The slavery drama “12 Years a Slave” won the Academy Award for best picture on Sunday, making history as the first movie from a black director to win the film industry’s highest honor in 86 years of the Oscars. British director Steve McQueen’s brave portrayal of pre-Civil War American slavery won two other Oscars, including best supporting actress for newcomer Lupita Nyong’o and best adapted screenplay based on the memoir of Solomon Northup, a free man tricked and sold into slavery in Louisiana. “Everyone deserves not just to survive but to live. This is the most important legacy of Solomon Northup,” said McQueen in his acceptance speech.
“12 Years a Slave” was better over space thriller “Gravity” from Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron, which nevertheless got the most Oscars of the night with seven, including the best director honor for Cuaron, a first for a Latin American director.The film starring Sandra Bullock as an astronaut lost in space swept the technical awards like visual effects and cinematography, a reward for its groundbreaking work on conveying space and weightlessness. Referring to the “transformative” experience he and others undertook in the four-plus years spent making “Gravity”, Cuaron, whose hair is graying, said, “For a lot of these people, that transformation was wisdom. For me, it was just the color of my hair.”
In one of the strongest years for film in recent memory, the 6,000-plus voters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences scattered golden Oscar statuettes among the many acclaimed movies in contention.
It was a good night for the scrappy, low-budget film “Dallas Buyers Club”, directed by Jean-Marc Vallee, a biopic of an early AIDS activist two decades in the making that won three Oscars, including the two male acting awards.
Matthew McConaughey, in a validation of a remarkable career turnaround, won best actor for his portrayal of the homophobe who turned AIDS victim and then turned treatment crusader Ron Woodroof, a role for which he lost 50 pounds (23 kg). His co-star, Jared Leto, won best supporting actor for his role as Woodroof’s unlikely business partner, the transgender woman Rayon, for which he also slimmed down drastically.
Australia’s Cate Blanchett won the best actress Oscar for her acclaimed role as the socialite unhinged by her husband’s financial crimes in Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine.” “As random and subjective as this award is, it means a great deal in a year of, yet again, extraordinary performances by women,” said Blanchett, who beat out previous Oscar winners Bullock, Amy Adams, Judi Dench and Meryl Streep.
1.The film which won the largest number of Oscar awards this year is ______.
A. 12 Years a SlaveB. Gravity
C. Dallas Buyers ClubD. Blue Jasmine
2.Which director spent the least money in making the film?
A. Steve McQueen.B. Alfonso Cuaron.
C. Jean-Marc Vallee.D. Woody Allen.
3.How many Oscar best actresses are mentioned in this passage?
A. One.B. Three.C. Five.D. Six.
4.Which of the following statements is WRONG?
A. “12 Years a Slave” won two Oscar awards altogether.
B. The director of “Gravity” is from Latin America.
C. The character Rayon is played by Jared Leto.
D. The woman film star Cate Blanchett comes from Oceania.
My brother and I were in Orlando Florida to witness our first Space Shuttle Launch. The Discovery was to soar at 10:14 AM on a blue sky September day. I’d seen it so many times on television, now I was only minutes away from seeing it launch. And it’s the final demonstration of the of success: Success Takes Off Like a Rocket.
Witnessing the Take Off:
Standing close to the Space Shuttle home one unforgettable point—the Shuttle is the height of a 15-story building—it 4.5 million pounds—and NASA is trying to lift it 200 miles off the ground. On TV the accomplishments look so much , so much easier.
Crowds of people are standing around with you to watch the Shuttle go. The countdown begins through the small of hundreds of portable radios all tuned to the NASA station. It’s enough to get your heart beating .
When time is up, the side booster rockets are lit up and the eight explosive bolts . The first things you see are large white clouds exploding away. Through the steam, you see the fire power. Then the Space Shuttle begins to inch off the pad and climb its way . Thousands upon millions of pounds of can hardly lift the shuttle at all. But with ever increasing ease, the shuttle picks up and roars into the sky, headed into space attaining a of over 17,000 mph.
It is within the first two minutes to launch the Space Shuttle that the great success lesson is . Fact: 85% of the shuttle’s fuel is consumed within the first 2 minutes just to get the 15-story super structure to its orbital .
And that’s exactly how success : The first steps you take towards launching a successful career are the and will require an enormous consumption of energy—a great big push. However, you persist through the launch period, which can seem almost for quite some time, everything gets easier and easier and your results get bigger and bigger.
1.A. advisedB. hopedC. scheduledD. reminded
2.A. rise upB. come upC. step upD. go up
3.A. butB. andC. asD. therefore
4.A. universeB. worldC. natureD. air
5.A. getsB. drivesC. runsD. jumps
6.A. costsB. weighsC. measuresD. sells
7.A. smallerB. greaterC. biggerD. smoother
8.A. rocketsB. workersC. speakersD. actors
9.A. off your mouthB. out of your stomachC. off your mindD. out of your chest
10.A. blowB. followC. glowD. flow
11.A. gasB. smokeC. mistD. steam
12.A. downwardB. upwardC. forwardD. outward
13.A. pullB. liftC. pushD. pressure
14.A. distanceB. degreeC. heightD. speed
15.A. ordinaryB. absoluteC. apparentD. present
16.A. attitudeB. altitudeC. routeD. rail
17.A. puts offB. pays offC. takes offD. drops off
18.A. hardestB. easiestC. simplestD. biggest
19.A. whileB. ifC. unlessD. until
20.A. uselessB. carelessC. wirelessD. priceless
—Don’t be a slave to work, Ralph! You must take it easy sometimes.
—I can’t help it._________.
A. Easier said than done B. Nothing is easier than fault-finding
C. Easy come, easy go D. Easy does it
—I’m afraid you missed a fantastic lecture yesterday. How come you were absent from it?
—If you _______ know, I asked for a day off and visited a relative of mine in hospital.
A. might B. may C. shall D. must
A proposal has been put forward at a recent video conference _______ measures be taken to raise the citizens’ awareness of traffic safety.
A. that B. as C. when D. which
. —Tony, it seems that you have been very busy all the time,what do you think of your occupation now?
—Just so-so. I’ve decided to quit my job in the company next month, where I ____ for five years.
A. work B. is working C. will be working D. will have worked