 | VOCABULARY perfectly ordinary - najzwyklejszy pod słońcem
suburban - podmiejski (rejon), mieszczański (system wartości, pochodzenie)
middle-class - klasa średnia, tu: (przymiotnik) pochodzący z klasy średniej
background - pochodzenie
to be connected with - mieć powiązania z
navy - marynarka (wojenna)
genteel - nobliwy
to live in genteel poverty - żyć w biedzie, zachowując pozory wielkopaństwa
salesman - sprzedawca
fiercely ambitious - szalenie ambitny
she devoted herself to furthering his early career on stage - poświęciła się torowaniu drogi jego wczesnej karierze scenicznej
to appear - pojawić się, tu: zagrać
to shoot to fame - zdobyć nagle wielką sławę
writer - pisarz, tu: dramatopisarz
star - gwiazda, tu: odtwórca głównej roli
drama - dramat, sztuka (sceniczna, telewizyjna)
tormented - dręczony problemami, udręczony
drug addict - narkoman
difficult - trudny
relationship - więzi, układy, stosunki
he had three shows running concurrently - wystawiano jednocześnie trzy jego sztuki
to match a record - powielić/powtórzyć rekord
to repeat - powtórzyć |
Lesson 9
Noel CowardNoel Coward: Perfectly ordinary suburban middle-class background. My mother's family were all connected with the navy a great deal. But of course we hadn't got very much money, so it was all a very genteel poverty we lived in originally.
Interviewer: You always lived in London?
Noel Coward: Yes, I was born in Teddington, and then we moved to Sutton, Surrey.
Noel Coward was actually the son of a piano salesman and a fiercely ambitious mother who devoted herself to furthering his early career on stage.
As a teenager he appeared in the D. W. Griffith film Hearts of the World and then shot to fame in 1924 as the writer and star of The Vortex, a controversial drama about a tormented young drug addict and his difficult relationship with his mother.
At one point in 1925 he had three shows running concurrently, a record that was not to be matched until Andrew Lloyd Webber repeated it fifty years later.
Test yourself, use our quiz!
