TOEFL reading test 5 with answers

Early Cinema

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. In the peepshow format, a film was viewed through a small opening in a machine that was created for that purpose. Thomas Edison's peepshow device, the Kinetoscope, was introduced to the public in 1894. 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. The first Kinetoscope parlors contained five machines. For the price of 25 cents (or 5 cents per machine), customers moved from machine to machine to watch five different films (or, in the case of famous prize fights, successive rounds of a single fight).

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.

[■] 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. [■]

With the advent of projection in 1895-1896, 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.

Although early exhibitors regularly accompanied movies with live acts, the substance of the movies themselves is mass-produced, pre-recorded 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.

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. It suddenly became public—an experience that the viewer shared with dozens, scores, and even hundreds of others. At the same time, the image that the spectator looked at expanded from the minuscule peepshow dimensions of 1 or 2 inches (in height) to the life-size proportions of 6 or 9 feet.

Questions:

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

A. One individual at a time viewed a film.

B. Customers could view one film after another.

C. Prizefights were the most popular subjects for films.

D. Each film was short.

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

A. explain Edison's financial success

B. describe the model used to design Kinetoscope parlors

C. contrast their popularity to that of Kinetoscope parlors

D. 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.

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

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

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

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

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

A. frequently

B. easily

C. intelligently

D. obviously

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

A. criticism

B. leadership

C. help

D. approval

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

A. They were a more expensive form of entertainment.

B. They were viewed by larger audiences.

C. They were more educational.

D. They did not require live entertainers.

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

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

B. They advised film-makers on appropriate movie content.

C. They often took part in the live-action performances.

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

8. Which of the following is mentioned in paragraph 6 as one of the ways the Mutoscope differed from the Kinetoscope?

A. Sound and motion were simultaneously produced in the Mutoscope.

B. More than one person could view the images at the same time with the Mutoscope.

C. The Mutoscope was a less sophisticated earlier prototype of the Kinetoscope.

D. A different type of material was used to produce the images used in the Mutoscope.

9. The word “it” in the passage refers to

A. The advent of projection

B. The viewer's relationship with the image

C. A similar machine

D. Celluloid

10. According to paragraph 6, the images seen by viewers in the earlier peepshows, compared to the images projected on the screen, were relatively

A. Small in size

B. Inexpensive to create

C. Unfocused

D. Limited in subject matter

11. The word “expanded” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. was enlarged

B. was improved

C. was varied

D. was rejected

12. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence can be added to the passage. Where would the sentence best fit?

      When this widespread use of projection technology began to hurt his Kinetoscope business,        Edison acquired a projector developed by Armat and introduced it as “Edison’s latest                  marvel, the Vitascope.

13. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some answer choices do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points. The technology for modern cinema evolved at the end of the nineteenth century.

A. Kinetoscope parlors for viewing films were modeled on phonograph parlors.

B. Thomas Edison's design of the Kinetoscope inspired the development of large screen projection.

C. Early cinema allowed individuals to use special machines to view films privately.

D. Slide-and-lantern shows had been presented to audiences of hundreds of spectators.

E. The development of projection technology made it possible to project images on a large screen.

F. Once film images could be projected, the cinema became form of mass consumption.

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Answers:

1.C, 2.B, 3.C, 4.B, 5.C, 6.D, 7.A, 8.D, 9.B, 10.A, 11.A, 12.D, 13.CEF