复合题

In this section there are four passages followed by 20 questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers marked A. B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the correct answer.

TEXT B

Material culture refers to the touchable, material “things” —physical objects that can be seen, held, felt, used—that a culture produces. Examining a culture’ s tools and technology can tell us about the group’ s history and way of life. Similarly, research into the material culture of music can help us to understand the music-culture. The most vivid body of “things” in it, of course, are musical instruments. We cannot hear for ourselves the actual sound of any musical performance before the 1870s when the phonograph was invented, so we rely on instruments for important information about music- cultures in the remote past and their development. Here we have two kinds of evidence: instruments well preserved and instruments pictures in art. Through the study of instruments, as well preserved paintings, written documents, and so on, we can explore the movement of music from the Near East to China over a thousand years ago, or we can outline the spread of Near Eastern influence to Europe that results in the development of most of the instruments on the symphony orchestra.

Sheet music or printed music, too, is material culture. Scholars once defined folk music-cultures as those in which people learn and sing music by ear rather than from print, but research show mutual influence among oral and written sources during the past few centuries in Europe, Britain, and America, printed versions limit variety because they tend to standardize any song, yet they stimulate people to create new and different songs. Besides, the ability to read music notation has a far- reaching effect on musicians and, when it becomes widespread, on the music-culture as a whole.

One more important part of music’ s material culture should be singled out the influence of the electronic media-radio, record player, tape recorder, television, and videocassette, with the future promising talking and singing computers and other developments. This is a part of the “information revolution, ” a twentieth century phenomenon as important as the industrial revolution was in the nineteenth. These electronic media are not just limited to modem nations; they have affected music- cultures all over the globe. 

单选题 Research into the material culture of a nation is of great importance because  _____.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】根据文章第一段提到的“Examining a culture’ s tools and technology can tell us about the group’ s history and way of life” 可知研究一个民族的物质文化非常重要， 因为它帮助我们了解这个民族的历史和生活方式。 故选C。
单选题 It can be learned from this passage that _____.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】根据文章第一段最后一句“we can outline the spread of Near Eastern influence to Europe that results in the development of most of the instruments on the symphony orchestra” 可知近东对欧洲产生了广泛的影响， 这导致了大多数交响乐器的发展。 故选B。
单选题 According to the author, music notation is important because _____.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】根据文章倒数第二段最后一句“the ability to read music notation has a far-reaching effect on musicians and,when it becomes widespread, on the music-culture as a whole” 可知读乐谱的能力对音乐家的影响重大， 当得到广泛传播以后， 对整个音乐文化也产生了重要的影响。 故选A。
单选题 It can be concluded from the passage that the introduction of electronic media into the world of music_____.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】根据文章最后一段可知“电子媒介的对音乐的物质文化产生了重要的影响， 它是信息革命的一部分， 它在20世纪所起到的作用相当于19世纪工业革命的作用” 。 故选A。
单选题 Which of the following best summarizes the main idea of the passage?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】章第一段提到了“research into the material culture of music can help us to understand the music-culture” 研究音乐的物质文化可以帮助我们理解音乐文化。 随后作者介绍了musical instruments， phonograph ， music notation， electronic media-radio的作用和影响。 可知文章主要介绍了“音乐文化的发展非常依赖于其物质方面的发展” 。 故选D。