北京师范大学2013年博士入学英语试题与答案详解

北京师范大学2013年博士入学英语试题与答案详解

第一部分：试题部分

Part I: Reading comprehension (45%)

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and then select the best answer from the four choices marked A,B,C and D by marking the corresponding letter on the ANSWER SHEET with a single line through the center.

1

In contrast to rock musicians, jazz players prefer to spend their time with their music and tend to measure success by that single standard, as a trombonist once put it:”A jazz musician would rather play a good concert for three people than a bad one for three thousand.”All the same, with their fellow players, jazzmen are collegiate and gregarious, exchanging musical ideas in a spirit of mutual support or friendly competition, uniting in a collaborative effort to raise the level of their art. Even the greatest individualists have benefited from the talents of others.

In this legendary band, Duke Ellington provided star soloists with the ideal framework for their abilities. At the same time, they inspired him with the rich material of their personal idioms and phrases, which found their way into his compositions. In fact, Ellington was so adept at recycling what he heard that one of them dismissed him as” not a composer but a compiler”.

Ellington’s creative gifts were genuine and vast, but for much of his life he did receive crucial assistance not only from the involvement of his band, but from an actual day-in, day-out collaborator. In 1938 he met Billy Strayhorn, a young

pianist-composer who was immediately brought into the ducal fold. Stryhorn became Ellington’s altered ego, contributing scores to the band but functioning even more importantly as a silent partner, completing pieces Ellington left unfinished, reworking others and acting as all-purpose composer-sometimes credited, more often not.

Ellington provided Strayhorn with financial security, artistic respect and the creative medium of the Ellington band. Throughout their partnership-which lasted

until Strayhorn’s death in 1967—they never had a contract. Ellington simply paid all Strayhorn’s bills, never stipulated how much he should compose, and treated him as creative equal and friends, describing him as” my favorite human being”, Strayhorn, a homosexual bon vivant, brilliant but self-effacing, let Ellington take both the glory and the strain of stardom, while he relieved some of the artistic pressure with a talent comparable to the leader’s own.

Though occasionally there was discord over the matter of official composer credit in their joint works, Ellington always publicly acknowledged his colleague’s contributions, and the many Strayhon originals in Ellington’s book speak for themselves, including the band’s famous theme and greatest hit,” Take the Train”. Thought the young man was adept at imitating the ducal style, his own unique voice, full of subtle impressionist colors, influenced a generation of later jazz composers.

1.According to the article, jazzmen________.

pete fiercely with each other

B.Are not sociable when they are with their fellow players

C.Refuse to exchange ideas about music with their fellow players

D.Collaborate a lot with their fellow players to improve the level of their art

2.Which of the following statements is TRUE about Duke Ellington?

A.He refused to collaborate with but a few talented musicians.

B.He had little natural talent but rather used other’s genius for his own

purposes.

C.He entered into a collaborative relationship with Billy Strayhorn that suited

both men.

D.He often utilized material from lesser known musicians without

acknowledgement.

3.Of the Strayton\Ellington relationship, the author believes________.

A.Both men were ultimately dissatisfied with their working arrangement.

B.Strayhorn was respected and well compensated for his contributions to the

band