FilmExchanges inAmerica’sEarly Movie Industry
Motion pictures were exhibited to the public in the late 1800s, though the first device to accomplish this would seem very unfamiliar to today’s movie-going audiences. ThomasEdison’s 1893 Kinetoscope was little more than a wooden box with a small glass window. Intended only for individual viewing, it housed a roll of film, a mechanical device to circulate the film, and a small light to illuminate it.A、person would peer through the window and watch a short moving sequence, usually just a depiction of an everyday
event or the performance of an acrobat or dancer. Needless to say, the medium’s ability to serve only one customer at a time severely limited its profitability.
Everything changed two years later with the advent of projection, by which a much larger film image could be shown to multiple viewers simultaneously. The Lumiere brothers of France were the first to introduce this new technology with a projection machine called a cinematograph.Edison was quick to follow their lead and created his Vitascope projector in late 1895. With the potential to make money by charging admission to movies now within reach, the innovators of the film industry were ready to expand their business ventures.
There were two industry models in practice during the early 1900s.A、handful of successful firms, such as theBiographCompany, owned the equipment to make their own films as well as the venues in which to display them. Such companies were rare, however; most films were shown by independent exhibitors. These included traditional theater owners, who added short film presentations to their programs of live-action entertainment, and traveling cinema exhibitors, who moved from town to town to reach new audiences, often following circuits established by rural fairs. They typically purchased films directly from the production companies that made them, paying a set price per foot of film regardless of its content.Because movies of the time were never longer than one or two minutes, it was feasible to buy them outright. However, this system failed to attract significant audiences as the public soon tired of the small stock of films exhibitors had to offer, and the reels of film themselves deteriorated quickly through repeated transport and screening in traveling cinema shows.
Things changed again when producers began increasing the length of their films in order to tell more complex stories. Longer films entailed higher prices, and it became difficult for small-scale exhibitors to purchase them. This, in turn, prevented production studios from creating as many movies as they could, since they had no one to sell them to. It was precisely this dilemma that gave rise to the film exchange.An early version of a motion-picture distributor, film exchanges were responsible for bridging the gap between production and exhibition. They financed production studios, giving them the funds they needed to film more movies. Then, they purchased these films and rented them out to exhibitors around the country for a fraction of what it would have cost the exhibitors to purchase the films themselves.
The film-exchange system revolutionized the industry, greatly benefiting all parties involveD、
Film rentals allowed exhibitors to show a wide variety of movies and gave them constant access to new films so they could change their programs frequently.
This led to the rise of what we now know as the movie theater, a venue dedicated solely to the public exhibition of films.
Film exchanges made money by taking a percentage of ticket sales, and the production studios were paid by the exchanges.
【单选题】： A B C D

Influenza and Vaccines
There is no specific cure for influenzA、Recommended treatment usually consists of bed rest and increased intake of nonalcoholic fluids until fever and other symptoms lessen in severity.Certain drugs have been found effective in lessening flu symptoms, but medical efforts aimed against the disease focus chiefly on prevention by means of vaccines that create immunity.
No drugs can cure influenza, but certain antiviral medicines can relieve flu symptoms.Available by prescription, these drugs provide modest relief, but only if taken on the first or second day of symptoms. The drugs amantadine (sold under the brand name Symmetrel) and rimantadine (Flumadine., both in pill form, work against hemagglutinin and are effective in treating typeA、influenzA、Two other drugs inhibit neuraminidase and are effective against both typeA、and typeB、strains: oseltamivir (Tamiflu) is in pill form and zanamivir (RelenzA、is an inhalant.
A、flu vaccine consists of greatly weakened or dead flu viruses, or fragments of dead viruses.Antigens in the vaccine stimulate the patient’s immune system to produce antibodies against the viruses. If the flu viruses invade a vaccinated person at a later time, the sensitized immune system recognizes the antigens, produces the antibodies and quickly responds to help destroy them.
About 5 to 10 percent of people who receive a flu vaccine experience mild, temporary side effects, typically soreness at the injection site. Young children who have not previously been exposed to the influenza virus are most likely to experience side effects.
Flu viruses constantly change so different virus strains must be incorporated in vaccines from one year to the next. Scientists try to provide a good match between the vaccine and the most serious virus strains circulating at the time.But because it takes months to manufacture and distribute vaccines, decisions on their composition must be made well before the start of each flu season.Each February experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend a vaccine composition to be used for the forthcoming winter in the Northern Hemisphere; a second recommendation is made in September for vaccines to be used in the Southern Hemisphere. Typically vaccines contain antigens from three virus strains, usually two strains from typeA、and one strain from typeB、
According to theCDC, the success of flu vaccines varies from one person to another. In healthy young adults, the vaccines are 70 to 90 percent effective in preventing the disease. In the elderly and people with certain chronic medical conditions, the vaccines are less effective in preventing illness but help reduce the severity of an infection and the risk of major complications or death. Studies show that flu vaccines reduce flu-related hospitalization by about 70 percent and flu-related deaths by about 85 percent among elderly people.
TheCDC、recommends annual flu shots for people who are at high risk for developing serious complications as a result of an influenza infection.A、[■]This group includes all people aged 65 and older; people in nursing homes and other facilities that house people with chronic medical conditions; people with chronic heart, lung or kidney disease, diabetes, an impaired immune system, or severe forms of anemia; children and adolescents with conditions treated for long periods of time with aspirin (which makes them vulnerable to Reye’s syndrome. ; and women who will be in the second or third trimester of pregnancy during the influenza season.B、[■] Some doctors encourage individuals who travel to areas of the world where influenza viruses circulate to receive the most current vaccine.C、[■] Vaccination taken earlier can better protect the travellers from being infected by influenza in the epidemic areasD、[■] vaccination is more urgently needed particularly if they ar

America’s Western Migration
1.AfterAmerica declared independence in 1776, its citizens began migrating from the original colonies along theAtlantic coast, crossing theAppalachian Mountains and heading west.By 1800, trading centers had been established from Ohio toAlabama and pioneers were already making their way towards the Mississippi River. With the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and further land acquisitions, the frontier of theAmerican nation was continually pushed westward, and groups of settlers were never far behinD、
2. This tremendous migration was carried out by individuals who chose to leave the relative safety of theEast and venture into unknown territories. They followed common trails, the earliest of which led to places like Missouri, Kansas, and NebraskA、After 1840, others into the Far West were opened and saw steadily increasing traffiC、The people who undertook such journeys were motivated by a variety of factors.EarlyAmerican cities, particularly those in the Northeast, had developed at a tremendous pace, leaving some longing for a return to simpler lifestyles. They were crowded, employment was often limited to the factories, and smoke from coal-burning industrial facilities polluted the air. For manyAmericans, the urban landscape did not match their image ’of the ideal life.
3. Yet economic pressure was likely the primary catalyst for westward migration. For some families in the early 1800s, it was difficult to obtain enough resources to live on. This was true in the South as well as the North, where instead of factories the expansive plantations ruled the economy.A、privileged few owned most of the farmland and dominated the agricultural market so that small farmers had trouble making money.Americans struggling under such conditions were very receptive to the reports constantly arriving from western settlers, which described vast regions of bountiful farmland waiting to be claimeD、These accounts were often terribly misleading, emphasizing the positive aspects of migration while ignoring the negative, but they nonetheless convinced many that their fortunes lay on the western frontier.
4. The U.S. government did everything it could to encourage the migration trend, seeing it as the best method for ensuring thatAmerica, rather than the Mexico,England, or the NativeAmericans, gained control of the western territories, Politicians passed a series of measures that made land available to farmers--or homesteaders--at drastically reduced rates or, in many cases, for free. For example, soldiers who served in the War of 1812 againstBritain were promised tracts of western farmland, and six million acres were distributed under this arrangement.Congress’s PreemptionAct of 1841 gave squatters, people who had begun living on a piece of land without ownership of it, the opportunity to purchase up to 160 acres for just $1.25 per acre. This concept was expanded under the 1862 HomesteadAct, which allowed any citizen to claim a 160-acre plot for nothing more than the trivial $10 fee charged to file an application. Then, if that person established a farm on the land and improved it for five years, he or she would be granted ownership of it.
5. While these government policies spurred migration, the advent of new transportation technologies ultimately enabled the large-scale settlement of western regions. In the early 1800s communities had to remain close to major rivers, for these provided the only sure means of transporting goods back to the eastern markets. Overland transportation by horse-drawn wagon was simply too slow and costly.Construction of canals was the first attempt to address this problem. TheErieCanal, running 363 miles from LakeErie to the Hudson River atAlbany, resulted in a significant drop in the cost of shipping merchandise fromB

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