Cinema and Television in our life

Cinema plays an important role in the life of any society. It is an available popular form of art. Lots of people find going to the cinema one of the best ways of spending their leisure time. The movie audience is predominantly a young one. Due to numerous video facilities, cinema attendances have declined sharply. But there is no denying the fact that the ci­nema-going habit is still a strong one. No matter how large the place you live in is (whether it's a big city or a small provincial town, or even a settlement) there's most likely to be a cinema there.

There are such genres of feature films as the western, the thriller, the musical, the drama and the comedy. The perfor­mance lasts for two or three hours and most cinemas have at least 4 performances a day. There is no doubt that a good ci­nema show is an excellent entertainment and quite cheap. Of late cinema screens in this country have been dominated by films produced in the USA. And this tendency is growing.

Television, also called TV, is one of our most important means of communication. It brings moving pictures and sounds from around the world into millions of homes. The name «Television» comes from Greek word meaning «far», and a Latin word meaning «to see», so the word «tele­vision» means «to see far». About three-fourths of the 1500 TV stations in the US are commercial stations. They sell advertising time to pay for their operating costs and to make profit. The rest are public sta­tions, which are nonprofit organizations.

Commercial TV stations broadcast mostly entertainment programs because they must attract larger number of viewers in order to sell advertising time at high prices. These programs include light dramas called situation comedies; action-packed dramas about life of detectives, police officers, lawyers and doctors; shows featuring comedians, dancers and singers; movies; quiz shows; soap operas; cartoons. Commercial TV broadcasts also documentaries and talk shows. Documentary is dramatic, but nonfictional presentation of information. It can be programs about people, animals in faraway places or programs on such issues as alcoholism, drug abuse, racial prej­udice. On talk shows a host interviews politicians, TV and movie stars, athlets, authors. There are also sport programs and brief summaries of local, national and international news. Advertising is an important part of commercial TV. Commer­cials appear between and during most programs. They urge viewers to buy different kinds of products — from dog food to hair spray, and from cars to insurance policies.

Public television focuses mainly on education and culture. There are programs on wide range of subjects — from physics and literature to cooking and yoga. Public TV also broadcasts plays, ballets, symphonies as well as programs about art and history. Public TV attracts less viewers than commercial TV.

Television now plays an important role in our life. It is dif­ficult to say if it is good or bad for us. It is clear, that televi­sion has advantages and disadvantages.

Questions:

1. Why have cinema attendances declined sharply?

2. What genres of feature films are there?

3. How many performances have many cinemas a day?

4. In what time do we live now?

5. What does the word television mean?

6. What programs are broadcasted on commercial TV?

7. What programs does public TV broadcast?

8. What advantages does television have?

9. What disadvantages does television have?

10.What does television sometimes show?

 

Vocabulary:

to spend one's leisure time проводить свое свободное время

movie audience киноаудитория, зрители

video facilities видео-салон

to emerge появляться, возникать

cinema-going habit привычка ходить в кино

a settlement поселок

adventures приключения

grown-ups взрослые

not without pleasure не без удовольствия

to include включать

feature film художественный фильм

genre жанр

western вестерн

thriller триллер

performance сеанс

entertainment развлечение

cinema screens киноэкран

to give preference to smth. отдавать предпочтение ч.л.

an essential feature важная черта

moving pictures движущееся изображение

commercial station коммерческая станция

advertising time рекламное эфирное время

operating costs издержки

public station общественные станции

to broadcast передавать

entertainment развлечение

to attract привлекать

viewer зритель

drama телеспектакль

situation comedy комедия ситуаций

action-packed полный событий

comedian актер-комик

quiz show викторина

cartoon мультипликационный фильм

documentary документальная передача

talk show ток-шоу

issue проблема, вопрос

racial prejudice расовые предрассудки

host ведущий

to interview брать интервью

summary обзор

advertising реклама

commercial рекламный ролик

to urge убеждать

to focus сосредоточиваться

play пьеса

art искусство

entertainment развлечение

to turn on включать

pop music поп-музыка

Dialogue:

- Shall we see a film this evening?

- That would be delightful. I haven’t seen any films for many weeks.

- There are several movies in my neighbourhood which show the latest pictures.

- Let’s consult the newspaper to see what movies are being shown in town.

- A splendid idea.

- At the nearest cinema house they show a film which is considered the best film of the year.

- My wife and I have already seen it. We enjoyed it immensely.

- Here is a good programme. They show two main pictures: a French film and an American. I don’t think you have seen them.

- I have seen neither of them. Shall we be able to obtain seats? That movie house is always full.

- Seats are not reserved at that movie house, but I am sure we shall be able to get in. Most likely we’ll have to wait for stall seats. Shall we buy balcony seats, if stall seats are not available?

- Please don’t. I have seen a film from the balcony. It is too far from the screen. You know my eyesight is rather poor. I wear glasses.

- The movie starts in ten minutes. There are many comfortable seats in the foyer. We can wait there and enjoy a cigarette in the meantime. After the picture ends there will be many vacant seats.

Translate into English:

1. Многие люди считают по­сещение кинотеатров одним из самых лучших способов проведения свободного времени.

2. Каким бы большим ни было место, где вы живете (будь это большой город, маленький провинциальный городок или даже поселок), вполне вероятно, что там есть кинотеатр.

3. Существуют такие жанры художественных фильмов, как вестерн, мюзикл, драма и комедия.

4. Телевидение является одним из наших самых важных средств коммуникации. 5. Название «телевидение» происходит от греческого сло­ва, означающего «далеко» и латинского слова, означающе­го «видеть», таким образом, слово «телевидение» означает «далеко видеть».

6. Коммерческие телестанции передают в основном развле­кательные передачи, так как они должны привлекать боль­шее количество зрителей, чтобы продавать эфирное время по большим ценам.

7. Докумен­тальная передача — это драматическое, однако реальное представление событий.

8. Телевидение играет важную роль в нашей жизни.

9. Телевидение имеет свои преимущества и недостатки.

10. Мой друг сказал мне, что когда у него сломался телеви­зор, то он и вся его семья обнаружили, что у них появилось больше времени на то, чтобы что-то сделать или поговорить друг с другом.