film classics and the fifteen to twenty a year from around the world capable of captivating attention — there are enough good and
great movies for us to grow by. The movies arouse the mind and eoul when given undivided attention.
2. Answer the following questions:
1. The extract is written by an American critic. Can you find evidence of this in the text? 2. Why do you think movies are regarded
as "truly an art of our time"? 3. What facts given in the extract prove the idea that nowadays people prefer a narrative told in visu al
images? Do you agree with this opinion? Support whatever you say. 4. How can movies be helpful for people besides relating stories?
Which of the spheres do you consider most significant? Give your reasons. 5. Why do you think movies possess the greatest aesthetic
and educational force? 6. How can you account for the fact that the capacity of the movies for doing good has been ques tioned? 7.
Why in your opinion do some people regard movies as a rudimentary art? 8. Would you agree that cinema can be regarded as the
popular art, that it belongs to mass culture? What do you know about this art? 9. What kind of entertainment is nowadays rivalling
cinema? Why? 10. What is the place of cinema, as the author sees it, among the other arts? Do you agree with him? 11. Do you think
1 Oil and water will never mix. 2. Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind. 3. Familiarity breeds contempt. 4. It's not the gay coat
that makes the gentleman.
2 The spelling theater is common in the American variant of the English language.
movies should be all f u n or rather a thought-provoking and earnest art? 12. What is the main aim of the movies as the au thor sees it?
The only word he uses to denote this art is movies. What synonymous expression would a British critic use? What other synonyms to
this word do you know?
3. a) Find in the text the arguments the author gives to illustrate the following:
1. cinema— a wide-spread art and entertainment of the 20th century; 2. its impact on people's lives; 3. cinema and story-telling;
4. cinema and education; 5. cinema — an earnest, thought-provok- ing or rudimentary art; 6. the place of cinema among the other
arts, its main aim.
Try and preserve the wording of the original. Add your arguments as well.
b) Summarize the text in four paragraphs specifying the role of the cinema in our lives.
4. Use the Topical Vocabulary in answering the questions:
1. What does a usual cinema showing consist o f ? 2. How often do you go to the pictures and where do you prefer to sit? 3. What