Would you jump off the Great Wall of China for 300 pounds a day?
A stunt (特技表演)person is a man or woman who does all the dangerous bits of acting work in films or on TV. This can be anything from a simple fall into a swimming pool, or walking off the top of a tall building. It sounds like a job that you would have to be made to try, but there are actually lots of people who want to do it.
Sarah France, twenty-four, is one of Britain’s sixteen professional stunt women ---there are one hundred and sixty stunt men in the country. We asked Sarah how she came to be a stunt woman.
“When I was young I was trained to be a dancer, and for seven years after school I was hardly out of work. A dancer’s life is pretty short, though, and my father suggested I should think about doing stunt work after I’d given up dancing. I thought about it for the next two years and decided to have a go. For six months, I worked really hard every day. I had to learn different skills---swimming, jumping, horse -riding, etc.”
Sarah finished the course in just five months and applied to the office which decides whether you’re accepted as a professional stunt person or not. Two weeks after she was accepted, Sarah was throwing off the Great Wall of China in Superman IV.
“I was very lucky to get work so quickly. I had a small part, playing a traveler who fell off the Wall after an earthquake. The traveler’s life was saved by Superman, of course! Actually, I fell forty-five feet into a pile of cardboard boxes! You can’t use anything softer than that or you will be brought back into view of the cinema. Instead you just have to learn to fall properly. It’s quite dangerous but I enjoy it.”
小题1:Quite a number of people want to do dangerous acts in films because___________.
A．they are mad
B．they don’t think them dangerous
C．no training is needed
D．they can earn much money小题2:Sarah gave up dancing because___________.
A．her father persuaded her to do stunt work
B．she could not go on dancing forever
C．she had to work hard every day
D．she was often out of work小题3:Soon after Sarah got her new job as a stunt person, ______________.
A．an earthquake took place near the Great Wall
B．she fell off the Great Wall and hurt herself
C．she was asked to act in Superman IV
D．she learned how to fall properly小题4:Which of the following words best describes Sarah?
A．Healthy
B．Adventurous
C．Skillful
D．Successful小题5:The purpose of the first sentence of the passage is to ____________.
A．draw the readers’ attention to the whole passage
B．invite you to try jumping off the Great Wall for money
C．ask you to be a stunt person
D．raise a question for the readers to think about
