单选题 Intangible cultural heritage generally refers to immaterial aspects of culture—ephemeral products like stories and language itself, as well as to the beliefs, values, and forms of knowledge and skill give cultures their vitality. This heritage can, for example, include wedding dances and funeral laments, artisans' skills and orally conveyed knowledge of farming. You might find its traces in a museum—plants used by a traditional healer, for example—but it is mostly the living, oral tradition of a people.
Scholars have long recognized the intangibility of culture. In the 18th and 19th century's philologists, folklorists and others tried to document the world's oral traditions. Yet the term "intangible cultural heritage" is relatively recent. In 1950, Japan initiated a living national treasures program to recognize the great skills of masters of the traditional arts. In the West, meanwhile, jurists recognized the idea of intellectual property and defined copyright and patent. In the 1970s, discussion of UNESCO's World Heritage List stimulated broader thinking about the need to safeguard intangible cultural heritage. Meetings of experts, recommendations and technical discussions ensued until 2001, when UNESCO proclaimed the first 19 Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Why so long for this concept to make it into international consciousness? For one, it has suffered the problem of vagueness long associated with the term "culture". Second, there's a terminology problem. Vagueness and terminology aside, interest in the subject has grown with public awareness of globalization. On the macro-level, cultural resources, in a similar way to natural resources, seem to be endangered or disappearing. Of more than 6, 000 languages still spoken on the planet, linguists predict that 50 to 95 percent will not last through the next century. When a language dies, there is a startling loss of knowledge and expression accumulated over generations. On the micro-level, many people do not want to accept a social universe of homogenized global consumers bereft of ancestors, stories, and meaningful experiences. In less benign circumstances, intangible cultural heritage has captured the world's attention when conflict over the practice of religions and the expression of ethnicities has turned violent.
As an anthropologist, I was skeptical about the ability, to define and select intangible cultural treasures and address the many questions that could be raised about the concept. But one could take heart that in the age of globalization, local cultures have survived, and sometimes even flourished. One would appreciate that in an age of constant innovation, tradition had some lasting value. The power and tenacity of the selected traditions and their practitioners was palpable. One can only hope that with local, national, and now international action plans in place, they will continue to inspire future generations.

单选题 Which of the following can be classified as intangible cultural heritage?
A. An ancient temple for religious ceremonies.
B. A rare manuscript of fanning.
C. A ritual dance from the ancient times.
D. An antique from the Song Dynasty.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。根据题干定位到第一段。本段给出了非物质文化遗产的特征。第一个特征immaterial aspects of culture具体在后面举例介绍...ephemeral products like stories and language itself...the beliefs, values, and forms of knowledge and skill...；第二个特征...include wedding dances and funeral laments, artisans' skills and orally conveyed knowledge of farming；第三个特征...mostly the living, oral tradition of a people。有了这三个特征作为标准，会发现只有C项“古代的宗教舞蹈”才是非物质文化遗产。

单选题 Intangible cultural heritage began to be widely accepted
A. in the 18th and 19th century.
B. in the middle 20th century.
C. in the late 20th century.
D. in the year of 2001.

单选题 The third paragraph intends to tell us that
A. with people's growing awareness of globalization, vagueness and terminology will be eliminated.
B. people come to be fascinated by intangible cultural heritage despite vagueness and terminology.
C. intangible culture heritage will still be rejected by the majority of people over generations.
D. people's acceptance of intangible cultural heritage will be hindered by religious and ethnic conflict.

单选题 According to the passage, intangible cultural heritage
A. should be paid more attention to than tangible cultural heritage.
B. will flourish as a result of its tenacity nature and lasting value.
C. will probably only be a passing terra due to its ephemeral nature.
D. needs to have its own material form for a wider recognition.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。文章的主要内容是从非物质文化遗产的特征出发，谈论了它被人们接受的历程以及这种必然性。尤其是文章的最后一段，作者连用了三个one作主语的并列结构，强调了作者对非物质文化遗产发展前途的信心，因此可以首先肯定选项是积极的，这就排除了后面两个选项。而文中并没有提到非物质文化遗产和物质文化遗产哪个更重要的问题，因此排除A项，这样就选定B项“将会因为其坚韧的本质和持久的价值而得到繁荣发展”为正确答案。