Question

【題目】For a 400－year－old art form, opera had a bad fame: overweight actresses singing the words which were hard to understand in one of those romance languages you were supposed to learn in high school.And with tickets costing as much as $145 a performance, opera goers also had a certain appearance in people's mind: rich, well－dressed and old.

But now opera companies around the country are loosening their ties and kicking off their shoes in an attempt to keep opera alive and take it to a younger and not so wealthy audience.

Opera producers have found that to attract this crowd, they need to associate opera with the common people.That means no formal suits, old－styled theatre or bank－breaking ticket prices.And because young people don't or won't come to the opera, companies are bringing the opera to them, giving performances in such usual places as parks, libraries and public schools.

The Houston Grand Opera's choice is the public library, where it performs “mobile operas”， shortened versions of child－friendly operas.This summer's production is Hansel & Gretel.By performing smaller versions of large productions, producers are able to make people interested while keeping costs at a reasonable level.The San Francisco Opera, which will be celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, is staging Cinderella free of charge, keeping costs down by employing students from its Young Artists' Training Program.

【1】Which is the main idea of this passage？

A. Opera is famous for its long history.

B. Opera is only performed for rich people.

C. Opera companies are trying to keep opera alive.

D. Young people are not interested in opera.

【2】The underlined phrase in the second paragraph means____.

A. breaking up the old rules

B. changing the dresses

C. making the audience at ease

D. advertising themselves

【3】Opera companies prefer to perform short versions because ____.

A. they can be performed in public libraries

B. short versions are easy to perform

C. it is hard to find long versions

D. they can make people interested

【4】The San Francisco Opera employs students in order to____.

A. celebrate its 75th anniversary

B. reduce the costs

C. attract young people

D. make Cinderella popular

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】C

【2】A

【3】D

【4】B

【解析】

本文為應用文。主要講述有著400年歷史的歌劇，因為歌詞難以理解，票價昂貴，給人的印象是富有、華麗和古老，因此歌劇如今已經(jīng)不那么受歡迎了。許多歌劇公司打破陳規(guī)，改變過去的風格，讓其更貼近普通人，從而讓歌劇保持活力。

【1】主旨大意題。本文主要講述有400年歷史的歌劇，因為歌詞難以理解，票價昂貴，給人的印象是富有、華麗和古老。尤其第二段now opera companies around the country are loosening their ties and kicking off their shoes in an attempt to keep opera alive可知，許多歌劇公司在打破陳規(guī)，改掉過去的風格，讓更貼近普通人，從而讓歌劇保持活力。分析選項可知C項（歌劇公司正在努力保持歌劇的生命力）符合題意，故選C項。

【2】猜測詞義題。根據(jù)第一段和第二段的內(nèi)容可知，歌劇給人的印象是古老，浪漫的語言很難懂。于是歌劇公司正努力貼近年輕人和普通人。第三段they need to associate opera with the common people.That means no formal suits, old－styled theatre or bank－breaking ticket prices. 他們把歌劇和普通人聯(lián)系起來。這意味著沒有正式的服裝、老式的劇院，也沒有昂貴的票價。由此可知他們打破陳規(guī)，改掉了過去的風格，讓歌劇更貼近普通人。分析可知，本句是指打破陳規(guī)的意思，故選A項。

【3】細節(jié)理解題。第四段的“….，By performing smaller versions of large productions, producers are able to make people interested while keeping costs at a reasonable level.”由此可知，歌劇做的許多改變都是為了吸引更多的觀眾。分析選項可知D項符合題意。故選D項。

【4】細節(jié)理解題。最后一段的最后一句“…., keeping costs down by employing students from its Young Artists' Training Program.”本句為“通過使用青年藝術(shù)家培訓項目的學生來降低成本”可知B項（降低成本）符合題意，故選B項。

文章主題和中心思想的闡述往往需要大量細節(jié)信息的支持，這些細節(jié)對于理解全文內(nèi)容至關(guān)重要，同時也是歸納和概括文章中心思想的基礎(chǔ)。命題人往往會要求考生根據(jù)不同的要求閱讀文章，以獲得某些特定的信息，或準確地尋求所需的細節(jié)，并對細節(jié)進行直接或間接辨認和理解。其中最�？嫉氖钦Z言轉(zhuǎn)述題。語言轉(zhuǎn)述題是一類間接事實細節(jié)題，答案與題目在意義上運用了詞義之間的轉(zhuǎn)述關(guān)系，即正確選項是原文有關(guān)詞語和句子的另一種表達。屬于中檔難度題，分數(shù)比例較大。如第4小題，B項中的“reduce the costs” 用學生是減少成本就是對文中表達“keeping costs down by employing students”降低成本的短語的轉(zhuǎn)換形式，即語言轉(zhuǎn)述。這種細節(jié)理解題通常采用詞語和句型轉(zhuǎn)換的形式來取代原文中的表述。