Section B
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice.
What is theatre？ Actors tell a story in words and act on a stage. Why has theatre been so intriguing to people all over the world and throughout history？ Theatre in the West began in Greece in 534 B.C. in the celebration of the cult of Dionysius. The relationship between religion and theatre is neither accidental nor incidental: they both include ceremony, ritual, and spectacle that create drama which engages our emotions and intellect because they tell stories that are universal.
In prehistoric times, ceremonies and rituals helped people explain such awe-inspiring, dramatic events as birth, death, and powerful natural forces. Man needs a way to cope with his deepest fears and concerns so he creates dramatic situations that express and mimic these feelings. The costumed participants in the ceremony(with a script),like the actors on stage, pretend they are driving out demons or pleasing their God, or resolving their fears and concerns. This is what Aristotle called catharsis(感情宣泄): the purgation(清除) of powerful emotions such as fear and pity that offers the release from tension that we experience as we empathize with the actors facing their conflicts(and our own) and work toward resolving them. Theatre and religion touch us not only emotionally and intellectually, but spiritually. Shakespeare was right when he said that all the world's a stage and we but actors playing our parts.
There are three basic periods in the history of theatre: Classical period—Greek and Roman theatre; the Romantic period which includes the Renaissance in Europe and the Modern period which began in the late 19th century. The Greeks laid the foundation of theatre in the West. They developed the five-act play which Shakespeare and most others followed. At first, there was only one actor who recited a story about the Gods. Then Aeschylus added a second actor who made dialogue possible that changed theatre forever, and later Sophocles added a third actor who brought new elements of conflict that are the essence drama, especially tragedy. The early Christian banned theatre, but offered elaborate ceremonies to attract people and to educate them in the Christian doctrine and its dramatic mythology. In the Renaissance, the arts were flourishing first in Italy and then in other parts of Europe. Shakespeare wrote in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Modem theatre began in the 19th century with the plays of Ibsen, Strindberg and Chekhov. They offered reality rather than fantasy or simplistic popular melodramas. The 20th century brought bold innovations in America and Europe, including new structures: two-and three-act plays or a series of scenes replaced the five-act structure; new stage designs and staging; new is- sues especially after WWII when Theatre of the Absurd appeared. Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway productions challenged the old ways by presenting experimental works that shocked and perplexed many audiences.
Theatre and religion are closely related in that ______.

A. both of them have a strong influence on people's life
B. both heart and mind are involved in understanding them
C. theatre is derived from religious activities
D. universal religious stories build up the content of theatre