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。
`译文：
纽约爱乐乐团决定聘请Alan Gilbert作为下一任的音乐总监，这从2009年任命被宣布之日起就在古典音乐界引起了热议。别的不说，大部分人的反应是积极的。“好啊，终于好了！” Anthony Tommasini写道，他可是一个以严肃著称的古典音乐评论家。
但是，这个任命之所以一起人们惊讶的原因却是Gilbert相对而言并不是很有名。甚至在时代杂志上发文支持Gilbert任命的Tommasini都称其为：低调的音乐家，在他身上找不到那种飞扬跋扈的指挥家的气质。纽约爱乐乐团迄今为止都是由像Gustav Mahler(古斯塔夫?马勒)和Pierre Boulez布列兹那样的音乐家领导的。这样去描述这个乐团的下一位指挥，至少对于时代的读者而言，这是一种苍白的表扬。
就我看来，我不知道Gilbert是否是一个伟大的指挥家或者是一个好的指挥。但是我能确定的是，他能表现出很多有趣的乐章，但是我却应该不会去Avery Fisher Hall或者其他地方去听一场有趣的交响乐演出。我要做的事情就是去我的CD架上，或者打开的我的电脑从ITUNES上下载更多的唱片。
那些忠实的音乐会观众会讲唱片并不能代替现场的演出，但是他们忽略了一些事情。当下为了获得艺术爱好者的钱，时间，关注度，古典音乐的演奏家们(其实就是指交响乐团，同意复述)不仅要和剧院，舞蹈队，演出公司和博物馆竞争，而且还需要和那些记录了20世纪的伟大的古典音乐演奏者表演的唱片竞争。唱片很便宜，那里都能买到，并且比现在很多现场音乐会的艺术质量要高。进一步的讲，听众能选择听唱片的时间和地点。这些到处可以获得的唱片给传统的演出机构带来了危机。
对于古典音乐演奏者而言，他们可能的一个回应就是排练出唱片上没有的曲目。Gilbert对新音乐兴趣已经被广泛的关注了：Alex Ross，一名古典音乐的批评家，就这样描述道：他能够把爱乐乐团变成一个完全不同，更加有活力的组织。但是那种不同的性质也是什么呢？可能仅仅增加乐团演出的曲目是不够的，如果Gilbert和他的乐团要进步的话，他们就必须首先改变美国最古老的乐团(就是纽约爱乐乐团)同他们想吸引的新观众间的关系。
文章分析：
这篇文章来自Commentary 2007年9月刊的一篇文章Selling Classical Music by TERRY TEACHOUT。这个杂志可以说知名度并不高，这可以看出命题人的出题指向性，反反命题的倾向很严重。以前的经济学人，今年只有在B节入选。这篇文章的体裁是议论文。第一二段都是一个引入。三段提出了作者的观点。四段和五段是对于三段观点进一步的递进和展开。而在第一个第二段中是不同的人对于新任指挥的看法。所以阅读考研 <
http://www.koolearn.com/kaoyan/>文章没有什么复杂的就是关注观点！分清论点和论据！
试题分析
21. We learn from Para.1 that Gilbert’s appointment has 。
[A]incurred criticism. [B]raised suspicion。
[C]received acclaim. [D]aroused curiosity。
解析：这个题目相对简单，文章在首段首句有这么一句话： 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. 纽约爱乐乐团决定聘请Alan Gilbert作为下一任的音乐总监，这从2009年任命被宣布之日起就在古典音乐界引起了热议。从这句话可以看出，人们对Gilbert’s appointment是众说纷纭，充满了一探究竟的气氛，所以这道题目的答案为D.
22. Tommasini regards Gilbert as an artist who is
[A]influential. [B]modest。
[C]respectable. [D]talented。
解析：这个题目关键就是要学会对论点和论据的敏感：Tommasini是个具体的人提他是有目的的。问他的看法，你可以直接看这样一句：“an unpretentious musician with no air of the formidable conductor about him。”但是这样的句子中的：unpretentious和formidable属于难词，真正知道其词义的同学不多，无法直接得出答案 而这个句子在段落中和第一句是一个递进的关系，他是进一步说明第一句的：One of the reasons why the appointment came as such a surprise, however, is that Gilbert is comparatively little known。这个句子难度不大。这个人相对来讲名气不大。A,C,D 都无从谈起了。只有modest和这个名气大不大能相关。
23. The author believes that the devoted concertgoers
[A]ignore the expenses of live performances。
[B]reject most kinds of recorded performances。
[C]exaggerate the variety of live performances。
[D]overestimate the value of live performances。
解析：作者的观点：The author believes，这个是在关注定位词devoted concertgoers后的另外一个关键点；作者认为concertgoers miss the point;但具体是什么，需要看选项了。A ,忽略了现场演奏的费用，B,拒绝大多数的唱片演奏。这两个是没有根据的属于未提及选项。C有一定的干扰性：the variety of live performances，二段中是有variety 这个单词的，并且在段落中出现了好多并列的成分，这样对于很多没有读懂原文的同学其实是会产生视觉干扰的。但是the value of live performances这个宾语和动词是没有原文依据的。最后一个选项之所以正确是由于：作者在一直说唱片的好，而前面又说concertgoers认为现场演奏不会被唱片代替。这样就是论点上的正话反说了。通过排除法我们直接可以把答案定位到最后一个：高估了现场表演的价值。
24. According to the text, which of the following is true of recordings?
[A]They are often inferior to live concerts in quality。
[B]They are easily accessible to the general public。
[C]They help improve the quality of music。
[D]They have only covered masterpieces。
解析：这是一道典型的细节题，通过题干中的关键词：recordings定位到倒数第二段：These 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。一连串的描述就是B。干扰项是C : They help improve the quality of music。听Kevin的分析主谓宾，回文章中定位你会发现，文章中说的是唱片中的表演的质量要比现在的好，但是并没有说：help improve the quality of music。 [A]They are often inferior to live concerts in quality。和原文表述相反。[D]They have only covered masterpieces。原文没有提及。而且only的表意太绝对了。
25. Regarding Gilbert’s role in revitalizing the Philharmonic, the author feels
[A]doubtful. [B]enthusiastic。
[C]confident. [D]puzzled。
解析：问作者的态度，主体是作者，对象是Gilbert’s role in revitalizing the Philharmonic从具体表述出发寻找相应的态度表达词：But what will be the nature of that difference? Merely expanding the orchestra’s repertoire will not be enough。一个but ,一个？，一个not就把这种不确定性给出来了。于是这就是选A doubtful。
