【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】Listen to part of a lecture in a sociology class. Professor: Now you all know I’m a great music fan, and some of you have even seen me play guitar at the local watering hole. So, today’s subject is one that’s right up my alley. We’re going to chat about how music is closely related to social changes. For example, I grew up in the 60s and 70s during a time of great protest in our country. Much of the music produced in that era was about fighting our involvement in the Vietnam War. But it was also about love, friendship, the loss of friends, and the breaking up of our society. It’s almost redundant to say that it’s difficult for one generation to understand the music and values of the next or previous one. The music is so related to the history, social, and economic circumstances of an era that it’s, well, difficult to understand for those who weren’t there or whose lives were unaffected by those influences. Let’s begin in the 1920s. It was an era of great progress. It was also the era of prohibition, with it being illegal to manufacture, sell, or consume alcohol from 1920 to 1933. Student A: You’re kidding, right? Professor: No, it’s absolutely true. In fact, there was an amendment made to the Constitution to that effect. But, of course, no one followed the law too closely. People are going to drink no matter what. It was an era of the big orchestra style bands and of many different styles of dancing. Also, jazz and ragtime, the two great original American styles of music, came out of that era. The Roaring 20s it was called, and people thought the good times would last forever. Of course, they all went tumbling down with the crash of the stock market in 1929 and the Great Depression. The music of the 1930s was more about hope and despair, with sad songs about the hard times and upbeat songs about prosperity around the corner. With World War II came a burst of patriotism and swing music for dancing until your feet hurt, with big bands still holding sway. It was also an era of great crooners, with Frank Sinatra melting ladies’ hearts all over the country and Bing Crosby giving us everyone’s annual favorite, White Christmas. But in the wings were signs of change. The rhythms of black gospel music, technology, and a group of young men from the South were about to change music history forever. Les Paul invented the famous electric guitar, and rock and roll was born. Elvis Presley and his swinging hips took the country by storm. The music of the 1950s was about the good times again and about lost love and love won, and about rebellion against authority, and about having a fast car. My parents grew up during this time. I like the music, but it’s not mine. My mother still remembers the time Elvis sang on the Ed Sullivan show, and my father, heaven forbid, styled his hair like Elvis until he had no hair left to style. Then, in the early 1960s, came what was called the California sound, the surf and waves of the Beach Boys and other imitators. It was all about having fun and getting a tan while watching the pretty girls lying on the sand. The worries of the thirties and the war years were far behind us. Across the Atlantic, an explosion was about to begin, and the Beatles and Rolling Stones were the harbingers of the British rock wave. And then came Vietnam, the defining event of my generation. Student B: Did you fight in the war? Professor: No, I was too young in the beginning and in college by the end, so I missed it. But you couldn’t really miss it. It was everywhere, on TV and in the streets everyday. The music shaped us, led us, and defined us, in much the same way that rap and hip-hop have defined the African-American community today. Rap is all about protest, but it also has a violent edge to it, and this has turned off and scared much of society. There is also a backlash against rap as being disrespectful of women and other races. It could be said that rap is in itself racist, going against the very thing it’s protesting. Think about that… In a similar vein, the grunge music of the early 1990s was about protesting the affluent society of time and about a generation with a lack of a purpose, without any prospects, and about despair. Today our music scene is so diversified that there is something for everyone. It doesn’t mean we all understand each other’s taste, for, in the end, music belongs to the individual listener. 请听一段社会学课堂讲座。教授：大家都知道我是一个音乐迷，有些人甚至见过我在小酒吧里弹吉他。那么，今天的话题刚好符合我的兴趣。我们要谈论一下音乐和社会变革到底如何紧密相关。例如，我是六七十年代国家动荡期间长大的。那个年代的音乐大多都和反对参加越南战争有关。但也有和爱情、友谊、失去朋友、社会崩溃相关的音乐。不值一提的是，每一代人都有自己年代的音乐，让一代人去理解下一代或上一代人的音乐及其价值非常困难。音乐和其所处年代的历史、社会及经济环境关系如此紧密，啊，以至于它对于不是那个年代或没有受到那些影响的人们来说很难理解。我们从二十世纪二十年代说起。那是个大跃进的年代，也是个封闭的年代，从1920年到1933年间，生产、销售、饮用酒都是犯法的。学生A：您在开玩笑，是吗? 教授：不，千真万确。事实上，有个宪法修正案起到了这种作用。但是，当然，没人严格遵守这条法案。不管怎样，人们照样喝酒。那是个充斥着各种管弦乐队和不同舞蹈风格的年代。也是两大美国原创音乐——爵士音乐和拉格泰姆音乐诞生的年代。它被称作“咆哮的二十年代”，当时人们认为那个美好的年代能一直持续下去。当然，随着1929年股票市场的瘫痪和经济危机，好景一落千丈。二十世纪三十年代的音乐更多的是关于希望和绝望的，还有和困难时期相关的忧伤歌曲，以及部分迎接即将到来的繁荣的乐观歌曲。 “二战”爆发，爱国热情高涨，摇摆舞音乐让你跳到脚痛，大乐团仍旧盛行。那也是个著名歌手流行的年代，当时，弗兰克·辛纳屈融化了全国女人的心，平·克劳斯贝的《白色圣诞》成为年度最佳唱片。但这背后预示着变革。当时黑人福音音乐的节奏、科技以及一群南方年轻人要永远改变音乐的历史。雷·保罗发明了著名的电吉他，摇滚乐诞生。猫王埃尔维斯·普雷斯利和他那摇摆的臀风靡全国。二十世纪五十年代的音乐再次和美好年代、失去爱情、赢得爱情、反抗政府以及拥有辆快车相关。我父母成长于这个年代。我喜欢那种音乐，但它不属于我。我妈妈仍记得当年猫王在爱德·沙利文秀上的演唱，我爸爸更是有悖天理，直到秃顶之前都把他的发型弄得和猫王一样。后来，二十世纪六十年代早期，出现了所谓的加州之声——沙滩男孩的浪潮和其他模仿者。它是有关开心玩乐，有关躺在沙滩上边晒黑皮肤边欣赏漂亮女生的。三十年代的焦虑以及战争年代已经离我们远去。越过大西洋，一场剧变即将开始，甲壳虫及滚石乐队是英国摇滚乐潮的先驱。后来，越战爆发，那是我们这一代的标志性事件。学生B：您参战了吗? 教授：没有，战争开始时我很小，结束时我在上大学，因此我错过了。但没人能真正逃过这场战争。到处是有关它的消息，电视上，街道上，每天都有。音乐塑造着我们，引导着我们，代表着我们，就像现在说唱音乐和嘻哈音乐代表着非裔美国人一样。说唱音乐是有关抗议的，但有些暴力，这使社会上的大多数人感到厌恶和震惊。也有人强烈反对说唱音乐，因为它不尊重女性和其他人种。可以这么讲，说唱音乐本身带有种族主义，反对一切其反抗的事情。试想，在同样的基调下，二十世纪九十年代早期的垃圾摇滚都是有关反抗当时富足的社会，有关缺乏目标、没有期望的一代人，有关绝望的。今天，我们的音乐如此多元化，每个人都能找到适合自己的。这并非意味着我们相互理解彼此的品位，因为，最终，音乐属于听者个人。 18．教授是如何把音乐和其所处年代联系起来的？ A.他说一个年代的人理解不了另一个年代的音乐。 B.他认为音乐是其所处年代历史、社会及经济环境的产物。 C.他试着证明一个年代的社会环境是其音乐的结果。 D.他认为每个人对音乐都有一种独特的品位，不管是哪个年代的音乐。解析从“The music is so related tothe history，social，and economic circumstances of an era that it's，well，diffcult to understand for those who weren't there or whose lives were unaffected by those influences．”可以看出，教授认为为音乐是它所处的特定历史年代的综合产物。