III. Complete the text by filling the correct words in the gaps.
Comedies member performances sonnets dramas middle class profits tragedies mayor playwrights scripts writer
William Shakespeare was one of the world’s greatest 1)_ playwrights . He lived in England during the second half of the 16th century and the early part of the 17th century. William grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon, a town where his father had been 2)_ mayor (?)_. His family was 3) middle class and young William attended a grammar school in Stratford.
Later on Shakespeare went to London to find a job as an actor and 4)_ writer _. It was very difficult because only the best were able to work there. Between 1592 and 1594, Shakespeare wrote mainly 5)_ sonnets and poems. All theatres were closed because of the Black Death, which killed millions of people.
When theatres opened up again he became a 6) member of Lord Chamberlain’s Men, the best acting company in the country. The plays were performed in the Globe, a round theatre without a roof. The actors and writers owned the theatre. They bought the costumes and wrote their own 7)_perfomances_ . They also shared their 8)__scripts__.
Plays started in the early afternoon. People who didn’t have money to buy a seat were allowed to stand in the front. Sometimes there were special 9)_profits for kings and queens.
Shakespeare wrote three types of plays. 10)__ tragedies show the downfall of one of the characters. 11)comedies are funny plays that have happy endings and historical plays are 12)_ dramas about the lives of famous English kings.
In 1610 William retired from the theatre and went back to his home town Stratford. He died there in 1616.
VI. Choose the correct word in the text and underline it.
Of all the famous English writers, probably the good known/best known is William Shakespeare.
His work looked at common human themes /topics, such as betrayal, murder, lust, power, ambition and love. These themes are as much a part of human character/nature today as they were all those years ago and are the themes we see in popular/modern soap operas and Hollywood films. Even though his theatre, The Globe, crashed/burned down in 1613 it was opened/rebuilt in London in 1997 and you can still see his plays performed there today.
Shakespeare’s influence/power on the English language can still be felt today. We talk about “fair play”, meaning honest conduct/behaviour but this phrase was first used by Shakespeare. He coined the sentence/phrase “you can have too much of a good thing”. And it was Shakespeare who came up with the expression to disappear “into thin air” which we still use/supply today when we lose something.
Shakespeare’s work has been translated into every mayor/major language in the world. And perhaps we’ll still be as influenced/fascinated by his work 450 years from now as we’ve been for almost the last 450.
VIII. Complete the sentences with one word only.
1. In Titus Andronicus, Aaron is punished __by__ being buried alive.
2. At the end of Othello, Iago is sentenced __to_ death.
3. In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is charged ____for____ attempted murder.
4. In Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark accuses his uncle __of_ killing his father.
5. In The Taming of the Shrew, Katharine is punished __by___ being strong minded.
6. Macbeth and his wife are guilty __of___ treason.
7. In Shakespeare’s times, treason was punished __by_ hanging.
IX. Write these words in the right order to make some famous quotations:
1) be, is be, or not the To question to that
__To be or not to be that is the question!___________________________________________
2) music food be the of If love, on! play
___If music be the food of love, play on!_
3) once can but die A man
__A man can die but once__________
4) the of Denmark is state Something rotten in
___Something is rotten in the state of Denmark_______
5) Cowards die many times before their deaths
_ Cowards die many times before their deaths ___
6) know we what not are, know be we but may We
__We know what we are, but we do not know what we may be______
7) come Nothing of will nothing
__Nothing will come of nothing____________
8) A kingdom My horse! horse! A horse! a for A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!