晨读英语美文听力原文第4篇:

Drive-in Cinema

Motion pictures are most popular not only in the United States, but throughout the world.

Although color television and video recording are gaining greater popularity and may be threatening the future of the movies, motion pictures have somewhat managed to cope with the film crisis in the seventies and remain one of the favorite forms of entertainment of the people.

There are 11,000 motion picture theaters, or cinema, and about 4,000 outdoor "drive-ins", where people sit in their own automobiles and watch domestic and foreign films. Heavy use of the highways in the United States has resulted in the rapid development of what we call roadside business of various kinds, including outdoor movie theaters, or drive-ins, and motels. Both outdoor drive-ins and motels are usually located on main roads near cities and at seaside and other resort areas.

In a drive-in, an enormous screen is put up in an open space, and the cars are all parked facing the screen in long rows. When you have parked, you may open the car window and bring in the instrument that is being handed over to you which gives the sound that accompanies the picture, and perhaps bring in a heater, too. If it is cold, you may well shut the window again, with the sound-reproducing device inside the car, so that you can hear while watching the big screen in front of your car. Drive-in cinemas usually have some kind of cafe in the area, and you can buy Coca-Cola and coffee to drink in the car.

The first drive-in was opened on June 6, 1933 in Camden, New Jersey. Newspapers of the period suggested that the automobile movie theater was an immediate success. On the opening night it was jammed to capacity with six hundred cars. The initial advertisement didn't mention the name of the film to be shown that night, and the people didn't care. The real attraction was clearly the theater itself. Since that night, drive-ins have been welcomed by the people across the whole country.