2. 职称英语
  3. Considering how jazz is transcribed in Chinese (jueshi), you may be misled in

Considering how jazz is transcribed in Chinese (jueshi), you may be misled in

游客2023-11-26  25
问题    Considering how jazz is transcribed in Chinese (jueshi), you may be misled into assuming that it is an aristocratic cultural form. Nothing could be further from the truth. It originated among black Americans at the end of the 19th century, at a time when they occupied the very bottom of the American social heap.
   So how has something that was created by a once downtrodden and despised minority acquired a central place in today’s American culture? Mr. Darrell A Jenks, director of the American Center for Educational Exchange, and also a drummer in the jazz band Window, analyses the phenomenon for us here. Jazz: the soul of America.
   Perhaps the essence of America is that you could never get two Americans to agree on just what that might be. After thinking about it for a while, we might chuckle and say, "Hmm, seems like being American is a bit more complicated than we thought." Certainly things like individualism, success (the "American Dream"), innovation and tolerance stand out. But these things come together because of our ability to work with one another and find common purpose no matter how diverse we might be.
   Some, like African-American writer Ralph Ellison, believe that jazz captures the essence of America. For good reason, for in jazz all of the characteristics I mentioned above come together. The solos are a celebration of individual brilliance that can’t take place without the group efforts of the rhythm section. Beyond that, though, jazz has a connection to the essence of America in a much more fundamental way. It is an expression of the African roots of American culture, a musical medium that exemplifies the culture of the Africans whose culture came to dominate much of what is American.
   That’s right, in many respects America’s roots are in Africa. Read Ralph Ellison’s perceptive description of the transformation of separate African and European cultures at the hands of the slaves:
   "...the dancing of those slaves who, looking through the windows of a plantation manor house from the yard, imitated the steps so gravely performed by the masters within and then added to them their own special flair, burlesquing the white folks and then going on to force the steps into a choreography uniquely their own. The whites, looking out at the activity in the yard, thought that they were being flattered by imitation and were amused by the incongruity of tattered blacks dancing courtly steps, while missing completely the fact that before their eyes a European cultural form was becoming Americanized, undergoing a metamorphosis through the mocking activity of a people partially sprung from Africa." (Ralph Ellison, Living with Music, pp 83-4).
   Jazz brought together elements from Africa and Europe, fusing them into a new culture, an expression unique to the Americans.
   Out of this fusion came an idea that we Americans believe central to our identity: tolerance. Both cultures represented in Ellison’s passage eventually came to realize each other’s value. Americans acknowledge that diversity is our strength. We learn every day that other cultures and peoples may make valuable contributions to our way of life. Jazz music is the embodiment of this ideal, combining elements from African and European cultures into a distinctly American music.
   Jazz reflects two contradictory facets of American life. On the one hand it is a team effort, where every musician is completely immersed in what the group does together, listening to each of the other players and building on their contributions to create a musical whole. On the other hand, the band features a soloist who is an individual at the extreme, a genius like Charlie Parker who explores musical territory where no one has ever gone before. In the same sense, American life is also a combination of teamwork and individualism, a combination of individual brilliance with the ability to work with others.
   We hope that many Chinese friends can bring their own unique contributions to our music, adding their own culture to our American heritage. As Ralph Ellison said of the US, "We have the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and we have jazz." [br] What does the first sentence of Paragraph 3 imply?
选项 A、Americans could hardly agree with each other.
B、It’s hard to define what the essence of America is.
C、Never have Americans agreed on what the essence of America is.
D、The essence of America might be the diversity of ideas.
答案 B
解析 文章第三段第一句话的含义是什么?此题关键在于对句子中代词that的理解“Perhaps the essence of America is that you could never get two Americans to agree on just what that might be．”第一个that引导表语从句，较易理解。第二个that指代句子主语the essence of America，所以该句的主要含义是“恐怕你找不到两个美国人对美国的精髓有着相同的看法”。故答案为B，其余选项对原文理解都有歪曲。
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