老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案
(D) The popularity of the piano with composers
43. Which of the following instruments was widely used before the seventeenth century? (A) The harpsichord (B) The spinet (C) The clavichord (D) The organ
44. The words \ (A) a suggestion (B) an improvement (C) a dominance (D) a development
45. The word \ (A) supported (B) promoted (C) replaced (D) dominated
46. The word \ (A) variety (B) music (C) harpsichord (D) clavichord
47. According to the passage, what deficiency did the harpsichord have? (A) It was fragile
(B) It lacked variety in tone. (C) It sounded metallic.
(D) It could not produce a strong sound.
48. Where in the passage does the author provide a translation? (A) Lines 2-3 (B) Lines 8-9 (C) Lines 19-11 (D) Lines 12-14
49. According to the information in the third paragraph, which of the following improvements made it possible to lengthen the tone produced by the piano? (A) The introduction of pedals (B) The use of heavy wires
(C) The use of felt-padded hammerheads (D) The metal frame construction
50. The word \ (A) noticeable (B) many
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老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案
(C) loud (D) unusual
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老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案
1995.12
Questions 1-10
The House of Native American Tribe
Keywords: United States, pueblos, buildings, chambers, niches
Another early Native American tribe in what is now the southwestern part of the United States was the Anasazi. By A. D. 800 the Anasazi Indians were constructing multistory pueblos-massive, stone apartment compounds. Each one was virtually a stone town, which is why the Spanish would later call them pueblos, the Spanish word for towns. These pueblos represent one of the Anasazis' supreme achievements. At least a dozen large stone houses took shape below the bluffs of Chiaco Canyon in northwest New Mexico. They were built with masonry walls more than a meter thick and adjoining apartments to accommodate dozens, even hundreds, of families. The largest, later named Pueblo Bonito (Pretty Town) by the Spanish, rose in five terraced stories, contained more than 800 rooms, and could have housed a population of 1,000 or more. Besides living quarters, each pueblo included one or more kivas-circular underground chambers faced with stone. They functioned as sanctuaries where the elders met to plan festivals, perform ritual dances, settle pueblo affairs, and impart tribal lore to the younger generation. Some kivas were enormous. Of the 30 or so at pueblo Bonito, two measured 20 meters across. They contained niches for ceremonial objects, a central fire pit, and holes in the floor for communicating with the spirits of tribal ancestors.
Each pueblo represented an astonishing amount of well-organized labor. Using only stone and wood tools, and without benefit of wheels or draft animals, the builders quarried ton upon ton of sandstone from the canyon walls, cut it into small blocks, hauled the blocks to the construction site, and fitted them together with mud mortar. Roof beams of pine or fir had to be carried from logging areas in the mountain forests many kilometers away. Then, to connect the pueblos and to give access to the surrounding tableland, the architects laid out a system of public roads with stone staircases for ascending cliff faces. In time, the roads reached out to more than 80 satellite villages within a 60-kilometer radius. 1. The paragraph preceding the passage most probably discussed (A) how pueblos were built (B) another Native American tribe (C) Anasazi crafts and weapons (D) Pueblo village in New Mexico 2. What is the main topic of the passage? (A) The Anasazi pueblos
(B) Anasazi festivals of New Mexico (C) The organization of the Anasazi tribe (D) The use of Anasazi sanctuaries
3. The word \ (A) most common (B) most outstanding (C) most expensive (D) most convenient
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老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案
4. The word \ (A) houses (B) bluffs (C) walls (D) families
5. The author mentions that Pueblos bonito had more than 800 rooms as an example of which of the following?
(A) How overcrowded the pueblos could be (B) How many ceremonial areas it contained (C) How much sandstone was needed to build it (D) How big a pueblo could be
6. The word \ (A) sink (B) decide (C) clarify (D) locate
7. It can be inferred from the passage that building a pueblo probably (A) required many workers (B) cost a lot of money
(C) involved the use of farm animals (D) relied on sophisticated technology
8. The word \ (A) arriving at (B) carving (C) connecting (D) climbing
9. It can be inferred from the passage that in addition to pueblos the Anasazis were skilled at building which of following? (A) Roads (B) Barns (C) Monuments (D) Water systems
10. The pueblos are considered one of the Anasazis' supreme achievements for all of the following reasons EXCEPT that they were (A) very large (B) located in forests (C) built with simple tools (D) connected in a systematic way
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老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案
Questions 11-21 The Music of Films
Keywords: films, music, pianists, orchestras, conductor
Accustomed though we are to speaking of the films made before 1927 as \the full sense of the word, silent. From the very beginning, music was regarded as an indispensable accompaniment; when the Lumiere films were shown at the first public film exhibition in the United States in February 1896, they were accompanied by piano improvisations on popular tunes. At first, the music played bore no special relationship to the films; an accompaniment of any kind was sufficient.
Within a very short time, however, the incongruity of playing lively music to a solemn film became apparent, and film pianists began to take some care in matching their pieces to the mood of the film. As movie theaters grew in number and importance, a violinist, and perhaps a cellist, would be added to the pianist in certain cases, and in the larger movie theaters small orchestras were formed. For a number of years the selection of music for each film program rested entirely in the hands of the conductor or leader of the orchestra, and very often the principal qualification for holding such a position was not skill or taste so much as the ownership of a large personal library of musical pieces. Since the conductor seldom saw the films until the night before they were to be shown (if, indeed, the conductor was lucky enough to see them then), the musical arrangement as normally improvised in the greatest hurry.
To help meet this difficulty, film distributing companies started the practice of publishing suggestions for musical accompaniments. In 1909, for example, the Edison Company began issuing with their films such indications of mood as \musical cue sheet containing indications of mood, the titles of suitable pieces of music, and precise directions to show where one piece led into the next.
Certain films had music especially composed for them. The most famous of these early special scores was that composed and arranged for D. W. Griffith's film Birth of a Nation, which was released in 1915. 11. The passage mainly discusses music that was (A) performed before the showing of a film (B) played during silent films
(C) specifically composed for certain movie theaters (D) recorded during film exhibitions
12. What can be inferred that the passage about the majority of films made after 1927 (A) They were truly \
(B) They were accompanied by symphonic orchestras. (C) They incorporated the sound of the actors' voices. (D) They corresponded to specific musical compositions. 13. The word \ (A) simple (B) serious (C) short (D) silent
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