填空题 Considering how jazz is transcribed in Chinese (jueshi), you may be 11 into assuming that it is an aristocratic cultural form. Nothing could be further from the truth. It 12 among black Americans at the end of the 19th century, at a time when they occupied the very 3 of the American social heap.
So how has something that was created by a once downtrodden and 13 minority acquired a central place in today"s American culture? Mr. Darrell A Jenks, director of the American Center for Educational Exchange, and also a drummer in the jazz band Window, analyses the phenomenon for us here. Jazz: the 14 of America.
Perhaps the essence of America is that you could never get two Americans to agree on just what that might be. After thinking about it for a while, we might, chuckle and say, "Hmm, seems like being American is a bit more complicated than we thought." Certainly things like 15 , success (the "American Dream" ), innovation and tolerance stand out. But these things come together because of our ability to work with one another and find common purpose no matter how we might be 16
Some, like African-American writer Ralph Ellison, believe that jazz 17 the essence of America. For good reason, for in jazz all of the characteristics I mentioned above come together. The solos are a celebration of individual brilliance that can"t take place without the group efforts of the rhythm section. Beyond that, though, jazz has a connection to the essence of America in a much more fundamental 18 . It is an expression of the African 19 of American culture, a musical medium that exemplifies the culture of the Africans whose culture came to dominate much of what is American.
A. diverse B. distinctive C. bottom D. trapped
E. soul F. way G. misled H. captures
I. despised J. originated K. culture L. individualism
M. roots N. top O. acquires