Opera and cinema have much in common: as a matter of fact, they use music, theater, dance and other art forms at once. Cross-referencing and inspiration for each other have led to several interesting experiments.
Cinema, connected with opera, is very attractive for a long time. Opera has been used both as a setting and as a subject for cinema. From comic films to action films, opera scenes appear in a variety of genres(体裁). Whatever the film, scenes set in or around the opera tend to represent the most exciting moment in the plot.
Cinema is also capable of mixing the visual elements of the opera: cameras can catch facial expressions from close or far, special visual effects can be added digitally, and montage (蒙太奇) can change the meaning of a scene. Far from replacing the operatic experience, opera-based films provide a different, complementary take on operas: they become a genre of its own, which has been called the “opera-film”.
Adaptation of films into operas is quite a new development of the operatic world. It is, however, a quickly growing genre: more and more film-based operas are being produced. In the same way popular novels were chosen in the 19th century as plots for operas, nowadays composers turn to popular or relevant screenplays to attract the audience.
In the future, cinema and opera are highly likely to become more and more closely connected. While opera is fighting for relevance in the 21st century with new music produced, and cinema is slowly losing its leading role to high-quality on-demand TV, the two media can work together to give rise to new forms of art, combining their advantages to create something that can become larger than the sum of their parts.
1. What can be learned about opera-based films?| A．It represents a new genre of films. | B．It focuses on visual experiences. |
| C．It has unique settings and subjects. | D．It appears in a variety of genres. |
| A．Its characters. | B．Its setting. | C．Its subject. | D．Its popularity. |
| A．The two should develop their own advantages in their ways. |
| B．The two should cooperate to make something new and bigger. |
| C．Cinema should take the lead in producing high-quality products. |
| D．Opera should work harder to become a new way of art in the 21st century. |
| A．The replacement of opera by cinema. |
| B．The advantages of cinema over opera. |
| C．The interaction between cinema and opera. |
| D．The similarities between cinema and opera. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Imagine you are driving down a mountain road at night. There are no safety barriers. As the road twists and turns, one mistake and the car will fall off the edge. And, by the way, the headlights have been switched off. This could be the opening scene from an Alfred Hitchcock film. But this is the story of our lives.
As an Earth system scientist, I make sense of the world through data. In the past two decades I have come to see that our impact on nature is bringing us dangerously close to planetary boundaries. How close are we to the edge? This is the story we tell in a new Netflix documentary Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet.
It is easy to think this is another climate story. But it is much bigger. It is about Earth’s life support system — the biosphere (生物圈). As a species, as a global civilization, we are now in the driver’s seat. We are the main force for change in the biosphere. Our children are sitting in the backseat. They are shouting “Turn on the headlights.” “Listen to the science.” “This is our future.” Our generation may be the last with the ability to keep our planet within the boundaries we need to survive.
One person knows this better than anyone else — Sir David Attenborough.
David is the greatest natural storyteller of our time. He has inspired generations of people. Now through Netflix we hope to reach even more people to inspire them to become protectors of our planet.
As Sir David says, “The research featured in Breaking Boundaries is one of the clearest explanations I’ve seen of the threats we face and how we might deal with them. I hope that after watching this film many more people will see the urgency (紧迫性) of our current situation and be inspired by the possibility of creating a stable healthy future for ourselves and the rest of the natural world.”
The key message from the film is that we still have time.
1. What is the purpose of paragraph 1?| A．To introduce the topic. | B．To offer the background. |
| C．To make a prediction. | D．To describe a film scene. |
| A．We have the right to take any action. |
| B．We can decide the future of the planet. |
| C．We should try to break planetary boundaries. |
| D．We are to blame for whatever has happened. |
| A．Natural wonders on the earth. | B．Researches into the biosphere. |
| C．Climate patterns of the world. | D．Thrilling scenes in some films. |
| A．A text page. | B．A diary entry. |
| C．A news report. | D．A film review. |
【推荐2】Spielberg was enrolled at California State University in 1965, but dropped out three years later to seek his filmmaking career.
After re-enrolling in 2001, he studied hard in his office or at home, though he didn’t attend general classes. He worked on independent projects and talked with professors to receive his bachelor’s degree in film and electronic arts. He said happily after attending the graduation ceremony in cap and gown, “I wanted to do this for many years as a ‘thank you’ to my parents for giving me the opportunity for an education and a career, and as personal note for my own family, and young people everywhere, about the importance of achieving their college education goals.” And he added, “ But I hope they get there quicker than I did.”
After leaving school, Spielberg worked in television through the early 1970s, and made the great thriller “Jaws”. He quickly became one of the most commercially successful filmmakers in history with such hits as “Jurassic Park” and “Saving Private Ryan”. He founded the company DreamWorks with his friends.
Spielberg has five honorary doctorates (博士学位), but what he really warned was this humble college degree. He posed for pictures with his fellow graduates, and smiles as he was showered with small pieces of colorful paper.
1. Spielberg withdrew from school in his early life to ________.| A．found his own company |
| B．start his professional career |
| C．prove his education a failure |
| D．make his fortune in Hollywood |
| A．his appreciation for his own family |
| B．the significance of college education |
| C．his determination to achieve his goal |
| D．the importance of continued education |
| A．five honorary doctorates |
| B．humble college degree |
| C．widely-known hit movies |
| D．successful company DreamWorks |
| A．One is Never Too Old to Learn |
| B．College Education and Filmmaking Career |
| C．Realizing One’s Old Dream Needs Sacrifice |
| D．A Humble College Degree and the Great Filmmaker |
Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel Little Women isn’t a stranger to film adaptation, but this 1994 version from the director Gillian Armstrong targets the film at modern audiences without changing its old-fashioned style. Handsomely staged and acted, this is a first-rate introduction to one of the great works of young adult literature.
My Fair Lady (1964)
George Cukor’s energetic adaptation of the Broadway musical based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion won eight Academy Awards. Audrey Hepburn shines as Eliza Doolittle, the lower-class Cockney flower girl who the phonetics (语音学) professor Henry Higgins believes he can turn into a proper lady by merely bettering her speech. The script carefully touches issues of gender and class while creating a credible chemistry between the leads.
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
The latest Alice adaptation on the big screen, Tim Burton’s in 2010, is perhaps the furthest of all the adaptations from Caroll’s original. Burton’s Alice, trying to freshen up a 150-year -old story, picks up the story some years after Alice wakes up, imagining a grown-up Alice who finds herself once again in Wonderland when she escapes from a marriage proposal (求婚).
Lady Bird (2017)
Adapted by Greta Gerwig, this funny coming-of-age story is set in her hometown. Saoirse Ronan shines in the leading role as a quietly rebellious (叛逆的) high-school senior whose search for love and popularity causes conflicts with her mother. In Gerwig’s screenplay, characters are complicated and flawed, yet deeply sympathetic.
1. Who’s the director of MyFair Lady?| A．George Cukor. | B．Gillian Armstrong. |
| C．Greta Gerwig. | D．George Bernard Shaw. |
| A．Little Women (1994) | B．My Fair Lady (1964) |
| C．Alice in Wonderland (2010) | D．Lady Bird (2017) |
| A．Some book reviews. | B．A few popular films. |
| C．Some classic novels. | D．Some film adaptations. |
【推荐1】Pigeons have a bad reputation. Maybe these birds’ familiarity makes them an easy target: They are common residents of every continent, save Antarctica. Some people think pigeons are dirty or diseased, as they spend chunks of their days pecking at trash. Others might ignore them entirely, or perhaps go so far as to call them “rats with wings.” But Rosemary Mosco, a science writer, cartoonist, and naturalist, believes these creatures deserve more respect. “We’ve gotten them super wrong,” she says.
In Mosco’s latest book, A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching, she shares her positive views of the species that fell from grace. Once highly valued for their meat, and way finding abilities, pigeons are now largely rejected by human society. But Mosco, a lifelong city-dweller, has always found them fascinating. “If you do watch them, you’re just entranced,” she says. Her travel-sized book details pigeons’ coloration, field marks, and anatomy (解剖结构). But it’s more than a field guide. It’s also an informative account of pigeon history, biology, and behavior, complete with Mosco’s delightful illustrations.
Because pigeons’ fates are so connected with our own, pigeon history closely mirrors ours. Pigeons were distributed across the globe due to centuries of European exploration and colonization. In North America colonists hunted the native Passenger Pigeon for meat and destroyed its native forest habitat, driving it to extinction. Wherever humans domesticated pigeons, some escaped and went wild. Today’s city pigeons are descended from those birds.
Mosco says she’s met more birders who like pigeons than those who hate them. Birders, with well-developed observation skills, can understand pigeons’ entertaining behavior, she says. Plus, if pigeons aren’t enough of a draw on their own, there could be predators, such as hawks or falcons, nearby.
She wants all her readers to be kind to pigeons. But she also hopes that some will follow their pigeon fancy and become hooked on birding. “It’s my secret plot,” she says. After reading her book, you may agree with her that pigeons are as worthy a spark bird as any other.
1. What do the underlined words “fell from grace” mean in paragraph 2?| A．Live in danger. | B．Push the envelope. |
| C．Play with fire. | D．Get out of favor. |
| A．It covers detailed pigeon science with illustrations. |
| B．It shows the author’s views of a particular subject. |
| C．It features numerous beautiful images and diverse cultures. |
| D．It conveys some views of theories accepted widely. |
| A．To learn more about pigeon history and biology. |
| B．To be fond of birding and follow their pigeon interest. |
| C．To stop hating pigeons and start respecting them more. |
| D．To understand pigeons’ behavior and appreciate their beauty. |
| A．A chapter of a book. | B．A book introduction. |
| C．An animal story. | D．An academic paper. |
【推荐2】Unless you’re blind or know someone who is, you might not know that blind people use the same smartphones as sighted people. In fact, many blind people use touch-screen smartphones every day. The secret is that smartphones have a screen reader, a tool that allows blind people to use a mix of gestures and taps, along with vibrations (震动) or audio feedback, to use their apps.
Screen readers work on desktop computers as well as mobile devices. A well-designed website or app user interface (用户界面) makes the information on the website or app accessible to the screen reader, which makes it accessible to blind users. However, a badly designed website or application will turn out to be invisible to a screen reader.
Many designers find a good way to make technology available to all, which can be explained through an example — the whole touch screen. It was reported that blind users found locating small icons and specific numbers on the on-screen keypad(键盘) difficult. At present, the prevailing solution to this problem is to use the whole touch screen as an input control. Instead of having to touch a particular part of the screen, users can tap anywhere in response to audio instructions. These insights would have been impossible without involving people with different disabilities in the evaluation and design of touch screens.
Yet many technologies are still not accessible to users with disabilities. One way to make apps and websites more accessible is to have people with disabilities designing the technologies. But the design process itself is not very accessible to those very people, because very few tools in user interface designers’ toolbox are accessible. It’s a catch-22.
Our recent research evaluated the existing prototyping software, a tool allowing user interface designers to create temporary models to show clients or to test among users. We found that most popular prototyping software fails to work together with screen readers. Therefore, blind designers cannot use the prototyping software to create models of their own. This is where the problem is in the process of creating accessible technology.
Accessibility is an issue that touches everyone. Providing access to technology is legally required in most cases. While it is useful for designers to be aware of how users with disabilities interact with technologies, the most powerful insights may come from those with disabilities themselves.
1. What’s the major difference between a well-designed app and a badly designed one?| A．The former functions well with a screen reader. |
| B．The former is applicable to most mobile devices. |
| C．The latter fails to interact with desktop computers. |
| D．The latter’s complex mix of information distracts users. |
| A．Evaluating users’ response to on-screen keypads. |
| B．Making input and output controls easy to operate. |
| C．Creating special icons and numbers for blind people. |
| D．Including disabled people in the development process. |
| A．Priority. | B．Prejudice. |
| C．Dilemma. | D．Puzzle. |
| A．To show disabled people’s difficulty in using digital devices. |
| B．To urge people to be concerned about the situation of the disabled. |
| C．To inform us of the specific needs of the disabled in the digital era. |
| D．To stress the importance of engaging the disabled in technology development. |
【推荐3】Four Inventions from Women
Though it wasn’t always easy to get patents or the credit, women are responsible for many items we use today. Below are some of them.
A Solar House
In 1947, Mária Telkes, together with Eleanor Raymond, invented the world’s first modern residence heated with solar energy. The house was called Dover Sun House, built in Dover, Massachusetts, in 1948. She also invented other devices capable of storing energy captured from sunlight, and her remarkable achievements made a difference to current solar industry.
A Computer Term
Grace Hopper programmed for the earliest computer machines. Interestingly, Hopper’s first major invention in the field of software design was the creation of a famous computer term, “bug”. In 1947, she found a small moth in the Mark II computer, and it was this little bug that was “jamming (卡住)” the machine, Hopper jokingly referred to “failing to work” as a “bug”, a strange term that has since developed into a computer industry term.
Dish Washing Machine
Along with another engineer, Josephine Cochrane invented the first hand-powered dish-washer. Patented in 1886, the first dish washing machine combined high water pressure, a wheel, a boiler, and a wire framework like the ones still used for dish drying. As its inventor, Josephine Cochrane never used dishwasher herself, but it made others’ life easier.
Home Security System
You might be surprised to discover that the first home security system was actually invented by Marie Van Brittan Brown in 1966. Alongside her husband, she created a system containing a sliding camera, a two-way microphone, TV monitors. There was also an emergency button with which the police could be contacted in case of emergencies, and a remote control used to unlock doors.
1. Which of the following was created by a woman alone?| A．The solar house. | B．The computer term. |
| C．The home security system. | D．The dish washing machine. |
| A．Solar energy. | B．Electricity. |
| C．Air pressure. | D．Manpower. |
| A．By turning to a remote control. |
| B．By using a new two-way microphone. |
| C．By pressing on the emergency button. |
| D．By calling for help into sliding camera. |
