《英伦名人八卦堂》－重塑英文的“吟游诗人”（莎士比亚）

Famous Brits under the Microscope – William Shakespeare

· William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon

o He is known as the Bard of Avon

· His father was a wool merchant – some people say that he was a criminal who was arrested for corruption.

· What was his early life like?

o We don’t really know! One of the main problems was that there are so many different spellings of his last name that it’s difficult to find him!

o Shakespeare’s family lost a lot of money so he was unable to go to university even though he went to school.

o Shakespeare got married to Anne Hathaway when he was 18

o He had 3 children – one of them was called Hamlet who died and Shakespeare wrote the famous play shortly after.

· How did he become a famous playwright?

o Shakespeare moved to London when he was young and became an actor.

o Shakespeare and his company of actors opened the Globe theatre in Southwark – the entertainment area of London at the time.

o He became rich and bought houses in his home town of Stratford.

o He died in April 1616 on his birthday

o You can still see his grave in Stratford – nobody has touched his remains as there is a curse on anyone who moves them!

· Why did he become so famous?

o He is famous for writing 37 plays and 154 sonnets

o He was regarded as a literary genius from when he died.

o His plays were published after he died and have never gone out of print.

o He invented around 1700 words (including luggage, gossip and elbow)

· What expressions are there in English from Shakespeare?

o “It’s all Greek to me”

o “Out of the question”

o “Vanish into thin air”

o “Not slept a wink”

o “Fight fire with fire”

想了解更多雅思资讯，欢迎关注微信公众号：璐璐的英文小酒馆，后台回复“考雅思”。璐璐小酒馆每天大量英语干货更新！