IELTSDATA READING TEST 28 The Oscars
The Oscars
Paragraph 1 🎬 Once every year, the red carpet is rolled out, and the stars begin to arrive in their limousines, dressed in their finest clothes, decked with jewels borrowed from some of the most exclusive shops in town and worth hundreds and thousands of dollars. 💎 It’s the annual awards ceremony of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Scientists, more commonly known as “the Oscars”. 🏆 For 75 years now, Hollywood has acknowledged the best actors, actresses, directors, and writers with these awards, as well as others working behind the scenes in these movies. 🎥
Paragraph 2 The first Academy Awards were presented in 1927, although there was no ceremony that year. 📆 The first awards ceremony took place in 1929, a ceremony that differed in many ways from the ones we see today. 🍽️ In early ceremonies, a banquet was held for all participants, and tickets cost only $10. There were only 12 categories for prizes; today, there are over 35. 🏵️ In those early years, few movies had soundtracks – the movies were just becoming the “talkies”. But perhaps the biggest difference between the first ceremony and the ceremonies of today is that the winners of the awards were announced in advance of the ceremony – there was no element of surprise at all. 😲 It was not until 1941 that the “sealed envelope” was introduced, with all the drama and suspense that it entails. 📭 Today, the phrase “the envelope please” has become symbolic of all the tension and spectacle of the Oscars.
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Paragraph 3 Today, over 70 million people view the Oscars ceremony each year, making it one of the most viewed programs on TV. 📺 The ceremony appeared on television for the first time in 1953, and 1966 was the first time it was seen in color. 🌈 An enormous amount of work goes into the preparation of this, Hollywood’s most important event, and perhaps for this reason, the ceremony has never been canceled – though it has been postponed three times. 📅 Once the Oscars were postponed for floods (1938), and twice they’ve been postponed due to assassinations or attempted assassinations (1968, 1981).
Paragraph 4 So, who have the big winners been? 🏆 The most famous “best picture” is probably Ben Hur, which won 11 Academy Awards in 1959. 🎥 The only other picture to win this many Oscars was Titanic in 2000. The two films have something else in common: they were both “big budget” movies, considered outrageously extravagant by many commentators. 💰 In fact, the expression “bigger than Ben Hur” has passed into everyday English, to describe something huge, with no expense spared. 💸 Titanic was made with a record budget of US$200 million, though it still made a handsome profit at the box office. Another big winner was the film Gone with the Wind, which won 8 awards in 1939. 🌪️ This was one of the longest movies (3 ½ hours) to win and is still considered a film classic. 🎞️
Paragraph 5 The winner of the Best Actress Award for Gone with the Wind was Vivien Leigh, a newcomer to the screen. 👩🎤 She also won the Best Actress Award in 1951 for another film – A Streetcar Named Desire, the only other film for which she was nominated. �tramvaj Each year, five actors and five actresses are nominated for the Best Actor Award and the Best Actress Awards, and this in itself is a great honor. 🏅 The actress to receive the most nominations is Meryl Streep, who has been nominated for 13 awards – and won two. 👸 Katherine Hepburn, however, is the actress to have won the most awards – she won four Best Actress awards in her lifetime. 🥇
Paragraph 6 Jack Nicholson is the only actor to win three Best Actor Awards, though Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, and Robert De Niro have all won two. 🎭 Of these four actors, all but De Niro seem to bear out the theory that an actor’s chance of winning a Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor award is greater if he is portraying a physically or mentally handicapped person. 🧑🦽 And if the character dies during the movie, this seems to help as well. ☠️
Paragraph 7 In fact, there are many factors that can influence the awarding of prizes for actors and actresses, factors that may have little to do with their performance in a particular film. 🏅 Sometimes awards are given to an actor or actress for a film that is not particularly outstanding, in order to honor a lifetime’s work in the movie industry. 🎥 This is considered the case, for example, for Paul Newman’s win for his role in The Colour of Money (1986). And on other occasions, an award may be given in an attempt to “rectify past injustices” when it is felt that an actor or actress should have won an award for a previous movie. 🙏 For example, a 76-year-old Henry Fonda won an award for his performance in 1981’s On Golden Pond, which many felt he had deserved years earlier for his role in The Grapes of Wrath (1940). Another factor which may influence the choice of the Academy is “the sympathy vote”, such as Elizabeth Taylor’s winning of the Best Actress award in 1960 for Butterfield 8 – just after an almost fatal case of pneumonia. 🤒
Paragraph 8 Whatever the reason for awarding those elusive gold figures, their power in enhancing career opportunities in the business is unquestionable, as is the continued spell they hold over the public. 🌟
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Questions 1-7
Match thе actor оr actress іn thе left column wіth thе reason thеу аrе mentioned іn thе text (A-F) Actor оr Actress
1 . Elizabeth Taylor
2. Meryl Streep
3. Henry Fonda
4. Paul Newman
5 . Jack Nicholson
6 . Katherine Hepburn
7 . Vivien Leigh
A. hаѕ won thе maximum awards іn thе Bеѕt Actor/Best Actress category
B. received thе award due tо sympathy vote
C. received аn award fоr recognition оf раѕt work
D. received аn award tо mаkе uр fоr bеіng overlooked іn thе past.
E. Hаѕ received thе greatest number оf nominations аѕ Bеѕt Actor/Actress
F. Nоnе оf thеѕе reasons
Questions 8-12
Dо thе fоllоwіng statements agree wіth thе views оf thе writer іn reading passage Write
YES іf thе statement agrees wіth thе writer
NO іf thе statement contradicts thе writer
NOT GIVEN іf іt іѕ impossible tо ѕау whаt thе writer thinks аbоut thіѕ
8 . Robert De Niro dіd nоt play а handicapped person іn hіѕ award winning films.
9 . Tom Cruise іѕ оnе actor who, dеѕріtе mаnу outstanding performances, hаѕ nеvеr received а Bеѕt Actor award.
10 . Thе Oscars hаvе nеvеr bееn cancelled.
11 . Thе Oscar ceremony today includes а dinner fоr аll participants.
12 . Mоrе money wаѕ spent оn Titanic thаn аnу оthеr movie.
Answer
1: B
2: E
3: D
4: C
5: A
6: A
7: F
8: NG
9: NG
10: Y
11:N
12: Y