The musical phenomenon known as jazz developed in the years just prior to 1900, mainly in the city of New Orleans and to a lesser extent in other large American cities. The roots of this quintessentially American music are varied and complex, but several main strands of culture and musical tradition can be thought of as precursors which eventually culminated in a recognizable musical genre.
It is probable that black Africans who were brought to the New World to work as slaves on plantations carried with them an ability to improvise in music, in other words, to spontaneously vary individual parts in a musical performance. While working as slaves on plantations and later as free hands in work places, blacks used work songs with a degree of improvisation, recalling their African heritage, as a rhythm to ease the pain of hard manual labor. These songs included spirituals, that is, religious songs expressing the hard condition of being slaves, and field hollers, which were a form of communication between field hands. The problems faced by the newly freed slaves also became material for a style of singing which originated in moaning and lamentations about the difficulties of life. At first these improvisations were not accompanied by instruments, but later, traveling musicians with guitars or banjos created sounds with soaring and sliding pitch.

单选题 According to paragraph 1, jazz developed ______.
A. mainly in the country B. without clear origins
C. in various large cities D. in a recognizable culture

单选题 The word "heritage" in the passage is closest in meaning to ______.
A. freedom B. landscape C. memories D. traditions

单选题 What does the author imply about the musical improvisation of black slaves? ______
A. It was no longer needed in America.
B. It started on the slave plantations.
C. It developed quickly in America.
D. It had its origins in Africa.

单选题 According to paragraph 2, songs helped slaves and freed slaves ______.
A. to work harder
B. to forget their homeland
C. to bear the pain of hard work
D. to make their lives more useful

单选题 The word "influential" in the passage is closest in meaning to ______.
A. profound B. significant
C. remarkable D. profitable

单选题 What can be inferred from paragraph 3 about ragtime music? ______
A. The bass line did not exist.
B. It has little in common with jazz.
C. It was originally not written down.
D. The melody tended to be smooth.

单选题 The phrase "these amateurs" in the passage refers to ______.
A. town band members B. poorer musicians
C. militia band members D. pawn shop owners

单选题 According to paragraph 4, a lot of jazz was produced in New Orleans because of ______.
A. the number of secondhand stores
B. the large number of poor people
C. the wartime memories of ex-soldiers
D. the availability of musical instruments

单选题 What can be inferred from paragraph 4 about the musical ability of many of New Orleans' musicians? ______
A. It was sophisticated.
B. It was getting worse.
C. It tended to be variable.
D. It tended to be underdeveloped.

单选题 According to paragraph 5, why did Creoles go to live in the same area of New Orleans as poor African Americans? ______
A. A segregation law.
B. Their musical sophistication.
C. Their being too poor to live elsewhere.
D. The need to find cheap musical instruments.

单选题 According to paragraph 5, the term "jazz" was first used around ______.
A. the year 1894 B. the year 1900
C. after the Civil War D. during slavery

单选题 Look at the four squares, , , and

填空题 Directions: Select the appropriate phrases from the answer choices and match them to the category to which they relate. TWO of the answer choices will NOT be used. This question is worth 4 points.
Creole Musical Traditions
·______
·______
·______
Black African Musical Traditions
·______
·______
·______
·______

A. "A demand for music that was played by amateurs"
B. "A formal education in classical music traditions"
C. "A free style of singing about problems"
D. "A legacy of memorization and improvisation"
E. "A musical sophistication required for playing in formal concerts"

F. "The feeling of spontaneity"

G. "A syncopated melody"

[H] "The availability of secondhand instruments"

[I] "The influence of colonial traditions/