2017年全国卷1
C
Some of the world’s most famous musicians recently gathered in Paris and New Orleans to celebrate the first annual International Jazz Day. UNESCO(United Nations Educational, scientific and Cultural Organization) recently set April 30 as a day to raise awareness of jazz music, its significance, and its potential as a unifying(联合) voice across cultures.
Despite the celebrations, though, in the U.S. the jazz audience continues to shrink and grow older, and the music has failed to connect with younger generations.
It’s Jason Moran’s job to help change that. As the Kennedy Center’s artistic adviser for jazz, Moran hopes to widen the audience for jazz, make the music more accessible, and preserve its history and culture.
“Jazz seems like it’s not really a part of the American appetite,” Moran tells National Public Radio’s reporter Neal Conan. “What I’m hoping to accomplish is that my generation and younger start to reconsider and understand that jazz is not black and write anymore. It’s actually color, and it’s actually digital.”
Moran says one of the problems with jazz today is that the entertainment aspect of the music has been lost. “The music can’t be presented today the way it was in 1908 or 1958. It has to continue to move, because the way the world works is not the same,” says Moran.
Last year, Moran worked on a project that arranged Fats Waller’s music for a dance party, “just to kind of put it back in the mind that Waller is dance music as much as it is concert music,” says Moran. “For me, it’s the recontextualization. In music, where does the emotion(情感) lie? Are we, as humans, gaining any insight(感悟) on how talk about ourselves and how something as abstract as a Charlie Parker record gets us into a dialogue about our emotions and our thoughts? Sometimes we lose sight that the music has a wider context,” says Moran, “so I want to continue those dialogues. Those are the things I want to foster.”
28. Why did UNESCO set April 30 as International Jazz Day?
A. To remember the birth of jazz.
B. To protect cultural diversity.
C. To encourage people to study music.
D. To recognize the value of jazz.
29. What does the underlined word “that” in paragraph 3 refer to?
A. Jazz becoming more accessible.B. The production of jazz growing faster.
C. Jazz being less popular with the young.D. The jazz audience becoming larger.
30. What can we infer about Moran’s opinion on jazz?
A. It will disappear gradually.B. It remains black and white.
C. It should keep up with the times.D. It changes every 50 years.
31. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
A. Exploring the Future of Jazz.B. The Rise and Fall of Jazz.
C. The Story of a Jazz Musician.D. Celebrating the Jazz Day.
答案解析:
28. D. 根据第一段中的"UNESCO recently set April 30 as a day to raise awareness of jazz music, its significance, and its potential as a unifying voice across cultures.",联合国教科文组织设立4月30日为国际爵士乐日,目的是提高人们对爵士乐的认识,它的意义以及它作为跨文化统一声音的潜力。这表明设立这一天的目的是认识到爵士乐的价值。更多资料请微信搜索英语巴士小程序。
29. C. 根据第二段中的"Despite the celebrations, though, in the U.S. the jazz audience continues to shrink and grow older, and the music has failed to connect with younger generations.",尽管有庆祝活动,但在美国,爵士乐的观众群体继续缩小并老龄化,这种音乐未能与年轻一代建立联系。划线词"that"指的是这个情况。
30. C. 根据第五段中的"The music can’t be presented today the way it was in 1908 or 1958. It has to continue to move, because the way the world works is not the same," says Moran.,莫兰说,爵士乐不能像1908年或1958年那样呈现,它必须继续发展,因为世界运作的方式不再相同。这表明莫兰认为爵士乐应该与时俱进。
31. A. 整篇文章讲述了爵士乐目前面临的挑战,如观众群体缩小和老龄化,以及莫兰如何试图通过使爵士乐更加平易近人、保持其历史和文化来扩大观众群体。文章重点探讨了爵士乐的未来,因此"A. Exploring the Future of Jazz."作为标题最能概括文章内容。