The United States Makes Use of Music to Develop Cultural Diplomacy

游客2024-10-15  9

问题           The United States Makes Use of Music to Develop Cultural Diplomacy
    In 1956, when the cold war was at its peak, America deployed a "secret sonic weapon", as a newspaper headline put it at the time.That weapon was Dizzy Gillespie, a famed jazz musician, who was given the task of changing the world’sview of American culture through rhythm and beat. Crowds poured into the street todance. Cultural diplomacy died down after the cold war ended. But the attacks of September 11th 2001 convinced the State Department to send out America’s musicians once again to woo hearts and minds with melody.
    Rhythm Road, a program run by the State Department and a non-profit organization, Jazz at Lincoln Centre, has made informal diplomats out of bothmusicians and audiences. Since it began in 2005, musicians have travelled to 96 countries. One band went to Mauritania, a country in northwestern Africa, after last year’s coup; many depart for countries that have strained relationships with America. The musicians travel to places where some people have never seen an American.
    Jazz, so participants in the program, is well-suited to diplomacy. It is collaborative, allowing individuals both to harmonize and play solo—much like a democracy, says Ari Roland, who plays bass for a band that left New York to tour the Middle East on March 31st. Jazz is also a reminder of music’s power.lt helped break down racial barriers, as enthusiasts of all colors gathered to listen to jazz when segregation was still the law of the land.
    The State Department spent 10 million US dollars on cultural diplomacy programs in the year to September 30th 2008. But most expect funding for the initiative to increase under Barack Obama, who pledged his support for cultural diplomacy during his campaign. Rhythm Road now sends out hip-hop and bluegrass bands as well.
    There are some dissenters. Nick Cull, the director of the Diplomacy Program at the University of Southern California, thinks that these diplomatic projects would be more productive if they were not administered by the same agency that oversees the country’s foreign-policy agenda. And there is also clamor for Mr. Obama to appoint a secretary of culture in his cabinet. What good, they ask, is sending American culture abroad, when the country is not giving it proper attention at home? [br] The word "well-suited" (Line 2, Paragraph 3) most probably implies______.

选项 A、the participants of the program are all well dressed
B、jazz music is collaborative as well as individual
C、the participants are suitable for the program
D、jazz music best represents the democratic spirit

答案 D

解析 语义理解题。根据题干直接定位到第三段。要结合上下文来理解,该词所在的句子后面紧接着的句子是起解释说明作用的,即因为爵士乐和民主政治很相像,从而推断出爵士乐很适合用来开展外交,故选[D]项。[A]、[C]项都是字面解释;[B]项则把爵士乐之所以被看做适合用来开展外交的原因介绍了一下。
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