阅读理解　　Passage 4 　　Material culture refers to the touchable, material" things"--physical objects that can be seen, held,felt, used--that a culture produces. Examining a nation's material culture can tell us about the group's history and way of life. Similarly, research into the material culture of music can help us understand the music culture. The most vivid way, of course, is 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 culture, their remote past and their development. 　　Here we have two kinds of evidence: instruments well preserved and pictures of instruments in art. 　　Through the study of instruments, as well as 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 the influence of the eastern countries 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. Printed versions limit variety because they tend to standardize any song, yet folk music stimulates people to create new and different songs. Besides,the ability to read music notation (乐谱) 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 is the influence of the electronic media-radio,record player, tape recorder, television, and video cassette, with the future promising talking and singing computers and other developments. This is all 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 modern nations;they have affected music cultures all over the globe. They have brought about changes to traditional music instruments.

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】此题问的是为什么研究一个民族的物质文化非常重要，属于细节事实题。文章第一段的第二句话“Examining a nation’s material culture 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可以帮助我们了解这个民族的历史和生活方式，C项是对这句的正确理解。

单选题 It can be learned from the second paragraph that__________.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】此题是事实推断题，要求在理解第二段的基础上对选项作出判断。重点考查的是对第二段最后一句话的后半部分“or we can outline the spread of the influence of the eastern countries to Europe that results in the development of most of the instruments on the symphony orchestra”的理解。这句话的意思是，“一些东方国家对欧洲音乐的影响就促使交响乐团内的大部分乐器的产生”，所以，表述正确的选项是B。

单选题 According to the author, music notation is important because__________.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】此题问的是乐谱之所以重要的原因，属于细节事实题。文章第三段的最后一句话讲到了乐谱的重要性，“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”.即“会识乐谱会对乐师有深远的影响，一旦乐谱流行，它也会对总体的音乐文化产生影响”。正确答案选择A。

单选题 It can be concluded from the passage that the introduction of electronic media into the world of music__________.

单选题 Which of the following best summarized the main idea of the passage?

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】此题考查的是文章的主旨，属于事实推理题，需要在理解全文的基础上进行判断。纵观全文可知，文章主要讲述了物质文化对音乐文化的影响，并且在文章开头第一段就提到了“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)。所以，正确答案为D。