第二节　完形填空

　　阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从36-55各题所给的四个选项（A，B，C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

　　Some plays are so successful that they run for years on end. In many ways, this is　 16　 for the poor actors who are required to go on repeating the sane　 17　 night after night. One would

18　 them to know their parts by heart and　 19　 have cause to falter（结巴）.Yet　20　is not always the case.

　　A famous actor in a　 21　 successful play was once cast in the role of an aristocrat　 22　 had been imprisoned in Bastille for twenty years. In the last act，a gaoler（监狱长，看守）would always come on to the stage with a letter which he would hand to the prisoner.　 23　 the noble was expected to read the letter at each　 24　 ,he always insisted that it should be written out in full.

　　One night, the gaoler decided to play a joke　25　 his colleague to find out if, after so many performances, he had managed to learn the　 26　 of the letter by heart. The curtain went up on the final act of the play and revealed（使显露）the aristocrat sitting alone behind bars in his dark cell. Just then，the gaoler　 27　 with the precious letter in his hands. He entered the　 28　and presented the letter to the aristocrat. But the copy he gave him had not been written out in　

29　 as usual. It was simply a blank sheet of paper. The gaoler looked on eagerly,　3 0　 to see if his fellow actor had at last learnt his lines. The noble stared at the blank sheet of paper for a few seconds. Then，squinting（眯着眼看）his eves，he said, "The light is　 31　.Read the letter to me."And he promptly handed the sheet of paper to the gaoler.　3 2　 that he could not remember a word of the letter either, the gaoler replied，"The light is indeed dim，sir. I must get my　 33　"With this, he hurried off the stage. Much to the aristocrat's　34　 ，the gaoler returned a few moments later with a pair of