单选题According to the passage, all of the following characterize musical drama before Verdi EXCEPT: _____.A music used for the purpose of defining a characterB adaptation of music from other operasC psychological inconsistency in the portrayal of characters

Text 4Material culture refers to the touchable, material “things”—physical objects that can be seen, held, felt, used—that a culture produces. Examining a culture’s tools and technology can tell us about the group’s history and way of life. Similarly, research into the material culture of music can help us to understand the music-culture. The most vivid body of “things” in it, of course, are musical instruments. We cannot hear for ourselves the actual sound of any musical performance before the 1870s when the phonograph was invented, so we rely on instruments for important information about music-cultures in the remote past and their development. Here we have two kinds of evidence: instruments well preserved and instruments pictured in art. Through the study of instruments, as well as paintings, written documents, and so on, we can explore the movement of music from the Near East to China over a thousand years ago, or we can outline the spread of Near Eastern influence to Europe that resulted in the development of most of the instruments on the symphony orchestra.

Sheet music or printed music, too, is material culture. Scholars once defined folk music-cultures as those in which people learn and sing music by ear rather than from print, but research shows mutual influence among oral and written sources during the past few centuries in Europe, Britain and America. Printed versions limit variety because they tend to standardize any song, yet they stimulate people to create new and different songs. Besides, the ability to read music notation has a far-reaching effect on musicians and, when it becomes widespread, on the music-culture as a whole.

Music is deep-rooted in the cultural background that fosters it. We now pay more and more attention to traditional or ethnic features in folk music and are willing to preserve the folk music as we do with many traditional cultural heritage. Musicians all over the world are busy with recording classic music in their country for the sake of their unique culture. As always, people’s aspiration will always focus on their individuality rather than universal features that are shared by all cultures alike.

One more important part of music’s material culture should be singled out: the influence of the electronic media—radio, record player, tape recorder, and television, with the future promising talking and singing computers and other developments. This is all part of the “information-revolution”, a twentieth century phenomenon as important as the industrial revolution in the nineteenth. These electronic media are not just limited to modern nations; they have affected music-cultures all over the globe.

第36题：Which of the following does not belong to material culture?

［A］ Instruments.

［B］ Music.

［C］ Paintings.

［D］ Sheet music.

Which is TRUE according to the passage？

A.The Muses invented music.

B.Music can bring people some feelings.

C.Music was from a Greek village.

D.Everyone is interested in pop music.

D

When students and parents are asked to rate subjects according to their importance, the arts are unavoidably at the bottom of the list. Music is nice, people seem to say, but not important. Too often it is viewed as mere entertainment, but certainly not an education priority(优先). This view is shortsighted. In fact, music education is beneficial and important for all students.

Music tells us who we are. Because music is an expression of the beings who create it, it reflects their thinking and values, as well ad the social environment it came influence that George Gershwin and other musicians introduced into their music is obviously American because it came from American musical traditions. Music expresses our character and values. It gives us identity as a society.

Music provides a kind of perception(感知)that cannot be acquired any other way. Science can explain how the sun rises and sets. The arts explore the emotive(情感的)meaning of the same phenomenon. We need every possible way to discover and respond to our world for one simple but powerful reason: No one way can get it all.

The arts are forms of thought as powerful in what they communicate as mathematical and scientific symbols. They are ways we human beings “talk” to each other. They are the language of civilization through which we express our fears, our curiosities, our hungers, our discoveries, our hopes. The arts are ways we give form. to our ideas and imagination so that they can be shared with others. When we do not give children access to an important way of expressing themselves such as music, we take away from them the meanings that music expresses.

Science and technology do not tell us what it means to be human. The arts do. Music is an important way we express human suffering, celebration, the meaning and value of peace and love.

So music education is far more necessary than people seem to realize.

A.regardmusicasawayofentertainment

B.disagreewiththeirparentsoneducation

C.viewmusicasanoverlookedsubject

D.prefertheartstoscience

It has been thought and said that Africans are born with musical talent.Because music is so important in the lives of many Africans and because so much music is performed in Africa, we are inclined to think that all Africans are musicians.The impression is strengthened when we look at ourselves and find that we have become largely a society of musical spectators (旁观).Music is important to us, but most of us can be considered consumers rather than producers of music.We have records, televisions, concerts, and radios to fulfil many of our musical needs.In most situations where music is performed in our culture it is not difficult to distinguish the audience from the performers, but such is often not the case in Africa.Alban Ayipaga, a Kasena semiprofessional musician from northern Ghana, says that when his flute (长笛) and drum ensemble (歌舞团) is performing, "Anybody can take part".This is true, but Kasena musicians recognize that not all people are equally capable of taking part in the music.Some can sing along with the drummers, but relatively few can drum and even fewer can play the flute along with the ensemble.It is fairly common in Africa for there to be an ensemble of expert musicians surrounded by others who join in by clapping, singing, or somehow adding to the totality of musical sound.Performances often take place in an open area (that is, not on a stage) and so the lines between the performing nucleus and the additional performers, active spectators, and passive spectators may be difficult to draw from our point of view.

1、The difference between us and Africans, as far as music is concerned, is that().

A、most of us are consumers while most of them are producers of music

B、we are musical performers and they are semiprofessional musicians

C、most of us are passive spectators while they are active spectators

D、we are the audience and they are the additional performers

2、The author of the passage implies that().

A、all Africans are musical and therefore much music is performed in Africa

B、not all Africans are born with musical talent although music is important in their lives

C、most Africans are capable of joining in the music by playing musical instruments

D、most Africans perform. as well as professional musicians

3、The word "nucleus" probably refers to().

A、musicians famous in Africa

B、musicians at the centre of attention

C、musicians acting as the core in a performance

D、active participants in a musical performance

4、The best title for this passage would be().

A、The Importance of Music to African People

B、Differences Between African Music and Music of Other Countries

C、The Relationship Between Musicians and Their Audience

D、A Characteristic Feature of African Musical Performances