托福阅读：TPO2(Early Cinema)原文及答案

　　段意及难句解析：

　　●第一段：段意：本段讲述了电影基础发展的最初形态：西洋镜(peepshow)，并描述了通过西洋镜观看影片的状况。

　　难句分析：

　　1. The cinema did not emerge as a form of mass consumption until its technology evolved from the initial "peepshow" format to the point where images were projected on a screen in a darkened theater.

　　短语：mass consumption：大众消费evolve from…to…：从…进化到…分句：“its technology evolved from …to the point where…”表明电影进化为大众消费的条件主干：The cinema did not emerge as… until…释义：即直到电影技术从最初的西洋镜形式发展到剧院大荧幕播放后，电影才作为大众消费出现在公众面前。

　　2. It was designed for use in Kinetoscope parlors, or arcades, which contained only a few individual machines and permitted only one customer to view a short, 50-foot film at any one time.

　　短语：Kinetoscope parlors：可理解为电影放映厅at any one time:每一次机会分句：it:指代前句中的“Thomas Edison's peepshow device, the Kinetoscope(爱迪生发明的西洋镜装置活动电影放映机)”which引导的从句修饰Kinetoscope parlors or arcades主干：It was designed for use in…,which contained…and permitted…释义：西洋镜装置是为安装有活动电影放映机的客厅或拱廊设计的，这样的客厅或拱廊安装有一些独立设施，为每个客户每次提供观看一个短小电影的机会。

　　●第二段：段意：该段讲述了发明家爱迪生为增加收益，更倾向于出售活动电影放映机而不是电影，同时拒绝发明更好的放映技术。

　　难句分析：1. These Kinetoscope arcades were modeled on phonograph parlors, which had proven successful for Edison several years earlier. 词汇：successful：成功的，此处引申为“带来经济效益的”短语：model on：仿制释义：活动电影放映机拱廊是效仿留声机会客厅制造的，后者曾为爱迪生带来几年的高收益。

　　2. Edison was more interested in the sale of Kinetoscopes (for roughly $1,000 a piece) to these parlors than in the films that would be run in them (which cost approximately $10 to $15 each). 词汇：them指代前半句中的Kinetoscope机器主干：Edison was more interested in…than in…释义：爱迪生更喜欢向会客厅出售活动电影放映机器而不是出售那些放映其中的电影。

　　3. He refused to develop projection technology, reasoning that if he made and sold projectors, then exhibitors would purchase only one machine--projector-from him instead of several. 词汇：exhibitor：此处指电影放映者短语：projection technology：放映技术释义：爱迪生拒绝发明投影技术，推断说如果他发明并出售投影机，那么电影放映者就只需购买一个而不是几个机器了。

　　第三段：段意：本段讲述电影放映者为最大化利益进一步完善了放映技术，使其能向大规模公众提供影片放映。

　　难句分析：1. 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. 主干：Exhibitors wanted to maximiza profits,which they could do by…and by…释义：电影放映者却想要最大化经济收益，他们可以通过一次性向数百名观众放映几部电影(而不是一次一位观众)，每位收费25到50美分来很轻易地做到这一点。

　　●第四段：段意：本段讲述了随着电影放映技术的发展，动态电影开始出现，它与之前的放映内容有很大不同。

　　难句分析：1. 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. 释义：本句中各成分都有对应：large audience对应hundred spectators;spectacles(表演)对应“vaudeville, popular dramas, musical and minstrel shows, classical plays, lectures, and slide-and-lantern shows”----先前，大批观众在剧院观看表演，在那里，滑稽戏剧、流行戏剧、音乐剧或吟诗表演、经典演奏、演讲和幻灯片都曾每次被播放给上百名观看者。

　　2. 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. 主干：movies differed from...,which depended on either…or…释义：电影与上述娱乐形式有很大不同，上述娱乐或依赖于现场表演，或依赖于一名负责组合节目的专门人员的积极介入。

　　●第五段：段意：本段指出电影的本质：先前录制好，可多次重复播放并无需放映者介入。 难句分析：1. 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. 主干：the substance of the movies is mass-produced,prerecorded material that…释义：虽然早期放映者定期随电影一同播放现场表演，电影的本质是大量生产的、先前录制好的胶片，它们能够很容易被剧院复制播放而无需放映者的参与。

　　2. 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. 短语：mix…and…together in whichever way…：将…与…以各种方式混合主干：Even though exhibitors shaped their film programs by…or by…,their control remained limited释义：早期放映者通常重塑影片，要么将影片和其他娱乐形式以吸引观众的方式混合，要么为电影添加旁白，然而即便如此，放映者的创造性仍然有限。

　　3.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. 短语：the technological marvel of the movies：电影技术的奇幻the lifelike reproduction of：栩栩如生的复制trick photography：特技摄影the manipulation of the camera：对相机的操纵主干：What audiences came to see was the technological marvel of…,the lifelike reproduction of…,and the magic…释义：观众是为了欣赏电影技术的奇幻，那些对火车开动、海浪拍击海岸和人潮涌动的栩栩如生的复制，以及通过特技摄影和玩弄相机所制造出来的魔幻景象。

　　●第六段：段意：本段总结了放映技术带来的进步：观众可以共享影片;同时景象大小也变得同真实情况一样。

　　难句分析：1.With the advent of projection, the viewer's relationship with the image was no longer private, as it had been with earlier peepshow devices such as the Kinetoscope and the Mutoscope, which was a similar machine that reproduced motion by means of successive images on individual photographic cards instead of on strips of celluloid. 短语：with the advent of：随着…的出现;分句：“as it had been with earlier peepshow devices”是与“no longer private”相对比而言的，即早期的西洋镜设备如Kinetoscope和Mutoscope与观众的关系都是私人化的(private)，而如今有了放映机(projector)，放映公开化了。“which was a similar machine that …”作为定语从句修饰Mutoscope;主干：the viewer’s relationship with the image was no longer private;释义：放映机的发明使得观众与影像的关系不再如应用早期西洋镜设备Kinetoscope和Mutoscope时那般私人化，Mutoscope是与Kinetoscope相似的机器，它通过独立胶片上的连续影像来复制动态画面，而不使用硝化纤维塑料。