Film has properties that set it apart from painting, sculpture, novels, and plays. It is also, in its most popular and powerful form, a story-telling medium that shares many elements with the short story and the novel. And since film presents its stories in dramatic form, it has even more in common with the stage play: Both plays and movies act out or dramatize, show rather than tell, what happens.

Unlike the novel, short story, or play, however, film is not handy to study; it cannot be effectively frozen on the printed page. The novel and short story are relatively easy to study because they are written to be read. The stage play is slightly more difficult to study because it is written to be performed. But plays are printed,and because they rely heavily on the spoken word,imaginative readers can conjure up at least a pale imitation of the experience they might have been watching a performance on stage. This cannot be said of the screenplay, for a film depends greatly on visual and other nonvisual elements that are not easily expressed in writing. The screenplay requires so much "filling in" by our imagination that we cannot really approximate the experience of a film by reading a screenplay, and reading a screenplay is worthwhile only if we have already seen the film. Thus, most screenplays are published not to read but rather to be remembered.

Still, film should not be ignored because studying it requires extra effort. And the fact that we do not generally "read" films does not mean we should ignore the principles of literary or dramatic analysis when we see a film. Literature and films do share many elements and communicate many things in similar ways. Perceptive film analysis rests on the principles used in literary analysis, and if we apply what we have learned in the study of literature to our analysis of films, we will be far ahead of those who do not. Therefore, before we turn to the unique elements of film, we need to look into the elements that film shares with any good story.

Dividing film into its various elements for analysis is a somewhat artificial process, for the elements of any art form never exist in isolation. It is impossible, for example, to isolate plot from character: Events influence people, and people influence events; the two are always closely interwoven in any fictional, dramatic, or cinematic work. Nevertheless, the analytical method uses such a fragmenting technique for ease and convenience. But it does so with the assumption that we can study these elements in isolation without losing sight of their interdependence or their relationship to the whole.

1What is mainly discussed in the text

AThe uniqueness of film.

BThe importance of film analysis.

CHow to identify the techniques a film uses.

DThe relationship between film analysis and literary analysis.

2Why is it not handy to study film

ABecause screenplay is not as well written as literary works.

BBecause a film cannot be effectively represented by a printed screenplay.

CBecause a film is too complicated.

DBecause publishers prefer to publish literary works.

3From the third paragraph we learn that .

Athe means by which we analyze a literary work cannot be applied to the analysis of the film

Ba good film and a good story have many elements in common

Cwe should not pay extra effort to study films

Dusing the principles of literary analysis makes no difference in film analysis

4Why can’t we divide film into various elements for analysis

ABecause these elements are interwoven with each other and cannot keep be separated without failing to appreciate a film as a whole.

BBecause films cannot be written down and it is inconvenient to analyse them.

CBecause films elements are too complicated.

DBecause films need not to be analysed in detail.

5What does the word"it"refer to in the last sentence of the passage

AThe analytical method.

BThe fragmenting technique.

CEase.

DConvenience.

答案及解析:

1、D文章将电影与文学作品的分析做了比较和说明，这是文章主旨所在。

2、B学习电影不方便的地方在于，电影无法被写下来。它是多种手段综合使用的产物。剧本是不能完整地表现电影的，因此光看剧本根本无助于你去欣赏电影的精髓。

3、B文学作品与电影是有很多共通点的。学习过一些文学分析的方法，对分析电影也是很有裨益的。

4、A电影中各个因素已经结合成为了不可分的整体，各要素相互影响。将它们分割开来，会影响对整体的理解。

5、A倒数后两句意思是："the analytical method"使用"fragmenting technique"为了容易和方便。但"the analytical method"能使用"fragmenting technique"因为他们假设……。可见"it"代指"the analytical method"。