A MASTER OF NONVERBAL HUMOUR As Victor Hugo once said, “Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face”, and up to now nobody has been able to do this better than Charlie Chaplin. He brightened the lives of Americans and British through two world wars and the hard years in between. He made people laugh at a time when they felt depressed, so they could feel more content with their lives. Not that Charlie’s own life was easy! He was born in a poor family in 1889. His parents were both poor music hall performers. You may find it astonishing that Charlie was taught to sing as soon as he could speak and dance as soon as he could walk. Such training was common in acting families at this time, especially when the family income was often uncertain. Unfortunately his father died, leaving the family even worse off, so Charlie spent his childhood looking 10 after his sick mother and his brother. By his teens, Charlie had, through his humour, become one of the most popular child actors in England. He could mime and act the fool doing ordinary everyday tasks. No one was ever bored watching him - his subtle acting made everything entertaining. As time went by, he began making films. He grew more and more popular as his charming character, the little tramp, became known throughout the world. The tramp,a poor, homeless man with a moustache, wore large trousers, worn-out shoes and a small round black hat. He walked around stiffly carrying a walking stick. This character was a social failure but was loved for his optimism and determination to overcome all difficulties. He was the underdog who was kind even when others were unkind to him. How did the little tramp make a sad situation entertaining? Here is an example from one of his most famous films, The Gold Rush. It is toward the end of the nineteenth century and gold has just been discovered in Alaska. Like so many others, the little tramp has rushed there in search of gold, but without success. Instead he and another man are hiding in a small hut during a snowstorm with nothing to eat. They are so hungry that the little tramp tries boiling one of his leather shoes for dinner. Charlie cuts off the leather top of the shoe and shares the shoe with the other fellow. He tries cutting and chewing the bottom of the shoe as if it were the finest steak. Then he picks out the lace of the shoe and eats it as if it were spaghetti. He eats each 30 mouthful with great enjoyment. The acting is so convincing that it makes you believe that it is one of the best meals he has ever tasted. Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed and produced the films he starred in. In 1972 he was given a special Oscar for his outstanding work in films. He lived in England and the USA but spent his last years in Switzerland, where he was buried in 1977. He is loved and remembered as a great 35 actor who could inspire people with great confidence. 1.Read the passage again and write down the main idea of each paragraph. Paragraph 1: Paragraph 2: Paragraph 3: Paragraph 4: Paragraph 5: Now use this information to write a summary of the passage in your own words. Discovering useful words and expressions 2.Fill In the chart below and note the connection between the nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Pay attention to the words which do not have all the forms. 100-|||-fortune-|||-contentment-|||-perform-|||-humour-|||-astonishment-|||-bore-|||-charm-|||-entertainment 3.Complete the passage with the words and phrases below in their proper forms. enjoyment overcome laughter cut off outstanding uncertain pick out throughout failure charge chew In the 1990s, Mr Bean became a star using mime to highlight difficult social situations much as Charlie Chaplin had done. His method of acting was to appear______, look around and then do exactly the wrong thing. Children particularly would burst into______ at his behaviour. He always managed to ______ those things that people are afraid of doing because they do not want to appear a social______. On one occasion in a restaurant he ordered a steak tartare. When the uncooked meat arrived he was______ by shame because he could not eat it. He_____ a piece of meat and pretended to a mouthful but instead put it into the plant pot beside him. He put other pieces into his pocket. ______the meal he seemed to show great in his food. He was such an______ performer that when he finished eating his dinner, the waiter offered him the same dish again at no extra______! Discovering useful structures 4.Complete the passage with the verbs below in their proper forms. direct pick out make interest join act entertain Once I was lucky enough to watch Charlie Chaplin______one of his famous films. I______ observed him______as well as______in it. He had a particular method of film-making. He planned the story and then performed and filmed each scene many times. I saw him making each scene a little different. Then I found him______the scenes he liked best and ______ them together to make the film more______. It was an______ experience as it was clear that he did not keep to a strict budget. 5.he -ing form can be used as the predicative. Can you complete the following sentences using the -ing form? 1 Seeing is___________________________________________________________ 2 His job is_____________________________________________________ 3 What he likes is ________________________________________________ 4 The news is____________________________________________________ 5 The film is more_________________________________ than any that I’ve ever seen. 6 The novel is not as_________________________________________ as I expected. 7 The comedy was so________________ that the audience kept laughing all the time.