2015考研真題

Section II Reading Comprehension

Part A

Directions:

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing [A], [B], [C] or [D]. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)

Text 1

The decision of the New York Philharmonic to hire Alan Gilbert as its next music director has been the talk of the classical-music world ever since the sudden announcement of his appointment in 2009. For the most part, the response has been favorable, to say the least. “Hooray! At last!” wrote Anthony Tommasini, a sober-sided classical-music critic。

One of the reasons why the appointment came as such a surprise, however, is that Gilbert is comparatively little known. Even Tommasini, who had advocated Gilbert’s appointment in the Times, calls him “an unpretentious musician with no air of the formidable conductor about him�！� As a description of the next music director of an orchestra that has hitherto been led by musicians like Gustav Mahler and Pierre Boulez, that seems likely to have struck at least some Times readers as faint praise。

For my part, I have no idea whether Gilbert is a great conductor or even a good one. To be sure, he performs an impressive variety of interesting compositions, but it is not necessary for me to visit Avery Fisher Hall, or anywhere else, to hear interesting orchestral music. All I have to do is to go to my CD shelf, or boot up my computer and download still more recorded music from iTunes。

Devoted concertgoers who reply that recordings are no substitute for live performance are missing the point. For the time, attention, and money of the art-loving public, classical instrumentalists must compete not only with opera houses, dance troupes, theater companies, and museums, but also with the recorded performances of the great classical musicians of the 20th century. There recordings are cheap, available everywhere, and very often much higher in artistic quality than today’s live performances; moreover, they can be “consumed” at a time and place of the listener’s choosing. The widespread availability of such recordings has thus brought about a crisis in the institution of the traditional classical concert。

One possible response is for classical performers to program attractive new music that is not yet available on record. Gilbert’s own interest in new music has been widely noted: Alex Ross, a classical-music critic, has described him as a man who is capable of turning the Philharmonic into “a markedly different, more vibrant organization。” But what will be the nature of that difference? Merely expanding the orchestra’s repertoire will not be enough. If Gilbert and the Philharmonic are to succeed, they must first change the relationship between America’s oldest orchestra and the new audience it hops to attract。

`譯文：

紐約愛(ài)樂(lè)樂(lè)團(tuán)決定聘請(qǐng)Alan Gilbert作為下一任的音樂(lè)總監(jiān)，這從2009年任命被宣布之日起就在古典音樂(lè)界引起了熱議。別的不說(shuō)，大部分人的反應(yīng)是積極的。“好啊，終于好了!” Anthony Tommasini寫(xiě)道，他可是一個(gè)以嚴(yán)肅著稱的古典音樂(lè)評(píng)論家。

但是，這個(gè)任命之所以一起人們驚訝的原因卻是Gilbert相對(duì)而言并不是很有名。甚至在時(shí)代雜志上發(fā)文支持Gilbert任命的Tommasini都稱其為：低調(diào)的音樂(lè)家，在他身上找不到那種飛揚(yáng)跋扈的指揮家的氣質(zhì)。紐約愛(ài)樂(lè)樂(lè)團(tuán)迄今為止都是由像Gustav Mahler(古斯塔夫•馬勒)和Pierre Boulez布列茲那樣的音樂(lè)家領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的。這樣去描述這個(gè)樂(lè)團(tuán)的下一位指揮，至少對(duì)于時(shí)代的讀者而言，這是一種蒼白的表?yè)P(yáng)。

就我看來(lái)，我不知道Gilbert是否是一個(gè)偉大的指揮家或者是一個(gè)好的指揮。但是我能確定的是，他能表現(xiàn)出很多有趣的樂(lè)章，但是我卻應(yīng)該不會(huì)去Avery Fisher Hall或者其他地方去聽(tīng)一場(chǎng)有趣的交響樂(lè)演出。我要做的事情就是去我的CD架上，或者打開(kāi)的我的電腦從ITUNES上下載更多的唱片。

那些忠實(shí)的音樂(lè)會(huì)觀眾會(huì)講唱片并不能代替現(xiàn)場(chǎng)的演出，但是他們忽略了一些事情。當(dāng)下為了獲得藝術(shù)愛(ài)好者的錢，時(shí)間，關(guān)注度，古典音樂(lè)的演奏家們(其實(shí)就是指交響樂(lè)團(tuán)，同意復(fù)述)不僅要和劇院，舞蹈隊(duì)，演出公司和博物館競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，而且還需要和那些記錄了20世紀(jì)的偉大的古典音樂(lè)演奏者表演的唱片競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。唱片很便宜，那里都能買到，并且比現(xiàn)在很多現(xiàn)場(chǎng)音樂(lè)會(huì)的藝術(shù)質(zhì)量要高。進(jìn)一步的講，聽(tīng)眾能選擇聽(tīng)唱片的時(shí)間和地點(diǎn)。這些到處可以獲得的.唱片給傳統(tǒng)的演出機(jī)構(gòu)帶來(lái)了危機(jī)。

對(duì)于古典音樂(lè)演奏者而言，他們可能的一個(gè)回應(yīng)就是排練出唱片上沒(méi)有的曲目。Gilbert對(duì)新音樂(lè)興趣已經(jīng)被廣泛的關(guān)注了：Alex Ross，一名古典音樂(lè)的批評(píng)家，就這樣描述道：他能夠把愛(ài)樂(lè)樂(lè)團(tuán)變成一個(gè)完全不同，更加有活力的組織。但是那種不同的性質(zhì)也是什么呢?可能僅僅增加樂(lè)團(tuán)演出的曲目是不夠的，如果Gilbert和他的樂(lè)團(tuán)要進(jìn)步的話，他們就必須首先改變美國(guó)最古老的樂(lè)團(tuán)(就是紐約愛(ài)樂(lè)樂(lè)團(tuán))同他們想吸引的新觀眾間的關(guān)系。

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