Passage 21
学霸导读 《哈姆雷特》是莎士比亚最负盛名的戏剧作品，其深刻的悲剧意义和完美的艺术手法，代表着整个西方文艺复兴时期文学的最高成就。
William Shakespeare wrote thirty-seven plays and a large number of poems in his life. The play Hamlet is considered to be the summit of Shakespeare’s work. It was w 1 in 1601—1602 and f irst published in 1603.
The action of the play is laid in medieval Denmark. The king suddenly died. Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, within two months married the new king, Claudius, brother of her husband. The son of the late king, Hamlet, returns from the university, where he received his e 2 . The heart of the young man is heavy because of his father’s death. He thinks his father was murdered but he does not d 3 to tell others. One night Hamlet dreams his father. He talks to his father, who tells his son he has been murdered by his brother Claudius. Hamlet hates the murderer very much and he d 4 to kill Claudius.
The struggle between Hamlet and Claudius is increasing. Claudius pays attention to Hamlet. Hamlet pretends to have gone mad.
To expose Claudius, Hamlet thinks of a p 5 : a group of actors are engaged to perform a play that recalls his father’s murder. When Claudius appears deeply affected by the performance and leaves the hall before the play is e 6 , Hamlet knows he is right. To get rid of Hamlet, Claudius sends Hamlet to England with his two men, who used to be Hamlet’s friends and now are o 7 to spy on him and kill him...
In the end, Hamlet kills Claudius. His mother is poisoned and dies.
1.__________2.__________3.__________4.__________5.__________6.__________7.__________
高频词汇
expose /ɪk'spəʊz/ v. 揭露
be engaged to 参与（做某事）
recall /rɪ'kɔːl/ v. 回忆，回想
affect /ə'fekt/ v. 影响，打动
spy on 窥视，暗中监视