托福聽力 與藝術(shù)類音樂相關(guān)的素材
文科段子:藝術(shù)類音樂
It may seem strange that we're discussing music from a Broadway production in this class, "The Lion King" especially, since it's based on a popular Hollywood movie. I mean music preformed for Broadway theater in the heart of New York city surely would seem to be in the western tradition of popular music and not have much in common with the music we have been studying in this course, such as gamelan music of Indonesia, or Zulu chants of South Africa, music that developed outside the western tradition of Europe and America. But in fact, musicians have a long-standing tradition of borrowing front one another's cultures.
And this production's director intentionally included both western and non-western music. That way, some of the rhythms, instrument, and harmonies typical of non-western music contrast with and complement popular music more familiar to audiences in North America and Europe, music like rock, jazz or Broadway style show tunes. So I want to spend the rest of this class and most of the next one on the music from the show "The Lion King" as a way of summarizing some of the technical distinctions between typical western music and the non-western music that we've been studying.
Now the African influence on the music is clear. The story takes place in Africa. So the director got a South African composer to write songs with a distinctly African sound. And the songs even include words from African languages. But we'll get back to the African influence later. First let's turn to the music that was written for the shadow puppet scenes in "The Lion King", music based on the Indonesian music used in the shadow puppet theater of that region.
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托福聽力考試中聽不懂時怎么辦?
一、語音原因
聽力主要依靠聲音去確定詞的意思。因此,元音的長短,輔音的清濁都對聽力內(nèi)容的判斷有直接影響。因此我們應(yīng)特別注意一下幾點(diǎn):
1. 某些英語單詞的弱讀。如介詞 of ,它的音標(biāo)是 [噢芙],但它通常被弱化成 [呃芙],有時甚至被弱化成 [v] 或 [f].
2. 某些英語單詞的連讀。如聽到一個生詞時,其發(fā)音好像是 notatal,不像是外國人名地名,辭典也查不到,這時就應(yīng)該想到,它很可能是兩個或多個單詞的連讀,按照這個思路,我們最后猜出它是 not at all.
3. 某些單音節(jié)的英語單詞。多音節(jié)的單詞,如 foreign, minister, immigration 等,由于音節(jié)多,很容易聽出來,比較麻煩的是那些單音節(jié)單詞,如 did, was, him 等,只有一個音節(jié),發(fā)音時間短促,很容易被忽略。
另外,我們在聽生活英語(如影視作品)中還經(jīng)常會遇到一些英語方言。比如英國音、美國音、澳大利亞英語、美國黑人英語、印度英語等。這些不同民族的不同發(fā)音方式對我們的聽力理解可能會造成一定的障礙。
二、詞匯原因
這里說的詞匯是一個比較大的范疇。除了平時根本沒有遇見過的詞外,還包括習(xí)語(idiom)、口語(colloquialism)、諺語(proverb)、短語(phrase)、俚語(slang)等方面。這幾個方面的詞匯,常常是單詞都認(rèn)識,但是意思不了解。
例如,I got a kick out of watching those kids perform. (我非常欣賞孩子們的表演。)其中 to get a kick out of something 是非常地道的英語習(xí)語,多用于口語,意思是“欣賞…”或“從…中得到極大愉快”。而如果不理解這一習(xí)語,按照字面意思,很多人可能會理解成“被踢出去”,這樣就會不知道講話者的意思。這里的 kick 與“踢”這一動作本身毫無關(guān)系。
三、文化原因
聽不懂英語的一個很重要的原因是缺乏英語國家文化背景知識。大家所抱怨的字字句句都懂,但是仍然搞不懂說話者意圖的問題就屬于此類。它的涉及面很廣,滲透到生活的方方面面。這方面的知識可通過大量了解英美文化來得到增強(qiáng)。
例如,“You chicken!” he cried looking at Tom with contempt. (“你這膽小鬼!”他輕蔑地看著湯姆說道。)這里,You chicken! 并不是“你這只雞”的意思。這是非??谡Z化,而且十分生動形象的說法,如果不了解英美的文化背景,就不會理解 chicken 指“懦夫”或“膽小鬼”,對整個句子就可能會感到迷惑不解。
四、記憶原因
很多學(xué)習(xí)英語的同學(xué)講,“考聽力時我都聽懂了,可等到作選擇的時候,卻好像有一半都記不清了。”原因是我們在聽的時候,大部分注意力在理解方面,加上沒有及時對所提細(xì)節(jié)作筆記,自然便會聽了后面忘了前面,而聽力測試的重點(diǎn)往往就在細(xì)節(jié)的辨認(rèn)上。因此,考生不僅要聽懂錄音中的語言信息,還應(yīng)通過一些有效途徑在短時內(nèi)強(qiáng)記重要信息,如年代、人物、事件、地點(diǎn)、價格、門牌號等。一個人即使記憶力再好,要記清如此多的細(xì)節(jié)也不容易,那么只有靠記筆記來幫忙。