SÜLEYMAN ŞAH UNIVERSITY/ FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT
MODULE 3 B1 LEVEL READING PASSAGES
DATE: ______________ 2014
READING TEXT 1:
THE CINEMA
The first moving pictures were developed in the 1890’s by W.K.L. Dickson, an Englishman working
in the USA. He called his system the Kinetoscope. It wasn’t the cinema as we know it at all. The pictures
were very small and only one person at a time could watch. The earliest Kinetoscope used sound separately
recorded on a phonograph (an ancestor of the gramophone and record player). But there were many
problems involved in getting the picture and sound together, that is, synchronizing. As a result, the
Kinetoscope was popularized in its silent form. The same principle was developed by the Frenchmen,
Auguste and Louis Lumiere. They called their system the Cinematographe and, between 1895 and 1900,
succeeded in exporting it to other parts of Europe, to India, Australia and Japan. The Cinematographe used a
large screen, the the films were still very short- only about a minute long. Like the popularized Kinetoscope,
it was asilent system.
The early films were all made with fixed cameras. This greatly limited what could be achieved and
made these early films more like the theatre than the modern cinema. So, an important improvement was the
use of a moving camera, which could turn from side to side and also move about to follow the action. The
Great Train Robbery was the first important experiment in the use of a moving camera. It was made in 1903
by Edwin Porter, an American, and lasted eight minutes. In the following years, films became much longer
and the screens larger. Other changes were introduced too, but it was not until the early 1920’s that an
effective sound system was developed. Lee de Forest, another American, found a way of photographing the
sound waves which accompanied the action. This solved the major problem of sound-picture
synchronization. A strange consequence of having sound was that, for a few years, the cameras were once
again made a part of a complex device and this sound-proofing system was so large that it could not be
moved about easily.
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SÜLEYMAN ŞAH UNIVERSITY/ FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT
MODULE 3 B1 LEVEL READING PASSAGES
DATE: ______________ 2014
The last major change in the cinema was the development of colour. Coloured photography had been
possible from the 1860’s, but early films were normally black and white and any colouring was painted on
by hand- an expensive, slow and not very effective technique. In 1922, the first real colour films were
produced, using a two-colour system called Technicolor. In this system, they filmed whole consequences in
one colour but the attempts to mix colours to get realistic effects were not very successful. In 1932,
Technicolor was improved by the use of three main colours and the same system is used today. Colour took
longer to be generally accepted than sound. It was expensive and people often felt that it was less realistic
than black and whiteç. This was partly , of course, because the quality was not always very high and so the
pictures could look very strange. Since the 1930’s, there have been many improvements in the techniques of
the cinema, and the style of acting has changed a great deal. But after fifty years, the basics- moving
pictures, colour and sound- are still the same.
A. What do the following refer to?
1. 'It' (line 14):
2. This* (line 18):
3. 'it' (line 20):
4. 'the same system' (line 27):
B. Answer the questions.
1. In what ways were the Kinetoscope and the Cinematographe similar and different? (Give one example for
each.)
2. Why were the early films more like the theatre than the modern cinema?
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SÜLEYMAN ŞAH UNIVERSITY/ FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT
MODULE 3 B1 LEVEL READING PASSAGES
DATE: ______________ 2014
3. What are the two improvements in the techniques of the cinema mentioned in the second paragraph?
a)
b)
4. Why was the achievement of Lee de Forest important?
5. What was the disadvantage of using the Forest's system?
6. How were black and white movies made colored?
7. What was the purpose of mixing colors in the Technicolor system?
8. Did people accept color films immediately? Why / Why not?
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SÜLEYMAN ŞAH UNIVERSITY/ FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT
MODULE 3 B1 LEVEL READING PASSAGES
DATE: ______________ 2014
READING TEXT 2:
SMOKING
There is some disagreement on whether Sir Walter Raleigh, the 16th century adventurer and explorer,
introduced tobacco into Europe, or only popularized the habit of smoking. Either way, he was not aware of
the harm he was doing to future generations.
Smoking, of course, was not always as popular as it is today. It was mostly men who smoked, and it
was considered a slightly dirty and unpleasant habit. After dinner, the men would ‘go’ to the ‘smoking room’
in their ‘smoking jackets’ before lighting their cigars and pipes. Cigarettes are relatively recent and they
have become more available (as with so many other things) by the arrival of mass production. By the First
World War, smoking had left the ‘smoking room’ and had joined the people. This popularity of the cigarette
continued in the inter-war years. By that time, the relaxing qualities of cigarettes had been known and to this
Hollywood added another attraction. With a cigarette dangling from your lips, you too could be like
Humphrey Bogart, or James Cagney, or Betty Grable-or- whoever your idea of the attractive film star was. It
is funny that the act of smoking dried leaves could be considered to make you look better but so it was. The
young people in the 1930’s and 1940’s first took up smoking as a mass habit. This was the period when the
pressures of living first began to be so great that people needed the relaxing qualities of nicotine.
It was not until much more recently, however, -within the last ten or twenty years- that we have
realized what has happened to us. We no longer smoke for the purpose of relaxation, or after-dinner social
enjoyment; today’s smoker lights a cigarette over his breakfast coffee, continues throughout the day, and
puts out his last cigarette just before he turns off the light at night. He smokes as if his life depends on it- but
he knows that his life may depend on his not smoking. The connections between lung cancer, rapidly
becoming one of the largest killers in modern society, and smoking have been demonstrated, but we still
cannot give up. Governments are beginning to take action against smoking – but without too much interest,
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SÜLEYMAN ŞAH UNIVERSITY/ FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT
MODULE 3 B1 LEVEL READING PASSAGES
DATE: ______________ 2014
for tobacco is one of the most profitable sources of tax. The British Government took the enormous step of
ordering the cigarette manufacturers to print a warning that “Smoking Can Damage Your Health” on the side
of all cigarette packets. The only effect of this is that smokers need a few extra cigarettes to further relax
their terrified nerves.
Do you smoke? Can you run for the bus without being short of breath? Can you smell the flowers in
spring? Is your house full of finished and half-finished cigarettes? Do you spend the first ten minutes of
every morning coughing?
Look, I’ve got an idea. Let’s give up smoking. Well, anyway… Let’s give it up tomorrow.
Oh, Walter Raleigh! What have you done to us?
A. Mark the best choice.
1. In the past_______________________.
a) smoking was less popular because of Raleigh
b) smoking was more popular than it is now
c) not many women smoked
d) only dirty men smoked
2. Cigarettes gained popularity because of__________________.
a) mass production
b) their relaxing qualities
c) the attraction Hollywood added
d) all of the above
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SÜLEYMAN ŞAH UNIVERSITY/ FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT
MODULE 3 B1 LEVEL READING PASSAGES
DATE: ______________ 2014
3. 'so it was' refers to_____________________.
a) it was funny to consider smoking to make you look better
b) the act of smoking was funny but this was considered to be better
c) dried leaves could be smoked and this was funny
d) smoking was considered to make you look better
4. The young people of the 1930's and 1940's____________________.
a) became smokers when they grew up
b) needed the relaxing qualities of nicotine
c) became smokers to look like film stars
d) thought the act of smoking was funny
5. Nowadays, smokers________________________.
a) don’t realize how dangerous smoking is
b) smoke for social enjoyment and relaxation
c) have realized the dangers of smoking and are giving it up
d) know they might die if they continue smoking
6. The step taken by the British Government_________________________.
a) made people smoke a little more
b) helped decrease the number of smokers
c) was not interesting for cigarette manufacturers
d) caused a decrease in the tax income
7. This passage has been written______________________________.
a) as an attempt to make people stop smoking
b) as an attempt to explain why smoking is not really dangerous
c) to give a serious history of smoking
d) to point out all the dangers of smoking
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SÜLEYMAN ŞAH UNIVERSITY/ FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT
MODULE 3 B1 LEVEL READING PASSAGES
DATE: ______________ 2014
READING TEXT IV:
FOOD FOR THE STARVING
The number of people who die as a result of starvation is increasing every day; People do not always
die just because they do not eat; they die because they are so weakened from lack of food that they get ill
very easily. Very few people die of measles in Great Britain. Measles is just a childhood disease that most of
us experience and shake off in a week or two. For those whose bodies are weakened by starvation, however,
measles is a killer. And so are hundreds of other diseases. Last year about 30,000,000 people died of such
minor diseases. That’s the equivalent of majority of the population of Great Britain. There can be no doubt
that if those people had gotton proper food, many of them would still be alive today.
Firms in this country are currently spending millions of pounds manufacturing meat. Not meat from
cows but completely synthetic, artificial meat. They are making it out of a certain kind of fungus and from
other vegetable matter. By adding flavour and other constituents, this meat is said to be indistinguishable
from the meat taken from animals. It has the same protein and other beneficial elements that a pound of steak
or chicken contains and we are assured that within a few years we will be eating it as readily as we now eat
lamb or beef.
A larger number of us will be extremely hesitant about this synthetic foodstuff and therefore the
firms involved will have to spend many more millions on persuading us, through advertising, that we really
need the new food. So, by the time the first vegetable sausage sizzles in our frying pans, millions of pounds
will have been spent on the research, manufacture and selling of the new product.
If it is true that such meat can be produced, if it is true that it really is as good as the real thing, and
if it is going to be cheap, these products should not be directed at those who already have enough food but at
those who have none. Let the major firms forget about spending millions trying to persuade us to eat it and
use their marvellous new invention to feed the vast mass of the world’s population who have never seen
meat. Half a loaf of bread is better than none: synthetic meat is better than an occasional handful of rice.
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SÜLEYMAN ŞAH UNIVERSITY/ FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT
MODULE 3 B1 LEVEL READING PASSAGES
DATE: ______________ 2014
Every year the major agricultural countries of the world produce too much of certain products- the
quantity is beyond what is needed or consumed. Milk, vegetables and the like go off quickly as they cannot
be efficiently stored. Modern food technology has presented us with the ability to freeze and to dehydrate (or
freeze-dry) food. Could we hot be sensible and make use of this surplus of products by processing them to
give them longer life and flying them out to where they are needed?
Those countries which sometimes have too much should make their surplus available in some form to
those which have too little. Don’t tell me that it would cost too much money. If a tenth of what is spent on
advertising, packaging, and distributing food is creamed off and spent on processing it for the starving, we
would save a great many lives.
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SÜLEYMAN ŞAH UNIVERSITY/ FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT
MODULE 3 B1 LEVEL READING PASSAGES
DATE: ______________ 2014
A. Mark the best choice.
1. To shake off means _______________.
a) To recover from
b) to die of
c) to have
d) to protect against
2. Fungus is probably a kind of _______________.
a) meat
b) vegetable
c) synthetic fiber
d) fruit
3. The real thing probably refers to ______________
a) synthetic meat
b) artificial food
c) natural meat
d) manufactured products
4. “Half a loaf of bread is better, than none” probably means _______________
a) it is better to give the starving people real meat rather than synthetic meat
b) it is better to give the starving people synthetic food rather than no food at all
c) half a loaf bread is better than a handful of rice
d) half a loaf bread is better than half a pound of synthetic meat
5. Line 29, “those” refers to ______________.
a) countries
b) surplus products
c) poor people
d) many lives
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SÜLEYMAN ŞAH UNIVERSITY/ FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT
MODULE 3 B1 LEVEL READING PASSAGES
DATE: ______________ 2014
6. Which statement summarises the first paragraph?
a) very few people die of measles in the world today.
b) 30 million people died of measles last year
c) more people would survive minor diseases with proper food
d) a few children in Great Britain die of measles because of poor food.
7. The producers of synthetic meat will ________________.
a) supply those who are starving with the surplus of products
b) have to spend millions on advertising
c) find it difficult to sell it to those who have never seen meat
d) be hesitant about eating it
8. Which of the following states the main idea of the text?
a) The people in developed countries are not keen on eating synthetic foods.
b) More could be done to help the starving people of the world.
c) Synthetic meat has greater nutritional value than lamb or beef.
d) Modern food technology enables us to store food efficiently.
B. Mark the statements as TRUE (T) or FALSE (F).
1. It would cost less to save the lives of starving people than to persuade people in the West to eat
synthetic meat.
2. One tenth of what is spent on advertising, packaging and distributing is spent on helping the
starving masses of the world.
3. Surplus food could be processed and sent to poor countries.
4. Modern food technology is being used to make life easier for poor people.
5. Today, the majority of the starving population eat dehydrated food products.
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SÜLEYMAN ŞAH UNIVERSITY/ FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT
MODULE 3 B1 LEVEL READING PASSAGES
DATE: ______________ 2014
READING TEXT V:
BACK TO NATURE
For centuries town and country have been regarded as being in opposition to each other. It has been
suggested that the superficial differences between the two –wide open spaces contrasting with brick and
concrete- are less important than the contrasting attitudes of town and country.
I am a city person who always says that, given the choice, I would prefer to live in the country away
from the dirt and noise of a large city. I tell others that if it were not for my job, I would immediately head
out for the open spaces and go back to nature in a village buried in the country. But do I perceive the
country as it really is?
Cities can be frightening places. The majority of the population live in massive tower blocks, noisy
squalid and impersonal. The sense of belonging to a community tends to disappear when you live fifteen
floors up. All you can see from your window is the sky, or other blocks of flats. Children become aggressive
and nervous- cooped up at home all day, with nowhere to play; their mothers feel isolated from the rest of
the world. Strangely enough, whereas in the past the inhabitants of one street all knew each other, nowadays
people on the same floor in tower blocks do not even say hello to each other.
Country life, on the other hand, differs from this kind of isolated existence in that a sense of
community generally binds the inhabitants of small villages together. People have the advantage of knowing
that there is always someone who will help them. But country life has disadvantages, too. While it is true
that you may be among friends in a village, it is also true that you are cut off from the exciting and
important events that take place in cities. There is little possibility of going to a new show or the latest
movie. Shopping becomes a major problem, and for anything unusual you have to go to the nearest large
town. The city-dweller who leaves for the country is often depressed by the stillness and quietness.
Which, then, is better to live in, the country or the city? The latter causes stress and a feeling of
isolation- constant noise damages the senses. But one if its main advantages is that you are at the centre of
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SÜLEYMAN ŞAH UNIVERSITY/ FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT
MODULE 3 B1 LEVEL READING PASSAGES
DATE: ______________ 2014
things, and that life does not finish at half-past nine at night. The former has the advantage of peace and
quiet, but suffers from the disadvantage of being cut off. Some people have found (or rather bought) a
compromise between the two; they have moved to villages not too far from large urban centres. These
people generally have nearly as much sensitivity as the plastic flowers they leave behind-they are polluted
with strange ideas about change and improvement which they force on to the unwilling original inhabitants
of the villages.
What, then, of my dreams of having a small cottage in the country? I am keen on the idea, but you
see there is my cat, Toby. I am not at all sure that he would like all that fresh air and exercise in the long
grass. No, he would rather have the electric imitation coal fire any day.
A. What do the following refer to?
1. The latter*:
2. The former*:
3. 'the two':
4. These people':
B. Mark the best choice.
1. 'superficial' means _______________
a) natural
b) important
c) only on the surface
d) related to inner quality
2. 'perceive' means________________
a) see
b) satisfy
c) agree
d) stimulate
3. 'cut off from' means _____________
a) prevented from
b) led to
c) compensated by
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d) deprived of
SÜLEYMAN ŞAH UNIVERSITY/ FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT
MODULE 3 B1 LEVEL READING PASSAGES
DATE: ______________ 2014
4. 'compromise' means____________.
a) promise of company
c) varied concept
b) intermediate solution
d) isolated answer
5. The writer says that in the country you are _______________.
a) cut off from anyone who will help you
b) unable to see shows, films and major events
c) never able to find stillness and quietness
d) made to live in an isolated way
6. Most city people who move to the country__________________.
a) try to change the village people with their ideas
b) want to take their plastic flowers with them
c) live far away from the cities they work in
d) bring the city noise and dirt pollution with them
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