CAE Reading and Use of English Part 8
You are going to read four movie series reviews. For questions 47-56, choose from the sections o f the article (A-D). The sections may be chosen more than once.
Which reviewer(s) …
47 states the film he liked least?
48 mentions the difficulty in following the story plot?
49 criticises how one of the directors managed the film production?
50 gives importance to how the characters respond to some tragic events?
51 supports a venue’s decision to run the film?
52 implies that the film will not appeal to a certain group of people?
53 liked the acting?
54 wouldn’t have noticed that the trilogy was meant for TV viewers?
55 suggests how some people may find it difficult to understand?
56 says one film is good thanks to the feelings of one of the characters?
Red Riding Trilogy
A
The “Red Riding” films all come across as great, gritty tales of police corruption and human failing, but it’s the first film that has the most impact, mainly because the young reporter Dunford is such a mix of romantic notions — he’s going to solve the crime and save the girl. Such optimism runs dead against reality in these films. Mix the best episodes of the superb British crime series “Prime Suspect” with the current real-feel cinema (“Fish Tank”) coming out of England and you’ve got a sense of what “Red Riding” is about. The key isn’t the murders; the key is the reactions to the murders on a breadth of levels, and those reactions lay bare gray and grave souls. Each film works well separately, although 1983 is necessarily dependent on 1974, but taken as one great sweep of a dark hand, “Red Riding” stands as a wrenching tale of power abused and lives discarded. It is powerful stuff.
B
Red Riding is a challenge. The convoluted story is not easily summarized and it demands constant viewer attention. A two-minute trip to the lavatory or snack bar can be deadly. For American audiences, there is an additional problem: some of the accents are so thick that it can be difficult to decipher dialogue and entire passages may be missed. I’m generally not in favor of subtitling English movies in English, but this is one occasion when such an approach might have been helpful. There are times when the movie is slow going. Patience is rewarded not only in the second half of this film, when the violence mounts and secrets are revealed, but during the subsequent productions, when a degree of familiarity with the initial narrative bears fruit. Red Riding: 1974 is the weakest of the three Red Riding films, but it is effective at setting the stage, introducing some of the characters, and capturing the attention of those who love gritty, uncompromising dramas about police corruption and the dark side of human nature.
C
There’s a good reason the indie-minded Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center has turned over its programming for the next three weeks to the superb and ambitious “Red Riding” film trilogy: because “Red Riding” isn’t so much a film series as it is a film event, and it deserves to be treated as such. Inspired by author David Peace’s neo-noir “Red Riding Quartet” novels, it is ambitious, it is gripping and it is dark. It’s also entirely irresistible cinema, an uncompromising and hard-to-turn-away-from nightmare in three acts. With its muted colours but unmuted violence, the beautifully shot “Red Riding” is similar both tonally and texturally to David Fincher’s superb 2007 thriller “Zodiac” about another 1970s serial killer. It’s also just as disturbing. “Red Riding” is so richly produced, in fact, and so cinematic, that it’s easy to forget it and its sister films were produced for British television, airing on England’s Channel 4 last spring. This is movie that deserves to be seen in a theatre.
D
Buoyed by very strong performances and a deliberate, grim style, the first installment in the acclaimed Red Riding Trilogy, Red Riding 1974 sets the tone for the movies to come and makes clear that these are not sunny days for the faint of heart. These are gloomy times; films not merely about the seedy underbelly of society but the fact that the seedy underbelly keeps things moving. They have been compared to Zodiac but they are more realistically grim than David Fincher’s masterpiece. The film can be a bit too self-serious at times, director Julian Jarrold (Brideshead Revisited) would have been wise to focus on the procedural a bit more than the lead’s dream sequences or moments of reflection, and the film’s television roots show on a production level, but Red Riding 1974 is a well-made, expertly performed mystery with the added bonus that there are two more films to watch when the first one’s over.
Answer Keys
PART 1
1 B — while. There is an opposition in this sentence, so ‘while’ is the only option.
2 D — absolute. Relative and absolute are antonyms.
3 D — masters. C and D are both valid collocations, but the context suggests that the person doesn’t simply get a new skill, they reach a high level of it, therefore we use the verb “to master”.
4 A — after all. B and C do not fit the context — they need a second part of the sentence for the opposing argument. D doesn’t fit because of punctuation — “apart from” cannot be followed by a comma in this example.
5 В — private. Private life is a common collocation.
6 C — space. Again, personal space is a collocation that means “physical space that surrounds someone”. E.g. if a stranger stands right next to you, he is within your personal space, so it would be natural for you to feel uncomfortable.
7 D — lasts. If something lasts, it means that it continues for a limited amount of time, just like the context suggests.
8 C — although. A — despite would need “that” here, B — even can’t be used without “if” in this case and D — however can’t be place next to “but”.
PART 2
9 be. A passive voice has to be used here.
10 to. If something is exposed to something, it means that it is open or in contact with it.
11 some/others. There is a clear opposition with ‘certain’ in the beginning of the sentence. In other words, one group of allergies behaves differently than the other.
12 can/may/might. We talk about the possibility of such allergies happening throughout the year with some good choice of modal verbs.
13 with. ‘To come into contact with’ is pretty close in meaning to ‘to be exposed to’.
14 most. The implication here is that allergies usually appear at an early age.
15 so. The meaning of the phrase is that the symptoms can be very hard to see.
16 goes. ‘Come and go’ is a set phrase that means ‘to appear and later disappear again’
PART 3
17 controversial. An adjective is required here. Controversial means that there are several opinions on it, there is a disagreement about it.
18 immortalised. We need a verb in past tense after “was”. To immortalise here means to give fame and eternal life through works of literature.
19 debatable. This and the next word both should be adjectives according to their immediate contexts. Debatable means “open to discussion, doubtful”.
20 indisputable. The text states that it’s a fact, therefore it shouldn’t be disputed. This clears the confusion with the previous word.
21 remains. Remains is a plural noun that means dead body or skeleton.
22 Analysis. Analysis, not analysing (because there is an “of”preposition after the word).
23 identification. Keep in mind that you can’t use the original word without changing it, even though it would fit in this case.
24 conclusive. An adjective meaning “final, without doubt”.
PART 4
25 has gone off. “To go off” (when talking of food) means to become no longer edible, e.g. get spoiled.
26 discovery (that/which) the archaeologists made. Discover = make a discovery. Make sure you spell archaeologists right.
27 would/might expect people to be less. We have to use the opposite of “more” here, so it means that less has to be right before “interested”.
28 quite impossible to imagine. Quite here means “somewhat”. See article about intensifiers for clarification.
29 to turn it into a profitable. Profitable one refers to the company in question. To turn into means to make, to change.
30 was bitterly disappointed by. Bitterly disappointed is the only collocation that fits here. Don’t forget that “to disappoint” is used with “by”.
PART 5
31 C. Spriggs the Labrador makes the author feel at ease — he relaxes and no longer feels afraid. A and B are not mentioned, D is about a dog that approaches the end of its training.
32 D. “The owners have to take over … they will get our ot the partnership what they put in”. Other answers are either not touched upon or mention a minor detail.
33 B. Middle of the paragraph: “… smallest piece of advice … would make a huge difference to their lives”. A is not mentioned, the word independent refers to the kind of help people are getting. C isn’t mentioned; D states the opposite : “a broken wrist led him to shadow the organisation’s rehab workers”. Undeterred here means “untroubled, unhindered by”. In reality, the author was forced to change his occupation due to their trauma.
34 В. At the beginning of the paragraph, it is stated that there are “many myths” surrounding the guide dogs’ job. It is after that they give a ludicrous example of fish and chips shop to illustrate how things really work.
35 С. The beginning of next paragraph “… how big a jump it is” from trusting your own eyesight to relying on dog’s guidance. B is not mentioned — it takes time to get used to the dog, nothing about controlling it. D mentioned, however it is a minor detail.
36 B. The ending of the last paragraph summarises the experience the author has had. He can relate to the extent of joy and satisfaction that the dog trainer has. A and C aren’t mentioned. D is implied by the joke made by Evans.
PART 6
37 C. Both speakers are upset with the fact that people see psychologists as doctors who primarily treat mental illnesses, whereas their main aim is different. Khan: “… sports psychology is something for treating athletes with mental disorders”. Rossweller: “… most people know someone who sees a clinical psychologist or therapist for a mind-related problem.”
38 D. The second part of Khan’s paragraph is about how psychological guidance of some coaches can lead to negative outcome. Xiu Li believes that some trainers, however, are very capable of providing sound psychological guidance for their athletes.
З9 А. Remember that media involves both TV, journalism and many others. Rossweller talks about positive representation of sport psychologists on TV. Common suggests that journalists are “yet to be fully convinced”, which means that journalists have their doubts about the importance of sports psychology.
40 B. All three experts believe that sports psychology isn’t developed enough, whereas Khan believes that it is mature enough. Last sentence of his paragraph states that the research is based upon “rigorous scientific methodologies”.
PART 7
41 G. The paragraph talks about the light bulb effect being “literally true”, as some parts of our brains activate whenever we get a bright idea. The next paragraph talks about blending science and culture — a reference from old cartoons are examples from the lives of famous scientists from paragraph G.
42 E. “All of which is not bad …” of course refers to the honorary titles mentioned before.
43 B. “But no matter” discards his own acknowledgement of being a bad scientists to continue the narrative. The second part of paragraph B mentions how he got interested in Proust’s writing, and the beginning of next paragraph states that this was the start of his writing career.
44 F. The end of the previous paragraph concentrates on his life in the UK, and paragraph F continues this narration.
45 С. This paragraph continues the narrative about his childhood, where he comes up with examples from his past. The second part of paragraph C introduces his latest book, How We Decide.
46 A. Finally, he mentions his third book called Imagine which continues his series of books on science and, this time, art.
PART 8
47 B. The second part of the review states that “Red Riding: 1974 is the weakest of the three Red Riding films …”. The first reviewer talks about their favourite movie, not their least favourite.
48 B. Third sentence of the review states that a short toilet break is likely to make you lose the stream of narrative.
49 D. Second part of the paragraph, starting with “The film can be too self-serious…” and how film’s “television roots show on a production level”. Reviewer C talks about production, but he admires rather than criticises it.
50 A. The second part of the paragraph states that murders aren’t the key of the film, but rather the reactions to them.
51 C. First sentence of the paragraph. A venue is a place where shows such as movies are hosted. In this case, it’s the art’s centre that chose to broadcast the movies for three weeks.
52 D. Last part of the first sentence: “… these are not sunny days for the faint of heart.” meaning that the softer viewers might find the content of the movie shocking or even revolting.
53 D. The last sentence mentions that the film, among other things, is “expertly performed” — meaning that the actors did a good job.
54 C. Last sentence goes: “… it’s easy to forget it and its sister films were produced for British television …”.
55 B. Third sentence talks about viewers from America who could be having difficulties making out the peculiar accents.
56 A. The first sentence refers to reporter Dunford as having mix of feelings.