Related To Cinema Reading Answers

A The Lumière Brothers opened their Cinématographe, at 14 Boulevard des Capucines in Paris, to 100 paying customers over 100 years ago, on December 8, 1895. Before the eyes of the stunned, thrilled audience, photographs came to life and moved across a flat screen.

B So ordinary and routine has this become to us that it takes a determined leap of the imagination to grasp the impact of those first moving images. But it is worth trying, for to understand the initial shock of those images is to understand the extraordinary power and magic of cinema, the unique, hypnotic quality that has made film the most dynamic, effective art form of the 20th century.

C One of the Lumière Brothers’ earliest films was a 30-second piece which showed a section of a railway platform flooded with sunshine. A train appears and heads straight for the camera. And that is all that happens. Yet the Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, one of the greatest of all film artists, described the film as a ‘work of genius’. ‘As the train approached,’ wrote Tarkovsky, ‘panic started in the theatre: people jumped and ran away. That was the moment when cinema was born. The frightened audience could not accept that they were watching a mere picture. Pictures were still, only reality moved; this must, therefore, be reality. In their confusion, they feared that a real train was about to crush them.’

D Early cinema audiences often experienced the same confusion. In time, the idea of film became familiar, the magic was accepted -but it never stopped being magic. Film has never lost its unique power to embrace its audiences and transport them to a different world. For Tarkovsky, the key to that magic was the way in which cinema created a dynamic image of the real flow of events. A still picture could only imply the existence of time, while time in a novel passed at the whim of the reader. But in cinema, the real, objective flow of time was captured.

E One effect of this realism was to educate the world about itself. For cinema makes the world smaller. Long before people travelled to America or anywhere else, they knew what other places looked like; they knew how other people worked and lived. Overwhelmingly, the lives recorded – at least in film fiction — have been American. From the earliest days of the industry, 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.

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

G The ‘star’ was another natural consequence of cinema. The cinema star was effectively born in 1910. Film personalities have such an immediate presence that, inevitably, they become super-real. Because we watch them so closely and because everybody in the world seems to know who they are, they appear more real to us than we do ourselves. The star as a magnified human self is one of cinema’s most strange and enduring legacies.

H Cinema has also given a new lease of life to the idea of the story. When the Lumière Brothers and other pioneers began showing off this new invention, it was by no means obvious how it would be used. All that mattered at first was the wonder of movement. Indeed, some said that, once this novelty had worn off, cinema would fade away. It was no more than a passing gimmick, a fairground attraction.

I Cinema might, for example, have become primarily a documentary form. Or it might have developed like television – as a strange, noisy transfer of music, information and narrative. But what happened was that it became, overwhelmingly, a medium for telling stories. Originally these were conceived as short stories – 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.

J And it has all happened so quickly. Almost unbelievably, it is a mere 100 years since that train arrived and the audience screamed and fled, convinced by the dangerous reality of what they saw, and, perhaps, suddenly aware that the world could never be the same again – that, maybe, it could be better, brighter, more astonishing, more real than reality.

Questions

Questions 1-5

Reading Passage 1 has ten paragraphs, A-J.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-J, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

1 The location of the first cinema ___________.

2 How cinema came to focus on stories ___________.

3 The speed with which cinema has changed ___________.

4 How cinema teaches us about other cultures___________.

5 The attraction of actors in films___________.

Questions 6-9

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 1?

6 It is important to understand how the first audiences reacted to the cinema.

7 The Lumière Brothers’ film about the train was one of the greatest films ever made.

8 Cinema presents a biased view of other countries.

9 Storylines were important in very early cinema.

Questions 10-13

10 The writer refers to the film of the train in order to demonstrate:

A The simplicity of early films.

B The impact of early films.

C How short early films were.

D How imaginative early films were.

11 In Tarkovsky’s opinion, the attraction of the cinema is that it:

A Aims to impress its audience.

B Tells stories better than books.

C Illustrates the passing of time.

D Describes familiar events.

12 When cinema first began, people thought that:

A It would always tell stories.

B It should be used in fairgrounds.

C Its audiences were unappreciative.

D Its future was uncertain.’

13 What is the best title for this passage?

A The rise of the cinema star

B Cinema and novels compared

C The domination of Holly wood

D The power of the big screen.

Reading answers

1 Answer: A

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph A, lines 1 – 2

Answer explanation: As stated in the passage, the Lumière Brothers were the first to open a cinema in Paris more than a century ago at 14 Boulevard des Capucines in Paris (location of the first cinema) on December 8, 1895 to over a hundred paying customers who were some of the first people to witness motion pictures. As the information is provided in paragraph A. hence the answer is A.

2 Answer: I

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph I, lines 2-6

Answer explanation: It is stated that cinema was thought to be a medium of storytelling which were initially conceived as being short stories since producers doubted audiences’ attention span. It was only in 1912, after a two hour long Italian film achieved success, that cinema as a medium for narrating novel-length stories became conventional in Hollywood. Hence, the answer is I.

3 Answer: J

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph J, lines 1-4

Answer explanation: This paragraph talks about how rapidly the development of cinema as a medium took place. In a century, cinema went from transforming itself from its origins with the film that made audiences scream at the sight of the train to thinking that the world in films could be better and brighter. Hence, the answer is J.

4 Answer: E

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph E, lines 1-3

Answer explanation: It is mentioned that cinema makes the world smaller by introducing people to the lives of people in other places, for instance, long before people travelled to America or anywhere else, they knew what other places looked like; they knew how other people worked and lived. The paragraph also mentions that the realism maintained in cinema served to teach people about other cultures. Hence, the answer is E.

5 Answer: G

Question type: Matching Information

Answer location: Paragraph G, lines 3-4

Answer explanation: This paragraph talks about the rise of stars in cinema. The first cinema stars originated in 1910. Cinemagoers watched them closely on screen and the stars also achieved such recognition in the world. The allure of cinema stars was such that people felt that they appeared to be more real than they themselves did. Since this information is provided in paragraph G, it is the answer.

6 Answer: Yes

Question type: Yes/No/Not given

Answer location: Paragraph B, lines 2-4

Answer explanation: It is mentioned in the passage that in order to understand the extraordinary ability of cinema to captivate and enchant its viewers, it is worth trying (important), to understand the initial (first) shock of those images experienced by the viewers when they saw the images of the first films of the Lumière Brothers. Hence, the answer is Yes.

7 Answer: Not given

Question type: Yes/No/Not given

Answer location: N/A

Answer explanation: Although it is given that the Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, one of the greatest of all film artists, described the film as a ‘work of genius’, there is no mention that the movie was one of the greatest films ever made. As this information is not provided in the passage, the answer is Not Given.

8 Answer: Not given

Question type: Yes/No/Not given

Answer location: N/A

Answer explanation: Although it is given that the lives recorded – at least in film fiction — have been American and American imagery – the cars, the cities, the cowboys – became the primary imagery of film, there is no mention that cinema presents a biased view of other countries. As this information is not provided in the passage, the answer is Not Given.

9 Answer: No

Question type: Yes/No/Not given

Answer location: Paragraph H, line 3

Answer explanation: It is mentioned that all that mattered at first (in very early cinema) was the wonder of movement. So, the only thing that mattered was the fascination of movement that was a unique feature of the motion pictures and not the storylines or plots. Hence, the answer is No.

10 Answer: B

Question type: Multiple choice questions

Answer location: Paragraph C, lines 4-7

Answer explanation: The example of the train is used to demonstrate the impact early cinema had on people. On viewing the film featuring the train approaching, people were scared and could not believe that they were only seeing a picture. Until then, people had only been familiar with still pictures and motion in real life so when they saw the moving train approach, they assumed a real train was about to crush them such was the profound impact of early cinema. Hence, the answer is B.

11 Answer: C

Question type: Multiple choice questions

Answer location: Paragraph D, lines 3-4

Answer explanation: For Tarkovsky, an esteemed Russian film director, the key to the fascination that cinema held for audiences was the way it depicted the passage of time through images that captured the real flow of events. Hence, the answer is C.

12 Answer: D

Question type: Multiple choice questions

Answer location: Paragraph H, lines 3-4

Answer explanation: Some people remarked that once the initial novelty of cinema had faded away, it would also decline in importance. They considered it to be no more than a passing attraction with an uncertain future. Hence, the answer is D.

13 Answer: D

Question type: Multiple choice questions

Answer location: Paragraph B, lines 2-4

Answer explanation: The passage talks about the introduction and eventual course of development of cinema and highlights the fascination films have held for audiences over the years. Hence, the answer is D.