2010考研英語閱讀精讀100篇(高分版)TEXT  TEN
　　Imagine how much sleep future musicologists will lose over Philip Glass. Throughout his career he has changed his scores to suit the circumstances, trimming them for recordings, for example, because he believes that nonvisual performances benefit from (relative) concision. The notion of an immutable, sacrosanct urtext -- the very thing musicologists sift historical evidence hoping to establish -- is entirely alien to him.

　　Still, you would think that if Mr. Glass held anything sacred, it would be the structure and 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 no intermission. 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 rhythmic wheels within wheels. The libretto, mostly numbers, solfege syllables and quirky, 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 its relentlessness, to say nothing of the quirkiness of Robert Wilson's staging.

　　The version that Mr. Glass and his ensemble presented at Carnegie Hall on Thursday evening swept away the elements that made the work a happening and transformed it into a concert piece: three hours long, with an intermission and with formal seating rules 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 few scenes. Some trims were noticeable: Lucinda Childs's tale of the multicolored bathing cap was intact, as were the quotations from Carole King's ''I Feel the Earth Move,'' but Mr. Bojangles was evicted from this version.

　　Musically, the score survived the trims and might even have benefited from them: The brisker movement from one section to the next highlighted the degree of inventiveness that drives this piece and pointed up passages of real beauty. In ''Knee Play 3,'' for example, the unaccompanied chorus sings streams of numbers, yet the music has the grandeur of a sacred setting much of the time and, at others, the energy of a symphonic presto. And Tim 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, virtuosic workout.

　　Some of the work's magic is in the way its elements pull in opposite directions. The repetition of short phrases, on one hand, can be soporific; yet the wheezing keyboard and woodwind textures and the bursts of choral counting, with sibilants creating their own rhythmic patterns, are invigorating. And because the performance is heavily amplified, timbres seem to melt together: Is that repeating fragment a voice, a violin or the top notes of the organ figure? 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. Future musicologists will lose much sleep over Philip Glass because_____

　　[A] Philip Glass’ works are consistently changing based on the different context and various external conditions.

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

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

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

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

　　[A] the tale of the multicolored bathing cap.

　　[B] the quotations form Carole King.

　　[C] Mr. Bojangles’ scene.

　　[D] Lucinda Childe’s adventure.

　　3. Which one of the following is NOT true of the new version of “Einstein on the Beach” ?

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

　　[B] The version was changed into a concert with a more formal procedure and a more fixed setting.

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

　　[D] The version was tighter than its ancestor.

　　4. The contrary elements which added charm to the new version were_____

　　[A] the soporific repetition of phrases and invigorating music.

　　[B] the streams numbers and symphonic energy.

　　[C] the classical violin solo passage and electrifying workout.

　　[D] its innovative nature and authenticity.

　　5.The passage is mainly _____

　　[A] a comparison of two versions of “Einstein on the Beach”.

　　[B] an introduction of a new art form.

　　[C] a study on the influence of trims on musical works.

　　[D] an analysis of Mr. Glass’ works.

　　文章剖析：

　　這篇文章主要介紹了音樂家Philip Glass的作品。文章第一段提到Glass作品多變的風格;第二段講述其作品“愛因斯坦在海灘”的特點;第三段講述卡內(nèi)基大廳演出的“愛因斯坦在海灘”版本的刪節(jié);第四段第五段講述新版本音樂特色。

　　詞匯注釋：

　　immutable adj. 不變的, 永恒的

　　sacrosanct adj. 極神圣的

　　urtext n. 原始文本(如樂譜等)

　　sift v. 選拔，精選

　　libretto n. 歌詞

　　solege n.視唱練習

　　quirky adj 詭詐的，離奇的

　　hypnotic adj. 催眠的

　　brisker adj. 輕快的，活潑的

　　presto n. 急板樂段或樂章

　　virtuosic adj. 藝術(shù)的

　　soporific adj. 催眠的

　　wheeze v. 喘息

　　timbre n. 音色，音質(zhì)

　　難句突破：

　　(1) 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 rhythmic wheels within wheels.

　　[主體句式] The work unfolded.

　　[結(jié)構(gòu)分析] 這是一個簡單句，前面的現(xiàn)在分詞短語是作為句子的伴隨狀語(分詞被省略)，而最后面的是一個帶有主語的分詞獨立結(jié)構(gòu)，也是句子的伴隨狀語;而破折號之間的句子是一個獨立的結(jié)構(gòu)，用來說明前面的伴隨狀語。

　　[句子譯文] 愛因斯坦不僅是一個瘋狂著迷的小提琴家，也是核能之父，而這部作品沒有多少敘述，卻充滿了聯(lián)想和想象，它冷酷地展現(xiàn)在大家面前，不停重復(fù)的音樂措辭在圓圈里又創(chuàng)造出有節(jié)奏感的圓圈。

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

　　[主體句式] The version swept away the elements and transformed it…

　　[結(jié)構(gòu)分析]這是一個復(fù)合句，緊跟著主語后面的是以that引導的定語從句，句子賓語the elements后面也是一個用來修飾它的定語從句，該定語從句比較復(fù)雜，冒號后面的是一個獨立成分，用來解釋前面a concert piece。

　　[句子譯文] 周四晚上Glass先生和他的演出團隊在卡內(nèi)基大廳進行了演出，這次演出刪除了這部劇作事件劇的一些因素，將其轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橐徊繀f(xié)奏曲。這次演出歷時三個小時，有幕間休息，也有正式的座位規(guī)則。

　　題目分析：

　　[答案]A

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆

　　[分析] 推理題。文章剛開始就提到未來的音樂學家會在Glass身上耗費掉許多睡眠，引申來看就是Glass的作品會很耗費人的精力。接下來文章就介紹了Glass作品的特點，格拉斯的作品會因環(huán)境、時代的變化作出許多變動，他不相信那種永恒不變的文本，這也就可能是未來音樂學家要耗費許多精力在他身上的原因。文章下面還舉了具體的例子說明了他如何把自己的歌劇改編成協(xié)奏曲，因此，A最為符合原文。

　　[答案]C

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆

　　[分析] 細節(jié)題。文章第二段中提到演出的版本刪去了兩個小時，而且刪節(jié)比較明顯。在說明刪節(jié)的內(nèi)容時，作者卻指出了一些完整的情節(jié)，這一點容易讓考生混淆，所以就需要從中挑出那些哪些是刪節(jié)了的。原文提到，Lucirda Childe彩色游泳帽的故事是完整的，引用Carole King的話“我感到了地動，”也是的，而Bojangles先生卻被逐出了，因此，答案為C選項。D選項有一定的迷惑性，Lucirda Childe的故事實際上就是彩色游泳帽的故事，但是選項中用了adventure這個詞是無中生有，因此可以排除該選項。

　　[答案]A

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆

　　[分析] 細節(jié)題。題干要求找出關(guān)于“愛因斯坦在海灘”這部作品描述錯誤的選項。選項A，文章第二段提到Glass先生將這部劇作的結(jié)構(gòu)和形式視為神圣，表演了5個小時，可是在新版本中刪去了2個小時，其結(jié)構(gòu)和形式應(yīng)該發(fā)生了變化。因此，這個選項有可能是錯誤的。B在文章第三段提到;C在文章第四段中提到，這部作品可能還因為刪節(jié)而獲益，因為章節(jié)之間的變化更快了，凸現(xiàn)了主要的美。D，文章第四段提到章節(jié)之間的變化更快，還有最后一段的最后一句，Glass先生的演奏團隊給了這個版本一個緊湊的解讀，這兩處都可以反映出這個版本更為緊湊了。比較而言，A陳述是錯誤的。

　　[答案]D

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆☆☆☆

　　[分析] 細節(jié)題。文章的最后一段指出，這部作品的魔力部分就在于里面有相異、相沖突的元素，一面是短語不停重復(fù)讓人催眠的效果，但是發(fā)出喘息聲的鍵盤樂器、木管樂器以及突然爆發(fā)的讀數(shù)合唱，還有那些獨創(chuàng)的咝音節(jié)奏，聽起來都那么令人振奮。而因為演出大大增強，音質(zhì)仿佛也融合在了一起。那重復(fù)的片斷是人的聲音，是小提琴還是管風琴的高音?而不管是跟隨Glass先生一直演出的團隊還是新來的人員，都把樂譜唱的緊實而高昂。前三項都是這些特點的一方面，而D以精練的語言最好地概括了這些特點。

　　[答案] D

　　[難度系數(shù)] ☆

　　[分析] 主旨題。這篇文章主要介紹了Glass先生作品“愛因斯坦在海邊”，突出表現(xiàn)了其作品的一些獨特之處。選項A，文章雖然兩個版本都提到，但并不是對這兩個版本的比較;B不符合原文;C關(guān)于原文提到了，但只是文章的一小部分內(nèi)容而已;D選項，可以看出全文都是對其作品的分析，相對來說比較切合題意。因此，正確答案為D選項。

　　參考譯文：

　　設(shè)想一下未來音樂學者得在Philip Glass身上要花掉多少不眠之夜啊。在他的職業(yè)生涯中，Philip為適應(yīng)環(huán)境而改變樂譜，比如為了錄音而修改樂譜，因為(相對的)簡潔能使非視覺表演獲益。音樂學者希望通過搜索歷史證據(jù)可以建立那種永恒的、神圣的原始樂譜概念，但他在這一點上有完全不同的想法。

　　但是，如果你認為Glass先生還是覺得有神圣的東西的話，那就是“海灘上的愛因斯坦”的結(jié)構(gòu)和格式。1976年這部歌劇的首次公演，以及1984年和1992年的重演中，“愛因斯坦”沒有停歇地表演了五個小時。愛因斯坦不僅是一個瘋狂著迷的小提琴家，也是核能之父，而這部作品沒有多少敘述，卻充滿了聯(lián)想和想象，它冷酷地展現(xiàn)在大家面前，不停重復(fù)的音樂措辭在圓圈里又創(chuàng)造出有節(jié)奏感的圓圈。歌詞大多都是數(shù)字、視唱練習的音節(jié)和怪異的意識流口語文本，創(chuàng)造出一種催眠的咒語。聽眾可以自由來去，但是這部作品的力量就來源于它的冷酷，更不用說Robert Wilson離奇的舞臺布置了。

　　周四晚上Glass先生和他的演出團隊在卡內(nèi)基大廳進行了演出，這次演出刪除了這部劇作事件劇的一些因素，將其轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橐徊繀f(xié)奏曲。這次演出歷時三個小時，有幕間休息，也有正式的座位規(guī)則。如果說這次演出并沒有將這部劇作的全部內(nèi)容展示出來的話，至少其雄渾的效果得以展現(xiàn)出來�？s短的兩個小時是通過刪去幾幕的部分達到的，有些刪節(jié)非常明顯，比如Lucinda Childs彩色游泳帽的故事是完整的，還有引用Carole King的話“我感到了地動”也沒有刪掉, 但是Bojangles先生卻被逐出了這次劇演。

　　從音樂上來講，盡管作了刪節(jié)但樂譜還是獲得了成功，而且應(yīng)該說是得益于刪節(jié)。從一節(jié)到下一節(jié)輕快的移動突出了其獨創(chuàng)性，突出了具有真正美的篇章。比如在“膝蓋戲3”中，沒有伴奏的合唱隊唱著流暢的數(shù)字，但是這時的音樂卻有一種莊嚴的色彩，而其他章節(jié)中又體現(xiàn)了和聲急板樂曲的力量。小提琴手Tim Fain在第二、第四和第五“膝蓋劇”中進行了獨奏，而在高潮的漩渦式的“太空船內(nèi)部”一幕中，進行了電子化、藝術(shù)性的加工。

　　這部作品的魅力部分在于里面的元素朝向不同的方向。短語的反復(fù)出現(xiàn)一方面有催眠的效果，但是發(fā)出喘息聲的鍵盤樂器、木管樂器以及突然爆發(fā)的讀數(shù)合唱，還有那些獨創(chuàng)的咝音節(jié)奏，聽起來都那么令人振奮。而因為演出大大增強，音質(zhì)仿佛也融合在了一起。那重復(fù)的片斷是人的聲音，是小提琴還是管風琴的高音?而不管是跟隨Glass先生一直演出的團隊還是新來的人員，都把樂譜唱的緊實而高昂。