Ghaffar Pourazar, a British man, has learned the necessary skills to perform Beijing Opera and he has become popular with his lively performance of the Monkey King.
Born in Iran, Ghaffar has been a big fan of Chinese culture since he was a child. And he is interested in China.
In 1993, he happened to watch Beijing Opera performed in London by professionals from Jingju Theatre Company of Beijing. Ghaffar fell in love with the beautiful voices, colorful costumes, excellent shows and so on. So after a year, he arrived in China alone and became a student of Beijing Opera at a school in Beijing.
At the age of 32, he had to learn with teenage students every day, starting from the most basic training of the legs and waist. At that time, he was mostly troubled by the dialogue in Beijing Opera. To him, it was the biggest problem. But he never gave up.
Four years later, he began to learn to perform the Monkey King, a traditional character from the Chinese classic story Journey to the West. He usually arrived at the workroom an hour earlier than the other performers and he also bought books and CDs to understand the character better.
Ghaffar is not only good at speaking Beijing dialect (方言) but also has won the world reputation for Beijing Opera. He once won a top international prize for performing the Monkey King.
To help more people enjoy Beijing Opera, Ghaffar often teaches the traditional art form in schools in the United States, Britain and other countries. When he found that the language was difficult to understand, Ghaffar started to translate the lyrics of Beijing Opera. Ghaffar led a group of actors to perform 66 times in a month and a half in the United States. He also led a 48-member team to perform in Malaysia. In the past 10 years, he has performed in more than 400 shows.
阅读理解题目
1. Why did Ghaffar start learning Beijing Opera?
A. Because he loved Beijing Opera after watching one.
B. Because his parents asked him to learn it.
C. Because his friend advised him to learn it.
D. Because he wanted to be an actor and made lots of money.
2. How old was Ghaffar when he started to learn to perform the Monkey King?
A. 30.
B. 32.
C. 34.
D. 36.
3. What does the underlined word “reputation” in Paragraph 6 mean?
A. Business.
B. Fame.
C. Power.
D. Time.
4. Put the events about Ghaffar into the correct order.
a. He got basic training with teenage students.
b. He watched a Beijing Opera performance in London.
c. He bought books and CDs about the Monkey King.
d. He won an international prize for performing the Monkey King.
A. a-b-c-d
B. a-b-d-c
C. b-a-c-d
D. b-a-d-c
5. What can we know about Ghaffar from the passage?
A. He likes to teach his children to speak Beijing dialect.
B. He is a patient teacher and teaches students to perform Beijing Opera well.
C. He has made an influence on Beijing Opera in other countries.
D. He isn’t able to solve any problem about Beijing Opera by himself.
题目答案速览
1. A：因观看京剧表演后爱上京剧而开始学习。
2. D：36岁时开始学习扮演美猴王。
3. B：“reputation”意为“名声、声誉（Fame）”。
4. C：事件顺序为：伦敦看京剧→基础训练→购买美猴王资料→获国际奖项。
5. C：他在海外推广京剧，对京剧在他国传播产生影响。
二、全文翻译
加弗尔与中国京剧
加弗尔·普拉扎尔（Ghaffar Pourazar）是一位英国人，他已经掌握了表演京剧所需的全部技能，并凭借生动活泼的美猴王表演走红。
加弗尔出生于伊朗，自幼就是中国文化的忠实爱好者，对中国充满兴趣。
1993年，他在伦敦偶然观看了北京京剧院的专业演员表演的京剧。加弗尔被优美的唱腔、华丽的服饰、精彩的表演等深深吸引。于是一年后，他独自来到中国，成为北京一所京剧学校的学生。
32岁时，他每天都要和十几岁的学生一起，从最基础的腿部和腰部动作开始学习。那段时间，京剧里的念白最让他头疼，对他来说这是最大的难题，但他从未放弃。
四年后，他开始学习扮演中国古典名著《西游记》中的传统角色——美猴王。他通常比其他演员更早来到练功房，还购买了相关书籍和光盘，以便更好地理解这个角色。
加弗尔不仅擅长说北京方言，还为京剧赢得了国际声誉。他曾因扮演美猴王获得一项国际顶级奖项。
为了让更多人欣赏京剧，加弗尔经常在美国、英国和其他国家的学校教授这门传统艺术。当他发现京剧语言难以理解时，便着手翻译京剧唱词。加弗尔曾带领一群演员在美国在一个半月内演出66场，还带领一支48人的团队赴马来西亚演出。在过去的10年里，他已经进行了400多场表演。
