Archaeologists have found evidence that an ancient civilization used to inhabit the lowlands during the winter season, despite the cold winds, because the water sources in the highlands were frozen. However, many years later, the climate changed, and the water in the lowlands became scarce. The only available water sources were in the highlands, where the water remained in a liquid state. Although there is no direct evidence indicating that the people migrated to the highlands during this later period, which of the following, if true, would best support the hypothesis that they did so?
(A) The ancient civilization had developed advanced technologies for water purification and storage, which could have been used to mitigate the scarcity of water in the lowlands.
(B) The highland areas were rich in other natural resources, such as timber and minerals, which could have attracted the ancient civilization for reasons unrelated to water availability.
(C) The ancient civilization had a long history of adapting to environmental changes by modifying their agricultural practices and settlement patterns.
(D) The survival of the ancient civilization depended more on the availability of water for drinking, cooking, and agriculture than on the comfort provided by warmer temperatures in the lowlands during winter.
(E) The ancient civilization had a strong cultural and religious attachment to the lowland areas, which could have discouraged them from relocating to the highlands despite the water scarcity.
A certain country heavily relies on nuclear power for its electricity generation. However, a quarter of its nuclear power plants are outdated and require decommissioning. Additionally, the construction of new power plants has been hindered by regulatory and location-related issues. The country's other energy sources are not capable of significantly increasing their output to compensate for the loss of nuclear power. Therefore, the country is likely to face electricity shortages in the coming years.
Which of the following is an assumption underlying the argument above?
(A) The demand for electricity in the country will remain stable or increase in the future.
(B) The country's government will not reverse its decision to decommission the outdated nuclear power plants.
(C) The electricity generation capacity of the remaining nuclear power plants will not substantially increase in the future.
(D) The construction of new nuclear power plants will not be completed in time to avoid the electricity shortages.
(E) The country will not be able to import sufficient electricity from neighboring countries to meet its demand.
DA
2.DI
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), the illustrious Baroque composer, left an unparalleled legacy in the realms of keyboard music, choral works, and orchestral compositions. Born into a musical family in Eisenach, Thuringia, Bach's prodigious talent was evident from a young age. He held several prominent positions throughout his career, including serving as Kapellmeister (music director) to Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen (1717-1723), and as Thomaskantor in Leipzig (1723-1750), where he composed many of his most renowned works.
Bach's oeuvre encompasses approximately 1,128 works, showcasing his mastery of counterpoint, harmonic complexity, and innovative forms. His keyboard works, particularly "The Well-Tempered Clavier" (Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, 1722 and 1742), which features a prelude and fugue in every major and minor key, revolutionized the tuning system used for keyboard instruments. Scholars estimate that Bach composed around 225 cantatas during his lifetime, of which approximately 209 are extant. These sacred works, such as "Christ lag in Todes Banden" (BWV 4) and "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" (BWV 80), are known for their intricate choral writing and theological depth.
Bach's influence extended to later composers, including Mozart, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn, who studied and performed his works. In the 19th century, a renewed interest in Bach's music led to the formation of the Bach-Gesellschaft (Bach Society) in 1850, which aimed to publish his complete works. By the early 20th century, Bach's music had gained global recognition, with his works being performed and recorded by leading musicians worldwide.
A 2017 survey of 174 classical music critics, conductors, and industry professionals ranked Bach as the greatest composer of all time, with an average rating of 9.7 out of 10. His music accounts for approximately 5-7% of all classical music recordings, and the Bach-Archiv Leipzig estimates that Bach's sheet music generates around €100 million ($112 million) in sales annually. In 2019, a first edition of Bach's "Prelude, Fugue and Allegro for Lute" (BWV 998) sold at auction for £2.5 million ($3.3 million), setting a record for the composer's manuscript.
Bach's contributions to sacred music are equally remarkable. His "St. Matthew Passion" (Matthäus-Passion, BWV 244) is recognized as one of the greatest works in the history of Western music, renowned for its monumental structure, dramatic power, and subtle characterization. This work, lasting over three hours and requiring double choir and double orchestra, exemplifies Bach's extraordinary skill in large-scale musical forms. Bach's "Mass in B minor" (Messe in h-Moll, BWV 232) encapsulates his lifetime achievement in contrapuntal music and is considered the pinnacle of Baroque sacred music.
Beyond sacred music, Bach produced a vast array of secular instrumental works, including the "Brandenburg Concertos" (Brandenburgische Konzerte, BWV 1046-1051), "Orchestral Suites" (Orchestersuiten, BWV 1066-1069), and numerous works for solo instruments, such as the "Suites for Solo Cello" (Suiten für Violoncello solo, BWV 1007-1012) and the "Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin" (Sonaten und Partiten für Violine solo, BWV 1001-1006). These compositions demonstrate Bach's innovation and mastery in instrumental writing, setting a standard for future generations of composers.
Bach's compositional style synthesizes Italian, French, and German musical traditions while also incorporating the aesthetic principles of the Baroque era. His works are characterized by complex counterpoint, rich harmonic textures, intricate melodic lines, and symbolic musical rhetoric. Bach was adept at combining numerical symbolism with musical structure, as exemplified in "The Art of Fugue" (Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080), where he uses the musical motif representing his own name (B-flat-A-C-B-natural, or B-A-C-H in German notation) as the subject of the entire work.
Bach's musical legacy extends beyond his compositions to his contributions to music education and instrumental development. He trained many outstanding students, such as Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who later became renowned composers in their own right. Bach also made improvements to the design of several instruments, such as the viola pomposa and the lautenwerck (a type of keyboard instrument similar to a lute-harpsichord), to suit the demands of his compositions.
To this day, Bach's music continues to inspire and influence musicians and listeners around the world. His works are perennial favorites in concert halls, and his recordings consistently maintain a strong sales record. In 2020, during the global COVID-19 pandemic, numerous musicians turned to online performances of Bach's works to provide solace and comfort, demonstrating the enduring appeal of Bach's music across time and space. The musicologist Albert Schweitzer once described Bach as "a mountain peak, towering over surrounding peaks, the breadth and grandeur of which becomes more apparent the more it is explored." This apt metaphor captures the timeless genius and profound impact of Johann Sebastian Bach, whose musical legacy remains an inexhaustible source of inspiration and discovery for generations to come.
Recent scholarship has shed new light on Bach's life and works, offering fresh perspectives on his creative process and the historical context in which he lived. For instance, the discovery of a previously unknown cantata, "Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut" (My Heart Swims in Blood, BWV 199), in 2005 has provided valuable insights into Bach's early compositional style and his engagement with the operatic form. This finding underscores the ongoing nature of Bach research and the potential for new discoveries to enrich our understanding of this seminal figure.
Moreover, contemporary performers and ensembles have explored novel approaches to interpreting Bach's music, from historically informed performances on period instruments to jazz and electronic adaptations. The Swingle Singers, for example, gained international acclaim in the 1960s for their vocal arrangements of Bach's instrumental works, while the American composer and pianist Uri Caine has reinterpreted Bach's "Goldberg Variations" (BWV 988) through the lens of jazz improvisation. These diverse interpretations attest to the malleability and enduring relevance of Bach's musical language.
In addition to his musical achievements, Bach's life story has captured the imagination of scholars, artists, and the general public alike. The 1801 Memoir of Johann Sebastian Bach, written by Bach's second-oldest son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and his student Johann Friedrich Agricola, was the first biography of the composer and helped to establish his posthumous reputation. Subsequent biographies, such as Johann Nikolaus Forkel's 1802 Life of Johann Sebastian Bach and Philipp Spitta's monumental two-volume study (1873-1880), further contributed to the mythologizing of Bach as a musical genius and a devout Lutheran.
Recent biographical studies have sought to present a more nuanced and historically grounded portrait of Bach, situating his life and works within the social, cultural, and intellectual contexts of 18th-century Germany. Christoph Wolff's Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician (2000) and John Eliot Gardiner's Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven (2013) are notable examples of this scholarly trend, offering a wealth of new archival evidence and insightful analysis.
The enduring fascination with Bach's life and music is also reflected in the numerous fictional works inspired by his legacy. The German novelist and musicologist Leo Leonhard Dunnas' Tales from the Life of Johann Sebastian Bach (1932) and the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami's short story "The Wind-Up Bird and Tuesday's Women" (1986) are just two examples of literary works that have imaginatively engaged with Bach's biography and musical universe.
In conclusion, Johann Sebastian Bach's impact on the world of music is immeasurable, and his legacy continues to grow and evolve with each passing generation. As new scholarship uncovers fresh insights into his life and works, and as performers and audiences find new ways to engage with his music, Bach's status as one of the greatest composers in history remains unassailable. His unparalleled mastery of counterpoint, harmonic invention, and musical form, combined with his profound spirituality and technical virtuosity, have ensured his place among the pantheon of Western art music. In the words of the pianist and conductor Andràs Schiff, "Bach is the supreme genius of music... This is the closest to divinity that I know in music."
Questions:
Which of the following is NOT one of the positions held by Johann Sebastian Bach during his career?
A) Thomaskantor in Leipzig
B) Kapellmeister to Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen
C) Kantor at the Thomasschule in Eisenach
D) Music director at the court of Weimar
Approximately how many of Bach's cantatas are extant today?
A) 174
B) 209
C) 225
D) 1,128
Which of the following compositions by Bach is recognized as one of the greatest works in the history of Western music?
A) The Well-Tempered Clavier
B) The Art of Fugue
C) St. Matthew Passion
D) Brandenburg Concertos
In what year was the Bach-Gesellschaft (Bach Society) formed with the aim of publishing Bach's complete works?
A) 1750
B) 1801
C) 1850
D) 1873
According to the Bach-Archiv Leipzig, approximately how much revenue does Bach's sheet music generate annually?
A) €50 million
B) €75 million
C) €100 million
D) €125 million
Which of the following composers is NOT mentioned as having been influenced by Bach's music?
A) Mozart
B) Beethoven
C) Mendelssohn
D) Schubert
In "The Art of Fugue," Bach uses a musical motif representing his own name (B-A-C-H) as the subject of the entire work. What notes does this motif consist of in German notation?
A) B-flat, A, C, B-natural
B) B-natural, A, C, B-flat
C) A, B-flat, C, B-natural
D) A, B-natural, C, B-flat
Which of the following instruments did Bach make improvements to the design of?
A) Viola pomposa
B) Lautenwerck
C) Fortepiano
D) Both A and B
In what year was the previously unknown cantata "Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut" (BWV 199) discovered?
A) 1873
B) 1932
C) 2000
D) 2005
Which of the following literary works is NOT mentioned as having been inspired by Bach's life and music?
A) Tales from the Life of Johann Sebastian Bach by Leo Leonhard Dunnas
B) The Wind-Up Bird and Tuesday's Women by Haruki Murakami
C) Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven by John Eliot Gardiner
D) Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann
Who wrote the first biography of Johann Sebastian Bach in 1801?
A) Johann Nikolaus Forkel
B) Philipp Spitta
C) Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Johann Friedrich Agricola
D) Christoph Wolff
The Swingle Singers, known for their vocal arrangements of Bach's instrumental works, gained international acclaim in which decade?
A) 1940s
B) 1950s
C) 1960s
D) 1970s
Which contemporary composer and pianist has reinterpreted Bach's "Goldberg Variations" through the lens of jazz improvisation?
A) Keith Jarrett
B) Brad Mehldau
C) Uri Caine
D) Herbie Hancock
Christoph Wolff's book "Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician" was published in which year?
A) 1873
B) 1932
C) 2000
D) 2013
Who described Bach as "the supreme genius of music" and stated that his music is "the closest to divinity" they know?
A) Albert Schweitzer
B) Andràs Schiff
C) John Eliot Gardiner
D) Haruki Murakami
Answers:
C) Kantor at the Thomasschule in Eisenach
B) 209
C) St. Matthew Passion
C) 1850
C) €100 million
D) Schubert
A) B-flat, A, C, B-natural
D) Both A and B
D) 2005
D) Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann
C) Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Johann Friedrich Agricola
C) 1960s
C) Uri Caine
C) 2000
B) Andràs Schiff
3.RC
It is also surprising that Indonesians and Filipinos are so similar to tropical Southeast Asians and South Chinese in other physical features besides light skins and in their genes. A glance at a map makes it obvious that Indonesia offered the only possible route by which humans could have reached New Guinea and Australia 40,000 years ago, so one might naively have expected modern Indonesians to be like modern New Guineans and Australians. In reality, there are only a few New Guinean–like populations in the Philippine / western Indonesia area, notably the Negritos living in mountainous areas of the Philippines. As is also true of the three New Guinean–like relict populations that I mentioned in speaking of tropical Southeast Asia (Chapter 16), the Philippine Negritos could be relicts of populations ancestral to Wiwor’s people before they reached New Guinea. Even those Negritos speak Austronesian languages similar to those of their Filipino neighbors, implying that they too (like Malaysia’s Semang Negritos and Africa’s Pygmies) have lost their original language.
All these facts suggest strongly that either tropical Southeast Asians or South Chinese speaking Austronesian languages recently spread through the Philippines and Indonesia, replacing all the former inhabitants of those islands except the Philippine Negritos, and replacing all the original island languages. That event evidently took place too recently for the colonists to evolve dark skins, distinct language families, or genetic distinctiveness or diversity. Their languages are of course much more numerous than the eight dominant Chinese languages of mainland China, but are no more diverse. The proliferation of many similar languages in the Philippines and Indonesia merely reflects the fact that the islands never underwent a political and cultural unification, as did China.
Details of language distributions provide valuable clues to the route of this hypothesized Austronesian expansion. The whole Austronesian language family consists of 959 languages, divided among four subfamilies. But one of those subfamilies, termed Malayo-Polynesian, comprises 945 of those 959 languages and covers almost the entire geographic range of the Austronesian family. Before the recent overseas expansion of Europeans speaking Indo-European languages, Austronesian was the most widespread language family in the world. That suggests that the Malayo-Polynesian subfamily differentiated recently out of the Austronesian family and spread far from the Austronesian homeland, giving rise to many local languages, all of which are still closely related because there has been too little time to develop large linguistic differences. For the location of that Austronesian homeland, we should therefore look not to Malayo-Polynesian but to the other three Austronesian subfamilies, which differ considerably more from each other and from Malayo-Polynesian than the sub-subfamilies of Malayo-Polynesian differ among each other.
It turns out that those three other subfamilies have coincident distributions, all of them tiny compared with the distribution of Malayo-Polynesian. They are confined to aborigines of the island of Taiwan, lying only 90 miles from the South China mainland. Taiwan’s aborigines had the island largely to themselves until mainland Chinese began settling in large numbers within the last thousand years. Still more mainlanders arrived after 1945, especially after the Chinese Communists defeated the Chinese Nationalists in 1949, so that aborigines now constitute only 2 percent of Taiwan’s population. The concentration of three out of the four Austronesian subfamilies on Taiwan suggests that, within the present Austronesian realm, Taiwan is the homeland where Austronesian languages have been spoken for the most millennia and have consequently had the longest time in which to diverge. All other Austronesian languages, from those on Madagascar to those on Easter Island, would then stem from a population expansion out of Taiwan.
WE CAN NOW turn to archaeological evidence. While the debris of ancient village sites does not include fossilized words along with bones and pottery, it does reveal movements of people and cultural artifacts that could be associated with languages. Like the rest of the world, most of the present Austronesian realm—Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and many Pacific islands—was originally occupied by hunter-gatherers lacking pottery, polished stone tools, domestic animals, and crops. (The sole exceptions to this generalization are the remote islands of Madagascar, eastern Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia, which were never reached by hunter-gatherers and remained empty of humans until the Austronesian expansion.) The first archaeological signs of something different within the Austronesian realm come from—Taiwan. Beginning around the fourth millennium B.C., polished stone tools and a distinctive decorated pottery style (so-called Ta-p’en-k’eng pottery) derived from earlier South China mainland pottery appeared on Taiwan and on the opposite coast of the South China mainland. Remains of rice and millet at later Taiwanese sites provide evidence of agriculture.
Ta-p’en-k’eng sites of Taiwan and the South China coast are full of fish bones and mollusk shells, as well as of stone net sinkers and adzes suitable for hollowing out a wooden canoe. Evidently, those first Neolithic occupants of Taiwan had watercraft adequate for deep-sea fishing and for regular sea traffic across Taiwan Strait, separating that island from the China coast. Thus, Taiwan Strait may have served as the training ground where mainland Chinese developed the open-water maritime skills that would permit them to expand over the Pacific.
The author's primary purpose in the passage is to
(A) describe the Austronesian expansion and its linguistic and archaeological evidence
(B) compare the Austronesian languages with the Chinese languages
(C) explain the origins of the Malayo-Polynesian language subfamily
(D) argue for the importance of Taiwan in the history of Southeast Asia
(E) analyze the relationship between language and genetics in human populations
According to the passage, which of the following best describes the relationship between the Malayo-Polynesian languages and the other Austronesian subfamilies?
(A) The Malayo-Polynesian languages are more numerous but less diverse.
(B) The Malayo-Polynesian languages are older and more widespread.
(C) The Malayo-Polynesian languages are more closely related to each other.
(D) The Malayo-Polynesian languages have a more limited geographic distribution.
(E) The Malayo-Polynesian languages have more linguistic differences among them.
The passage suggests that the Philippine Negritos
(A) are genetically similar to the Wiwor people of New Guinea
(B) speak languages unrelated to those of their Filipino neighbors
(C) are descendants of the original inhabitants of the Philippines
(D) have maintained their original language despite foreign influences
(E) are the only remaining New Guinean–like population in Southeast Asia
The author mentions the concentration of three Austronesian subfamilies on Taiwan as evidence for which of the following?
(A) Taiwan was the point of origin for the Austronesian expansion.
(B) The Austronesian languages have been spoken on Taiwan for the longest time.
(C) Taiwan's aborigines have remained isolated from mainland Chinese influences.
(D) The Austronesian languages on Taiwan are the most diverse in the family.
(E) Taiwan played a crucial role in the development of agriculture in Southeast Asia.
The passage implies that the proliferation of many similar languages in the Philippines and Indonesia is a result of
(A) the lack of political and cultural unification in the islands
(B) the replacement of the original island languages by Austronesian languages
(C) the long time span since the Austronesian expansion
(D) the genetic distinctiveness of the island populations
(E) the influence of the three Austronesian subfamilies from Taiwan
Which of the following can be inferred about the expansion of Europeans speaking Indo-European languages?
(A) It occurred before the Austronesian expansion.
(B) It resulted in a more widespread language family than Austronesian.
(C) It replaced Austronesian languages in many areas.
(D) It originated from the same homeland as the Austronesian expansion.
(E) It followed a similar pattern of linguistic differentiation as the Austronesian expansion.
The author's argument about the role of Taiwan Strait in the development of Austronesian maritime skills is based on
(A) the presence of fish bones and mollusk shells at Ta-p'en-k'eng sites
(B) the similarity between Ta-p'en-k'eng pottery and earlier mainland Chinese pottery
(C) the existence of stone net sinkers and adzes at Ta-p'en-k'eng sites
(D) the evidence of regular sea traffic between Taiwan and the South China mainland
(E) the suitability of Ta-p'en-k'eng pottery for deep-sea fishing and canoe building
The passage suggests that, before the Austronesian expansion, most of the present Austronesian realm was
(A) occupied by hunter-gatherers without advanced technologies
(B) populated by people with genetic similarities to modern Indonesians and Filipinos
(C) characterized by the presence of polished stone tools and decorated pottery
(D) influenced by cultural artifacts from the South China mainland
(E) devoid of human populations in its remote islands
1.A
2.C P3 For the location of that Austronesian homeland, we should therefore look not to Malayo-Polynesian but to the other three Austronesian subfamilies, which differ considerably more from each other and from Malayo-Polynesian than the sub-subfamilies of Malayo-Polynesian differ among each other.
3. C P2replacing all the former inhabitants of those islands except the Philippine Negritos
4.A P3 All other Austronesian languages, from those on Madagascar to those on Easter Island, would then stem from a population expansion out of Taiwan.
正确答案B
5.A P2 The proliferation of many similar languages in the Philippines and Indonesia merely reflects the fact that the islands never underwent a political and cultural unification, as did China.
6.B P3 Before the recent overseas expansion of Europeans speaking Indo-European languages, Austronesian was the most widespread language family in the world.
7. D P5 had watercraft adequate for deep-sea fishing and for regular sea traffic across Taiwan Strait, separating that island from the China coast. Thus, Taiwan Strait may have served as the training ground where mainland Chinese developed the open-water maritime skills that would permit them to expand over the Pacific.
8. A P4 Like the rest of the world, most of the present Austronesian realm—Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and many Pacific islands—was originally occupied by hunter-gatherers
[/md]作者: Stella-Zhongli 时间: 2024-9-26 01:11
[md]DAY222