单选题 The "Hard Out Here" video has racked up (获胜) over 27 millions views to date on YouTube. But the market for a pop star making clever, difficult songs is narrow, and Allen's commercial prospects, at least in the U.S., aren't as promising as they were eight years ago. Without the mass-market distribution channel of radio behind her, it's tougher to get the message across. If Allen had it her way, she says, "Hard Out Here" would have been released to radio. "I think I'm justified in saying it would have {{U}}made a hit{{/U}}," she says. "Radio stations don't want to play any music that has a message. Everyone's worried they're going to get fired. If they had, they would have seen a triumph."
Even though Alien uses top-notch producers—aside from Kurstin, the album makes use of hip-hop producer DJ Dahi and Shellback—her sensibilities are too English for superstar like that of Beyonce, who released her own feminist song.
It's easy to dismiss Allen as the perpetual trash talker, criticizing the popular girls even as she aspires to be one of them, and yet there's real value in her social message and the wit with which she dispenses it. Allen may not be the most famous among her peers, but she's one of the more important—a cultural critic embedded within pop music, saying the things that her contemporaries won't.
"I change with the way the world changes," Allen says. "My music is always social commentary. I don't know what the world is going to be like in five years' time, but as long as I'm not ashamed of what I'm putting out, then I'm happy."
单选题 Allen's commercial expectations are not so promising as before because ______.
  • A.too few people appreciate her music
  • B.the mass's taste on music has changed
  • C.radio stations don't want to play her music
  • D.the market is not wide for a singer like her
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。 选项与原文对比。根据Allen's，commercial expectations，promising这些词定位到第一段第二句：But the market for a pop star making clever, difficult songs is narrow, and Allen's commercial prospects, at least in the U.S., aren't as promising as they were eight years ago.本句话表明了Allen的前景没有以前那么光明的原因是the market...is narrow(市场太小)，与D选项相似。其中narrow被替换成了not wide。而A、B两项文章均未涉及，属于无中生有。C选项虽然在文章倒数第二句提到了，但和Allen前景不那么光明并无直接因果关系。
单选题 The sentence "it would have made a hit" (Para. 1) is closest to ______.
  • A.it would have had tremendous impact
  • B.it would have been a great success
  • C.it would have suffered a great loss
  • D.it would have shocked many people
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 语义题。 选项与原文对比。语义题应该通过在背景中寻找同义替换信息来获取答案。原文提到：“I think I'm justified in saying it would have made a hit,” she says.“Radio stations don't want to play any music that has a message. Everyone's worried they're going to get fired. If they had, they would have seen a triumph.”其中最后一句话提到If they had, they would have seen a triumph.从时态和句子结构上来讲，该句和it would have made a hit是非常接近的，我们可以推断出make a hit=triumph胜利=选项B的success。故B为正确答案。
单选题 We can know from the second paragraph that ______.
  • A.Allen has released her own feminist album
  • B.Allen is among the most excellent producers
  • C.DJ Dahi and Shellback usually produce hip-hop albums
  • D.Beyonce is a feminist who receives support from many female singers
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 推理题。 选项与原文对比。A根据feminist一词定位到该段最后一句：...Beyonce, who released her own feminist song.这个定语从句的先行词是Beyonce而非选项的Allen，属于张冠李戴，故该选项错误。B根据Allen，producers定位到第一句：Even though Allen uses top-notch producers...即使不认识top-notch也不影响理解，它等于选项B的excellent，关键是原文提到的是use producers(用到这些制作人)，而不是她本身是制作人。C根据DJ Dahi，Shellback定位到第二行：the album makes use of hip-hop producer DJ Dahi and Shellback...通过这个句子可以得知DJ Dahi和Shellback是hip-hop producer，即produce hip-hop albums，故C项为答案。D根据Beyonce定位到最后一句：Beyonce, who released her own feminist song.文章提到Beyonce发布了女权主义式的歌曲，而没说她本身是女权主义者，更没有提到获得许多女性歌手的支持，该选项纯属无中生有，故错误。
单选题 Which of the following can best describe Allen?
  • A.A famous pop singer.
  • B.A feminist pop singer.
  • C.A perpetual trash talker.
  • D.A pop star and a cultural critic.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。 选项与原文对比。根据文章设置题目的顺序和规律，我们推断本题设置在第三段。A该段第三行提到：Allen may not be the most famous among her peers...我们知道Allen是一位流行歌手，而文章说了她并不是最有名的，虽然不能说明她没有一点名气，但也不是最能描述Allen身份的选项。B该选项的feminist本段并未提及，文章第二段提到feminist一词，但是是在描述Beyonce而非Allen，故B错误。C该段首句说It's easy to dismiss Allen as the perpetual trash talker，很容易误选，但后面出现了yet一词进行转折，说明对于Allen的真实评价并非在yet之前，而是之后，故该选项也是错误的。D根据yet后面的内容：yet there's real value in her social message and the wit with which she dispenses it. Allen may not be the most famous among her peers, but she's one of the more important—a cultural critic embedded within pop music...浏览完这几个句子我们发现重要信息出现在but之后，也就是在破折号之后的a cultural critic embedded within pop music，其中对Allen的定义有两个，一是cultural critic，一是pop music，故D为答案。
单选题 The author's attitude towards Allen is ______.
  • A.affirmative
  • B.negative
  • C.scornful
  • D.doubtful
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 观点态度题。 文章最后一段都在引用Allen说的话，作者的观点还是体现在第三段。我们在寻找作者的观点态度的时候，需要特别注意转折和虚拟处，其中有两处最为关键：and yet there's real value in her social message; but she's one of the more important—a cultural critic embedded within pop music, saying the things that her contemporaries won't.其中的real value，important等词都体现了作者对于Allen的态度是积极肯定的，而B、C、D三项都是否定选项，故很容易判断正确答案为A。