阅读理解   Directions: In this section, there are 3 passages followed by multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then write ONE best answer for each question on your ANSWER SHEET.


Passage 2

Practically speaking, the artistic maturing of the cinema was the single-handed achievement of David W. Griffith (1875-1848). Before Griffith, photography in dramatic films consisted of little more than placing the actors before a stationary camera and showing them in full length as they would have appeared on stage. From the beginning of his career as a director, however, Griffith, because of his love of Victorian painting, employed composition. He conceived of the camera image as having a foreground and a rear ground, as well as the middle distance preferred by most directors. By 1910 he was using close-ups to reveal significant details of the scene or of the acting and extreme long shots to achieve a sense of spectacle and distance. His appreciation of the camera’s possibilities produced novel dramatic effects. By splitting an event into fragments and recording each from the most suitable camera position, he could significantly vary the emphasis from camera shot to camera shot.

Griffith also achieved dramatic effects by means of creative editing. By juxtaposing images and varying the speed and rhythm of their presentation, he could control the dramatic intensity of the events as the story progressed. Despite the reluctance of his producers, who feared that the public would not be able to follow a plot that was made up of such juxtaposed images, Griffith persisted, and experimented as well with other elements of cinematic syntax that have become standard ever since. These included the flashback, permitting broad psychological and emotional exploration as well as narrative that was not chronological, and the crosscut between two parallel actions to heighten suspense and excitement. In thus exploiting fully the possibilities of editing, Griffith transposed devices of the Victorian novel to film and gave film mastery of time as well as space.

Besides developing the cinema’s language, Griffith immensely broadened its range and treatment of subjects. His early output was remarkably eclectic: it included not only the standard comedies, melodramas, westerns, and thrillers, but also such novelties as adaptations from Browning and Tennyson, and treatments of social issues. As his successes mounted, his ambitions grew, and with them the whole of American cinema.

When he remade Enoch Arden in 1911, he insisted that a subject of such importance could not be treated in the then conventional length of one reel. Griffith’s introduction of the American-made multi-reel picture began an immense revolution. Two years later, Judith of Bethulia, an elaborate historicophilosophical spectacle, reached the unprecedented length of four reels, or one hour’s running time. From our contemporary viewpoint, the pretension of this film may seem a trifle ludicrous, but at the time it provoked endless debate and discussion and gave a new intellectual respectability to the cinema. 

单选题 The primary purpose of the passage is to ________.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】文章第一段简单介绍了Griffith在拍摄技法方面的改进； 第二段则讲述他在电影剪辑上的创新； 第三、四段则介绍了它在电影取材和影片长度方面的创新。总结可知作者主要讨论的是Griffith对电影拍摄做出的杰出贡献，选项A最能概括文章主旨。
单选题 The author suggests that Griffith’s film innovations had a direct effect on all of the following EXCEPT _____.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】文章第一段提到了Griffith采用近镜头将场景或表演及长镜头来展示重要的细节，以获得一种近距美感，这可以看出他对摄影技巧的直接影响； 文章第二段提到Griffith还通过创造性的剪辑获得了戏剧性效果，这可以看作是对电影剪辑的影响； 该段还提到Griffith在情节、场景上做出的改变，包括倒叙，允许广泛的心理与情感探索及非编年式的叙述，以及两个平行动作之间的横切以增强悬念与刺激感。文章并没有提及Griffith对电影声音剪辑的影响，所以答案选D。
单选题 It can be inferred from the passage that before 1910 the normal running time of a film was _____.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】文章最后一段指出Griffith在1911年拍摄Epoch Arden时，首次提出电影时间应当根据内容的重要程度灵活安排，可以超过传统一卷长度的限制。最后一段第三句则指出“…reached the unprecedented length of four reels, or one hour’s running time”，两年后Griffith拍的电影达到了四卷长度，也就是一个小时。由此可知传统的一卷长度是15分钟左右。
单选题 The author asserts that Griffith introduced all of the following into American cinema EXCEPT _____.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】文章第二段最后一句话提到“Griffith transposed devices of the Victorian novel to film and gave film mastery of time as well as space”，Griffith将维多利亚时代的小说手法运用到电影中而不是C选项提到的“将维多利亚剧院建议的戏剧情节带到美国电影中”，故选C。
单选题 The author suggests that Griffith’s contributions to the cinema had which of the following results?

Ⅰ . Literary works, especially Victorian novels, became popular sources for film subjects.

Ⅱ . Audience appreciation of other film directors’ experimentations with cinematic syntax was increased.

Ⅲ. Many of the artistic limitations thought to be inherent in filmmaking were shown to be really nonexistent.

【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】文章第一句提到“…the artistic maturing of the cinema was the single-handed achievement of David W.Griffith”，电影艺术的成熟是David W. Griffith一手成就的。因此选项B“许多被认为是电影制作固有的艺术局限实际上是不存在的”符合题意要求。
单选题 It can be inferred from the passage that Griffith would be most likely to agree with which of the followingstatements?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】文章第一段主要讲的是Griffith对摄像机的创新利用，改变了拍摄手法，增加了电影的魅力。由此可知Griffith十分强调摄影机在电影拍摄时的应用。选项B“在电影的创作中，摄影机必须是一个完整的、活跃的元素”符合原文意思，答案选B。
单选题 The author’s attitude toward photography in the cinema before Griffith can best be described as _____.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】文章第一段第二句指出“Before Griffith, photography in dramatic films consisted of little more than placing the actors before a stationary camera and showing them in full length as they would have appeared on stage.”，在Griffith之前，在戏剧性的电影中，摄影只是把演员放在固定的摄像机前，并展示他们在舞台上表演的完整长度。从短语little more than（仅仅是） 可以推测出作者对于Griffith之前的拍摄手法是持消极态度的。