[al:新概念英语（三）] [ar:MP3 同步字幕版（英音）] [ti:By Heart] [by:更多学习内容，请到chazidian.com搜索“新概念”] [00:01.46]Lesson 22 [00:04.15]By heart [00:12.00]Which actor read the letter in the end, the aristocrat or the gaoler? [00:20.05]Some plays are so successful that they run for years on end. [00:25.15]In many ways, this is unfortunate for the poor actors who are required to go on repeating the same lines night after night. [00:33.68]One would expect them to know their parts by heart and never have cause to falter. [00:39.32]Yet this is not always the case. [00:42.85]A famous actor in a highly successful play was once cast in the role of an aristocrat who had been imprisoned in the Bastille for twenty years. [00:54.07]In the last act, a gaoler would always come on to the stage with a letter which he would hand to the prisoner. [01:00.76]Even though the noble was expected to read the letter at each performance, he always insisted that it should be written out in full. [01:09.83]One night, the gaoler decided to play a joke on his colleague to find out if, after so many performances, he had managed to learn the contents of the letter by heart. [01:21.73]The curtain went up on the final act of the play and revealed the aristocrat sitting alone behind bars in his dark cell. [01:31.32]Just then, the gaoler appeared with the precious letter in his hands. [01:36.83]He entered the cell and presented the letter to the aristocrat. [01:41.00]But the copy he gave him had not been written out in full as usual. [01:46.60]It was simply a blank sheet of paper. [01:50.36]The gaoler looked on eagerly, anxious to see if his fellow actor had at last learnt his lines. [01:57.44]The noble stared at the blank sheet of paper for a few seconds. [02:01.54]Then, squinting his eyes, he said:'The light is dim. Read the letter to me. ' [02:08.57]And he promptly handed the sheet of paper to the gaoler. [02:12.35]Finding that he could not remember a word of the letter either, the gaoler replied: 'The light is indeed dim, sire. I must get my glasses. ' [02:23.26]With this, he hurried off the stage. [02:26.03]Much to the aristocrat's amusement, the gaoler returned a few moments later with a pair of glasses and the usual copy of the letter which he proceeded to read to the prisoner.