READING PASSAGE
You should spend about 20 minutes on
Questions 1-12, which are based on Reading Passage 1.
A Short History Of the Circus
A Serious studies of circus history are sparse, and known only to a few circus enthusiasts and scholars.
What little the public at large knows, on the other hand, is circus history as told over the years by imaginative
circus press agents, and repeated—and often distorted—by writers of popular fiction, Hollywood
screenwriters, and journalists too busy to investigate further. One of the most popular myths about circus
history is the oft-repeated idea that circus dates back to the Roman antiquity. But the Roman circus was in
actuality the precursor of the modern racetrack; the only common denominator between Roman and modern
circuses is the word itself, circus, which means in Latin as in English, "circle".
B The contemporary circus was actually created in England by Philip Astley (1742-1814), a former cavalry
Sergeant-Major turned showman. The son of a cabinet-maker and veneer-cutter, Astley chose to imitate the
trick-riders who performed, with increasing success, all over Europe. Jacob Bates, an English equestrian based
in the German States, who performed as far away as Russia (1764-65) and America (1772-73), was the first of
these showmen to make a mark and provided Philip Astley with the germ of an idea. In 1768, Astley settled in
London and opened a riding-school near Westminster Bridge, where he taught in the morning and performed
his "feats of horsemanship" in the afternoon.
C Astley's building featured a circular arena that he called the circle, or circus, and which would later be
known as the ring. The circus ring, however, was not Astley's invention; it was devised earlier by other
performing trick-riders. In addition to allowing audiences to keep sight of the riders during their performances
(something that was next to impossible if the riders were forced to gallop in a straight line), riding in circles in a
ring also made it possible, through the generation of centrifugal force, for riders to keep their balance while
standing on the back of galloping horses. Astley's original ring was about sixty-two feet in diameter. Its size was
eventually settled at a diameter of forty-two feet, which has since become the international standard for all
circus rings.
D By 1770, Astley's considerable success as a performer had outshone his reputation as a teacher. After
two seasons in London, he began to look for ways to bring some novelty to his performances, to pique the
interest of his audiences. Consequently, he hired acrobats, rope-dancers, and jugglers, interspersing their acts
between his equestrian displays. Another addition to the show was a character borrowed from the Elizabethan
theatre, the clown, who filled the pauses between acts with burlesques of juggling, tumbling, rope-dancing,
and even trick-riding. With that, the modern circus—a combination of equestrian displays and feats of strength
and agility—was born.
E Circus performances were originally given in circus buildings. Although at first these were often
temporary wooden structures, every major European city soon boasted at least one permanent circus, whose
architecture could compete with the most flamboyant theaters. Similar buildings were also erected in the New
World's largest cities: New York, Philadelphia, Montréal, Mexico City. Although buildings would remain the
choice setting for circus performances in Europe well into the twentieth century, the circus was to adopt a
different approach in the United States. In 1825, Joshuah Purdy Brown became the first circus entrepreneur to
replace the usual wooden construction with a large tent, a system that had become commonplace by the mid-
1830s.
F Soon the addition of exotic animals led to the creation of a bona fide traveling menagerie. Hachaliah
Bailey started this practice with his displays of a young African elephant. His increasing prosperity convinced
other farmers from the Somers area to go into the traveling-menagerie business—to which some added circus
performances. In 1835, a group of 135 enterprising farmers and menagerie-owners, most of them from the
vicinity of Somers, joined forces to create an institute, or trust, that controlled thirteen menageries and three
affiliated circuses, thus cornering the country's traveling-circus and menagerie business. With that, the unique
character of the American circus emerged: it was a travelling tent-show coupled with a menagerie and run by
businessmen, a very different model from that of European circuses, which for the most part remained under
the control of performing families.
G Today, the circus is still popular, though it has again had to change its character, to better meld with the
ideas of the day. While exotic animals once drew large, gape-mouthed crowds, the animal rights movement of
the 1970s and 80s lobbied the circus to re-think its relationship to exotic animals. Shows like "Cirque du Soleil"
don't include animals at all and many others, including the Big Apple Circus, work exclusively with traditionally
domesticated animals. Also, there's a renewed emphasis on the artistic presentation of an act over spectacle,
though there's still a market that loves the traditional three-ring animal circus.
