2. 职称英语
  3. 　　(1) Like many historical films, Amadeus is far from a faithful account of wha

　　(1) Like many historical films, Amadeus is far from a faithful account of wha

游客2023-11-24  20
问题 　　(1)  Like many historical films, Amadeus is far from a faithful account of what is known about the period and the people that it portrays. Events are exaggerated, condensed and simplified, and the complexity of real characters is reduced to suit the needs of a dramatic contrast between good and evil. Such historical liberties are often bemoaned by experts, but few have seemed to mind the wayward story points of Amadeus. This is no doubt partly attributable to the film’s high entertainment value; it is an unusually lively and funny historical film. It revels in the boyish humor and high spirits of its main character, the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 -1791), played with jubilant gusto by Tom Hulce. But the film’s appeal is also attributable to Mozart’s music. The composer’s vulgar hijinks (狂 欢作乐) serve as a contrast to the transcendent beauty of his music, beautifully performed on the soundtrack by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Thus, even the most stringent historical purists couldn’t help but find something to enjoy in Amadeus.
　　(2)  For all its liberties, the story is actually based on a real rumor that circulated in Vienna in the 1820s. While gravely ill, the rival composer Antonio Salieri (1750 -1825) confessed he had murdered Mozart decades earlier by poisoning him. Salieri was suffering from dementia (痴呆) at the time of this confession, and he later withdrew it, but some—including Mozart’s widow Constanze—chose to believe the claim. More than 150 years later, the English playwright Peter Shaffer based the story of Amadeus not just on Salieri’s confession but also the idea that Salieri had suffered from a deep and bitter jealousy of Mozart throughout the ten years that they both lived and worked as composers in Vienna. In the fun-loving Mozart, the story goes, Salieri saw a true genius—one who made his own talent and accomplishments appear mediocre—and this drove him on a vendetta (宿怨) that ultimately culminated in murder.
　　(3)  Shaffer’s story makes for great drama, but it is, of course, biased against Salieri. In fact, at the time, Salieri was regarded as the more accomplished musician and composer. From the 1770s through the 1790s, he composed dozens of operas, many of them proving popular and considered innovative. A mark of his prominence was his appointment to the influential post of Kapellmeister, or musical director, to the court of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. Salieri was also a teacher whose pupils included Ludwig Van Beethoven, Franz Liszt and Franz Schubert. In his private life, he may not have had Mozart’s exuberance but nor was he the lonely and celibate man played with such convincing severity by F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus. Salieri was married at the time he knew Mozart, and he fathered no fewer than eight children.
　　(4)  If Salieri had little reason to fear or resent Mozart’s success, there was naturally a degree of rivalry between two men working in the same profession and in the same city. Salieri (born near Verona) and Mozart (born in Salzburg) belonged to separate musical groups, and Italian and German opera fell into and out of favor during this period. The composers were therefore vying for work, including the prestigious post of musical tutor to the Princess of Wiirttemberg, which Salieri successfully attained. As composers, they saw their operas’ debut side by side, yet there is little evidence of any animosity between them. Mozart did complain in a letter to his father that Joseph II favored Salieri over all other composers, but that observation was an accurate one. Both Mozart and his father suspected that, behind the scenes, Salieri tried to undermine Mozart’s success, but these were hardly unusual suspicions in a field so reliant on patronage. In public, fellow composers reported that Mozart and Salieri were friendly with another. Shortly after the premiere of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Salieri attended a performance with Mozart, and applauded warmly and vigorously. Thus, any ill feeling between Mozart and Salieri was borne by the former rather than the latter—contrary to what is strongly depicted in Amadeus—and it stemmed from Salieri’s status and success rather than his perceived mediocrity.
　　(5)   Mozart’s resentments were those of a younger man struggling for position in the world. Although he had talent, he spent many years struggling to find a suitable post or patronage. He and his father travelled widely during his youth, seeking a distinguished appointment but finding mainly low pay and occasionally humiliating circumstances. It was in the period after 1781, when Mozart defied his father and decided to live and work independently in Vienna that his career flourished. In the space of ten years, he found great success with the operas The Abduction from Seraglio (1782), The Marriage of Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787) and The Magic Flute (1791). These were composed alongside his piano concertos, symphonies and chamber music, and together with his work as a performer and teacher, his success brought a high income. Mozart’s money troubles were the result of excessive spending, and his volatile temperament, rather than any malicious schemes against him. His death, at the age of 35, was not considered suspicious at the time as he had been ill for weeks with a fever. While it is true that he had a commoner’s funeral, in 18th-century Vienna this was not unusual for a man of non-aristocratic standing. It certainly was not a mark of his downfall or ignominy, as implied by the film. At his death, Mozart was second in stature only to Salieri as Vienna’s most prominent musician and composer.
　　(6) The drama of Amadeus stems not from historical accuracies, but from our contemporary knowledge that Mozart’s music and reputation have survived for centuries—and continued to find new, zesty audiences—while Salieri’s name and work quickly faded. Mozart’s secondary status during his own lifetime thus appears unjust and unwarranted, and he is invested with the role of the struggling artist and unappreciated genius. This may be shaky history, but the film has enough laughter, conflict, romance and tragedy to please any opera lover, except perhaps for Salieri himself, who undoubtedly would have told the tale in an altogether different key. [br] Which of the following statements BEST supports "...the complexity of real characters is reduced to suit the needs of a dramatic contrast between good and evil" (Para. 1) ?
选项 A、It certainly was not a mark of his downfall or ignominy, ... (Para. 5).
B、For all its liberties, the story is actually based on a real rumor.  (Para.2).
C、Mozart’s secondary status during his own lifetime thus appears unjust... (Para.6).
D、In his private life, he may not have had Mozart’s exuberance... (Para.3).
答案 A
解析 事实细节题。第五段最后提到，虽然莫扎特的葬礼很平民化，然而在18世纪的维也纳，这对一个并非贵族的人来说并不奇怪。平民化的葬礼当然不是影片中所暗示的那样是他不体面的象征。可见，为了达到戏剧冲突，影片对历史事实进行了改编，即平民化葬礼在当时很正常，但影片中却把平民化葬礼渲染成了丢脸、不体面的事，故本题答案为A。
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