Lesson 3

My Favorite Comedy

Do you like to watch comedies?

What is your favorite funny movie or

TV program?

Who is your favorite TV comedian?

Free talk

For me, I like watching comedies

very much. Of all the comedies I have

watched, I like the Crazy Stone best

because all the lines there are in

Chongqing dialect. And I can easily

follow the plot. The best comedian, in

my mind, is Mr. Bean.

Background

Mr. Bean

The most famous comedy actor

Chaplin is fond of imitating other

people.

Zeng Zhiwei can put on different

voices.

phrasal verbs

Xie Tingfeng always

gets into trouble and then gets out of

it.

Mr. Bean makes out that he/she is

not very bright.

He usually dresses up as different

people.

He tells good anecdotes and makes

up good jokes.

Mr. Bean can make you burst out

laughing.

I really turn you off because you

never return back my things.

Reading Strategies

1. First, read the text to get the general

idea. Then read the questions and use

them to guide you.

2.Sometimes things are not stated

explicitly in the text. You need to

make inferences or read between

the lines to understand what is

meant.

3.Read the text again using logic to

make inferences.

Read Text 1 and answer the

questions.

1.Why has Mr. Bean gone to a

fancy restaurant on this

particular day?

2.Does Mr. Bean have many

friends? How do you know?

3.Why does Mr. Bean choose the

“steak tartare”?

4.Why does Mr. Bean pretend to

like the food when the waiters tal

k to him?

1.Because that day was Mr. Bean’s

birthday and he wanted to show

to a lot of people that someone

really sent him a card. Actually ,

the birthday card was sent to

him by himself.

Answers

2.No. because nobody sent him a

birthday card. He could only

write it by himself.

3.Because he didn’t have enough

money to order other dishes.

4. Because if he showed his

disliking to the face of the

waiter, the waiter would ask

him to order something else.

As all of us know, he could not

afford to order other dishes.

1.Mr. Bean is an internationally

recognized comedy character on TV

and in films. People all over the

world know Mr. Bean. He

constantly gets into awkward and

absurd situations,

Adverbs and its usagesAdverbs and its usages

which greatly amuses audiences

regardless of their nationality and

culture.

2.Frequently getting into strange

and embarrassing situations

makes somebody laugh.

Its usages 1.Adverbs that describes the way

something is done

2.Adverbs that describe when or

how often something is done

3.Adverbs that can describe

other adjectives

Its usages 1.Adverbs that describes the way

something is done

2.Adverbs that describe when or

how often something is done

3.Adverbs that can describe

other adjectives

Useful phrases1.He became so desperate in the end

that he even hides some inside the

purse of a woman sitting near him

and throws some down the trousers

of the restaurant’s violinist!

hopeless

people who major in playing violin(小提琴 )

Useful phrases1.He became so desperate in the end

that he even hides some inside the

purse of a woman sitting near him

and throws some down the trousers

of the restaurant’s violinist!

hopeless

people who major in playing violin(小提琴 )

2.The humor is always made clearly

through a series of simple and

funny acts that purely rely on body

language, which is universal.

many /only

3.When he looks at the menu, an

astonished look swiftly appears on

his face.

a surprised facial expression

quickly

4. He makes an attempt to eat it, but

it is clear from the look on his

face that he finds the taste truly

disgusting.

try to do sth.

really bad

Read the second passage, and try to

work out the main idea of the second

passage.

The passage talks about the actor

who plays Mr. Bean, Rowan

Atkinson.

Second-reading

1.How do you know that Rowan

Atkinson is not like his famous

character Mr. Bean? In what

ways is he different?

2.Did Rowan Atkinson’s parents

encourage him to become an

actor?

Why or why not?

3.Does Rowan Atkinson like to

work with other talented people?

How do you know? Answers1.In the first paragraph, there is a sentence: if you think that Rowan Atkinson is anything like his famous creation, then you’re in for a surprise. So we can infer from it that Atkinson is not like

his famous character Mr. Bean at all.

2.No. Because he spent his early

years with his family on the farm

with his mother, three older

brothers and his strict father, who

did not believe in the value of

television.

3.Yes. Because when he met a group

of talented people at university,

he realized this could be a career

for him. We can infer from this

passage that he likes to work with

other talented people.

1. …, then you are in for a surprise.

You will be surprised.

2.At Oxford, he obtained his

Master’s degree in electrical

engineering. This might explain

his interest in fast cars, of which

he has a vast collection.

Words and phrases

got his Master’s /Bachelor'/Doctor's

degree .That is why he is so

interested in …

3.Rowan’s career change from an

electrical engineer to a famous

comedian was partly due to some

speaking problems he had in his

childhood.

be because of

4.He compensated for this by talking

very deliberately.

make up for …(弥补 )

intentionally

5.This may have inspired the abnorm

al speech patterns of many of his ch

aracters.

activated / not normal

6.Although his teachers predicted a

career in acting, Rowan was not

convinced himself, until he met a

group of talented people at

university, who were involved in

theater, and he realized this could

be a career for him.

tell sth. in advance/sure

take part in sth./participate in sth.

7.It was one of those things which

happen very rarely in your life,

when you realize you are in the

presence of genius. I was convinced

he would be more famous than

Chaplin.

seldom/be faced with

SpeakingRetell the second passage according

the following clues:

When he was young, he …. ,

who ….He studied in the same ....

At 13, he earned …to study in a….

Later he studied …in … university.

he was so interested in …that he had

a vast …of ….

There are two reasons for his change

of career: the first, he had some

problems in …, so he compensated

for this by talking intentionally.