Probably the most famous film commenting on twentieth-century technology is Modern Times, made in 1936. Charlie Chaplin was motivated to make the film by a reporter who, while interviewing him, happened to describe working conditions in industrial Detroit. Chaplin was told that healthy young farm boys were lured to the city to work on automotive assembly lines. Within four or five years these young men’s health was destroyed by the stress of work in the factories.

The film opens with a shot of a mass of sheep making their way down a crowded ramp.

Abruptly, the film shifts to a scene of factory workers jostling one another on their way to a factory. However, the rather bitter note of criticism in the implied comparison is not sustained. It is replaced by a gentle note of satire. Chaplin prefers to entertain rather than lecture.

Scenes of factory interiors account for less than one-third of the footage of Modern Times, but they contain some of the film’s most pointed social commentary as well as its funniest comic situation. No one who has seen the film can ever forget Chaplin vainly trying to keep pace with the fast-moving conveyor belt, almost losing his mind in the process.

Clearly, Modern Times has its faults, but it remains the best film treating technology within a social context. It does not offer a radical social message, but it accurately reflects the sentiments of many who felt they were helpless victims of an over-mechanized world.

21. According to the passage, Chaplin got the idea for Modern Times from ____________.

A. a conversation         B. a movie                C. field work                D. a newspaper

22. The young farm boys went to the city because they were ____________.

A. attracted by the prospect of a better life.        

B. forced to leave their sheep farm

C. promised better accommodation        

D. driven out of their sheep farm

23. Scenes of factory interiors account for ____________ of the footage of Modern Times.

A. less than one-third                                 B. two fifths        

C. one-fifth                                        D. a half

24. The phrase “jostling one another” in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to ____________.

A. running against each other                        B. pushing one another

C. hurrying up together                        D. jogging side by side

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