2020考研阅读理解UNIT 6 (27)

UNIT EIGHTTEXT ONENew York is in the middle of a culture fest celebrating Berlin, a 17-day marathon of music, film, architecture, literature and photography that began on November 2nd. “Berlin In Lights” is largely the brainchild of Sir Clive Gillinson, a former managing director of the London Symphony Orchestra who became executive and artistic director of Carnegie Hall in July 2005. Determined to make the New York concert hall more international, he is initiating a series of cultural festivals celebrating cities, nations or artistic movements. Berlin is the first of these. A visit by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, under its principal conductor Sir Simon Rattle had been planned for some time. Much taken by the extraordinary transformation of Berlin since reunificationthe city thrives through culture and politics; there is hardly any business or financeSir Clive decided to expand that visit into a full-blown festival. He got an enthusiastic response from other New York institutions.Berlin and New York have sizeable mutual admiration societies but, until recently, post-war Berlin could only dream of being in the same league of creative effervescence as New York. Now, in partnership with the American Academy in Berlin, Carnegie Hall has put together a crowd of seminarson literature, the visual arts, film-makinginviting stars such as Volker Schlndorff and Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, both Oscar-winning German directors. The Goethe-Institut and the German consulate-general are showing photographs, the Museum of Modern Art is screening films about Berlin and the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Centre is screening the 13 episodes and epilogue of Rainer Werner Fassbinders television epic “Berlin Alexanderplatz” in 14 separate rooms. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, extending its visit to eight days, will be performing Gustav Mahlers last three major works as well as music by Thomas Ads, Magnus Lindberg and Gyrgy Kurtag, three contemporary composers. In addition, various chamber ensembles made up of Philharmonic musicians are playing both at Carnegie and at “neighbourhood concerts” in the citys five boroughs. The most innovative of the Philharmonics offerings will be the performances on November 17th and 18th at the United Palace Theatre in Washington Heights of Igor Stravinskys “The Rite of Spring”, danced by kids from state schools who have been trained for just eight weeks. To those who think that the result will be shambolic, the organisers retort that the experiment worked well with childrenincluding refugeesfrom state schools in Berlin. “Berlin In Lights” is not comprehensive: there is no theatre and little dance. A festival that gets too big loses its charm, says Sir Clive: “We would like to capture peoples imagination and incite them to explore new horizons.”The audience at some of the showsa performance by Max Raabe and the Palast Orchestra of songs from the 1920s and 1930s, Ute Lemper, a German chanteuse specialising in Kurt Weill, in cabaretwere made up largely from what one participant described as the geriatric intelligentsia from the Upper West Side. As many of them have German- or Austrian-Jewish origins, they have a loving, knowledgeable relationship with German culture. One critic hissed that Ms Lemper was a poor copy of Lotte Lenya, Weills wife, whom she had seen perform in the 1940s. Sir Clive hopes that concerts by the Nomad SoundSystem, a Berlin band performing western dance music and North African melodies, and concerts by Berlins Turkish and Kurdish communities may bring in a younger crowd.1. What does the word “marathon” (Line 1, Paragraph 1) mean in the text? A A festivalB A sport competitionC A culture festD A large event2. The first sentence of the third paragraph implies that_A Berlin is lagging behind New York in artistic invention.B Berlin and New York have a long history of artistic exchange in the societal level.C Berlin is the German equivalence of New York in terms of creative vigour.D Both Berlin and New York boast of people with high admiration of art.3. The Goethe-Institut is probably situated in_A New York. B Berlin.C Carnegie University.D Germany.4. The festival is carried out in order to_A enhance cultural exchange between the two cities. B propagate new Berlin of culture and politics in the form of art.C goes along with the 8 day visit of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. D internationalize New York music world.5. From Sir Clives statements, it can be infered that he holds the view that a festival _A should be comprehensive. B should be innovative. C should be full-blown.D should be limited in scale. 文章剖析：这篇文章讲述了纽约举行的“光之柏林”柏林文化节的情况。第一、二段讲述柏林文化节是如何发展起来的；第三段讲述文化节期间的一些活动；第四段讲述柏林爱乐乐团的活动；第五段讲述该文化节不够全面的地方及其原因；第六段讲述了观众的一些情况。词汇注释：effervescence n. 活力 shambolic adj. 混乱的chanteuse n. 女歌手 cab