5) Until the early 1950s the dominance of the movie was obvious and it _______ the main source of public entertainment.
6) By the late 1970s, specialists at Dolby Laboratories started their development of the Dolby Stereo system, whereby information _____ _____ by three front speakers and a few rear speakers.
7) The invention of the «boom» subwoofer channel had an added advantage: it effectively ______ the dynamic range of theatrical installations.
8) The growing popularity of television certainly _______ the development of the film industry.
9) The analog four-channel arrangement Quad turned out to _____ _____ by a multitude of economic, technical, and aesthetic problems that eventually led to its failure.
Vocabulary work: adjectives and adverbs
A lot of adverbs are made from adjectives by adding —ly:
Quick-quickly, careful-carefully
Note that not all words, which end in —ly, are adverbs. There are some adjectives that have the —ly ending, too:
Friendly, lively, etc.
11. Transform the adjectives into adverbs using the pattern given below. Work out the meaning of the unknown words from the text.
Example: amazing – amazingly
Certain, real, meaningful, desperate, eventual, significant, great, progressive, complete, optical, separate, effective, approximate, sufficient, definite.
Use the words in sentences of your own.
TALKING AND DISCUSSING POINT
12. Make a plan to the article using your notes in exercise 5.
13. Write a key sentence for each point of your plan.
14. Make a summary of the article adding a few more sentences to each point of your plan. Use the key words.
15. Answer the «What do you think» questions.
1) Why did television threaten the cinema in the early 1950s?
2) Which of the two opponents —the movie or the television – has eventually won?
3) Why 3D glasses are called a gimmick in the text? What other «gimmicks» used to attract audience can you name?
4) Are there any economic, technical and aesthetic problems in the sphere of the sound production nowadays?
5) What technological advances in the surround sound will be achieved in the nearest future?
WRITING
16. Write a commentary that contains two arguments for and two arguments against the statement: «Society cannot do without technologies.» Write 120—180 words.
17. Write an essay commenting on the following statement (State Exam Writing).
Work is the most important thing in life.
Do you agree with the statement? What is your point of view?
Write 200—250 words.
Use the plan below:
– make an introduction (state the problem)
– express your personal opinion giving 2—3 reasons to support it
– express an opposing opinion giving 1—2 reasons for it
– explain why you do not agree with the opposing opinion
– write a conclusion restating your position
CHECK POINT
18. Complete the sentences choosing from the words in brackets. Use the information you have learnt from Unit 1, Part 2.
1) Though some advances introduced by the film studios in the 1950s were just … (gimmicks, failures, digital schemes) to attract viewers, other ones eventually developed into significant improvements.
2) The stereo recordings of a … (child, ping – pong ball, football) bouncing between speakers encouraged the growth of the modern consumer surround sound.
3) In the early 1970s, the … (research, experiment, record) into the consumer surround sound led to an analog four – channel configuration called Quad.
4) The «LFE channel» invented by Dolby specialists in the 1970s really (decreased, made, increased) dynamic range in cinematic configurations.
5) In the name «5.1» the». 1» stands for the LFE channel because it carries only approximately (one-third, one-fifth, one-tenth) of the frequency range of the other channels.
Text 3. Part 3. The 1990s – today
PRE-READING
1. Guess the meaning of the following words from the text.
Organization, information, communication, optimum, allocation, classical, material, effect, result, document, accompany, professional, standard, factual, industry, recommendation, modern, mix, method, equally, film, production, role, studio, number, laser, disc, encoded, industry, theater, mass, public, manufacturer, multitrack, component, console, monitor, integral, automobile, gadget, content, compromise.
2. Think of some more words or phrases to supplement the list above.
3. Think of some achievements in the sphere of sound production that have come in sight over the past 30 years. How have they influenced ordinary customers’ lives?
SUBJECT AND LANGUAGE STUDY
Reading
4. Skim the text. Are the following statements true or false?
1) The ITU carried out research to determine the optimal position of the speaker in a 5.1 system.
2) The ITU document «Recommendation for Multichannel Stereophonic Sound System With and Without Accompanying Picture» came out in 1990.
3) In the 1990s, at least five major film digital surround sound encoding formats made appearance.
4) The DVD appeared in the middle 90s.
5) Using high definition formats to allocate content surround sound producers can do without clipping and sonic compromise.
In the early 1990s, the organization that is responsible for information and communication technologies throughout the world known as the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) conducted research aimed at determining the optimum speaker allocation in a 5.1 arrangement. The research was based mainly on the classical music as source material and the rear speakers were described only as «effects» or «ambience» speakers. As a result, a document entitled «Recommendation for Multichannel Stereophonic Sound System With and Without Accompanying Picture» was issued in 1994. Actually, professionals widely accepted it as a factual industry standard. The ITU Recommendation, however, may not be considered to be perfectly suitable for many music applications, since it came out long before the appearance of modern surround sound mixing methods which treat all the five speakers as equally important.
The 1990s were featured by development and proliferation of digital audio systems. Employment of digital audio for film production was practically becoming a commonplace;