第三十六篇 Life as a Movie Extra

Ordinary people have always been attracted to the world of movies and movie stars. One way to get closer to this world is to become a movie extra. Although you have seen movie extras, you may not have paid attention to them. Extras are the people seated at tables in a restaurant while the two main actors are in conversation. They are the guests at the wedding of the main characters. They are the people crossing the street while “the bad guy" is being chased by the police. Extras don’t normally speak any lines, but they help make the scenes look real1.

Being a movie extra might seem like a lot of fun. You get to see what life is like behind the scenes. But don’t forget that being an extra is really a job, and it’s mostly about doing nothing. First-time extras are often shocked to learn how slow the process of movie making is. In a finished movie, the action may move quickly. But it can sometimes take a whole day to shoot a scene that appears for just a few minutes on the screen.

The main requirement for being an extra is the ability to wait. You may report to work at 5 or 6 a. m.，and then you wait until the director is ready for your scene. This could take several hours. Then there may be technical problems, and you have to wait some more. After the director says “action”and you do the first “take”，you may have to do it again if he or she is not satisfied with the scene. In fact, you may have to do the same scene over and over again. You could be on the set for hours, sometimes waiting outdoors in very hot or cold weather.2 You may not be finished until 11 p. m. or midnight. The pay isn’t good, either — often only a little bit above minimum wage. And you must pay the agent who gets you the job a commission of about 10 percent.

So who would want to be a movie extra? In spite of the long hours and low pay, many people still apply for the job. Some people truly enjoy the work. They like being on a movie set, and they enjoy the companionship of their fellow extras. Most of them have flexible schedules, which allow them to be available.3They may be students, waiters, homemakers, retired people, or unemployed actors. Some unemployed actors hope the work will help them get real acting jobs, but it doesn’t happen often. Most people in the movie industry make a sharp distinction between extras and actors, so extras are not usually considered for large parts.

The next time you see a movie，don’t just watch the stars. Take a closer look at the people in the background, and ask yourself : Who are they? Why are they there? What else do they do in life? Maybe there is someone in the crowd who is just like you.

詞匯：

movie extra群眾演員

chase / t?eis /v.追捕

shoot /?u:t/ vt.拍攝

action / ??k??n / n.(導演指令)開拍

commission / k??mi??n / n.傭金

注釋：

1.Extras don’t normally speak any lines, but they help make the scenes look real.：雖然群眾演員通常沒有臺詞，但他們的存在使整個場景更加逼真。

2.You could be on the set for hours，sometimes waiting outdoors in very hot or cold weather.：在拍攝現場，你可能一演就是幾個小時，有時還要一直待在很熱或很冷的環境中。on the set：在拍攝現場。

3.Most of them have flexible schedules, which allow them to be available.：這些人中大部分都是時間比較靈活的人，這樣他們就能騰出時間來演戲。

練習：

1.What is true about movie extras?

A)　Only agents get them jobs in movies.

B)　They often have to wait around on movie sets and do nothing.

C)　It’s a good way to get a real acting job.

D)　They can have drinks in a restaurant.

2.What might surprise movie extras the first time they do the job?

A)　It can take hours to do a scene that is only a few minutes long in the movie.

B)　They always do the same scene many times.

C)　The actors are interested in talking to them.

D)　The action moves very quickly.

3.Why do most people work as movie extras?

A)　They like meeting famous movie stars.

B)　They think they will become famous.

C)　They want to be on a movie set.

D)　They will get real acting jobs.

4.What are the job requirements for being a movie extra?

A)　You have to have a part-time job.

B)　You must be attractive.

C)　You must be willing to repeat a scene many times.

D)　You must start working very early.

5.It can be inferred from the passage that　.

A)　being a movie extra can be boring

B)　movie extras need acting experience

C)　movie extras can play larger parts

D)　movie actors are quite different from actors

答案與題解：

1.B　本文的第三段詳細敘述了群眾演員的主要工作要求是在拍攝現場等，不用做事，所以答案為B;第一段中描述了群眾演員的工作;他們是演員的陪襯，不用講話。雖然提到他們是在餐館里，但并沒有提是否可以喝飲料，所以D可以排除;A中的only —詞太籠統，所以A不對;從第四段可以看出，從群眾演員到演員的轉型是相當困難的，所以C也不對。

2.A　第二段中說明了令初做群眾演員感到吃驚的是：拍一個場景需要一整天，而播放時只有幾分鐘。雖然B、D都有所提及，但不是令他們吃驚的事情。

3.C　雖然做群眾演員耗時長而薪酬低，但他們為什么還選擇這一工作呢?答案在第四段：他們喜歡這份工作，愿意與別的群眾演員交流，他們自己的工作時間有彈性。A沒有提到，B、D不太可能。

4.C　做群眾演員的條件是什么?在第三段和第四段，我們可知：要有耐心(長時間等待，一個場景有時要拍好多次)，要肯吃苦(在惡劣的戶外環境中拍戲)，報酬低，工作時間有彈性。A、B沒有提到;在第三段的第二句提到：You may report to work at 5 or 6 a. m.，表明只是有時會很早開始工作，不是每日必須的，所以D不對。

5.A　從本文對群眾演員的工作描述我們可以看出，群眾演員只是演員的道具，所以是乏味的。B沒有提到;據第四段的最后一句，C不對;第四段的最后一句清楚表明，群眾演員和真正的演員差別很大，所以不是得出的推論，推論是通過字里行間推出來的，不是給出的陳述。

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（責任編輯：vstara）

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