could see them
Q6
正确答案：D
定位原文：
Okay, the last space was the seating area for the audience. This was called the theatron. In ancient Greek, theatron means seeing—that’s S-E-E-I-N-G, the seeing place…performers very clearly. Actually, that the name theatron means seeing place is kind of ironic.
解析：教授说本来叫theatron 是取意看戏剧，结果呢，设计利用了自然声学的优势，最后即使坐在top rows，也能听得非常清楚，只保证了听的效果。言下之意，本来是因为“看”取名的，后来变“听”，是一种讽刺，也就是D选项的意思了。
另外有一则好消息，针对托福备考，