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Reading Comprehension II
次の文章を読み、 後の問いに答えなさい。
Rakugo is a form of traditional Japanese spoken entertainment. It first became
popular among people of the merchant class "chonin," and also spread to the lower
classes during the Edo period.
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A single rakugo performer appears on stage and kneels on a cushion. The performer
wears a traditional Japanese kimono and usually has nothing except two stage
properties: a paper fan and a hand towel. The fan can be used to represent a variety
of things, such as a pipe, chopsticks, a pen, a fishing pole or a cup. Sometimes it
creates sound effects. The hand towel can be used for things like a letter, a book or
an actual towel. The comic story, which the performer narrates, is usually in the form
of a conversation between two or more characters. The storyteller plays the two or
three roles fluently and switches from one character to another by changing his voice,
accent, or expression and turning his head, so the audience can imagine the scene.
In the Meiji period, a British rakugo performer brought a lot of excitement to
the audience. He was the first foreign-born rakugo perfomer, named Henry James
Black, who adopted the stage name "Kairakutei Black." Everyone had a good laugh
at hearing his comic tales and his fluent Edo dialect.
注
kneel on a cushion 座布団に座る sound effects
have a good laugh at 〜 〜 に大笑いする
