Music comes in many forms; most countries have a style of their own. The US is well known for jazz (爵士樂), which has gained world-wide popularity.
In contrast to classical (古典的) music, which follows formal European traditions, jazz is natural and free-form. It is full of energy, expressing the moods, interests, and feelings of the people. It has a modern sound that makes people very excited. In the 1920s jazz sounded like America. And So it does today.
The origins of this music are as interesting as the music itself. Jazz was produced by American blacks, who were brought to the Southern States as slaves. They were sold to plantation owners (種植園主) and forced to work long hours in the cotton and tobacco fields. This work was hard and life was short. When a Negro died, his friends and relatives formed a group to carry the body to the cemetery.
A band often went with them. On the way to the cemetery the band played slow and sad music. But on the way home the mood changed. Spirits lifted. Everybody was happy. Death had removed one of their members, but the living were glad to be alive. The band played happy music, which made everyone want to dance. It was an early form of jazz.
Music has always been important in their lives. Coming mainly from West Africa, the black men who were brought to America already possessed a rich musical tradition. This music centered on religious ceremonies (宗教的儀式) in which dancing, singing, clapping and stamping (頓足) to the beat of a drum were important forms of musical expression. As these people settled in to their fields, they made up work songs. Singing made the hard work go faster.
Another musical form that helped to develop jazz was the blues. Blues songs always describe something sad — an unhappy love affair, a money problem, bad luck. To this day, the expression “feeling blue” means being sad.
1.Through jazz, people can express______.
A. their moods |
B. their feelings |
C. their interests |
D. all the above |
2.Which of the following is true according to the text?
A.Jazz follows European traditions. |
B.Jazz always describes something sad. |
C.Jazz was first produced by black slaves. |
D.Blues made the hard work of those slaves go faster. |
3.The underlined sentence “Spirits lilted,” suggested that______.
A.everybody was feeling blue |
B.everybody was still in a sad mood |
C.everybody became happy |
D.people’s souls went to the heaven |
4.What should be the best tide for this passage?
A. A Light Music.
B. Black men’s Music.
C. The Origin of the Jazz Music.
D. The Popular Music—Jazz in the U.S.A.
5.Why did the band play happy music on the way home from the cemetery?
A.Because they felt happy for the dead men. |
B.Because they were glad that they themselves were still alive. |
C.Because they would have a big dinner after they returned home. |
D.Because they hated that dead man |
1.D
2.C
3.C
4.C
5.B
【解析】
1.細節(jié)題,由第二段的第二句 “It is full of energy, expressing the moods, interests, and feelings of the people.”可知選D
2.正誤判斷題,依據(jù)是短文第三段的第二句 “Jazz was produced by American black men,…”可知,爵士樂是由美國黑人創(chuàng)作的?芍xC
3.推理題,詞義猜測題。從spirits lifted前一句的sad music到their mood changed,再后面的 “Everybody was happy. Death had removed one of their members, but the living were glad to be alive. The band played happy music” 可知spirits lifted的意思為“精神振奮”可知選C
4.主旨大意題。 本文的中心是講述爵士樂的起源,可知選C
5.推理題,本題考察因果判斷,由第四段的倒數(shù)第二行The band played happy music, which made everyone want to dance可知選B
科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解
To face the music
Like every language, American English is full of special expressions, phrases that come from the day-to-day life of the people and develop in their own way. Our expression today is “to face the music”.
When someone says, “well, I guess I’ll have to face the music,” it does not mean he’s planning to go to the concert. It is something far less pleasant, like being called in by your boss to explain why you did this and did that, and why you didn’t do this or that. Sour music indeed, but it has to be faced. At sometime or another, every one of us has had to face the music, especially as children. We can all remember father’s angry voice, “I want to talk to you.” and only because we did not obey him. What an unpleasant business it was!
The phrase “to face the music” is familiar to every American, young and old. It is at least 100 years old. And where did this expression come from? The first explanation comes from the American novelist, James Fenimore Looper. He said, in 1851, that the expression was first used by actors while waiting in the wings to go on the stage. When they got their cue to go on, they often said, “Well, it’s time to face the music.” And that was exactly what they did — facing the orchestra which was just below them. And an actor might be frightened or nervous as he moved on to the stage in front of an audience that might be friendly or perhaps hostile, especially if he forgot his lines. But he had to go out. If he did not, there would be no play. So the expression “to face the music” come to mean “having to go through something, no matter how unpleasant the experience might be, because you knew you had no choice.”
Other explanations about the expression go back to the army. When the men faced an inspection by their leader, the soldiers would be worried about how well they looked. Was their equipment clean, shinny enough to pass the inspection? Still the men had to go out and face the music of the band as well as the inspection. What else could they do?
Another army explanation is more closely related to the idea of facing the results and accepting the responsibility for something that should not have been done. As, for example when a man is forced out of the army because he did something terrible, he is dishonored. The band does not play. Only the drums tap a sad, slow beat. The soldier is forced to leave, facing such music as it is and facing the back of his horse.
1. How many ways does the phrase “to face the music” comes from?
A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 4
2. What’s the meaning of “to face the music?”
A. To face something far less pleasant.
B. To face the stage.
C. To face the back of one’s horse.
D. To face one’s leader.
3. Which of the following is a situation of facing the music?
A. When we are playing basketball.
B. When we are making a speech.
C. When we are having a party.
D. When we are talking with somebody.
4. The underlined word “hostile” means _______.
A. unfriendly B. dislike C. unkind D. unnecessary
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科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解
Think of some of your favorite singers. When you listen, they can make you happy or sad, peaceful or angry. They can make you relax or want to get up and dance. Gifted singers have the power to affect us in many ways — emotionally, physically and mentally.
But becoming a great singer isn’t as easy as listening to one. It takes practice, devotion and strong lungs! Just ask the well-known American opera(歌。﹕tar Carol Vaness.
At the Metropolitan Opera in New York City where she often sings, Carol’s voice must be loud enough to be heard by four thousand people. It must reach every person in the theater, without a microphone, even when she’s singing softly. The reason Carol can project her voice that far is the way she breathes.
“When you breathe, it’s like a swimmer taking a deep breath before going underwater, ” Carol explains. “You have to take a lot of air into your lungs.”
According to Carol, the main difference between pop singing and opera is “how you breathe, how much air you take in, and how you control it coming out. Regular singing is more like speaking, and it’s a lot softer. When I sing for children, they’re often surprised by how the vibrations strike their ears — like waves on a beach, ” Carol says. “In opera, the air doesn’t just go out of your mouth — it vibrates in your chest, the way a guitar vibrates when it’s played.”
Ever since she started piano lessons at the age of ten, Carol has loved music. As she got older, she decided to become a music teacher. When she went to college, she took singing lessons as part of her studies. Her voice teacher discovered that nineteen-year-old Carol had an exceptionally beautiful soprano voice – the highest singing voice for women.
Carol decided to make opera her goal, not only because she loved to sing but also because she loved the drama. Opera is a play in which the characters sing the words instead of speaking them. The stories of opera can be tragic or comical. They can be personal stories about two people falling in love or grand stories about kings and queens who lived long ago. As the characters in an opera sing, the emotions(情感) expressed by words and music come to life.
Today, Carol performs throughout the United States and Europe and she has song for almost twenty years. But she has never forgotten where she started singing in the first palace.
“Put your heart into your singing and enjoy it,” says Carol, “because singing is a great joy. That’s why I sing. In fact, that’s why everybody sings.”
According to the passage, the Metropolitan Opera in New York City _____.
A. is a five-story building B. can seat 4,000 people
C. has no microphone in it D. can project the singer’s voice
What is the best title for this passage?
A. Opera Singing and Pop Singing B. The Way an Opera Star Sings
C. An Opera Star D. Singing without a Microphone
Which statement is true?
A. A pop singer breathes more deeply than an opera singer when he or she sings.
B. Opera singing is more like speaking.
C. A pop singer takes in much more air than an opera singer when singing.
D. An opera singer breathes differently from a pop singer when singing.
From the passage you can conclude all the following EXCEPT that _____.
A. Carol once learned to play the piano
B. Carol worked as a music teacher
C. Carol has been singing opera for 20 years or so
D. Carol is popular with Americans and Europeans
The sentence “Put your heart into your singing” in the last paragraph means “_____”.
A. devoting yourself to singing B. taking trouble to sing
C. singing happily D. trying your best to sing
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科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解
To face the music
Like every language, American English is full of special expressions, phrases that come from the day-to-day life of the people and develop in their own way. Our expression today is “to face the music”.
When someone says, “well, I guess I’ll have to face the music,” it does not mean he’s planning to go to the concert. It is something far less pleasant, like being called in by your boss to explain why you did this and did that, and why you didn’t do this or that. Sour music indeed, but it has to be faced. At sometime or another, every one of us has had to face the music, especially as children. We can all remember father’s angry voice, “I want to talk to you.” and only because we did not obey him. What an unpleasant business it was!
The phrase “to face the music” is familiar to every American, young and old. It is at least 100 years old. And where did this expression come from? The first explanation comes from the American novelist, James Fenimore Looper. He said, in 1851, that the expression was first used by actors while waiting in the wings to go on the stage. When they got their cue to go on, they often said, “Well, it’s time to face the music.” And that was exactly what they did — facing the orchestra which was just below them. And an actor might be frightened or nervous as he moved on to the stage in front of an audience that might be friendly or perhaps hostile, especially if he forgot his lines. But he had to go out. If he did not, there would be no play. So the expression “to face the music” come to mean “having to go through something, no matter how unpleasant the experience might be, because you knew you had no choice.”
Other explanations about the expression go back to the army. When the men faced an inspection by their leader, the soldiers would be worried about how well they looked. Was their equipment clean, shinny enough to pass the inspection? Still the men had to go out and face the music of the band as well as the inspection. What else could they do?
Another army explanation is more closely related to the idea of facing the results and accepting the responsibility for something that should not have been done. As, for example when a man is forced out of the army because he did something terrible, he is dishonored. The band does not play. Only the drums tap a sad, slow beat. The soldier is forced to leave, facing such music as it is and facing the back of his horse.
How many ways does the phrase “to face the music” comes from?
A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 4
What’s the meaning of “to face the music?”
A. To face something far less pleasant.
B. To face the stage.
C. To face the back of one’s horse.
D. To face one’s leader.
Which of the following is a situation of facing the music?
A. When we are playing basketball.
B. When we are making a speech.
C. When we are having a party.
D. When we are talking with somebody.
The underlined word “hostile” means _______.
A. unfriendly B. dislike C. unkind D. unnecessary
查看答案和解析>>
科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解
To face the music
Like every language, American English is full of special expressions, phrases that come from the day-to-day life of the people and develop in their own way. Our expression today is “to face the music”.
When someone says, “well, I guess I’ll have to face the music,” it does not mean he’s planning to go to the concert. It is something far less pleasant, like being called in by your boss to explain why you did this and did that, and why you didn’t do this or that. Sour music indeed, but it has to be faced. At sometime or another, every one of us has had to face the music, especially as children. We can all remember father’s angry voice, “I want to talk to you.” and only because we did not obey him. What an unpleasant business it was!
The phrase “to face the music” is familiar to every American, young and old. It is at least 100 years old. And where did this expression come from? The first explanation comes from the American novelist, James Fenimore Looper. He said, in 1851, that the expression was first used by actors while waiting in the wings to go on the stage. When they got their cue to go on, they often said, “Well, it’s time to face the music.” And that was exactly what they did — facing the orchestra which was just below them. And an actor might be frightened or nervous as he moved on to the stage in front of an audience that might be friendly or perhaps hostile, especially if he forgot his lines. But he had to go out. If he did not, there would be no play. So the expression “to face the music” come to mean “having to go through something, no matter how unpleasant the experience might be, because you knew you had no choice.”
Other explanations about the expression go back to the army. When the men faced an inspection by their leader, the soldiers would be worried about how well they looked. Was their equipment clean, shinny enough to pass the inspection? Still the men had to go out and face the music of the band as well as the inspection. What else could they do?
Another army explanation is more closely related to the idea of facing the results and accepting the responsibility for something that should not have been done. As, for example when a man is forced out of the army because he did something terrible, he is dishonored. The band does not play. Only the drums tap a sad, slow beat. The soldier is forced to leave, facing such music as it is and facing the back of his horse.
1. How many ways does the phrase “to face the music” comes from?
A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 4
2. What’s the meaning of “to face the music?”
A. To face something far less pleasant.
B. To face the stage.
C. To face the back of one’s horse.
D. To face one’s leader.
3. Which of the following is a situation of facing the music?
A. When we are playing basketball.
B. When we are making a speech.
C. When we are having a party.
D. When we are talking with somebody.
4. The underlined word “hostile” means _______.
A. unfriendly B. dislike C. unkind D. unnecessary
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科目:高中英語 來源:河南省長葛市2009-2010學年高一下學期期中考試英語試卷 題型:閱讀理解
When you watch a movie in the cinema, you may wonder how “the moving pictures” is made and where the voices, and noises and music come from. Now here is the answer.
In modern times, the middle part of a cinema film has lots of small photographs, each one of which is different from the one before it. Each photograph is brought in front of a strong light, and there it stops for a very small part of a second. This photograph, therefore, appears on the screen, and we see it. Then the light is covered and the next photograph is moved to the position in the front of the strong light. Meanwhile, the metal cover turns away from the light. Thus, the second photograph is shown on the screen. This is done again and again, twenty-four times a second, and we think we are watching a moving picture on the screen. But nothing on the screen actually moves. ”The moving picture” is in fact made up of a lot of bits. We see about 86,000 different pictures every hour, but none of them moves.
The voices, noises and music are recorded on the side of the cinema film. The record looks like marks of strange shapes. The side of the film passes in front of another light, and the rays of light which pass through change as the marks change. These marks have been made from the voices and other sounds of the people and events in front of the cinema when the film is being made. The marks may be considered as “printed sounds”.
1. When a cinema film is shown, how long does each photograph appear on the screen?
A. One twenty-third of a second.
B. One twenty-fourth of a second
C. A few seconds
D. One thirty-fifth of a second.
2. Why can we see pictures moving on the screen?
A. We see about 86,000 different pictures every hour.
B. Each picture is a little different from the former.
C. Photographs change quickly.
D. Both B and C.
3. What is a cinema film made up of?
A. Small photographs and a strong light.
B. Small photographs and the sounds.
C. A lot of bits.
D. Voices and photographs.
4. Which is the true about the sound record?
A. It sounds strange.
B. It looks as irregular marks.
C. It is printed in the middle of a film.
D. It is made while the film is being shown on the screen.
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