问答题 (1) 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. (2) 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 pictured in art. Through the study of instruments, as well as 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 resulted 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 shows 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. (3) 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.
Music is deep-rooted in the cultural background that fosters it. We now pay more and more attention to traditional or ethnic features in folk music and are willing to preserve the folk music as we do with many traditional cultural heritage. Musicians all over the world are busy with recording classic music in their country for the sake of their unique culture. (4) As always, people's aspiration will always focus on their individuality rather than universal features that are shared by all cultures alike.
(5) One more important part of music's material culture should be singled out: the influence of the electronic media—radio, record player, tape recorder, and television, 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 in the nineteenth. These electronic media are not just limited to modem nations; they have affected music-cultures all over the globe.

【正确答案】物质文化指的是那些可以触摸的、物质的“东西”,即某种文化产生的能看到、摸到、感觉到和使用的自然物体。
【答案解析】
【正确答案】在19世纪70年代留声机发明以前,我们自己听不到任何音乐表演的声音。于是我们依赖乐器获得有关远古的音乐文化及其发展的重要信息。
【答案解析】
【正确答案】而且,读乐谱的能力对音乐家有着深远的影响,当这种能力得到普及时,它对整个音乐文化将产生深远的影响。
【答案解析】
【正确答案】人们总是一如既往地渴望关注个性特色,而不是所有文化共有的普遍特点。
【答案解析】
【正确答案】音乐物质文化的一个更重要的部分应该被挑出来,那就是电子媒体——如收音机、唱片机、录音机、电视、未来能说会唱的计算机以及其他发明的影响。
【答案解析】