戴爾美語練功坊 托福閱讀解題技巧(02/10)
Transition to Sound in Film
The shift from silent to sound film at the end of the 1920s marks, so far,
the most important transformation in motion picture history. Despite all
the highly visible technological developments in theatrical and home
delivery of the moving image that have occurred over the decades since
then, no single innovation has come close to being deemed as a similar
kind of watershed. In nearly every language, however, the words are
phrased, the most basic division in cinema history lies between films that
are mute and films that speak.
Yet this most fundamental standard of historical periodization conceals a
host of paradoxes. Nearly every movie theater, however modest, had a
piano or organ to provide musical accompaniment to silent pictures.
In many instances, spectators in the era before recorded sound experienced
elaborate aural presentations alongside movies' visual images, from the
Japanese benshi (narrators) crafting multivoiced dialogue narratives to
original musical compositions performed by symphony-size orchestras in
Europe and the United States. In Berlin, for the premiere performance
outside the Soviet Union of The Battleship Potemkin, film director Sergei
Eisenstein worked with Austrian composer Edmund Meisel (1874-1930)
on a musical score matching sound to image; the Berlin screenings with live
music helped to bring the film its wide international fame.
Beyond that, the triumph of recorded sound has overshadowed the rich
diversity of technological and aesthetic experiments with the visual image
that were going forward simultaneously in the 1920s. New color processes,
larger or differently shaped screen sizes, multiple-screen projections,
even television, were among the developments invented or tried out during
the period, sometimes with startling success. The high costs of converting
to sound and the early limitations of sound technology were among the
factors that suppressed innovations or retarded advancement in these other
areas. The introduction of new screen formats was put off for a quarter
century, and color, though utilized over the next two decades for special
productions, also did not become a norm until the 1950s.
Though it may be difficult to imagine from a later perspective, a strain of
critical opinion in the 1920s predicted that sound film would be a technical
novelty that would soon fade from sight, just as had many previous
attempts, dating well back before the First World War, to link images with
recorded sound. These critics were making a common assumption-that
the technological inadequacies of earlier efforts (poor synchronization,
weak sound amplification, fragile sound recordings) would invariably
occur again. To be sure, their evaluation of the technical flaws in 1920s
sound experiments was not so far off the mark, yet they neglected to take
into account important new forces in the motion picture field that, in a sense,
would not take no for an answer.
These forces were the rapidly expanding electronics and telecommunications
companies that were developing and linking telephone and wireless
technologies in the 1920s. In the United States, they included such firms
as American Telephone and Telegraph, General Electric, and Westinghouse.
They were interested in all forms of sound technology and all potential
avenues for commercial exploitation. Their competition and collaboration
were creating the broadcasting industry in the United States, beginning with
the introduction of commercial radio programming in the early 1920s.
(A)■ With financial assets considerably greater than those in the motion
picture industry, and perhaps a wider vision of the relationships among
entertainment and communications media, they revitalized research into
recording sound for motion pictures.
(B)■ In 1929 the United States motion picture industry released more than
300 sound films- a rough figure, since a number were silent films with
music tracks, or films prepared in dual versions, to take account of the many
cinemas not yet wired for sound. (C)■ At the production level, in the
United States the conversion was virtually completed by 1930.
(D)■ In Europe it took a little longer, mainly because there were more
small producers for whom the costs of sound were prohibitive, and in other
parts of the world problems with rights or access to equipment delayed the
shift to sound production for a few more years (though cinemas in major
cities may have been wired in order to play foreign sound films).
The triumph of sound cinema was swift, complete, and enormously popular.
1. According to paragraph 1, which of the following is the most significant
development in the history of film?
(A) The technological innovation of sound film during the 1920s
(B) The development of a technology for translating films into other languages
(C) The invention of a method for delivering movies to people's homes
(D) The technological improvements allowing clearer images in films
2. The word "paradoxes " in the passage is closest in meaning to
(A) difficulties
(B) accomplishments
(C) pervasions
(D) contradictions
3. Why does the author mention" Japanese benshi " and " original musical
compositions " ?
(A) To suggest that audiences preferred other forms of entertainment to
film before the transition to sound inthe1920's
(B) To provide examples of some of the first sounds that were recorded
for film.
(C) To indicate some ways in which sound accompanied film before
the innovation of sound films in the late 1920s
(D) To show how the use of sound in films changed during different
historical periods
4. Paragraph 2 suggests which of the following about Eisenstein's film The
Battleship Potemkirf?
(A) The film was not accompanied by sound before its Berlin screening.
(B) The film was unpopular in the Soviet Union before it was
screened in Berlin.
(C) Eisenstein's film was the first instance of collaboration between a
director and a composer.
(D) Eisenstein believed that the musical score in a film was as
important as dialogue.
5. According to paragraph 3, which of the following is NOT true of the
technological and aesthetic experiments of the 1920's?
(A) Because the costs of introducing recorded sound were low,
it was the only innovation that was put to use in the 1920's.
(B) The introduction of recorded sound prevented the development of
other technological innovations in the 1920's.
(C) The new technological and aesthetic developments of the 1920s
included the use of color, new screen formats, and television.
(D) Many of the innovations developed in the 1920s were not widely
introduced until as late as the 1950's.
6. According to paragraph 4, which of the following is true about the
technical problems of early sound films?
(A) Linking images with recorded sound was a larger obstacle than
weak sound amplification or fragile sound recordings.
(B) Sound films in the 1920s were unable to solve the technical flaws
found in sound films before the First World War.
(C) Technical inadequacies occurred less frequently in early sound
films than critics suggested.
(D) Critics assumed that it would be impossible to overcome the
technical difficulties experienced with earlier sound films.
7. In paragraph 5, commercial radio programming is best described as
the result of
(A) a financially successful development that enabled large
telecommunications firms to weaken their competition.
(B) the desire of electronics and telecommunications companies to
make sound technology profitable.
(C) a major development in the broadcasting industry that occurred
before the 1920s.
(D) the cooperation between telecommunications companies and the
motion picture industry.
8. According to paragraph 6, which of the following accounts for the
delay in the conversion to sound films in Europe?
(A) European producers often lacked knowledge about the necessary
equipment for the transition to sound films.
(B) Smaller European producers were often unable to afford to add
sound to their films.
(C) It was often difficult to wire older cinemas in the major cities to
play sound films.
(D) Smaller European producers believed that silent films with music
accompaniment were aesthetically superior to sound films.
9. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence
could be added to the passage.
When this research resulted in the development of vastly improved
sound techniques, film studios became convinced of the importance of
converting to sound.
Where would the sentence best fit?
Answers:
1. 根據第一段, 何者是電影史上最重要之發展?
關鍵字詞--- important development
原文定位 --- The shift from silent to sound film at the end of the
1920s marks, so far, the most important transformation in motion picture
history. Despite all the highly visible technological developments in
theatrical and home delivery of the moving image that have occurred over
the decades since then, no single innovation has come close to being
deemed as a similar kind of watershed.
正確答案為 A , 電影從無聲之默劇發展到有聲電影.
2. paradoxes (n.) 矛盾
(A) difficulties 困難 (B) accomplishments 成就
(C) pervasion 瀰漫; 滲透 (D) contradictions 矛盾
paradox = inconsistency = discrepancy = contradiction
accomplishment = achievement = exploit = feat = deed
pervasion = permeation = penetration
正確答案為 D .
3. 題中作者為何提出"Japanese benshi 及 original musical compositions"
此題主要測驗"修辭目的" (Rhetorical Purpose)
原文 --- Nearly every movie theater, however modest, had a piano or
organ to provide musical accompaniment to silent pictures.
In many instances, spectators in the era before recorded sound experienced
elaborate aural presentations alongside movies' visual images, from the
Japanese benshi (narrators) crafting multivoiced dialogue narratives to
original musical compositions performed by symphony-size orchestras in
Europe and the United States.
文章內容提及, 雖說是無聲電影, 然而在許多例中, 在真正之錄製
之聲音構成優聲電影之前, 觀眾皆可體驗伴隨影片畫面的音樂聲音之
呈現.
答案選擇 (C) To indicate some ways in which sound accompanied
film before the innovation of sound films in the late 1920s
4. 第二段, 下列關於Eisenstein 的電影 The Battleship Potemkirf 暗示
原文--- In Berlin, for the premiere performance outside the Soviet
Union of The Battleship Potemkin, film director Sergei Eisenstein worked
with Austrian composer Edmund Meisel (1874-1930) on a musical
score matching sound to image; the Berlin screenings with live music
helped to bring the film its wide international fame.
關鍵字詞 --- premiere performance 首演 ; 電影 The Battleship
Potemkirf 在 Berlin 柏林之首演與奧地利之作曲家 Edmund Meisel
合作在影片之加入音樂.
由此可知Berlin 首演才加入音樂之演出, 暗示之前影片並無伴
隨音樂.
答案為 A.
5. 第三段中, 關於1920年代科技與美學之實驗何者為非?
針對此種否定訊息細節題型 ----
Except / Not ---- 可利用文中是否出現負面字詞(negative words) 或列舉
(enumeration) 之技巧進行解題.
根據題幹定位key word 關鍵字詞 technological and aesthetic
experiments of the 1920's.
--- Beyond that, the triumph of recorded sound has overshadowed the
rich diversity of technological and aesthetic experiments with the visual
image that were going forward simultaneously in the 1920s.
(C) New color processes, larger or differently shaped screen sizes,
multiple-screen projections, even television, were among the developments
invented or tried out during the period, sometimes with startling success.
The high costs of converting to sound and the early limitations of sound
technology were among the factors that suppressed innovations or retarded
advancement in these other areas. (B) The introduction of new screen
formats was put off for a quarter century, and color, though utilized over
the next two decades for special productions, (D) also did not become a
norm until the 1950s.
選項(A) Because the costs of introducing recorded sound were low .
與原文敘述背道而馳, 正確答案.
6. 根據第四段, 下列關於早期有聲電影之技術性問題何者正確?
題幹提及 technical problems , 意即尋找文章中之負面訊息點.
These critics were making a common assumption-that the technological
inadequacies of earlier efforts (poor synchronization, weak sound
amplification, fragile sound recordings) would invariably occur again.
To be sure, their evaluation of the technical flaws in 1920s sound
experiments was not so far off the mark, yet they neglected to take into
account important new forces in the motion picture field that, in a sense,
would not take no for an answer.
Critics 批評者之論點--- 影音無法同步; 聲放大失真, 脆弱錄音
效果. 此些問題無法找到解決之策.
正確答案為 (D) Critics assumed that it would be impossible to
overcome the technical difficulties experienced with earlier sound films.
7. 第五段中, 商業廣播節目乃為何者之結果
Key words : commercial radio programming
原文: They were interested in all forms of sound technology and all
potential avenues for commercial exploitation. Their competition and
collaboration were creating the broadcasting industry in the United States,
beginning with the introduction of commercial radio programming in the
early 1920s. With financial assets considerably greater than those in the
motion picture industry, and perhaps a wider vision of the relationships
among entertainment and communications media, they revitalized research
into recording sound for motion pictures.
引進廣播節目為了其商業用途, 正確答案為 B .
8. 下列何者說明歐洲有聲電影之發展之延遲主因
Key words : delay in Europe , delay = took a little longer
At the production level, in the United States the conversion was virtually
completed by 1930. In Europe it took a little longer, mainly because there
were more small producers for whom the costs of sound were prohibitive,
and in other parts of the world problems with rights or access to equipment
delayed the shift to sound production for a few more years (though cinemas
in major cities may have been wired in order to play foreign sound films).
文中解釋發展有聲電影之成本過於昂貴 (prohibitive) .
正確答案為 (B) Smaller European producers were often unable to
afford to add sound to their films.
9. 此題為插入句型 (Insertion)
(1) succession (承接) ; (2) transition (轉折) ; (3) pronoun (代名詞)
Firn has the appearance of wet sugar, but it is almost as hard as ice.
此插入句--- When this research resulted in the development of vastly
improved sound techniques, film studios became convinced of the
importance of converting to sound.
當此項研究造就了巨大聲音科技改善之發展時, 電影工作室也變得
相信其轉換為有聲電影之重要性.
原插入句關鍵字 this research ; 判讀該句須置放於某項research
之後, 表示承接原則.
Their competition and collaboration were creating the broadcasting
industry in the United States, beginning with the introduction of
commercial radio programming in the early 1920s. (A)■ With financial
assets considerably greater than those in the motion picture industry, and
perhaps a wider vision of the relationships among entertainment and
communications media, they revitalized research into recording sound for
motion pictures.
(B)■ In 1929 the United States motion picture industry released more than
300 sound films- a rough figure, since a number were silent films with
music tracks, or films prepared in dual versions, to take account of the
many cinemas not yet wired for sound. (C)■ At the production level,
in the United States the conversion was virtually completed by 1930.
(D)■ In Europe it took a little longer, mainly because there were more
small producers for whom the costs of sound were prohibitive, and in
other parts of the world problems with rights or access to equipment
delayed the shift to sound production for a few more years (though cinemas
in major cities may have been wired in order to play foreign sound films).
正確答案為 B .
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※ 編輯: allenglish 來自: 59.126.31.60 (02/18 16:34)