FromtramptoKingofComedyChaplin英语散文
From tramp to King of Comedy, Chaplin
About the year 1900, a small, dark-haired boy was often seen waiting outside the back entrances of London theatres. He looked thin and hungry but his blue eyes were determined. Despite his painfully hard childhood, the boy knew how to make people laugh. He could sing and dance and was hoping to make a living in show business.
When he couldn't get work the boy wandered about the city streets like a tramp. He found food and shelter wherever he could. Sometimes he was sent away to a home for children who had no parents. He was cold and miserable there and the children were scolded and punished for the slightest fault. He hated it.
Thirty years later he was accepting the hospitality of kings. Everyone wanted to meet him. Pictures show him in the company of men like Churchill, Einstein and Gandhi. He had become almost a royal figure in the bright new world of the cinema – Charlie Chaplin, the king of comedy.
Chaplin's life was a continuous adventure. In 1889, Chaplin was born in London, England to parents who both worked in theater. His father's death from drinking too much and mother's illness left him in poverty for most of his childhood. However, Chaplin didn't get lost in the poverty. In fact, he had set a goal for himself at a young age: to become the most famous person in the world.
When Chaplin was five years old his mother suddenly lost her voice during a performance and had to leave the stage. To help his mother, little Chaplin went on stage and sang a well-known song at that time, "Jack Jones". Halfway through the song a shower of money poured onto the stage. Chaplin stopped singing and told the audience he would pick up the money first and then finish the song. The audience laughed. This was only the first of millions of laughs in Chaplin's legendary career.
Lack of education did not hold Chaplin back from developing the special talent locked inside him. He took his courage and went to see one of the top theatrical agents in London. With no experience at all, he was offered the plum part of Billy – the paperboy in a new production of "Sherlock Holmes". "Sherlock Holmes" opened on July 27, 1903 at an enormous theatre. Chaplin seemed to change overnight. It was as if he had found the thing he was meant to do: to be an actor.
Cinema was born in the same year as Chaplin. When people still believed it was a passing fad and would never replace live shows, Chaplin was determined to master this new medium, for it would offer him the chance of money and success. Chaplin's first film, released in February 1914, was called "Making a living". The film was well received by the public but didn't satisfy Chaplin. After some disappointments and anxieties, he created his classical character -- "the little tramp". From his very first appearance, the mild little man brought laughter to people's faces. With the black moustache, wide-open eyes, round black hat and shoes too large for his feet, he makes all kinds of stupid mistakes. He is always in trouble. Yet he dreams of greatness. He makes audience laugh with his crazy attempts to escape his cruel fate. He finds surprising ways out of every difficulty and life never quite destroys him. The little tramp is not very different from the cold, homeless, poorly dressed child who refused to despair. Like the child he is weak and frightened, but he never gives up.
The tramp became a huge success. By the time he was thirty Chaplin was the greatest, best known, and best loved comedy actor in the world. He received thousands of dollars for each film he made and had formed his own filmmaking company. But he continued his pursuit of perfection in art. When making the film "The Immigrant", Chaplin spent four days and four nights to cut the film to the required length. He viewed each scene perhaps fifty times before he decided exactly where to cut.
Explaining his success, Chaplin once wrote, "You have to believe in yourself. That's the secret. Even when I was in the children's home, when I was wandering the streets trying to find enough to eat to keep alive, even then I thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world." Through hard times and glorious days he always believed in himself and never lost faith. It is through this self-confidence that Chaplin made people look at the world more positively despite his own troubles. And even though his films were in black and white, he put a lot of color into everyone's life.
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