Life as a Movie Extra

    Ordinary people have always been attracted to the world of movies and movie stars. One way to get closer to this world is to become a movie extra. Although you have seen movie extras, you may not have paid attention to them. Extras are the people seated at tables in a restaurant while the two main actors are in conversation. They are the guests at the wedding of the main characters. They are the people crossing the street while "the bad guy" is being chased by the police. Extras don"t normally speak any lines, but they help make the scenes look real. ¹

    Being a movie extra might seem like a lot of fun. You get to see what life is like behind the scenes. But don"t forget that being an extra is really a job, and it"s mostly about doing nothing. First-time extras are often shocked to learn how slow the process of movie making is. In a finished movie, the action may move quickly. But it can sometimes take a whole day to shoot a scene that appears for just a few minutes on the screen.

    The main requirement for being an extra is the ability to wait. You may report to work at 5 or 6 a. m. , and then you wait until the director is ready for your scene. This could take several hours. Then there may be technical problems, and you have to wait some more. After the director says "action" and you do the first "take", you may have to do it again if he or she is not satisfied with the scene. In fact, you may have to do the same scene over and over again. You could be on the set for hours, sometimes waiting outdoors in very hot or cold weather. ²You may not be finished until 11 p. m. or midnight. The pay isn"t good, either often only a little bit above minimum wage. And you must pay the agent who gets you the job a commission of about 10 percent.

    So who would want to be a movie extra? In spite of the long hours and low pay, many people still apply for the job. Some people truly enjoy the work. They like being on a movie set, and they enjoy the companionship of their fellow extras. Most of them have flexible schedules, which allow them to be available, ³ They may be students, waiters, homemakers, retired people, or unemployed actors. Some unemployed actors hope the work will help them get real acting jobs, but it doesn"t happen often. Most people in the movie industry make a sharp distinction between extras and actors, so extras are not usually considered for large parts.

    The next time you see a movie, don"t just watch the stars. Take a closer look at the people in the background, and ask yourself: Who are they? Why are they there? What else do they do in life?Maybe there is someone in the crowd who is just like you.

 

词汇：

movie extra   群众演员            

chase [tʃeɪs]   vt．追捕            

shoot [ʃu:t]  vt． 拍摄

action ["ækʃn]  n． （导演指令）开拍     

commission [kə"mɪʃn]  n． 佣金

　　

注释：

1.Extras don’t normally speak any lines，but tlley help make me seenes look real．：虽然群众演员通常没有台词，但他们的存在使整个场景更加逼真。

2.You could be on me set for hours，sometimes waiting outdoors in very hot or cold weatller．：在拍摄现场，你可能一演就是几个小时，有时还要一直待在很热或很冷的环境中。on the set：在拍摄现场。

3.Most of them have flexible schedules，which allow them to be available．：这些人中大部分都是时间比较灵活的人，这样他们就能腾出时间来演戏。

You must start working very early

A:being a movie extra can be boring B:movie extras need acting experience C:movie extras can play larger parts D:movie actors are quite different from actors

There were many talented actors out there just waiting（）.

A:to discover B:to be discovered C:discovered D:being discovered

Faces, like fingerprints, are unique. Did you ever wonder how it is possible for us to recognize people Even a skilled writer probably could not describe all the features that make one face different from another. Yet a very young child—or even an animal, such as a pigeon—can learn to recognize faces, we all take this ability for granted.
We also tell people apart by how they behave. When we talk about someone’s personality, we mean the ways in which he or she acts, speaks, thinks and feels that make that individual different from others.
Like the human face, human personality is very complex. But describing someone’s personality in words is somewhat easier than describing his face. If you were asked to describe what is "a nice face" looked like, you probably would have a difficult time doing so. But if you were asked to describe a "nice person", you might begin to think about someone who was kind, considerate, friendly, warm, and so forth.
There are many words to describe how a person thinks, feels, acts. Gordon Allport, an American psychologist, found nearly 18,000 English words characterizing differences in people’s behavior. And many of us use this information as a basis for describing, or typing, his personality. Bookworms, conservatives, military types—people are described with such terms.
People have always tried to "type" each other. Actors in early Greek drama wore masks to show the audience whether they played the villain’s (坏人) or the hero’s role. In fact the words "person" and "personality" come from the Latin persona, meaning "mask". Today, most television and movie actors do not wear masks. But we can easily tell the good guy from the bad guy because the two types differ in appearances as well as in actions.

Who most probably knows best how to describe people’s personality（　）

A:The ancient Greek audience. B:The movie actors. C:Psychologists. D:The modern TV audience.

Making a film takes a long time and is very hard work. Writing for the film may take many weeks. Filming the story being acted—or shooting the film, as it is called—often takes at least six months. Actors and camera-men work from very early in the morning until late at night. Each scene has to be acted and re-acted, filmed and re-filmed, until it is just right. Sometimes the same scene may have to be acted twenty or thirty times.
The film studio is like a large factory, and the indoor stages are very big indeed. Scenery of all kinds is made in the studio: churches, houses, castles, and factories are all built of wood and cardboard. Several hundred people work together to make one film. Some of these people are the actors and actresses. The director of the film, however, is the most important person in a film studio. He decides how the scenes should be filmed and how the actors should act.
Most people go to see a film because they know the film-stars in it. Sometimes the film may be very poor. It is best to choose a film made by a good director. Some famous directors make their films very real. People feel that they themselves are among the people in the film.

We should choose a film which （　）

A:has the actors we know B:seems very real C:takes a long time to make D:is made by a good director

Making a film takes a long time and is very hard work. Writing for the film may take many weeks. Filming the story being acted—or shooting the film, as it is called—often takes at least six months. Actors and camera-men work from very early in the morning until late at night. Each scene has to be acted and re-acted, filmed and re-filmed, until it is just right. Sometimes the same scene may have to be acted twenty or thirty times.
The film studio is like a large factory, and the indoor stages are very big indeed. Scenery of all kinds is made in the studio: churches, houses, castles, and factories are all built of wood and cardboard. Several hundred people work together to make one film. Some of these people are the actors and actresses. The director of the film, however, is the most important person in a film studio. He decides how the scenes should be filmed and how the actors should act.
Most people go to see a film because they know the film-stars in it. Sometimes the film may be very poor. It is best to choose a film made by a good director. Some famous directors make their films very real. People feel that they themselves are among the people in the film.
We should choose a film which ______.

A:has the actors we know B:seems very real C:takes a long time to make D:is made by a good director

Passage Two

We should choose a film which ______.

A:has the actors we know B:seems very real C:takes a long time to make D:is made by a good director

? ?Movies are the most popular form of entertainment for millions of Americans. They go to the movies to escape their normal everyday existence and to experience a life more exciting than their own. They may choose to see a particular film because they like the actors or because they have heard the film has a good story. But the main reason why people go to the movies is to escape. Sitting in a dark theater, watching the images on the screen, they enter another world that is real to them. They become involved in the lives of the characters in the movie, and for two hours, they forget all about their own problems. They are in a dream world where things often appear to be more romantic (浪漫的) and beautiful than in real life.
? ?The biggest "dream factories" are in Hollywood, the capital of the film industry. Each year, Hollywood studios make hundreds of movies that are shown all over the world. American movies are popular because they tell stories and they are well-made. They provide the public with heroes who do things the average person would like to do but often can’t. People have to cope with many problems and much trouble in real life, so they feel encouraged when they see the "good guys" win in the movies.

The Americans go to the movies mainly because they want______.

A:to enjoy a good story B:to experience an exciting life C:to see the actors and actresses D:to escape their daily life