大學英語四級模擬試卷第09組（閲讀3）

Passage Three
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage:
“Popular”art has a number of meanings,impossible to define with any precision,which range from folklore to junk(質量低劣的東西).The poles are clear enough,but the middle tends to blur.There can be great trash, just as there is bad high art.The musicals of George Gershwin are great popular art,never aspiring to high art.Schubert and Brahms,however,used elements of popular music-folk themes-in works clearly intended as high art.The case of Verdi is a different one,he took a popular genre（流派）-bourgeois melodrama set to music(an accurate definition of 19th century opera)and,without altering its fundamental nature,transformed it into high art.This remains one of the greatest achievements in music,and one that cannot be fully appreciated without recognizing the essential trashiness of the genre.As an example of such a transformation, consider what Verdi made of the typical political elements of 19th century opera. Generally in the plots of these operas, a hero or heroine--usually portrayed only as an individual, independent from social class is caught between the corruption of the aristocracy and the greed of the proletariat. Verdi transforms this naive and unlikely formulation with music of extraordinary energy and rhythmic vitality, music more subtle than it seems at first hearing. Such pieces lend an immediacy to the otherwise concealed political message of these operas and call up feelings beyond those of the opera itself.
Or consider Verdi’s treatment of character. Before Verdi, there were rarely any characters at all in musical drama, only a series of situations which allowed the singers to express a series of emotional states. Any attempt to find coherent psychological portrayal in these is misplaced cleverness. The only coherence was the singer’s vocal technique: when the cast changed, new arias (獨唱曲) were from other operas. Verdi’s characters, on the other hand, have consistency and integrity. The integrity of the character is achieved through the music: once he had become established. Verdi did not rewrite his music for different singers or countenance alterations, as every 18th-century composer had done. When he revised an opera, he only intended for dramatic economy and effectiveness.
31.The author refers to Schubert and Brahms in order to suggest____.
A) that their works are examples of great trash
B) that their works are examples of high art
C) that popular music could be employed in compositions intended as high art
D) that their achievements are no less substantial than those of Verdi

32.可以推斷，作者認爲19世紀歌劇男女主人公脫離社會堦級的獨立性是____。A)對資産堦級生活的理想化但基本準確的描述B)與政治現實沒有真正聯系的情節約定C)情節精鍊

33.根據這篇文章，威爾第歌劇中政治信息的直接性源於____。
A)音樂的活力和微妙之処
B)觀衆對早期歌劇的熟悉程度
C)歌手的個人才能
D)高度情緒狀態的刻畫

34.根據這篇文章，下列所有特征威爾第之前的音樂戯劇除了____。
A)根據特定歌手的能力而量身定做的詠歎調,[ br/]B)改編自其他歌劇的音樂,[ br/]C)刻畫人物時的心理矛盾,[ br/]D)用來定義人物的音樂,[ br/]

35.It can be inferred that the author regards Verdi’s revisions to his operas with____.
A) regret that the original music and texts are altered
B) concern that many of the revisions altered the plots of the original work 
C) approval for the intentions that motivated the revisions.
D) enthusiasm, since the revisions were aimed at reducing the conventionality 位律師廻複