2017英语专八阅读100篇高级篇附答案解析（84）

2017英语专八阅读100篇高级篇附答案解析（84）

　　Imagine howmuch sleep future musicologists will lose over Philip Glass. Throughout hiscareer he has changed his scores to suit the circumstances, trimming them forrecordings, for example, because he believes that nonvisual performancesbenefit from concision. The notion of an immutable, sacrosancturtext -- the very thing musicologists sift historical evidence hoping toestablish -- is entirely alien to him.

　　Still, youwould think that if Mr. Glass held anything sacred, it would be the structureand format of ’’Einstein on the Beach.’’ At that opera’s premiere in 1976, and in its 1984 and 1992 revivals, ’’Einstein’’ played for five hours with nointermission. Free of narrative but rich in associations and imagery --Einstein as a madly ecstatic violinist but also as the father of nuclear power-- the work unfolded inexorably, its repeated musical phrases creating rhythmicwheels within wheels. The libretto, mostly numbers, solfege syllables andquirky, stream-of-consciousness spoken texts, works its own hypnotic spell.Listeners were free to come and go as they pleased, but some of the work’s power came from itsrelentlessness, to say nothing of the quirkiness of Robert Wilson’s staging.

　　The versionthat Mr. Glass and his ensemble presented at Carnegie Hall on Thursday eveningswept away the elements that made the work a happening and transformed it intoa concert piece: three hours long, with an intermission and with formal seatingrules in force. The breadth of the work was presented, if not its full sweep.The two-hour trim was accomplished by deleting sections from all but a fewscenes. Some trims were noticeable: Lucinda Childs’s tale of the multicolored bathingcap was intact, as were the quotations from Carole King’s ’’I Feel the Earth Move,’’ but Mr. Bojangles was evictedfrom this version.

　　Musically,the score survived the trims and might even have benefited from them: Thebrisker movement from one section to the next highlighted the degree of inventivenessthat drives this piece and pointed up passages of real beauty. In ’’Knee Play 3,’’ for example, the unaccompaniedchorus sings streams of numbers, yet the music has the grandeur of a sacredsetting much of the time and, at others, the energy of a symphonic presto. AndTim Fain, the violinist, gave the solo passages in the second, fourth and fifth’’Knee Plays’’ and in the climactic, swirling ’’Spaceship Interior’’ scene an electrifying, virtuosicworkout.

　　Some of thework’s magic is in the way its elements pull in opposite directions. Therepetition of short phrases, on one hand, can be soporific; yet the wheezingkeyboard and woodwind textures and the bursts of choral counting, withsibilants creating their own rhythmic patterns, are invigorating. And becausethe performance is heavily amplified, timbres seem to melt together: Is thatrepeating fragment a voice, a violin or the top notes of the organfigure? The ensemble, which included musicians who have been with Mr.Glass from the early days as well as newcomers, gave the score a tight,high-energy readi1.

　　1. Futuremusicologists will lose much sleep over Philip Glass because_____.

　　[A] PhilipGlass’ works are consistently changing based on the different context andvarious external conditions.

　　[B] PhilipGlass’s music is characterized by its unintelligibility.

　　[C] PhilipGlass is ignorant of establishing an immutable, sacrosanct urtext.

　　[D] PhilipGlass’s works are totally alien to modern and even future audience.

　　2. To makethe opera become a concert, Mr. Glass trimmed _____.

　　[A] the taleof the multicolored bathing cap

　　[B] thequotations form Carole King

　　[C] Mr.Bojangles’ scene

　　[D] LucindaChilde’s adventure

　　3. Which oneof the following is NOT true of the new version of Einstein on theBeach ?

　　[A] Theformer structure and format was kept constantly for the majority part.

　　[B] Theversion was changed into a concert with a more formal procedure and a morefixed setting.

　　[C] Theversion was a success partly because of the advantages brought by the trims.

　　[D] Theversion was tighter than its ancestor.

　　4. The contrary elements which addedcharm to the new version were_____.

　　[A] thesoporific repetition of phrases and invigorating music

　　[B] thestreams numbers and symphonic energy

　　[C] theclassical violin solo passage and electrifying workout

　　[D] itsinnovative nature and authenticity

　　5.The passage is mainly _____.

　　[A] acomparison of two versions of Einstein on the Beach

　　[B] anintroduction of a new art form

　　[C] a studyon the influence of trims on musical works

　　[D] ananalysis of Mr. Glass’ works

　　文章剖析：

　　这篇文章主要介绍了音乐家菲利普·格拉斯的作品。文章第一段提到格拉斯作品多变的风格;第二段讲述其作品 爱因斯坦在海滩 的特点;第三段讲述卡内基大厅演出的 爱因斯坦在海滩 版本的删节;第四段第五段讲述新版本音乐特色。

　　词汇注释：

　　immutableadj. 不变的, 永恒的

　　sacrosanctadj. 极神圣的

　　urtext n. 原始文本

　　sift v. 选拔，精选

　　libretto n. 歌词

　　solege n.视唱练习

　　quirky adj 诡诈的，离奇的

　　hypnotic adj.催眠的

　　brisker adj. 轻快的，活泼的

　　virtuosicadj. 艺术的

　　presto n. 急板乐段或乐章

　　timbre n. 音色，音质

　　soporificadj. 催眠的

　　wheeze v. 喘息

　　inexorablyadv. 无情地, 冷酷地

　　难句突破：

　　Free of narrative but rich in associations and imagery -- Einstein as a madlyecstatic violinist but also as the father of nuclear power -- the work unfoldedinexorably, its repeated musical phrases creating rhythmic wheels withinwheels.

　　[主体句式] The work unfolded.

　　[结构分析] 这是一个简单句，前面的现在分词短语是作为句子的伴随状语(粉刺被省略)，而最后面的是一个带有主语的分词独立结构，也是句子的伴随状语;而破折号之间的句子是一个独立的结构，用来说明前面的伴随状语。

　　[句子译文] 爱因斯坦不仅是一个疯狂着迷的小提琴家，也是核能之父，而这部作品没有多少叙述，却充满了联想和想象，它冷酷地展现在大家面前，不停重复的音乐措辞在圆圈里又创造出有节奏感的圆圈。

　　The version that Mr. Glass and his ensemble presented at Carnegie Hall onThursday evening swept away the elements that made the work a happening andtransformed it into a concert piece: three hours long, with an intermission andwith formal seating rules in force.

　　[主体句式] The version swept away theelements and transformed it...

　　[结构分析]这是一个复合句，紧跟着主语后面的是以that引导的定语从句，句子宾语the elements后面也是一个用来修饰它的定语从句，该定语从句比较复杂，冒号后面的是一个独立成分，是用来解释前面a concert piece的。

　　[句子译文] 周四晚上格拉斯先生和他的演出团队在卡内基大厅进行了演出，这次演出扫除了这部剧作事件剧的一些因素，转变为一部音乐会。这次演出历时三个小时，有幕间休息，也有正式的就座规则。

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