Foreign markets may also influence how people get their movies. Different nations have different levels of technology.
Efforts to settle on the next-generation DVD got a lot of attention recently. Sony’s Blu-ray technology for high-definition televisions won the competition with Toshiba’s HD DVD format.
Yet DVD sales have dropped in recent years. This may be a sign that people are increasingly getting their movies off the Internet. The Internet is another front in Hollywood’s war on piracy. But more than that, it presents complex business questions for an industry now built mostly on DVD and ticket sales.
Questions 26 to 29 are based on the passage you have just heard.
26. What percentage of ticket sales for Hollywood studios come from inside the United States?
27. Why has Hollywood lost market share in South Korea?
28. What are American movie companies doing to fight against piracy?
29. Why have DVD sales dropped in recent years?
Passage Two
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was one of the most influential presidents in American history. He was elected president four times. He served more than 12 years, longer than any other president. He led the nation through its worst economic crisis, and through one of its worst wars.
Franklin Roosevelt was first elected president in 1932. As the Democratic candidate, he defeated President Herbert Hoover. Americans were suffering through a terrible economic depression. About 25 percent of American workers had lost their jobs. They had no money. They had no hope. They waited in long lines to receive free food. Americans did not know if the new president could end the economic crisis.
On the day Franklin Roosevelt was elected as the new president, he promised, “This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” During the next three months, he led Congress in passing more major new programs than what the nation had seen for many years. President Roosevelt called his reform program “The New Deal”.
He was reelected president for the fourth time in 1944. Most Americans believed the country should not change its leader in the middle of a war. When he was sworn in, President Roosevelt’s speech lasted only six minutes. He declared that America had learned that we cannot live alone at peace, that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of nations far away.
President Roosevelt did not live to see the victory of the Allies and the end of World War II. He died less than three months later, on April 12th, 1945, in Warm Springs, Georgia.
Questions 30 to 32 are based on the passage you have just heard.
30. How many times was Franklin Roosevelt elected president?
31. What was Franklin Roosevelt’s biggest achievement?
32. When did President Roosevelt die?
Passage Three
Millions of people around the world cook their food over a smoky fire every day. It is often difficult to find wood for the fire. People who do not have wood must spend large amounts of money on cooking fuel. However, there is a much easier way to cook food using energy from the sun. |
