2014年全国银行招聘考试英语测试

Material 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.

1. Which of the following does not belong to material culture?

[A] Instruments. [B] Music. [C] Paintings. [D] Sheet music.

2. The word “phonograph” (Line 5-6, Paragraph 1) most probably means_____.

[A] record player [B] radio [C] musical technique[D] music culture

3. The main idea of the first paragraph is _____.

[A] the importance of cultural tools and technology

[B] the cultural influence of the development of civilization

[C] the focus of the study of the material culture of music

[D] the significance of the research into the musical instruments

4. Which of the following is NOT an advantage of printed music?

[A] Reading of music notation has a great impact on musicians.

[B] People may draw imspiration from it.

[C] The music culture will be influenced by it in the end.

[D] Songs tend to be standardized by it.

5. From the third paragraph, we may infer that_____.

[A] traditional cultural heritage is worthy of preservation

[B] the universal features shared by all cultures aren’t worthy of notice

[C] musicians pay more attention to the preservation of traditional music

[D] the more developed a culture, the more valuable the music it has fostered

答案：

1.B         2.A         3.D         4.D         5.A

1.［精解］ 本题考查推理引申。第一段首句对“物质文化”下定义为：文化中产生的能看到、摸到、感觉到和使用的自然物体。接着该段第三、四句提到，音乐文化中最生动的物质载体是乐器。从第一段末句可知，图片、文字记载以及乐器都是研究音乐文化的物质手段。第二段首句接着指出，乐谱也是物质文化。因此［A］、［C］和［D］都是物质文化，只有［B］不是。

2. ［精解］ 本题考查词意理解。“phonograph”一词出现在第一段第五句，该句指出，“‘phonograph’被发明以前，我们听不到任何音乐表演的声音，只能通过乐器研究过去的音乐文化”。由此可知，该词指的是一种能够记录声音并被用于音乐文化研究的物质。［A］为正确答案。［B］虽然也有声音，但无法用于音乐研究。此外，也可以通过词根词缀法猜测词意。phono-相当于sound，表示“声音”；-graph表示“书写、描绘或记录的器具，机械”。“记录声音的机器”就是“录音机”。

3. ［精解］ 本题考查段落主旨。第一段共七句。第一句给“物质文化”下定义；第二、三句指出研究音乐文化就要研究音乐物质文化。第四、五句指出乐器是音乐文化研究中的重要物质文化。第六句指出乐器作为物质文化的两种形式。第七句举例说明乐器的研究在音乐文化研究中所起的作用。由此可见，第一段涉及的主题应是作为音乐物质文化的“乐器”，因此［D］正确。［A］和［B］泛泛谈文化，应排除。［C］虽然提到了音乐物质文化的研究，但未具体到乐器。

4. ［精解］ 本题考查事实细节。根据题干中的“印刷式乐谱”定位到第二段。该段第三句提到，印刷式乐谱形式单调（limit variety），因为它们往往将所有歌曲都标准化。因此［D］不是它的优点，而是局限性。

［A］在该段末句提到，该句指出读乐谱（包括印刷乐谱）的能力对音乐家有着深远的影响。该段第三句yet转折后指出，印刷式乐谱促使人们创作新的、不同的歌曲。由此可推知创作者从中获得了灵感。［B］是其优点。从该段末句可知，当读乐谱的能力得到普及时，会对整个音乐文化产生影响。因此［C］也是其优点。

5. ［精解］ 本题考查推理引申。第三段第二句提到，我们（we）越来越关注民乐中的传统和民族特色，并且在对待许多传统文化遗产时愿意将民乐保存下来。第三句以音乐家记录自己国家的古典音乐为例说明上文。该句中we包括了作者本人，因此可推知［A］是作者所赞同的观点。［C］错在more，因为文中并没有将音乐家对待传统音乐和现代音乐的态度作对比。该段末句提到，人们（people）总是渴望保留个性特色，而不是找到所有文化共有的普遍特点。可见，文中只是客观叙述人们对文化的偏好，没有贬低“文化共有的普遍特点”的价值。排除［B］。该段首句提到，音乐根植于孕育了它的文化之中。这说明文化决定音乐的特色，与“发达”或“价值”没有关联，排除［D］。