In the early days of TV, there were often dramas on during the day. Back
in those days, it was traditional for the husband to go out to work and
for the wife to stay at home and look after the house and the children.
Most of these daytime dramas were aimed at entertaining the housewives
who would traditionally be at home, probably doing the washing.
Companies selling washing powder would advertise their
products at times when these dramas were on, and sometimes those
companies would even sponsor the drama. Hence the word
'soap'.
So what about the word opera? Well, that's because these dramas are
often an exaggeration of real life. They are supposed to
represent ordinary lives but, to make them entertaining, lots of
dramatic events, like murders, divorces, affairs etc., all happen
probably much more regularly than they would in a normal neighbourhood.
Most soap operas these days are shown in the evening. Each show will
have several different storylines happening at oncecast members will appear in every
show, too.
that continue
over several shows. The same
There are lots of different soaps on in the UK on different channels but
there are three main popular ones. 'Coronation Street' has been on
since 1960. It is set in a suburb of Manchester and it's
supposed to represent working class life in the north of England.
Then there's 'Eastenders' which started in 1985, set in the East End of
London, and 'Emmerdale', which is set on a farm in Yorkshire, in the
north of England.
NOTES:
- pastime - времяпрепровождение
- neighbourhood - районе или квартале
- to depict - отображать
- housewives - домохозяек
- washing powder - стиральный порошок
- would advertise - зд. часто рекламировали
- would sponsor - зд. нередко финансировали
- hence the word 'soap' - отсюда слово "мыльные" ("оперы")
- exaggeration - сгущение красок
- affairs - любовные связи/романы
- at once - одновременно, сразу
- cast members - актеры
- it is set - зд. действие фильма происходит
- it's supposed to represent - он должен показывать
Источник: http://www.bbc.co.uk |