艺术类大学英语·进阶最新章节_余渭深著

Module 2
Learn to Read

In this part, you are going to read two passages on the Yellow River Cantata （黄河大合唱） and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. After reading you are going to check your comprehension and learn to use some English words and phrases.

W arm-up questions

● When did you first listen to the Yellow River Cantata ? How did you feel about it?

● What do you know about the cantata?

Passage A

The Yellow River Cantata

The Yellow River Cantata was composed by Chinese composer Xian Xinghai in Yan'an in early 1939 during the War of Resistance Against Japan. The work was inspired by a patriotic poem by Guang Weiran entitle d Yellow River , which was also adapted as the lyrics . Using the Yellow River as a setting , this cantata sings of the long and brilliant history of the Chinese nation and presents a picture of the Chinese people's heroic fight against the Japanese. Premiere d in Yan'an on April, the 13th,1939, the work soon spread all over China.

Four different versions of the cantata have been performed in public . The first was the initial composition by Xian Xinghai. For the lack of musical instruments at that time, the orchestra consisted of the violin and some Chinese ethnic musical instruments. After Xian departed for the Soviet Union in 1940, he amended his composition for performance by a fully equipped Western orchestra, aided by a few Chinese ethnic instruments. He also made some amendments to the choral arrangement and added a prologue , increasing the number of movements to nine. The third and fourth revisions were respectively made by Xian's students, Li Huanzhi and Yan Liangkun. Li simplified the“Soviet”version for performance by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, while Yan incorporate d the prologue into the first movement to return the cantata to its initial arrangement of eight movements for performance by the Central Orchestra. Yan also made heavy amendments to the Third Movement—“Water of the Yellow River Comes from Heaven”—such that the new melody was vastly different from the original. This last revision became the most played and heard version today.

The Yellow River Cantata laid the groundwork for large-scaled contemporary Chinese vocal music composition. In the late 1960s, it was adapted into a piano concerto entitled the Yellow River Piano Concerto by the pianist Yin Chengzong. This concerto and the violin concerto Liang Zhu are the two best internationally known musical works that combined purely Chinese source materials with Western music methodology.

● N otes ●

1. Xian Xinghai 冼星海（1905-1945）。曾用名黄训、孔宇，祖籍广东番禺，出生于澳门，中国近代著名作曲家、钢琴家，有“人民音乐家”之称。

2. War of Resistance Against Japan 抗日战争（1931.9.18—1945.8.15）。简称抗战，指20世纪中期第二次世界大战中，中国抵抗日本侵略的一场民族性的全面战争。

3. Guang Weiran 光未然（1913—2002）。原名张光年，创作了组诗《黄河大合唱》《五月的鲜花》《屈原》等诗作，2002年完成《张光年文集》的编审工作。

4. Soviet Union 苏联。全称苏维埃社会主义共和国联盟，是1922年12月30日由俄罗斯苏维埃联邦社会主义共和国、白俄罗斯苏维埃社会主义共和国、乌克兰苏维埃社会主义共和国、外高加索苏维埃社会主义联邦共和国合并而成的社会主义联邦制国家，为世界上第一个社会主义国家，是原联合国创始会员国，安理会常任理事国，于1991年12月25日解体。

5. Li Huanzhi 李焕之（1919—2000）。福建晋江人，生于香港，著名作曲家、指挥家、音乐理论家。创作了《春节组曲》《社会主义好》等作品。

6. Shanghai Symphony Orchestra 上海交响乐团。是亚洲地区历史最为悠久的交响乐团，其历史最早可追溯至1879年（清光绪五年）的上海公共乐队，当时被誉为“远东第一乐队”。乐团开创了中国乐团与国外著名乐团联手委约国际作曲家作品的先河，是中国首个登上卡内基音乐厅、柏林爱乐大厅的交响乐团。

7. Yan Liangkun 严良堃（1923—2017）。中国指挥家，中国交响乐团合唱团（前中央乐团合唱团）创办人之一，生于湖北武昌。曾师从冼星海学指挥，指挥过《黄河大合唱》《长恨歌》，贝多芬的第3、第9交响曲，柴可夫斯基的《第四交响曲》，德沃夏克的《自新大陆》交响曲，莫扎特的《安魂曲》，以及西欧歌剧合唱等百余首古今中外合唱名曲。

8. Central Orchestra 中央乐团，是中华人民共和国文化部直属的国家级音乐表演团体，于1956年7月3日在哈尔滨成立。1996年乐团进行了重组，更名为中国国家交响乐团（CNSO）。

9. Yellow River Piano Concerto 《黄河钢琴协奏曲》。取材于抗日战争时期的救亡歌曲《黄河大合唱》，1969年由殷承宗、储望华、刘庄、盛礼洪、石叔诚和许斐星6人改编为协奏曲。1970年5月1日，由李德伦担任指挥，钢琴家殷承宗与中央乐团在北京民族宫剧院首演了《黄河钢琴协奏曲》。

10. Yin Chengzong 殷承宗（1941—）。中国音乐家、钢琴演奏家、作曲家，出生于厦门鼓浪屿，成功改编、演奏钢琴伴唱《红灯记》和钢琴协奏曲《黄河》，获得中国“金唱片奖”。

● N ew Words ●

● P hrases ●

I. Reading Comprehension

1 Global understanding

Which of the following aspect of the Yellow River Cantata is NOT covered in the passage? Put down the number of each of the paragraphs.

A. Acceptance　　Para.______

B. Accompaniment　　Para.______

C. Adaptation　　Para.______

D. Amendments　　Para.______

E. Creation　　Para.______

F. Significance　　Para.______

2 Detailed understanding

Read the passage and decide whether each of the following statements is true (T) or false (F).

______(1) Xian Xinghai was in his mid-thirties when he created the cantata.

______(2) Guang Weiran's patriotic poem was used as the lyrics of the Yellow River Cantata .

______(3) The most important change of the second version of the cantata is the addition of the prologue.

______(4) The most played and heard version of the cantata today has nine movements.

______(5) The cantata is a pioneering effort to combine the Western classical music tradition and the musical material at hand.

II. Language Practice

1 Make sure you know the words in the table below. Choose the correct word to complete each of the following sentences. Change the form where necessary.

(1) During the Christmas season, stores are decorated in____colours.

(2) The country's constitution was____to allow women to vote.

(3) First, second, and third places in the competition went to Alex, Michael, and John,____.

(4) The U.S. has a wide variety of_____groups made up of immigrants or their descendants.

(5) To avoid catching a cold, eat well, and get plenty of sleep and exercise to keep up your____to infection.

(6) The____will be performing a selection of Beethoven pieces tomorrow night.

(7) The goal of our____meeting is to simply get to know each other.

(8) He wrote a fascinating story based on that experience____ The Smile .

2 Translate the following sentences, paying special attention to the different uses of the same word in general English and in music.

(1) compose

a. Regardless of the type of business you own, your work will be composed of those three items.

b. Imagine the treasures we would have if Beethoven or Chopin had centuries to compose music.

(2) inspire

a. Our challenge is to motivate those voters and inspire them to join our cause.

b. This weekend only, the Britt orchestra is performing“Natural History,”a composition inspired by the lake.

(3) adapt

a. Man is an animal who more than any other can adapt himself to all climates and circumstances.

b. The song was adapted from the tune of“Aura Lee,”a sentimental Civil War ballad.

(4) perform

a. Robots can perform thousands of operations flawlessly every minute.

b. When a piece of music—from a pop song to a symphony—is performed or broadcast, the person who wrote it should be compensated.

(5) movement

a. The movement brought a painful awareness of how stiff her muscles were becoming.

b. The concerto's first movement is written in traditional sonata form.

(6) arrangement

a. Connie and Howard walked to the school, making arrangements for graduation.

b. The starting point for any arrangement is the song's melody and chord progression.

3 Identify what functions the following expressions and sentence patterns convey in Passage A and use each of them to introduce a musical work.

(1)...was composed by...in...during...

(2) This...sings of...

(3) for lack of

(4)...make (heavy) amendments to...such that...

(5) lay the ground for...

4 Translate the brief introduction of the March of the Volunteers into English.

《义勇军进行曲》是中华人民共和国国歌。这首歌曲的歌词是诗人、剧作家田汉在1934年创作的一首诗，题为“万里长城”。第二年，聂耳在日本为其配曲，曲式为西方进行曲曲式。这首歌被看作吸收西方音乐的长处又不失中国色彩的典范。1949年中华人民共和国成立后一段时期，《义勇军进行曲》曾作为中华人民共和国临时国歌。1982年，这首歌被正式确立为国歌，并于2004年写进中国宪法。

Passage B

Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)

Symphony No. 5 was written by Ludwig van Beethoven between 1804-1808. This symphony is one of the most popular and best-known compositions in all classical music, and one of the most often played symphonies.

It begins by stating a distinctive four-note“short-short-short long” motif twice. The symphony, and the four-note opening motif in particular , are well-known worldwide. Such a motif appears frequently in popular culture from disco and rock and roll to appearances in film and television. The initial motif of the symphony has been believed by some to be a symbol of fate knocking at the door. This idea comes from Beethoven's secretary Anton Schindler. He once wrote that, one day, Beethoven pointed to the beginning of the first movement and said:“Thus fate knocks at the door!”

There is another tale by Antony Hopkins concerning the same motif. Beethoven's pupil , Carl Czerny, claimed that the little pattern of notes had come to Beethoven from a yellow-hammer 's song.Beethoven heard the song as he walked in the Prater Park in Vienna. Hopkins says that“given the choice between a yellow-hammer and fate-at-the-door, the public has preferred the more dramatic myth , though Czerny's account is too unlikely to have been invented.”

The first sketches of The Fifth Symphony date from 1804 following the completion of The Third Symphony . However, Beethoven repeatedly interrupted his work on The Fifth to prepare other compositions. He was in his mid-thirties during this time. His personal life was troubled by increasing deafness. In the world at large , the period was marked by the Napoleonic Wars, political turmoil in Austria, and the occupation of Vienna by Napoleon's troops in 1805.

The symphony was first performed in Vienna in 1808 and directed by Beethoven himself. It soon acquired its central status in the repertoire . Groundbreaking both in terms of its technical and emotional impact , The Fifth has had a large influence on composers and music critics . It also inspired works by such composers as Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Mahler.