12. Work in pairs. You’ve managed to see a theatre performance and a new film at the cinema with your friends. Share your impressions using:

Definitely. That’s exactly my own view. I’m not at all, in fact. That’s not the way I see the play. You can’t be serious!

1. Do you think the play is more laughable than sad?

2. I was deeply impressed by the play.

3. The main characters were superb.

4. They have given the piece a realistic treatment.

5. The cast leaves much to be desired.

6. It’s a rather poor production.

7. I like the open-air scenes with their breath-taking beauty.

8. The film is dull in spots.

9. It is a masterpiece of French cinema art.

13. Find and read aloud those parts of the texts which express the viewpoints given below.

A: “In some respects the motion picture is the American art par excellence. For a long time Hollywood produces new films with an unbelievable speed. The slogan “The Art for art’s sake” is placed by a steady stream of the high quality movie hits. Different countries are pervaded with all sort of American-made thrillers, westerners, spy-films, horror-films,… the like which have a pernicious influence on young people.

In the middle of the 20^th century some critics argued that the American film, precisely because its need to please a mass audience had helped it break out of the limiting gentility of the European cinema, had a vitality and a set of masters without equal in the world.”

B: “The British film industry is widely acknowledged to have undergone a revival. British films, actors, creative and technical film services have been achieving notable successes at international film festivals. The important thing about the British film industry is that the industry is promoted by the British film Institute. The Institute offers direct financial and technical help to new and experienced film-makers who cannot find support elsewhere. Insists on having artistic control of pictures. In other words, it controls the script, the cast, the shooting and the completion of the picture.”

1. The film-makers are extremely commercial-minded and regard the properties they have as commercial properties.

2. Commercial art impede the young talented film writers, actors and producers in their effort to produce really good films.

3. The British films will be in the international prize-winning category.

4. In Britain the local authorities have powers to license cinemas and censor films.

5. The American film industry has a motto “The Art for art’s sake”

14. Work in groups. Arrange your own material about the latest films you think to be popular. Make a presentation of the films you have chosen.

15. Gather material for your article a Theatrical Minsk. Present your material to the group. Connecting Museums

On June 20, 2000, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York announced a long-term collaboration “based on a shared desire to expand international cultural relations and to make the fullest possible use of the scholarly and educational potential of the collections of art and cultural artifacts preserved in the holdings of the State Hermitage Museum and the Guggenheim Foundation.”

Seven months later, in January 2001, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, joined the alliance. The broad strategic objectives of this new level of international collaboration are to make each participant’s collections accessible to broader audiences, to pursue collections-sharing strategies that complement the institutions’ holdings, to implement joint exhibition, publishing, educational, and retail activities, and to facilitate each institution’s long-term goals.