Question

The Lumière Brothers had their film shows, taken over 100 years ago, to 100 paying customers on December 8, 1985. One of their earliest films was a 30-second piece which showed a section of a railway platform. As the train approached, panic started in the theatre: people jumped and ran away. In their confusion, the audiences feared that a real train was about to crush them. That was the moment when cinema was born.

Early cinema audiences often experienced the same confusion. In time, the idea of films became familiar, the magic was accepted — but it never stopped being magic. Film has never lost its unique power to embrace its audience and transport them to a different world.

One effect of this realism was to educate the world about itself. Cinema makes the world smaller. Long before people travelled to America or anywhere else, they knew what other places looked like and how other people worked and lived. Undoubtedly, in the lives recorded in film people knew more about American life. Hollywood has dominated the world film market. American imagery — the cars, the cities, the cowboys became the primary imagery of film. Film carried American life and values around the globe.

And, thanks to film, future generations will know the 20th century more familiarly than any other period. We can only imagine what life was like in the 14th century or in classical Rome. But the life of the modern world has been recorded on films. We shall be known better than any preceding generations.

The “star” was another natural consequence of cinema. The cinema star was effectively born in 1910. Because everybody in the world seems to know who they are, they appear more real to us than we do ourselves. The star as magnified human self is one of cinema‟s most strange and enduring legacies(遗产).

Cinema films originally were planned as short stories, because early producers doubted the ability of audiences to concentrate for more than the length of a reel. Then, in 1912, an Italian 2-hour film was hugely successful, and Hollywood settled upon the novel-length narrative that remains the dominant cinematic convention of today.

And it has all happened so quickly. Almost unbelievably, it is only 100 years since that train arrived and the audience screamed and fled, perhaps, suddenly aware that the world could never be the same again — that, maybe, it could be better, brighter, more astonishing and more real than reality.

1.The writer refers to the film of the train in order to show_______.

A. the effect of early films

B. the simplicity of early films

C. the short length of early films

D. the vivid imagination of early films

2.When cinema first began, people thought that_______

A. its future was uncertain

B. it would always tell stories

C. it should be used in fairgrounds

D. the audiences were unappreciative

3.What is the main idea of the Paragraph 3?

A. How fast cinema has changed.

B. How attractive the film actors are.

C. How cinema comes to focus on stories.

D. How cinema teaches us about other cultures.

4.What is the best title for this passage?

A. The Comparison Between Cinema and Novels.

B. The Domination of Hollywood.

C. The Rise of the Cinema Stars.

D. The Power of the Big Screen.

Answer

1. A

2. A

3. D

4. D

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文。文章讲述“大屏幕的力量。”

1.推理判断题。根据第一段中One of their earliest films was a 30-second piece which showed a section of a railway platform. As the train approached, panic started in the theatre: people jumped and ran away. In their confusion, the audiences feared that a real train was about to crush them. That was the moment when cinema was born.可知，作者引用《火车》这部电影是为了展示早期电影的效果。故选A。

2.推理判断题。根据第二段Early cinema audiences often experienced the same confusion. In time, the idea of films became familiar, the magic was accepted — but it never stopped being magic. Film has never lost its unique power to embrace its audience and transport them to a different world.可知，当电影刚开始的时候，人们认为它的未来是不确定的。故选A。

3.段落大意题。根据第三段中One effect of this realism was to educate the world about itself. Cinema makes the world smaller. Long before people travelled to America or anywhere else, they knew what other places looked like and how other people worked and lived.可知，本段叙述的是电影如何教我们了解其他文化。故选D。

4.主旨大意题。根据最后一段中Almost unbelievably, it is only 100 years since that train arrived and the audience screamed and fled, perhaps, suddenly aware that the world could never be the same again — that, maybe, it could be better, brighter, more astonishing and more real than reality.（几乎令人难以置信的是，那列火车到现在才100年，观众们尖叫着逃离，也许，他们突然意识到这个世界再也不会和以前一样了——也许，这个世界会比现实更好、更明亮、更惊人、更真实。）可知，本文讲述的是“大屏幕的力量。”故选D。