21世紀大學藝術英語教程 2（簡體書）

Task 4 Reading Comprehension
Read the following passages and choose the best answer for each question .
Passage One
Only two major American film forms - the slapstick comedy (滑稽劇 ) and the Western (西部電影) -withstood the effects of foreign influences throughout the 1920s, when the entire film industry was dominated by the European moviemakers.These forms were already immensely popular all over the world(there was no need to make them more "artistic" by following the latest European fashions) , and they were at once too successful and too lowly to warrant(保證) such improvements - they were considered "just entertainment" . They bore no weighty messages, inspired no cults and no schools of aesthetics (美學) . But they delighted audiences, both here and abroad, because they were so purely and simply American.The ingenuity and eternal optimism of the comics and the cowboys spirit of adventure as they rode the plains in search of the next frontier were enough to carry the message of the American dream to tired Europeans, to cramped city dwellers, to small boys, to people everywhere.
What did these films promise to European audiences exhausted by World War Ⅰ? The humble always triumphed over their powerful adversaries (對手) , the weak outwitted the strong - and always implied was a future of riches, freedom, and happiness for all.The world of the Westerns was a simple place for men with the pioneer virtues of honesty, courage, a taste for adventure, and a quick trigger finger; the world of the comics was a crazy place, but with a little faith and a little luck, it could be a wonderful place.
1.The slapstick comedy and the Western were the only American film forms of the 1920s that____.
A) withstood the effects of European influences
B) retained their popularity with audiences
C) drew audiences into the theaters
D) made money for American producers
2.Westerns and comedies were "just entertainment" because ____.
A) not much money was spent on them B) the characters were tunny, not heroic
C) they had no plots D) they carried no weighty messages.