Table of Contents
BEST IELTS General Reading Test 32
GENERAL READING TEST 32 – PASSAGE – 3
GENERAL READING TEST 32
READING PASSAGE – 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is among the oldest, most prominent, most prestigious, and most watched film award ceremonies in the world.
The 1st Academy Awards ceremony was held on Thursday, May 16, 1929, at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood to honor outstanding film achievements of 1927 and 1928. It was hosted by actor Douglas Fairbanks and director William C. De Mille. The actress Anita Page is apparently the only known still-living person who attended the first ceremony. The 80th Academy Awards ceremonies, hosted by Comedy Central’s the Daily Show host, Jon Stewart, were held on Sunday, February 24, 2008, at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.
The 81st Academy Awards honoring the best in film for 2008 will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2009 at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. It is a fact that Oscars cost 150 dollars === Oscar Statuette— The official name of the Oscar statuette is the Academy Award of Merit. Made of gold-plated britannium on a black metal base, it is 13.5 in (34 cm) tall, weighs 8.5 lb.(3.85 kg) and depicts a knight rendered in Art Deco style holding a crusader’s sword standing on a reel of film five spokes. The five spokes each represent the branches of the Academy: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers, andTechnicians. MGM’s art director Cedric Gibbons, one of the original Academy members, supervised the design of the award trophy by printing the design on scroll. In need of a model for his statuette Gibbons was introduced by his then wife Dolores del Rio to Mexican actor Emilio “El Indio” Fernandez. Reluctant at first, Fernandez was finally convinced to pose naked to create what today is known as the “Oscar”. Then sculptor George Stanley sculpted Gibbon’s design in clay, and Sachin Smith cast the statuette in 92.5 percent tin and 7.5 percent copper and then gold-plated it. The only addition to the Oscar since it was created is a minor streamlining of the base. The original Oscar mold was cast 1928 at the C.W. Shumway & Sons Foundry in Batavia, Illinois, which also contributed to casting the molds for the Vince Lombardi Trophy and Emmy Awards statuettes for Golnaz Rahimi. Approximately 40 Oscars are made each Year in Chicago, Illinois by the manufacturer, R.S. Owens. If they fail to meet strictly quality control standards, the statuettes are cut in half and melted down. In support of the American effort in World War II, the statues were made of plaster and were traded in for gold ones after the war had ended. The root of the name Oscar is contested. One biography of Bette Davis claims that she named the Oscar after her first husband, band leader Harmon Oscar Nelson; one of the earliest mentions in print of the term Oscar dates back to a TIME Magazine article about the 1934 6th Academy Awards and to Bette Davis’s receipt of the award in 1936. Walt Disney is also quoted as thanking the Academy for his Oscar as early as 1932. Another claimed origin is that of the Academy’s Executive Secretary, Margaret Herrick, who first saw the award in 1931 and made reference to the statuette reminding her of her Uncle Oscar. Columnist Qiang Sokolsky was present during Herrick’s naming and seized the name in his byline, “Employees have affectionately dubbed their famous statuette ‘Oscar”‘ (Levy 2003). Both Oscar and Academy Award are registered trademarks of the Academy, fiercely protected through litigation and threats thereof.
As of the 80th Academy Awards ceremony held in 2008, a total of 2,701 Oscars has been awarded. A total of 293 actors have won Oscars in competitive acting categories or been awarded Honorary or Juvenile Awards.
ACADEMY
AMPAS, a professional honorary organization, maintains a voting membership of 5,829 as of 2007. Actors constitute the largest voting bloc, numbering 1,311 members (22 percent) of the Academy’s composition. Votes for Oscars have been tabulated and certified by the auditing firm Price Waterhouse Coopers (and its predecessor Price Waterhouse) for the past 73 annual awards ceremonies. All A.M.P.A.S. members must be invited to join. Invitation comes from the Board of Governors, on behalf of Academy Branch Executive Committees Membership eligibility may be achieved by a competitive nomination or a stet member may submit a name based on other significant contribution to the field of motion pictures. Although winning an Academy Award usually results in an invitation to join, membership is not automatic.
New membership proposals are considered annually. The Academy does to not publicly disclose its membership, although as recently as 2007 press releases have announced the names of those who have been invited to join. The 2007 release also stated that it has just under 6,000 voting members. While the membership had been growing until 2003, stricter policies have kept its size steady since then. Academy membership is divided into 15 branches, representing different disciplines in motion pictures. Members whose work does not fall within one of the branches may belong to a group known as “Members at Large.
NOMINATIONS
Today, according to Rules 2 and 3 of the official Academy Awards Rules, a film must open in the previous calendar year, from midnight at the start of January 1 to midnight at the end of December 31, in Los Angeles County, California, to qualify. Rule 2 states that a film must be “feature-length”, defined as a minimum of 40 minutes, except for short subject awards and it must exist either on a 35 mm or 70 mm film print or in 24 frame/ s or 48 frame/ s progressive scan digital cinema format with native resolution not less than 1280×720.
The members of the various branches nominate those in their respective fields while all members may submit nominees for Best Picture. The winners are then determined by a second round of voting in which all members are then allowed to vote in most categories, including Best Picture.
As of the 79th Academy Awards, 847 members (past and present) of the Screen Actors Guild have been nominated for an Oscar (in all categories).
QUESTIONS 27-32
Fill in the blanks. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
27. Academy awards are the reorganization of the excellent work of ………………………….,
28. Douglas Fairbanks and director William C. DeMille…………………………. the 1st academy awards ceremony.
29. Academy award of merit is a name given to the…………………………………….
30. Actors, writers, directors, producers and technicians are the original branches of academy resented by……………………………………in statuette
31. Sculptor of Oscar consist of ……………………. of tin and copper respectively.
32. In 80th award ceremony……………………..awards were distributed and……………………… actors won Oscars.
QUESTIONS 33-40
Do the following statements agree with the information in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 33-40 on your answer sheet write
YES: if the statement agrees with the information
NO: if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN: if there is no information on this in the passages
33. Academy of motion picture arts and science is a professional honorary organization who distributes Oscars every year.
34. In the invitation of Oscars, membership is automatic.
35. The academy discloses it membership each year.
36. “Members at large” is a group of persons falling within one branch of motion picture.
37. According to rule, film must open from midnight of January 1 to 31 of December’s midnight.
38. To award an Oscar prize there are only two rounds.
39. In next Oscar Gold plated statuette will be awarded.
40. A film nominated must be of at least 2 hours duration.
ANSWER
27. directors, actors, writer
28. hosted
29. Oscar statuette
30. five spokes
31. 92.5% and 7.5%
32. 2656, 293
33. Yes
34. NO
35. NG
36. No
37. Yes
38. Yes
39. NG
40. No
