By Heart

更新：2023-11-22

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[00:01.46]Lesson 22
[00:04.15]By heart
[00:12.00]Which actor read the letter in the end, the aristocrat or the gaoler?
[00:20.05]Some plays are so successful that they run for years on end.
[00:25.15]In many ways, this is unfortunate for the poor actors who are required to go on repeating the same lines night after night.
[00:33.68]One would expect them to know their parts by heart and never have cause to falter.
[00:39.32]Yet this is not always the case.
[00:42.85]A famous actor in a highly successful play was once cast in the role of an aristocrat who had been imprisoned in the Bastille for twenty years.
[00:54.07]In the last act, a gaoler would always come on to the stage with a letter which he would hand to the prisoner.
[01:00.76]Even though the noble was expected to read the letter at each performance, he always insisted that it should be written out in full.
[01:09.83]One night, the gaoler decided to play a joke on his colleague to find out if, after so many performances, he had managed to learn the contents of the letter by heart.
[01:21.73]The curtain went up on the final act of the play and revealed the aristocrat sitting alone behind bars in his dark cell.
[01:31.32]Just then, the gaoler appeared with the precious letter in his hands.
[01:36.83]He entered the cell and presented the letter to the aristocrat.
[01:41.00]But the copy he gave him had not been written out in full as usual.
[01:46.60]It was simply a blank sheet of paper.
[01:50.36]The gaoler looked on eagerly, anxious to see if his fellow actor had at last learnt his lines.
[01:57.44]The noble stared at the blank sheet of paper for a few seconds.
[02:01.54]Then, squinting his eyes, he said:'The light is dim.  Read the letter to me.  '
[02:08.57]And he promptly handed the sheet of paper to the gaoler.
[02:12.35]Finding that he could not remember a word of the letter either, the gaoler replied: 'The light is indeed dim, sire.  I must get my glasses.  '
[02:23.26]With this, he hurried off the stage.
[02:26.03]Much to the aristocrat's amusement, the gaoler returned a few moments later with a pair of glasses and the usual copy of the letter which he proceeded to read to the prisoner.