ОТВЕТЬТЕ НА ВОПРОСЫ ПО ТЕКСТУ И НАЙДИТЕ ПОДТВЕРЖДЕНИЕ В НЁМ
He’s the British illusionist who walks
on water and has hundreds of celebrity
fans and friends. But he started doing
tricks to stop his bullies at school.
Steven ‘Dynamo’ Frayne is no ordinary
illusionist. During our interview a pack of
cards appears to levitate from the table
and land in his hand before disappearing.
He continues talking, stops for a second,
then takes the cards from his mouth.
As he explains to me, it’s his job and
his life’s mission to amaze people. He
believes that, as we get older, we all
want to feel young again and that tricks
and illusions can give us that feeling.
Dynamo’s shows certainly do that.
Steven grew up in one of the most
dangerous areas in Bradford. Since his
childhood, he has had a serious stomach
illness. That meant that as a child he
wasn’t as strong as his classmates. Weak
and shy, he was a target for bullies. When
he was 11, his mum used to send him
to school with two older kids, but they
didn’t look after him. One day he told his
great-grandfather about it, who taught
him a few tricks. From then on, Dynamo’s
life changed.
He demonstrates to me one of
the tricks he learnt to stop
the bullying. He asks me
to pick him up, which I do
easily. Then he looks at
me for less than a second
and tells me to do it again.
Impossible! I try harder but can no longer
lift him! Once he started doing tricks like
this on the bullies, they left him alone.
But their fear of him meant that nobody
wanted to be near him. So he spent his
time in his bedroom practising. The
longer you practise, the better you get!
Thanks to that dedication and hard
work, Dynamo is one of the most famous
illusionists in the world today, but he’s
possibly the most modest, down-to-earth
person you’ll ever meet. He remembers
how his career really started. When he
had to spend six months in hospital
because of his stomach illness, it was one
of the worst times in his life. He started
wondering how people would remember
him if he died. This motivated him to
make something of his life. He started
doing tricks in the street. He talked his
way backstage at concerts and did tricks
for famous artists such as Snoop Dogg,
One Direction and Coldplay. Soon he
had a massive following on social media
networks, with tens of millions of people
worldwide watching his videos. Then
came his own TV series which he has
since sold to more than 190 countries,
attracting 250 million viewers.
His ability to get attention was evident in
2011 when he amazed people by walking
on the River Thames in London. At first,
there were just 50
people watching,
but soon there
were thousands.
He had walked
halfway across
the river when the
police stopped him.
So, how did he do it?
Was there
transparent plastic
under the surface of the water? Even
when you look more closely at the
images, it’s impossible to know.
‘I can honestly say that if I started
explaining it all,’ Dynamo says, ‘you’d be
so bored you’d be begging me to stop after
a minute.’ After all, as he says, intrigue is
the most powerful part of it.
Dynamo’s illness has never gone away.
But he finds that when he’s working his
stomach hurts him the least. ‘The best
distraction is an audience. My stomach
hurts the least when I’m performing.
Adrenaline stops me feeling any pain.’
There can’t be many people in the
world who are so calm and
easygoing about walking
through windows or levitating
above the tallest building in
London. But Dynamo is no
ordinary person.
1 Dynamo thinks that …
a doing tricks and illusions keeps him young.
b illusions can remind us of when we were young.
c people are less happy when they get older.
2 Other children used to bully Steven because …
a of his personality and build.
b he had a strange appearance.
c he had more money than them.
3 Dynamo got better at illusionism because …
a he needed new tricks to beat the bullies.
b he wanted people to be frightened of him.
c he had a lot of free time alone.
4 At the start of his career …
a famous people asked to see his tricks.
b he made his own TV series.
c he did his tricks outside on strangers.
5 Dynamo thinks people …
a wouldn’t understand if he explained his illusions.
b are more impressed as they can’t explain his tricks.
c don’t like it when he explains his tricks.

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