Читать книгу The Silent Readers: Sixth Reader - Albert Lindsay Rowland - Страница 17

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Would you like to go behind the screen and see a great film produced—to see the hundreds of men and women and horses and costumes and properties that are necessary to produce a thrilling story? Would you like to take a part in the picture, and dress up in one of the costumes, and ride before the clicking cameras?

See whether you can take one of these brief scenes and, by reading carefully all that the paragraph tells you, picture it before the class so vividly that the class will know which scene you are reproducing. That is what the actor must do every time a film is produced. You may take anything in the room that will help you in making the picture true to the story. You must remember that your success depends upon how well you can express your thought and feeling through your face and hands and body.

1. He sat on the bank eagerly watching every little ripple on the water and Jack sat beside him, not understanding the game at all nor why his master should have become so lazy. Suddenly, Tom jumped up and, pulling in the line with a jerk, danced wildly about, while Jack, now as excited as his master, barked furiously at the tiny wiggles on the end of the line.

2. Suddenly he drew in his horse and listened anxiously—was that the far off rumble of guns? Could the battle have begun?

3. Lawrence counted the change in his hand carefully, wondering whether the amount he held was just enough or just too little. Every now and then he glanced up anxiously, just to make sure that the price-tag in the window was still $4.50 and that the cost of the football had not in some miraculous manner grown to $14.50.

4. The king's wise men and learned doctors brought down great books in which were written all the laws of the kingdom. They traced through long pages with trembling fingers and anxious, frowning eyes. At the end of each page they would shake their heads and mutter among themselves, and as they closed the last ponderous volume they approached the king with many gestures of despair. "We cannot find an answer written in all the Books of the Kingdom, your majesty."

5. I saw some one drawing slowly near along the road. He was plainly blind, for he tapped before him with a stick, and wore a great green shade over his eyes and nose; and he was hunched, as if with age or weakness, and wore a large, old, tattered sea-cloak with a hood, that made him appear positively deformed. I never saw a more dreadful looking figure. He stopped a little from the inn, and raising his voice in an odd sing-song, addressed the air in front of him.

6. Jerry knew that his life would hang in the balance for the next few minutes, but he hoped that by hugging close to the shadows of the wall, and by not making a sound, he could pass by the careless group around the fire. He crouched down in despair when one of the men turned and apparently looked accusingly at his particular shadow on the wall. But the man made no sign and Jerry crept on.

7. One day on their daily rounds they found a disagreeable surprise awaiting them at the lake. Their beaver traps were all sprung and were all empty. There was a light snow on the ground and they stooped to examine the signs left by the thief in his hurry. An unmistakable trail led off down the river and they followed it eagerly until a shift in the wind brought more snow and the tracks were covered.