【英语听和读】扮演简奥斯汀的妹妹

 Amber¹: Hello, I'm Amber, and you’re listening to bbclearningenglish.com.

In Entertainment today, we listen to an interview with the young and talented

English actor Anna Maxwell Martin.

Anna is only 28 and she won a Best Actress BAFTA award in 2006 for her

stunning² performance as the plain and shy Esther Summerson in a TV

adaptation of Charles Dickens’s novel ‘Bleak House’. She is currently

appearing on stage in London, playing the outrageous³ Sally Bowles – the lead

role in the classic musical ‘Cabaret’, set in 1930s Berlin.

But in our programme today, Anna talks about her new film, ‘Becoming Jane’,

in which she plays Jane Austen’s sister, Cassandra. Jane Austen was one of the

greatest English novelists and she is best-known for her clever love story ‘Pride

and Prejudice’.

Jane Austen lived from 1775 to 1817. She was an extraordinarily⁴ clever writer

and she did not marry. ‘Becoming Jane’ is about Jane Austen herself falling in

love and it is based on what we know of Jane’s life. We do know that Jane was

very close to her sister Cassandra.

Here’s Anna talking about Jane Austen and her sister Cassandra. As you listen,

try to catch how she describes Cassandra – in terms of her relationship with

Jane. What roles did Cassandra play for Jane? 

Playing Jane Austen’s sister © BBC Learning English

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Anna Maxwell Martin

‘Well, she was very much a levelling force for Jane – Jane was the misfit of the family really

– very ambitious, wanted to be a writer. Whereas Cassandra was very aware of her duty to her

family, which was a hugely prevalent thing at the time - marrying for the right reasons, to the

right person. Jane didn’t feel any of those obligations because she had another passion, and

Cassandra was really the one who tried to … she was a sounding-board for Jane, but also she

tried to level her a bit and that didn’t really work!’

Amber: Did you catch Anna’s descriptions of Cassandra? She says Cassandra was very

‘much a levelling force for Jane’. ‘A levelling force’ – someone who smoothes

another person’s extreme responses to things, who calms them. Anna also calls

Cassandra ‘a sounding-board for Jane’. ‘A sounding-board’ is someone who

listens to your ideas and gives you helpful feedback, or comments.

Anna explains that Jane Austen didn’t feel the usual obligations, or duties, of

women of her time, because she had her ‘passion’, her love of writing. She was

‘ambitious’, determined⁵ to succeed. And she was ‘the misfit of the family’ – a

misfit is someone who is out of place in a particular situation. Listen to Anna

talking about Cassandra and Jane Austen again.

Anna Maxwell Martin

‘Well, she was very much a levelling force for Jane – Jane was the misfit of the family really

– very ambitious, wanted to be a writer. Whereas Cassandra was very aware of her duty to her

family, which was a hugely prevalent thing at the time - marrying for the right reasons, to the

right person. Jane didn’t feel any of those obligations because she had another passion, and

Cassandra was really the one who tried to … she was a sounding-board for Jane, but also she

tried to level her a bit and that didn’t really work!’ 

Playing Jane Austen’s sister © BBC Learning English

Page 3 of 3

bbclearningenglish.com

Amber: Next, Anna explains that she thinks it’s difficult to imagine how close Jane and

Cassandra were because women today have more opportunities to make their

own friends, to have their own ‘social circle’.

As you listen, try to catch the word Anna uses to describe her brother.

Anna Maxwell Martin

‘I think it’s quite difficult for us to understand that kind of closeness now. I mean, I’m very

close to my sibling⁶, my brother, but in those days, especially with sisters, you shared the same

bedroom, maybe the same bad, sometimes all your life, or certainly until you left the home

and got married. And that’s the way with Jane and Cassandra, and they didn’t have the social

circle in the sense that we do as independent women – there was a social circle, but you

visited as a family, you visited people’s houses, or you went to a ball, or whatever. So your

sister was your best friend in many respects. So it was a different kind of relationship and we

tried to get that right.’

Amber: Did you catch it? Anna calls her brother, her ‘sibling’ – a sibling is a brother or

a sister.

Now here’s a list of the language we focussed on in the programme today.

a levelling force

a sounding-board

feedback

the misfit of the family

ambitious

obligations

a passion

social circle

sibling 

1 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

2 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

3 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

4 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

5 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

6 sibling   

n.同胞手足(指兄、弟、姐或妹)

参考例句：

• Many of us hate living in the shadows of a more successful sibling.我们很多人都讨厌活在更为成功的手足的阴影下。
• Sibling ravalry has been common in this family.这个家里，兄弟姊妹之间的矛盾很平常。