[ Journals ] 4

　　Up to about 1915, movies were short and programs were made up of several works. Then, D.W. Griffith and other others began to make longer films which provided the same powerful emotional appeal as did melodrama and presented spectacles far beyond what the theater cloud offer. Consequently, after World War I, increasing numbers of the spectators deserted the theater for the movies. This trend was accelerated in the late 1920s as a result of two new elements. In 1927 sound was added to the previously silent film, and thus one of the theater’s principal claims to superiority vanished. In 1929, a serious economic depression began. Since audiences could go to the movies for a fraction of what it cost to see a play, theatergoing became a luxury which few could afford, especially as the depression deepened.
　　By the end of World War II, the American theater had been reduced to about thirsty theaters in New York City and a small number of touring companies originated there.


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I. Summarize

　　Ｇo to a movie when someone is free seems to became a popular habit since half a century ago. How can it become? By the time in the middle of the 1910s, some movie makers began to make longer films which provided the same powerful emotional appeal as did melodrama and presented spectacles far beyond what the theater cloud offer. After World War I, more people started a choose movies over theater because films were less expensive.


II. Vocabulary words and phrases

i. new words/phrases
melodrama noun 通俗劇
spectacle noun 公開的大型展示表演
accelerate verb 加速
fraction noun 小部分, 微量
theatergoing noun 看戲, 觀劇

ii. useful / phrases
consequently adv. 因此, 所以
desert adj. 無人的; 荒涼的
previously adv. 事先, 預先


III. The reason I chose this article

　　I like to go to movies when I have some extra money and free time. And since I've read this article, I know going a movie when someone is free seems to became a popular habit since half a century ago. Nowadays people are often go to movies instead of go to theater to watch a play because it’s less expensive. And it seems alike now. It is cost more money to go to a show and most we students can’t offer it.