新视野第册第二课.docVIP

Unit 2 Section A Charlie Chaplin 1. Pre-reading Activities 1. 1 Background information Charles Spencer Chaplin Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on 16th April 1889 in Walworth, London, and lived a Dickensian childhood, shared with his brother, Sydney, that included extreme poverty, workhouses and seeing his mother’s mental decline put her into an institution. Both his parents, though separated when he was very young, were music hall artists, his father quite famously so. But it was his mother that Charlie idolised and was inspired by during his visit of the backstage while she performed, to take up such a career for himself. Charles Dickens Charles Dickens, 1812—1870, an English novelist, considered by many to be the greatest one of all. His many famous books describe life in Victorian England and show how hard it was, especially for the poor and for the children. They include The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities. Hollywood Hollywood is an area of Los Angeles which is known as the center of the American film industry. In terms of geography, Hollywood refers to an area consisting of the City of West Hollywood and its vicinity that form part of the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. It is generally thought that everyone living in Hollywood is extremely rich, famous, and concerned with appearances but in fact many parts of Hollywood today are poor, dirty and badly cared for. Mack Sennett Mack Sennett: (1880—1960) U.S. film producer, born in Richmond, Quebec. He worked in the theatre as a comic in burlesque companies, and from 1908 in silent films. He later formed his own company and hundreds of shorts, establishing a whole generation of players and a tradition of knockabout slapstick under the name of Keystone Komics (1912), and later the Sennett Bathing Beauties (1920). He received a Special Academy Award in 1937. 1. 2 Topic-related video Directions: Watch a video performed by Charles