阅读训练
　　Film is a medium that might have been especially made for America, a vast country which, by the beginning of the twentieth century, had a large immigrant population, many of whom could hardly speak English. These people' would have had little use for the theatre, even if they lived within easy distance of one. or for most of the books they could buy because they did not have enough English. But the movies the silent movies these they could all understand, so what America had more than any European country was a huge captive audience, a large proportion of them pretty well uneducated. And what these people wanted were simple stories in which, irrespective of the fact they couldn't understand the captions, the action told all.

　　In feeding the growing demand for screen entertainment, America was greatly helped by the First World War. Between 1914 and 1918 the making of films was not exactly high on the list of any European country's priorities. Films continued to be made but not to the same extent as before, and to fill the gap in foreign imports, America had to increase its own production. By the end of the decade, with Hollywood now firmly established as the center of the industry, America was well on its way to monopolizing the world market.

　　But if by the beginning of the 1920s America was the world leader in film production, it was not then nor has it been since--in the lead when it comes to developing film as an art form. Hollywood film is not interested in arts it is interested in money and the two rarely go together. To Hollywood film is, and really always has been, an industry. There is nothing about this attitude that should make us look down on it. The maker of decent, serviceable and mass-produced furniture is not to be looked down on because he isn't Chippendale. You might wish he were, but. that is another matter. So Hollywood quickly recognized film as an entertainment medium with a unique ability to put people onto seats and money in the pockets of producers, distributors and cinema managers and, mostly, left it to others to develop its potential as an art form.

　　Generally speaking, the efforts to extend the boundaries of film--to show that it could do more than car chases, romance and clowning--were being made elsewhere. In the 1920s in Germany, for example, expressionism was an artistic movement which used film as a medium. Expressionism is described in the Oxford Companion to Film as "a movement whose main aim was to show in images man's inner world and in particular the emotions of fear, hatred, love and anxiety". These days, most serious and sometimes not so serious---films attempt to do something like that as a matter of course.

　　57. The large immigrant population in America prefer film to other entertainment media Because ______.

　　A) the films, especially silent films, were usually easy to understand

　　B) they could not afford to buy books or magazines

　　C) they did not have theatres close enough to their homes

　　D) the film captions were simple enough for them to understand

　　58. What made the American film industry develop during the First World War?

　　A) The drastic drop in imports. B) The poor quality of European films.

　　C) The growing demand for war films. D) The rapid growth of population.

　　59. What can we learn about the American film industry around 1920?

　　A) Art films produced in American were better than those made elsewhere.

　　B) The Americans played a leading role in developing film as an art form.

　　C) Americans looked down upon their own films.

　　D) More films were made in America than anywhere else.

　　60. What does "it" in the last sentence of Paragraph 3 refer to?

　　A) To develop the potential of a movie as the an art form.

　　B) An entertainment medium in Hollywood.

　　C) Movie industry of America.

　　D) Money for the producer, distributor and cinema managers.

　　61. What do we learn about expressionism?

　　A) Its objective was to depict romance and car chases.

　　B) Its aim was to display man's various types of emotions.

　　C) It was developed in America in the 1920s.

　　D) Its motivation was to show man's varied facial expressions.

阅读答案及解析

　　57--61 AADAB

　　57.因果推断题。文章开头即提及“America...had a large immigrant population，many of whom could hardly speak English”和“the silent movies--these they could all understand”。而根据第一段末尾“irrespective of the fact they couldn't understand the captions”，可以排除选项D，也就是说美国初期移民们爱看无声电影，因为无声电影易懂，不用管能否看懂字幕。因此，正确答案为A项。

　　58.细节甄别题。由第二段的“Films continued to be made...，and to fill the gap in foreign imports”可知美国一战期间电影继续发展(尽管没有先前的发展速度)，以此来弥补从欧洲进口电影数量的减少。故正确答案为A项。

　　59.推断题。细读第三段，文中提及“America was the world leader in film production，it was not then nor has it been since--in the lead when it comes to developing film as an art form”，这句话耐人寻味，意思是说：尽管上世纪20年代美国在电影制造业领先，但这决不表示当时美国电影在艺术形式上领先(暗示数量、制造工艺可能领先，但对艺术的领悟和把捏并非领先)。因而选项A和B错误，选项C是一个普通的、正常的美国人绝对不会做的，因而属于常识性错误。故正确答案为D项。

　　60.词义推断题。从上下文可以推断出代词it指示American movie industry。且it文后有“to develop its potential as an art form”，因此，正确答案为A项。

　　61.细节题。文末直接给出了“expressionism”的定义“a movement whose main aim was to show in images man's inner world and in particular the emotions of fear，hatred，love and anxiety”。毫无疑义，正确答案为B项。