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Views #769 | Low-Intermediate 4

DVD or Cinema

Mark and Todd have a friendly debate about the best place to watch a movie.

Todd: OK, Mark, I thought we would have a mock-debate.

Mark: OK, sounds good. What are we debating?

Todd: We're going to debate what is better - to watch a movie on DVD or at the cinema?

Mark: OK, well I would definitely choose DVD.

Todd: OK, I would say the cinema. So you go first, why is it better on DVD?

Mark: I prefer watching movies at home because I can sit on my nice relaxing sofa. I can drink a beer. If I want to lie down on the sofa, I can lie down on the sofa. So in the cinema, you always get somebody at the side of you and they're very noisy eating popcorn or shouting and I can't focus on the movie.

Todd: See, actually, I would agree that's the opposite. When you watch a movie at home. You have family members that interrupt you. The telephone rings. There's always things going on. Where in a movie, usually people are pretty quiet and you can just sit and enjoy the movie.

Mark: Yeah, but you can tell your family members, do not disturb and switch the telephone off and then you can watch it. Also, I think recently with the quality of the TV's, it's a lot better now to watch at home, for example you've got the plasma screen TV with the surround sound. It's just like being in the movie theater.

Todd: Yeah, I don't know. There's something about - I like to a movie, and when you watch a movie at the cinema, you get the bigger screen. Usually nowadays the cinemas have higher quality sound. You've got your popcorn, your hot dog. It's kind of a sense of excitement. When you sit down to watch a movie at home there's not a sense of excitement.

Mark: Right, well, I agree that the movie theater has improved. For example recently they've got the beautiful comfortable chair. I live in Japan now, and in Japan you can get a beer at the movie theater. Can you get a beer in America?

Todd: No, I don't think so.

Mark: No, you can't in England as well. I like to drink a beer when I'm watching a movie. So the movie theater has improved, but you have to go to the theater. What happens if it's raining, you don't want to go. If it's snowing, you don't want to go. Whereas at home, now you don't need to the DVD store. You can get them via your TV, right. Just press the magic button.

Todd: True. So the question is, do you think there will even be cinemas is say twenty years, thirty years?

Mark: Well, I've noticed in the last ten years, that the small cinemas in the cities have usually closed, and they're moving out of town to the big multiplexes.

Todd: Right.

Mark: So the number of cinemas has reduced in the past ten years, I think, and it will probably continue to do that. We got a home cinema now. And people are buying huge screen TV's or they are getting all the latest technology in their home. It's cheap enough to buy now, so I'd probably say that cinemas will be no longer in about then years.

Todd: Ten years!

Mark: Yeah.

Todd: Well, I hope they don't go away too fast cause I still like them.


Learn vocabulary from the lesson!

a mock-debate

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I thought we would have a mock-debate.

A 'mock-debate' is a pretend, constructed, and controlled argument.

Notice the following:

  1. Each year the political society puts on a mock-debate.
  2. I have always found mock-debates very fun.

interrupt

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When you watch a movie at home, you have family members that interrupt you.

When you 'interrupt' someone, it means that you start talking when they are still speaking.

Notice the following:

  1. Please do not interrupt me, as I find it very rude.
  2. Do you think that he interrupts a lot?

do not disturb

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You can tell your family members, do not disturb.

'Do not disturb' means that you do not interrupt or bother someone.

Notice the following:

  1. I had to put the do not disturb sign on my door, as I wanted to go to sleep.
  2. Please do not disturb her. She is trying to do her homework.

a sense of excitement

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It's kind of a sense of excitement.

A 'sense of excitement' refers to the feeling of anticipation that you get about something.

Notice the following:

  1. I have a real sense of excitement about the up and coming vacation.
  2. He says that he has a sense of excitement about starting his new job.

multiplexes

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The small cinemas in the cities have usually closed, and they're moving out of town to the big multiplexes.

'Multiplexes' are large cinemas that have more than one screen showing different films.

Notice the following:

  1. I think there are lots of multiplexes in the cities.
  2. They have built a new multiplex near to where I live.

Vocabulary Quiz

mock-debate • interrupting • disturb
excitement • multiplex
  1. It is very important that you do not us while we are taking final exams.
  2. I'm sure there are many different options for movies at the right now.
  3. You can never finish a sentence around him because he is always whoever is speaking.
  4. Our political science class will have a on the subject next week.
  5. There is a real sense of around campus right now, because our school will be playing in the championship game.
Answer the following questions about the interview.

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