『新东方在线托福阅读』为托福考生准备了ETS托福TPO/Official 58 Passage 1阅读练习：The word “skeptical" in the passage is closest in meaning to真题题目及答案解析，TPO/Official 58 Passage 1阅读原文范文音频翻译

托福TPO/Official 58 Passage 1阅读原文The word “skeptical" in the passage is closest in meaning to题目答案及解析-新东方托福官方网校手机版

直到16世纪，几乎所有的音乐都是为声音而作的，而不是为了乐器。

Until the sixteenth century, almost all music was written for the voice rather than for musical instruments.

甚至在文艺复兴时期(从14世纪到16世纪)，器乐在很大程度上是用某种乐器代替了为唱歌或跳舞而创作的音乐中的声音的结果。

Even during the Renaissance (from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century), instrumental music was, for the most part, the result of substituting an instrument for a voice in music written for singing or dancing.

17世纪标志着拥有缺失音乐意义的音乐的兴起。

The seventeenth century marked the rise of music that lacked extramusical meaning.

如数学方程或几何公式一般，现代早期的器乐没有明确的叙事内容，它既不是宗教表达的载体，也不是支持世俗(非宗教)发声文本的手段。

Like a mathematical equation or geometric formula, the instrumental music of the early modern era carried no explicit narrative content—it was neither a vehicle of religious expression nor a means of supporting a secular (nonreligious) vocalized text.

这种音乐的创作没有考虑到传统上一组唱出来的歌词中所蕴涵的联想内容。

Such music was written without consideration for the associational content traditionally provided by a set of sung lyrics.

音乐作为一种审美的理念将现代西欧音乐与亚洲和非洲的音乐传统区分开来。

The idea of music as an aesthetic exercise, composed for its own sake rather than to serve a religious or communal purpose, was a notable feature of the seventeenth century and one that has distinguished modern Western European music from the musical traditions of Asia and Africa.

毫无疑问，器乐的兴起伴随着乐器的改进和调音的完善。事实上，就在西方音乐家完善小提琴、中提琴和大提琴等弦乐器以及风琴和大键琴等键盘乐器的时候，器乐开始主导音乐创作。

Not surprisingly, the rise of instrumental music was accompanied by improvements in instruments and refinements in tuning.

事实上，就在西方音乐家完善小提琴、中提琴和大提琴等弦乐器以及风琴和大键琴等键盘乐器的时候，器乐开始主导音乐创作。

Indeed, instrumental music came to dominate musical composition at the very moment that Western musicians were perfecting such stringed instruments as the violin, viola, and cello and such keyboard instruments as the organ and harpsichord.

到了18世纪早期，音乐家们开始采用被称为“等分律”的调音体系，即把八度音阶分成十二个大小相同的半音阶。

By the early eighteenth century, musicians were adopting the system of tuning known as equal temperament, whereby the octave was divided into twelve half-steps of equal size.

约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫的《十二平均律钢琴曲集》(1722)试图将这一体系推广给持怀疑态度的音乐大众。

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier (1722) was an attempt to popularize this system to a skeptical musical public.

对改进乐器和系统化调音的新关注，反映了科学家和哲学家们为了使科学探查的工具和方法更精确和统一所作的努力。

The new attention paid to improving instruments and systematizing tuning mirrored the efforts of scientists and philosophers to bring precision and uniformity to the tools and methods for scientific inquiry.

十七世纪，意大利北部是世界制造小提琴的中心。

In the seventeenth century, northern Italy was the world center for the manufacture of violins.

意大利克雷莫纳的Amati, Guarneri和Stradivari家族，创造了欧洲各大宫廷都追求的高品质小提琴制作技术。

The Amati, Guarneri, and Stradivari families of Cremona, Italy, established the techniques of making high-quality violins that were sought in all of the great courts of Europe.

由于制作这些乐器的制作技术由父亲传给儿子，所以该技术受到了极其秘密的保护，以至于现代小提琴制作者从未模仿成功过。

Transmitted from father to son, the construction techniques used to produce these instruments were guarded so secretly that modern violinmakers have never successfully imitated them.

大约在1650年，其他地方的早期的乐器被标准化和完善。

Elsewhere, around 1650, earlier instruments were standardized and refined.

在这一时期，业余音乐制作也很普遍，专业演奏也有了很大的进步，因为新一代的演奏家激发了创作有关演奏技巧的著作的灵感。

Also during this period amateur music making was widespread, and professional performance also took a great leap forward, as a new breed of virtuosi inspired the writing of treatises on performance techniques.

17世纪占据主导地位的器乐主要有三种类型——奏鸣曲、组曲和协奏曲。

Three main types of composition—the sonata, the suite, and the concerto—dominated seventeenth-century instrumental music.

这三者都反映了巴洛克风格在节奏和纹理上的戏剧性对比。

All three reflect the baroque taste for dramatic contrasts in tempo and texture.

奏鸣曲(来自意大利语，意为“听起来”，即演奏而非演唱的音乐)是为几种乐器而作的曲子，通常不超过一到两种。

The sonata (from the Italian word for “sounded,” that is, music played and not sung) is a piece written for a few instruments—often no more than one or two.

它通常由三个对比节奏的动作组成——快/慢/快——每个动作都基于当时的歌曲或舞蹈形式。

It usually consisted of three movements of contrasting tempo—fast/slow/fast—each based on a song or dance form of the time.

组曲是为各种乐器组合而写的，是一系列源自各种欧洲宫廷或民间舞蹈的乐章，例如萨拉班德舞、帕瓦纳舞、小步舞曲和吉格舞。

The suite, written for any combination of instruments, is a sequence or series of movements derived from various European court or folk dances—for example, the sarabande, the pavane, the minuet, and gigue, or jig.

英国的亨利·普塞尔(1659 ~ 1695)、法国的弗朗索瓦·库珀(1668 ~ 1733)、德国的约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫(1685 ~ 1750)都对组曲的发展做出了贡献。

Henry Purcell (1659–1695) in England, Francois Couperin (1668–1733) in France, and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) in Germany all contributed to the development of the suite as a musical genre.

最后，协奏曲(与concertato同根，用来描述对立或对比的声音)是由一组小，另一组大的两组乐器组成的，通常在对话中演奏。

Finally, the concerto (from the same root as concertato, which describes opposing or contrasting bodies of sound) is a composition consisting of two groups of instruments, one small and the other large, playing in dialogue.

典型的巴洛克协奏曲，《大协奏曲》(“大协奏曲”)以多种乐章为特色，它的数量和种类变化很大。

The typical baroque concerto, the concerto grosso (“large concerto”) featured several movements whose number and kind varied considerably.

意大利巴洛克时期的主要器乐作曲家是维瓦尔第(1678 ~ 1741年)。

The leading Italian instrumental composer of the baroque era was Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741).

维瓦尔第一共创作了450多首协奏曲。

他将大协奏曲系统化为三个乐章形式(快/慢/快)，并在每个乐章中添加了独奏组和合奏组之间的不同。

He systematized the concerto grosso into a three-movement form (fast/slow/fast) and increased the distinctions between solo and ensemble groups in each movement.

在维瓦尔第很多振奋人心的小提琴独奏和合奏的作品中，最绚丽的是由四首描述了四个不同季节的小提琴协奏曲组成的《四季》。

Of the many exciting compositions Vivaldi wrote for solo violin and ensemble, the most glorious is The Four Seasons, a group of four violin concertos, each of which musically describes a single season.

According to paragraph 1, what is a notable feature of seventeenth-century music?

The word “skeptical" in the passage is closest in meaning to

Why does the author mention the activities of "scientists and philosophers” in the passage?

According to paragraph 3, which of the following is true about the production of violins in the seventeenth century?

The word "refined" in the passage is closest in meaning to

According to paragraph 3, all of the following characterized the developments of seventeenth century European instrumental music EXCEPT:

According to paragraph 4, what did sonatas and suites have in common?

According to paragraph 4, which of the following is a characteristic of a concerto?

Look at the four squares  that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. Some ancient instruments underwent development; for instance, the shawm became the oboe.  Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square  to add the sentence to the passage.

Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.

The Development of Instrumental Music Until the sixteenth century, almost all music was written for the voice rather than for musical instruments. Even during the Renaissance (from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century), instrumental music was, for the most part, the result of substituting an instrument for a voice in music written for singing or dancing. The seventeenth century marked the rise of music that lacked extramusical meaning. Like a mathematical equation or geometric formula, the instrumental music of the early modern era carried no explicit narrative content—it was neither a vehicle of religious expression nor a means of supporting a secular (nonreligious) vocalized text. Such music was written without consideration for the associational content traditionally provided by a set of sung lyrics. The idea of music as an aesthetic exercise, composed for its own sake rather than to serve a religious or communal purpose, was a notable feature of the seventeenth century and one that has distinguished modern Western European music from the musical traditions of Asia and Africa. Not surprisingly, the rise of instrumental music was accompanied by improvements in instruments and refinements in tuning. Indeed, instrumental music came to dominate musical composition at the very moment that Western musicians were perfecting such stringed instruments as the violin, viola, and cello and such keyboard instruments as the organ and harpsichord. By the early eighteenth century, musicians were adopting the system of tuning known as equal temperament, whereby the octave was divided into twelve half-steps of equal size. Johann Sebastian Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier (1722) was an attempt to popularize this system to a skeptical musical public. The new attention paid to improving instruments and systematizing tuning mirrored the efforts of scientists and philosophers to bring precision and uniformity to the tools and methods for scientific inquiry. In the seventeenth century, northern Italy was the world center for the manufacture of violins. The Amati, Guarneri, and Stradivari families of Cremona, Italy, established the techniques of making high-quality violins that were sought in all of the great courts of Europe. Transmitted from father to son, the construction techniques used to produce these instruments were guarded so secretly that modern violinmakers have never successfully imitated them. Elsewhere, around 1650, earlier instruments were standardized and refined. Also during this period amateur music making was widespread, and professional performance also took a great leap forward, as a new breed of virtuosi inspired the writing of treatises on performance techniques. Three main types of composition—the sonata, the suite, and the concerto—dominated seventeenth-century instrumental music. All three reflect the baroque taste for dramatic contrasts in tempo and texture. The sonata (from the Italian word for “sounded,” that is, music played and not sung) is a piece written for a few instruments—often no more than one or two. It usually consisted of three movements of contrasting tempo—fast/slow/fast—each based on a song or dance form of the time. The suite, written for any combination of instruments, is a sequence or series of movements derived from various European court or folk dances—for example, the sarabande, the pavane, the minuet, and gigue, or jig. Henry Purcell (1659–1695) in England, Francois Couperin (1668–1733) in France, and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) in Germany all contributed to the development of the suite as a musical genre. Finally, the concerto (from the same root as concertato, which describes opposing or contrasting bodies of sound) is a composition consisting of two groups of instruments, one small and the other large, playing in dialogue. The typical baroque concerto, the concerto grosso (“large concerto”) featured several movements whose number and kind varied considerably. The leading Italian instrumental composer of the baroque era was Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741). Vivaldi wrote some 450 concertos. He systematized the concerto grosso into a three-movement form (fast/slow/fast) and increased the distinctions between solo and ensemble groups in each movement. Of the many exciting compositions Vivaldi wrote for solo violin and ensemble, the most glorious is The Four Seasons, a group of four violin concertos, each of which musically describes a single season.