The Power Of The Big Screen — IELTS Reading Answers

the location of the first cinema

“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”

Paragraph A gives the exact address, 14 Boulevard des Capucines in Paris, where the Lumière brothers opened their Cinématographe in 1895.

how cinema came to focus on stories

“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.”

Paragraph I traces the shift to narrative: short reel-length stories, then a successful 1912 Italian two-hour film, after which Hollywood adopted novel-length plots.

the speed with which cinema has changed

“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,”

Paragraph J stresses speed with 'it has all happened so quickly', only a century since audiences fled from the approaching train.

how cinema teaches us about other cultures

“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”

Paragraph E explains that film 'makes the world smaller', letting people know how other places looked and how other people lived before travelling.

the attraction of actors in films

“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.”

Paragraph G describes the star born in 1910, whose close-up presence makes film personalities seem 'more real to us than we do ourselves'.

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

“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”

The writer says it is 'worth trying' to understand the first audiences' shock because that explains cinema's 'extraordinary power and magic', so their reaction matters.

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

“Yet the Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, one of the greatest of all film artists, described the film as a 'work of genius'”

Tarkovsky called the train film 'a work of genius', but the passage never ranks it among the greatest films ever made.

Cinema presents a biased view of other countries.

“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”

The text notes Hollywood's dominance and American imagery spreading 'American life and values', but it never says the resulting view of other countries is biased.

Storylines were important in very early cinema.

“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”

Early cinema's appeal was 'the wonder of movement'; storylines became central only later, so the claim that plots mattered in very early cinema is contradicted.

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

1. Athe simplicity of early films.
2. Bthe impact of early films.correct
3. Chow short early films were.
4. Dhow imaginative early films were.

“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 'As the train approached,' wrote Tarkovsky,”

The train anecdote shows spectators panicking and fleeing, which the writer uses to convey the 'initial shock' and impact of those first moving images.

In Tarkovsky's opinion, the attraction of the cinema is that it

1. Aaims to impress its audience.
2. Btells stories better than books.
3. Cillustrates the passing of time.correct
4. Ddescribes familiar events.

“But in cinema, the real, objective flow of time was captured”

Tarkovsky valued cinema because 'the real, objective flow of time was captured', which matches option C's idea of illustrating the passing of time.

When cinema first began, people thought that

1. Ait would always tell stories.
2. Bit should be used in fairgrounds.
3. Cits audiences were unappreciative.
4. Dits future was uncertain.correct

“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.”

People assumed cinema was 'a passing gimmick' that would 'fade away' once the novelty wore off, so its future seemed uncertain.

What is the best title for this passage?

1. AThe rise of the cinema star
2. BCinema and novels compared
3. CThe domination of Hollywood
4. DThe power of the big screencorrect

“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”

The passage's central theme is cinema's 'extraordinary power and magic', so 'The power of the big screen' is the most suitable title.