全国工商管理硕士研究生考试英语模拟试题

　　Text3

　　Proponents of different jazz styles have always argued that their predecessor’s musical style did not include essential characteristics that define jazz as jazz. Thus, 1940’s swing was belittled by beboppers of the 1950’s who were themselves attacked by free jazzes of the 1960’s. The neoboppers of the 1980’s and 1990’s attacked almost everybody else. The titanic figure of Black saxophonist John Coltrane has complicated the arguments made by proponents of styles from bebop through neobop because in his own musical journey he drew from all those styles. His influence on all types of jazz was immeasurable. At the height of his popularity, Coltrane largely abandoned playing bebop, the style that had brought him fame, to explore the outer reaches of jazz。

　　Coltrane himself probably believed that the only essential characteristic of jazz was improvisation, the one constant in his journey from bebop to open-ended improvisations on modal, Indian, and African melodies. On the other hand, this dogged student and prodigious technician — who insisted on spending hours each day practicing scales from theory books — was never able to jettison completely the influence of bebop, with its fast and elaborate chains of notes and ornaments on melody。

　　Two stylistic characteristics shaped the way Coltrane played the tenor saxophone: he favored playing fast runs of notes built on a melody and depended on heavy, regularly accented beats. The first led Coltrane to “sheets of sound” where he raced faster and faster, pile-driving notes into each other to suggest stacked harmonies. The second meant that his sense of rhythm was almost as close to rock as to bebop。

　　Three recordings illustrate Coltrane’s energizing explorations. Recording Kind of Blue with Miles Davis, Coltrane found himself outside bop, exploring modal melodies. Here he played surging, lengthy solos built largely around repeated motifs — an organizing principle unlike that of free jazz saxophone player Ornette Coleman, who modulated or altered melodies in his solos. On Giant Steps, Coltrane debuted as leader, introducing his own compositions. Here the sheets of sound, downbeat accents, repetitions, and great speed are part of each solo, and the variety of the shapes of his phrases is unique. Coltrane’s searching explorations produced solid achievement. My Favorite Things was another kind of watershed. Here Coltrane played the soprano saxophone, an instrument seldom used by jazz musicians. Musically, the results were astounding. With the soprano’s piping sound, ideas that had sounded dark and brooding acquired a feeling of giddy fantasy。

　　When Coltrane began recording for the Impulse! Label, he was still searching. His music became raucous, physical. His influence on rockers was enormous, including Jimi Hendrix, the rock guitarist, who, following Coltrane, raised the extended guitar solo using repeated motifs to a kind of rock art form。

　　31. The primary purpose of the text is to [A] discuss the place of Coltrane in the world of jazz and describe his musical explorations. [B] examine the nature of bebop and contrast it with improvisational jazz. [C] analyze the musical sources of Coltrane’s style and their influence on his work. [D] acknowledge the influence of Coltrane’s music on rock music and rock musicians。

　　32. Which of the following best describes the organization of the fourth paragraph? [A] A thesis referred to earlier in the text is mentioned and illustrated with three specific examples. [B] A thesis is stated and three examples are given each suggesting that a correction needs to be

　　made to a thesis referred to earlier in the text.[C] A thesis referred to earlier in the text is mentioned, and three examples are presented and

　　ranked in order of their support of the thesis.[D] A thesis is stated, three seemingly opposing examples are presented, and their underlying

　　correspondence is explained。

　　33. According to the text, John Coltrane did all of the following during his career EXCEPT [A] improvise on melodies from a number of different cultures. [B] perform as leader as well as soloist. [C] spend time improving his technical skills. [D] eliminate the influence of bebop on his own music。

　　34. According to the text a major difference between Coltrane and other jazz musicians was the

　　[A] degree to which Coltrane’s music encompassed all of jazz. [B] repetition of motifs that Coltrane used in his solos. [C] number of his own compositions that Coltrane recorded. [D] indifference Coltrane maintained to musical technique。

　　35. In terms of its tone and form, the text can best be characterized as [A] dogmatic explanation. [B] indignant denial. [C] enthusiastic praise. [D] speculative study。

　　Text4

　　Flatfish, such as the flounder, are among the few vertebrates that lack approximate bilateral symmetry (symmetry in which structures to the left and right of the body’s midline are mirror images). Most striking among the many asymmetries evident in an adult flatfish is eye placement: before maturity one eye migrates, so that in an adult flatfish both eyes are on the same side of the head. While in most species with asymmetries virtually all adults share the same asymmetry, members of the starry flounder species can be either left-eyed (both eyes on the left side of head) or right-eyed. In the waters between the United States and Japan, the starry flounder populations vary from about 50 percent left-eyed off the United States West Coast, through about 70 percent left-eyed halfway between the United States and Japan, to nearly 100 percent left-eyed off the Japanese coast。

　　Biologists call this kind of gradual variation over a certain geographic range a “cline” and interpret clines as strong indications that the variation is adaptive, a response to environmental differences. For the starry flounder this interpretation implies that a geometric difference (between fish that are mirror images of one another) is adaptive, that left-eyedness in the Japanese starry flounder has been selected for, which provokes a perplexing question: what is the selective advantage in having both eyes on one side rather than on the other?

　　The ease with which a fish can reverse the effect of the sidedness of its eye asymmetry simply by turning around has caused biologists to study internal anatomy, especially the optic nerves, for the answer. In all flatfish the optic nerves cross, so that the right optic nerve is joined to the brain’s left side and vice versa. This crossing introduces an asymmetry, as one optic nerve must cross above or below the other. G. H. Parker reasoned that if, for example, a flatfish’s left eye migrated when the right optic nerve was on top, there would be a twisting of nerves, which might be mechanically disadvantageous. For starry flounders, then, the left-eyed variety would be selected against, since in a starry flounder the left optic nerve is uppermost。

　　The problem with the above explanation is that the Japanese starry flounder population is almost exclusively left-eyed, and natural selection never promotes a purely less advantageous variation. As other explanations proved equally untenable, biologists concluded that there is no important adaptive difference between left-eyedness and right-eyedness, and that the two characteristics are genetically associated with some other adaptively significant characteristic. This situation is one commonly encountered by evolutionary biologists, who must often decide whether a characteristic is adaptive or selectively neutral. As for the left-eyed and right-eyed flatfish, their difference, however striking, appears to be an evolutionary red herring.36. According to the text, starry flounder differ form most other species of flatfish in that starry flounder [A] are not basically bilaterally symmetric. [B] do not become asymmetric until adulthood. [C] do not all share the same asymmetry. [D] have both eyes on the same side of the head.37. Which of the following best describes the organization of the text as a whole? [A] A phenomenon is described and an interpretation presented and rejected. [B] A generalization is made and supporting evidence is supplied and weighed. [C] A contradiction is noted and a resolution is suggested and then modified. [D] A series of observations is presented and explained in terms of the dominant theory.38. The text supplies information for answering which of the following questions? [A] Why are Japanese starry flounder mostly left-eyed? [B] Why should the eye-sidedness in starry flounder be considered selectively neutral? [C] Why have biologists recently become interested in whether a characteristic is adaptive or

　　selectively neutral? [D] How do the eyes in flatfish migrate?39. Which of the following is most clearly similar to a cline as it is described in the second

　　paragraph of the text?[A] A vegetable market in which the various items are grouped according to place of origin. [B] A wheat field in which different varieties of wheat are planted to yield a crop that will bring

　　the maximum profit.[C] A flower stall in which the various species of flowers are arranged according to their price.[D] A housing development in which the length of the front struts supporting the porch of each

　　house increases as houses are built up the hill.40. Which of the following phrases from the text best expresses the author’s conclusion about the

　　meaning of the difference between left-eyed and right-eyed flatfish?[A] “Most striking” (line 3, paragraph 1)[B] “variation is adaptive” (line 2, paragraph 2)[C] “mechanically disadvantageous” (line 7, paragraph 3)[D] “evolutionary red herring” (line 9, paragraph 4)