【摘要】
Section B
Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Of all the varieties of music which fill our concert halls, theatres, and nightclubs, only jazz is original American music. Symphonies and concertos, the ancestors of movie and television scores as well as “serious” or “legitimate” electronic music, were first composed in Germany. Musical comedies are descended from opera, which was first performed in Italy. And our ever-popular nightclub singers are the musical heirs of the French singers.
The one form of music which did not originate in Europe and which is popular today worldwide is jazz. Jazz was born in New Orleans, the child of the black Americans. It drew on the rhythms as well as the emotions of the African music of their ancestors, which had been transformed into ragtime and blues. From ragtime, jazz took syncopated rhythms while from blues it adopted melodic and harmonic elements such as mournful tunes once sung by slaves and barbershop-type chromatic chord progressions.
Questions 26 to 29 are based on the passage you have just heard.
26. Where did symphonies and concertos originate?
27. What is the origin of musical comedies performed now?
28. Who first created the music of jazz in New Orleans?
29. What kind of music is jazz based on?