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Vocabulary

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The oldest leather shoe in the world

Archaeologists report that a perfectly preserved 5,500-year-old shoe has been discovered in a cave in Armenia in south-west Asia. It is   acceptedregardedassessedbelieved to be the oldest leather shoe ever found. The shoe was made of a single piece of leather, stitched at the front and back, and was shaped to fit the wearer’s foot. It had been   stuffedloadedpushedblocked with grasses, either for warmth or to make sure it kept its shape. ‘The shoe is relatively small but we can’t say for   clearspecifictruecertain whether it was worn by a man or a woman,’ says Dr Ron Pinhasi, an archaeologist on the research   classforceteamcompany. ‘We thought at first that it was about 600-700 years old because it was in such good shape.’ Shoes of this type from later periods have turned   overintoupabout in archaeological excavations in various places in Europe, and shoes of a very similar design were still being used on the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland as   recentlylatelypresentlyimmediately as the 1950s. It’s   correctlyexactlypreciselyobviously a style which   heldstoodremainedlasted popular for thousands of years.

New uses for salt mines

Geological deposits of salt were formed millions of years ago, when what is now land, lay under the sea. It is hard to believe that salt is now such a cheap   provisionutilitymaterialcommodity , because centuries ago it was the commercial   provisionsimilarityparallelequivalent of today’s oil. The men who mined salt became wealthy and, although the work was   criticaldemandingextremestraining and frequently dangerous, a job in a salt mine was highly   regardedadmiredapprovedhonoured. Nowadays, the specific microclimates in disused mines have been   exploitedextractedexposedextended for the treatment of respiratory illnesses such as asthma, and the silent, dark surroundings in a mine are considered   profitableagreeablebeneficialpopular in encouraging patients to relax. In addition, some disused mines have been   put downturned overmade outset about to different commercial enterprises, although keeping up-to-date with the technology of mining is essential to   enableretainensuresupport visitors’ safety. Some of the largest underground chambers even host concerts, conferences and business meetings.

Reading

Kombat Kate

James Stanton meets ‘Kombat Kate’ Waters, who trains theatre actors in how to ‘fight’ on stage.

There must be few occasions when it would be really rude to refuse an invitation to head-butt someone you’ve just met! But I’m in one of those right now. I’m in a rehearsal room in a theatre with a group of actors, facing up to stage fighting director Kate Waters. I’ve already dragged her around the room and slapped her on the arm. Now she wants me to head-butt her. But fear not, this is all strictly pretend!

‘Imagine there’s a tin can on my shoulder,’ she says. ‘Now try to knock it off.’ I lower my head as instructed, then lift it sharply, aiming for the imaginary can, hoping desperately that I don’t miscalculate the angle and end up doing damage to her face. To my amazement, I get it right. ‘That was good,’ says Waters. ‘Now maybe try it again without smiling.’

Waters, known in the industry as Kombat Kate, is showing me how actors fight each other without getting hurt, and that includes sword-fighting. (She inspires fierce devotion: when I tweet that I’m meeting Waters, one actress friend responds: ‘She’s amazing. She taught me how to be a secret service agent in two days.’)
Perhaps the most famous play Kate has worked on recently was called Noises Off. She taught the cast how to fall down stairs without breaking any bones. One of the fight scenes is fairly close, Kate tells me, to the one we’re trying out now. ‘I’ve just slowed it down a bit,’ she says tactfully, before inviting me to throw her against the wall. I obey, making sure I let go of her quickly, so she can control her own movement. Push your opponent too hard, and they will hit the wall for real. I watch her hit the wall before falling to the ground. She’s fine, of course. ‘That’s my party trick,’ she says with a grin. ‘Works every time.’

Once the lesson is over Kate tells me how she became one of only two women on the official register of stage fight directors. Already a keen martial arts expert from childhood, Kate did drama at university, and one module of her course introduced her to stage combat. When she made enquiries about the possibility of teaching it as a career, she was told about the register and the qualifications (line 22)she’d need to be accepted onto it. It was no small order: as well as a certificate in advanced stage combat, she would need a black belt in karate and proficiency in fencing, a sport she’d never tried before.

But she rose to the challenge and taught the subject for several years at a drama college before going freelance and becoming a fight advisor for the theatrical world. The play she’s working on is Shakespeare’s Richard III. This involves a famous sword fight. With no instructions left by the great playwright other than – Enter Richard and Richmond: they fight, Richard dies – the style and sequence of the fight is down to Kate and the actors.

‘I try to get as much information as possible about what a fight would have been like in a particular (line 30) period,’ Kate explains. ‘But because what I’m eventually doing is telling a dramatic story, not all of it is useful. The scene has to be exciting and do something for the audience.’

Ultimately, of course, a stage fight is all smoke and mirrors. In our lesson, Kate shows me how an actor will stand with his or her back to the audience ahead of a choreographed slap or punch. When the slap comes it makes contact not with skin but with air: the actor whacks his chest or leg to make the sound of the slap.
In the rehearsal room, I can’t resist asking Kate how she thinks she would fare in a real fight. Would she give her attacker a hard time? She laughs, ‘Oh, I’d be awful,’ she says. ‘I only know how to fake it.’ I can’t help thinking, however, that she’s just being rather modest.

55. In the first paragraph, the writer is aware of
 .
a critical attitude from Katethe concern of the other actorsthe need to reassure his readershaving been in a similar situation before

56. How does the writer feel when Kate mentions the tin can?
 worried about hurting Katerelieved that Kate is just pretendingconcerned that it may injure his headconvinced that he won’t take it seriously enough

57. When Kate and the writer repeat the fight scene from Noises Off, we learn that
 the writer isn’t sure of his instructions.Kate has adapted it slightly for the writer to try.the writer is initially unwilling to do it.Kate has to react quickly to a mistake the writer makes.

58. What does the phrase ‘no small order’ (line 22) tell us about stage combat?
 
Kate knew she would love learning about it.It is something very few people ever perfect.Studying it required a lot of obedience and respect.Qualifying to teach it would be a long and difficult process

59. What does the writer tell us about the sword fight in the play Richard III?
 
Its details need to be made up.It’s a particularly challenging scene to do.Its action is conveyed through spoken words.It is widely agreed to be the most exciting of its kind.

60. What does ‘it’ refer to in line 30?
 
informationa fighta particular perioda dramatic story

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