Question

  For a 400-year-old art form,opera had a bad fame：overweight actresses singing the words which were hard to understand in one of those romance languages you were supposed to learn in high school. And with tickets costing as much as $ 145 a perform?ance,opera-goers also had a certain appearance in people's mind：rich,well-dressed and old.  But now opera companies around the country are loosening their ties and kicking off their ^hoes in an attempt to keep opera alive and take it to a younger and not so wealthy audience.

  Opera producers have found that to attract this crowd,they need to associate opera with common peo?ple. That means no formal suits,old-style theatre or bank-breaking ticket prices. And because young people don't or won't come to the opera,companies are bring?ing the opera to them,giving performances in such usual places as parks,libraries and public schools.

  The Houston Grand Opera's choice is the public library,where it performs "mobile operas", shortened version of child-friendly operas. This summer's production is Hansel CreteL By performing smaller ver?sions of large productions,producers are able to make people interested while keeping costs at a reasonable level. The San Francisco Opera,which will be celebra?ting its 75th anniversary this year,is staging Cinderel?la free of charge,keeping costs down by employing students from its Young Artists' Training Programme.

1. Which of the following is the main idea of this pas?sage?

   A. Opera is famous for its history.

   B. Opera is only for rich people.

   C. Opera companies are trying to keep operas alive.

   D. Young people are not interested in operas.

2. The underlined part in Paragraph 2 most probably means "      ”，

   A. breaking up the old rules

   B. changing the dresses

   C. making the audience at ease

   D. advertising themselves

3. The San Francisco Opera employs young students in order to        .

   A. attract young people

   B. reduce the cost

   C. celebrate its 75th anniversary

   D. make Cinderella popular

4. What can you infer from the passage?

   A. The tickets for opera are very expensive at present.

   B. Opera is performed in a language difficult to understand.

   C. Opera is not so popular an art form today.

   D. Students enjoy performing operas very much.

Answer 1

[文章大意]和中国的京剧一样，西方的歌剧也面临着如何吸引年轻观众的困惑。歌剧给人的传统印象是晦涩难懂、票价昂贵，但是今天为了吸引年轻人的眼球，它不得不降低身价。

1.C主旨大意题。从第一段介绍的歌剧给人的传统印象

和下文提出现在歌剧院为了吸引年轻观众采取的措施可以得出结论。

2. A语义猜测题。第一段介绍的是歌剧以前晦涩难懂、票价昂贵，是供贵族享用的，而再加上第二段的"take it to a younger and not so wealthy audience"，第三段的"to asso?ciate opera with common people"和最后一段的''staging Cinderella free of charge"可以推知A项正确。

3. B细节理解题。根据最后一段的最后一句"...keeping costs down by employing students from its Young Artists' Training Programme."可知是为了降低成本。

4. C推理判断题。由文中提到的各种各样吸引年轻观众的做法可以判断歌剧并不太受年轻人的欢迎。