Even people who don’t understand English can enjoy Chaplin’s films because they are mostly silent. It isn’t what he says that makes us laugh. It depends upon actions which mean the same thing to people all over the world. He is master of the art – a kind of world language.
As a young man, he and his brother traveled to America in a small company of actors. Chaplin was then invited to join a new company that was making film comedies. Very soon he had made dozens of short films for this company. And it was in his second film that he wore the clothes which made his reputation – black hat, tight coat, baggy trousers, huge shoes, moustache and walking stick. He intended simply to make people laugh. But the odd make-up made him look both comic and sad.
By the time he was thirty, Chaplin was the greatest, best known and best loved comedian in the world. He received thousands of dollars for each film he made. He had formed his own manner of acting. He was welcomed by excited crowds wherever he went. But he worked very hard and had few close friends. Perhaps that is why the sad side of the little tramp began to show more clearly in the films he made. The little man began to want more than food and a roof over his head. He began to want love.
In one of his most famous films “The Gold Rush” a girl plays tricks on the little man. Then she begins to feel sorry for him and treats him kindly. He mistakes her pity for love. The girl in “City Lights” is blind. She thinks he is the most wonderful man she has ever met. But then she recovers her sight and sees what a foolish figure he is. This sadness gives Chaplin’s films a depth of human experience which few comedians can equal.
After living in America for forty years he moved to Switzerland. There he died on Christmas Day 1977. He once described himself as a citizen of famous pictures that were made during the 1920s and 1930s, the time of the silent films. But, to many people all over the world Chaplin will always be the king of comedy.
小题1:What’s the meaning of the underlined word in the first paragraph?
A．A man in control of people, animals or things.
B．A man who is head of a house or a family.
C．A man of great skill in art or work.
D．A skilled workman with his own business.小题2:Charlie Chaplin had few friends because he _____.
A．was famous
B．didn’t want to have friends
C．was not good at making friends
D．spent most of his time in working and had no time to make friends小题3:In all Chaplin’s films, the main character is _____.
A．a girl
B．a girl and little man
C．a little man
D．a wonderful man小题4:We may infer that films with sound probably came into being _____.
A．after the 1920s and 1930s
B．in the 1930s
C．in the 1970s
D．after the 1930s小题5:Which one is wrong according to the passage?
A．The little man didn’t want love.
B．Chaplin made a lot of money.
C．He didn’t live in the same country.
D．He became famous in a short time