The theater on River Road has ninety seats and one screen. It shows one movie twice a day, at four and at seven, and a little bird lives above the door. The man who sells the tickets also starts the machine and sweeps the floor. (11) A large new theater opened three streets away, with twelve screens and warm seats. Everybody said the small one would close within a year. It did not. (12) people who go there say they go for something the big one cannot sell: a room dark enough that ninety strangers laugh at the same second. (13), the owner now shows old films on Sunday mornings. The seats are still hard, (14) the room is always full.
A film can be watched on a phone on a bus, and millions are. (15) A story works on us partly because we cannot leave it. In a dark room with no clock, two hours pass as the film decides, not as we decide. At home the same film is cut into pieces by a bell at the door and a message, (16) the pieces never add up to the same thing. This is not about big screens. (17), it is about giving one story all of our attention for once. Nobody needs a theater to do that, (18) a theater makes it hard to do anything else.
Joy: I got two tickets for Sunday. Sending you the picture.
RIVER ROAD THEATER
The Long Road Home
Sunday · 4:00 p.m. · Screen 1
Row F, seats 7 and 8
Student 150 · No food inside
Free water at the service desk
Ken: Four o'clock is fine. How long is the film?
Joy: Two hours and ten minutes, so we will be out before seven.
Ken: Then let us eat first; I do not want a stomachache in there. The ticket says no food inside anyway.
全文中譯
喬伊：我買到兩張星期天的票。照片傳給你。
河路戲院
《返家長路》
星期日 · 下午 4:00 · 第 1 廳
F 排 7、8 號
學生票 150 · 內場禁止飲食
服務台提供免費飲水
肯：四點可以。電影多長？
喬伊：兩小時十分鐘，所以七點前就會出來。
肯：那我們先吃東西吧，我不想在裡面肚子痛。反正票上寫內場不能吃。
Questions 19–21
19What time will the film end?
AAt 4:00
BAt 7:00
CAt 2:10
DAt 6:10
✔ 正確答案：(D) At 6:10
中譯電影幾點結束？
解析四點開始、兩小時十分鐘，結束時間是 6:10。喬伊說「七點前會出來」，與此相符。
20What does the ticket NOT tell us?
AThe seat numbers
BHow long the film is
CThe price for a student
DThe name of the film
✔ 正確答案：(B) How long the film is
中譯票上沒有告訴我們什麼？
解析片長是喬伊在訊息裡說的，票上只有片名、時間、座位與票價。
21Why do they decide to eat before the film?
ANo food is allowed inside
BThe tickets are cheap
CThe film starts late
DThe theater is far away
✔ 正確答案：(A) No food is allowed inside
中譯他們為什麼決定先吃東西？
解析The ticket says no food inside anyway。
NOTICE
Auditions for the School Drama
This year's play: a story set in a small town in 1950
Come to the hall on Thursday at 4:00; stay for about one hour
Read any part of the play you like; we will give you the pages on the day
Clothes are cotton and must be worn throughout every practice till March
You do not need to remember the lines
There are eleven speaking parts and about twenty other jobs: lights, sound, clothes, a roller blade scene, and the picture on the stage wall. Please tell us if you would rather work behind the stage; those places fill up faster than the acting ones.
We practice twice a week until March. If you cannot come to every practice, say so now. It is not a problem, but we must know before we choose.
23Why should a student say early if he wants to work behind the stage?
ABehind the stage is harder
BThe teacher chooses only actors
CThere is no pay
DThose places fill up faster
✔ 正確答案：(D) Those places fill up faster
中譯想在幕後工作的學生為什麼要早點說？
解析those places fill up faster than the acting ones。
24What should a student do who cannot come to every practice?
ACome only in March
BNot join at all
CSay so before the choosing
DAsk a friend to take the place
✔ 正確答案：(C) Say so before the choosing
中譯無法每次練習都到的學生該怎麼做？
解析If you cannot come to every practice, say so now ... we must know before we choose，而且明說這不是問題。
EMAIL
A Letter to a Radio Show
Dear Mr. Kao,
I listen to your Sunday show while I work in my father's shop. I am writing about last week's show on old films.
You said that nobody under twenty watches black and white films now. I am seventeen. My class watched one in March, and four of us have watched five more since then. We did not find them slow; we found them quiet, which is not the same thing.
I am not writing to argue. I am writing because a young person listening to that line might believe it is true of him, and stop before he starts. Could you say on air that some of us are out here?
✔ 正確答案：(A) To ask the host to correct one idea on air
中譯這封信的目的是什麼？
解析Could you say on air that some of us are out here，目的是請主持人在節目上修正那個說法。
26What does the writer say about old films?
AThey are slow
BThey are hard to find
CThey are only for older people
DThey are quiet, which is different
✔ 正確答案：(D) They are quiet, which is different
中譯作者對老電影有什麼看法？
解析We did not find them slow; we found them quiet, which is not the same thing。
27Why is the writer worried about the host's words?
AThey may cost the show its audience
BThey may stop a young listener from trying
CThey are not polite to older people
DThey were said too quickly
✔ 正確答案：(B) They may stop a young listener from trying
中譯作者為什麼擔心主持人說的話？
解析a young person listening to that line might believe it is true of him, and stop before he starts。
ARTICLE
Why We Watch People Act
Every country in the world has some form of drama, and no country had to be taught it. Children begin to act out other people before they can read.
One reason may be that watching a person act out a life is a safe way to feel something real. In two hours we can lose a home, forgive a brother, and stand in a court, and then walk out into the same evening we left.
A film also lets us look at a face longer than we ever may in life. We watch somebody be afraid for a full minute without turning away. Perhaps that is the true work of drama: it gives us practice at paying attention to another person, which is the one skill no machine has learned to do for us.