[originaltext]W: Our lecture today is given by Professor Barton. He’s going to

W: Our lecture today is given by Professor Barton. He’s going to talk about art movements in the United States.
M: Yes. I would like to say that their popularity can be affected by social conditions and historical events. As an example, let’s look at what happened in the United States early in the 20th Century, around the time of the Great Depression. The art movement known as the Regionalism had begun in the United States even before the depression occurred. But it really became popular in the 1930s, during the depression years.
W: What is the reason for this?
M: Many artists who had been living in big cities were forced by the economic crisis to leave those big cities and move back to their small towns in rural America. Some of them came to truly love the life in small towns. These artists really built the Regionalism Movement.
W: What’re the features of Regionalism Movement?
M: It’s all about everyday life in small towns or farming areas. And their style was about glorified or romanticized country life. It showed stable, wholesome American traditions.
W: Why did this style become popular?
M: Its partly because of the economic conditions of the time. You see, the depression had caused many Americans to begin to doubt their society. But regionalism artists painted scenes that glorified American values, scenes that many Americans could easily identify with. So the movement helped strengthen people’s faith in their country.
W: What was Regionalism like after the depression?
M: Before and after the Second World War, American culture began to take on a much more international spirit, and Regionalism, with its focus on small town life, lost its popularity, as American society changed once again.
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
12. What is the lecture mainly about?
13. How did the Great Depression affect the artists in the U.S.?
14. What kind of scene might be shown in a typical regionalist painting?
15. Why did Regionalism lose its popularity in the U.S. after the Second World War?