Shadow puppet plays
皮影戏
Every Saturday, Wang Weifang puts on a play with his friends in a small town near Xi'an.
每到周六,Wang Weifang 与他的朋友一起在西安附近一个小镇的一家剧院演出。
The audience can hear them, but they cannot see them.
观众可以听到他们,但他们无法看到它们。
That is because they are putting on a shadow puppet play.
那是因为他们是在演出一个皮影戏。
Shadow puppets are made of hard leather.
皮影由硬质皮革制成。
The leather is cut out in the shape of a person, and animal or an object.
用皮革剪出一个人、动物或东西的形状。
Each puppet is painted in bright colours and put on a stick.
每个木偶涂上鲜艳的色彩,并用一根木棒提着。
Some puppets have movable arms and legs.
有些木偶有可移动的胳膊和腿。
During a shadow puppet play, Wang stands behind a white screen with lights behind it.
皮影戏演出中,Wang 站在一幅白色幕布后面,后面有灯光照射。
The audience sit in front of the screen.
观众坐在幕布前。
Wang and his friends hold the puppets very close to the screen so the audience can see the puppets' shadows clearly.
Wang 和他的朋友把木偶提到非常接近的屏幕的地方,以让观众可以更清楚地看到木偶的影子。
Then they move the puppets around and do the voices of the different characters.
然后,他们四处移动的木偶,并做出不同角色的声音。
Shadow puppet plays are and ancient Chinese art.
皮影戏是中国古代艺术。
Now with TV and films, shadow puppet plays are not as popular as before.
现在,随着电视和电影的发展,皮影戏已不如以前那么受欢迎了。
Wang and his friends often work very hard for little money, but they do not mind.
Wang 和他的朋友经常辛辛苦苦才挣到一点点钱,但他们不介意。
They want to keep this traditional art form alive.
他们希望把这种传统艺术形式传承下去。