托福阅读：TPO2(Early Cinema)原文及答案

　　1. According to paragraph 1, all of the following were true of viewing films in Kinetoscope parlors EXCEPT:

　　One individual at a time viewed a film.

　　Customers could view one film after another.

　　Prizefights were the most popular subjects for films.

　　Each film was short.

　　Paragraph 2: These Kinetoscope arcades were modeled on phonograph parlors, which had proven successful for Edison several years earlier. In the phonograph parlors, customers listened to recordings through individual ear tubes, moving from one machine to the next to hear different recorded speeches or pieces of music. The Kinetoscope parlors functioned in a similar way. Edison was more interested in the sale of Kinetoscopes (for roughly $1,000 apiece) to these parlors than in the films that would be run in them (which cost approximately $10 to $15 each). He refused to develop projection technology, reasoning that if he made and sold projectors, then exhibitors would purchase only one machine-a projector-from him instead of several.

　　2. The author discusses phonograph parlors in paragraph 2 in order to

　　Explain Edison's financial success

　　Describe the model used to design Kinetoscope parlors

　　Contrast their popularity to that of Kinetoscope parlors

　　Illustrate how much more technologically advanced Kinetoscope parlors were

　　3. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence from the passage?

　　Incorrect answer choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

　　Edison was more interested in developing a variety of machines than in developing a technology based on only one.

　　Edison refused to work on projection technology because he did not think exhibitors would replace their projectors with newer machines.

　　Edison did not want to develop projection technology because it limited the number of machines he could sell.

　　Edison would not develop projection technology unless exhibitors agreed to purchase more than one projector from him.

　　Paragraph 3: Exhibitors, however, wanted to maximize their profits, which they could do more readily by projecting a handful of films to hundreds of customers at a time (rather than one at a time) and by charging 25 to 50 cents admission. About a year after the opening of the first Kinetoscope parlor in 1894, showmen such as Louis and Auguste Lumiere, Thomas Armat and Charles Francis Jenkins, and Orville and Woodville Latham (with the assistance of Edison's former assistant, William Dickson) perfected projection devices. These early projection devices were used in vaudeville theaters, legitimate theaters, local town halls, makeshift storefront theaters, fairgrounds, and amusement parks to show films to a mass audience.

　　4. The word readily in the passage is closest in meaning to

　　Frequently

　　Easily

　　Intelligently

　　Obviously

　　5. The word assistance in the passage is closest in meaning to

　　Criticism

　　Leadership

　　Help

　　Approval

　　Paragraph 4: With the advent of projection in 1895-1 896, motion pictures became the ultimate form of mass consumption. Previously, large audiences had viewed spectacles at the theater, where vaudeville, popular dramas, musical and minstrel shows, classical plays, lectures, and slide-and-lantern shows had been presented to several hundred spectators at a time. But the movies differed significantly from these other forms of entertainment, which depended on either live performance or (in the case of the slide-and-lantern shows) the active involvement of a master of ceremonies who assembled the final program.来源：北京新航道托福培训

　　6. According to paragraph 4, how did the early movies differ from previous spectacles that were presented to large audiences?

　　They were a more expensive form of entertainment.

　　They were viewed by larger audiences.

　　They were more educational.

　　They did not require live entertainers.

　　Paragraph 5: Although early exhibitors regularly accompanied movies with live acts, the substance of the movies themselves is mass-produced, prerecorded material that can easily be reproduced by theaters with little or no active participation by the exhibitor. Even though early exhibitors shaped their film programs by mixing films and other entertainments together in whichever way they thought would be most attractive to audiences or by accompanying them with lectures* their creative control remained limited. What audiences came to see was the technological marvel of the movies; the lifelike reproduction of the commonplace motion of trains, of waves striking the shore, and of people walking in the street; and the magic made possible by trick photography and the manipulation of the camera.

　　7. According to paragraph 5, what role did early exhibitors play in the presentation of movies in theaters?

　　They decided how to combine various components of the film program.

　　They advised film-makers on appropriate movie content.

　　They often took part in the live-action performances.

　　They produced and prerecorded the material that was shown in the theaters.