泽熙美文Reading Comprehension
Writing about music is like dancing about architecture, or so the saying goes. Sometimes attributed to Frank Zappa, other times to Elvis Costello, this quote is usually intended to convey the futility of such an endeavor, if not the complete silliness of even attempting it. But Glenn Kurtz’s graceful memoir, Practicing: A Musician’s Return to Music, turns the expression on its head, giving it a different meaning by creating a lovely, unique book.
Kurtz picked up the guitar as a kid in a music-loving family, attended the Long Island music school, and went on to play on Merv Griffin’s TV show before graduating from Tufts University. Motivating the young Kurtz was the dream of reinventing classical guitar, as if by his great ambition alone he could push it from the margins of popular interest to center stage-something not even accomplished by the late Spanish guitarist Andres Segovia, perhaps the only artist of the form ever to reach anything resembling widespread celebrity.
This book reads like a love story of sorts: Boy meets guitar. Boy loves guitar. Guitar breaks boy’s heart or, more precisely, the ordinariness of a working musician’s life does so. “I’d just imagined the artist’s life naively, childishly, with too much longing, too much poetry and innocence and purity,” Kurtz writes. “The guitar had been the instrument of my dreams. Now the dream was over.”
Boy leaves guitar. Were the story to end here, this book would he a tragedy, but after nearly a decade the boy returns to guitar, and although he has lost the enthusiasm he had in his youth, he finds his love of the guitar again in a way he never could have appreciated before.
Although Kurtz is writing about a unique musical path, his journey speaks eloquently to the heart of anyone who has ever desperately yearned to achieve something and felt the sting of disappointment. “Everyone who gives up a serious childhood dream—of becoming an artist, a doctor, an engineer, an athlete—lives the rest of their life with a sense of loss, with nagging what it is,” he writes. “Is that time and effort, that talent and ambition, truly wasted?”
1. The quotation mentioned in Paragraph 1 implies that writing about music is ______.
A.an ambitious attempt
B.a modem form of art
C.an impossible task
D.a rewarding experience
正确答案：C
[解析] 根据文中第一段中的内容“this quote is usually intended to convey the futility of such an endeavor”可知，用写作表达音乐是不可能实现的，所以C符合文意。A项“一种雄心勃勃的尝试”，B项“一种艺术的现代形式”，D项“一种有回报的体验”，这三项和文中内容不符合。
2. The word “convey” underlined in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.
A.transmit
B.imply
C.hint
D.unsafe
正确答案：B
[解析] 根据文中第一段中的内容“this quote is usually intended to convey the futility of such an endeavor”可知，目的是暗指这种努力的无益。选项中的B项为“暗指”，符合文意。A项“传递”，C项“提示”，D项“不安全的”，这三项均和convey意思相差甚远。
3. As a young man Glenn Kurtz wanted to ______.
A.surpass Andres Segovia’s achievement
B.Transform classical guitar
C.become a TV music star
D.live on arts
正确答案：B
[解析] 根据文中第二段的内容“Motivating the young Kurtz was the dream of reinventing classical guitar”可以看出库兹想改革古典吉他，所以B项符合文意。A项“超越安德烈斯·塞戈维亚的成就”，这是对文中内容“库兹想重新塑造古典吉他，这是安德烈斯都没有完成的事情”的曲解；C项“成为一名电视音乐巨星”；D项“靠艺术生活”，C、D两项在文中没有提到。
4. The author mentions “reinventing” underlined in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to ______.
A.reuse
B.innovate
C.recreate
D.reset
正确答案：B
[解析] 根据文中第二段中的内容“Motivating the young Kurtz was the dream of reinventing classical guitar”可知为改革古典吉他。选项中的B项为“改革，”符合文意。A项“再利用”，C项“再创造”，D项“重新设置”，这三项均和reinventing意思相差甚远。
5. What does the passage say about classical guitar?
A.It is not popular with the public.
B.It is not an easy skill to master.
C.It is a favorite of many young people.
D.It is a craze in some countries like Spain.
正确答案：A
[解析] 根据文中第二段的内容“as if by his great ambition alone he could push it from the margins of popular interest to center stage”可见古典吉他还在大众兴趣的边缘，所以A符合文意。B项“它是一种不容易掌握的技能”，吉他是否容易掌握文中没有提到；C项“它是很多年轻人的一种爱好”，文中提到吉他还在大众兴趣的边缘，C项不符合文意；D项“在西班牙这样的很多国家它是一种狂热”，文中只提到安德烈斯是西班牙著名的吉他演奏家，但是没有提到西班牙对吉他的狂热，所以这三项都不对。
6. The word “instrument” underlined in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______.
A.means
B.device
C.equipment
D.document
正确答案：B
[解析] 根据文中第三段的内容“The guitar had been the instrument of my dreams”可知，吉他曾经是我梦想的乐器。选项中的B项为“器具，乐器”，符合文意。A项“手段”，C项“设备”，D项“文件”，这三项均和instrument意思相差甚远。
7. According to the passage, Andres Segovia ______.
A.helped Glenn Kurtz to become a good guitarist
B.made classical guitar become a popular form
C.was a well-known classical guitarist
D.was Glenn Kurtz’s role model
正确答案：C
[解析] 根据文中第二段的内容“something not even accomplished by the late Spanish guitarist Andres Segovia, perhaps the only artist of the form ever to reach anything resembling widespread celebrity.”可知，安德烈斯没有完成古典吉他的普及，是古典吉他界最有名的吉他演奏家，所以C项符合文意。A项“安德烈斯帮助库兹成为一名好的吉他手”，B项“安德烈斯使古典吉他成为一种流行形式”；D项“安德烈斯是库兹的榜样”，这三项在文中都没有提到。
8. Paragraph 3 suggests that what “the ordinariness of a working musician’s life” does to the boy is ______.
A.keep him in great excitement
B.bring him great disappointment
C.help him create great music
D.tell him a great musician’s duty
正确答案：B
[解析] 根据文中第三段的内容“Guitar breaks boy’s heart or, more precisely, the ordinariness of a working musician’s life does so.”可知，B项符合文意。A项“让他处在巨大的兴奋中”，C项“帮助他缔造了伟大的音乐”；D项“告知他伟大音乐家的义务”，这三项显然和文中内容不符合，文中说的是“吉他伤了男孩的心，确切地说是音乐家平淡的生活伤了男孩的心”。
9. The word “nagging” underlined in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to ______.
A.criticize
B.complain
C.disturb
D.natter
正确答案：B
[解析] 根据文中第五段的内容“with nagging what it is”可知，没有实现梦想的人总是抱怨假如怎么样就好了。选项中的B项为“抱怨，”符合文意。A项“批评”，C项“打扰”，D项“唠叨”，这三项均和nagging意思相差甚远。
10. The book Practicing: A Musician’s Return to Music mainly tells that ______.
