Question

One of the most famous buildings in the United States is Carnegie Hall, the home of classical and popular music concerts in New York. Carnegie Hall is known not just for its beauty and history, but also for its amazing sound. Carnegie Hall is named after Andrew Carnegie, who paid for its construction. Construction of Carnegie Hall began in 1890 and the official opening night was on May 5，1891.

The hall was owned by the Carnegie family until 1924 when it was sold to Robert E Simon. The building became very old and in 1960, the new owner made plans to destroy it and build an office block. Isaac Stem led a group of people who fought to save Carnegie Hall and finally, the city of New York bought it for $5 million. It was then fixed up between 1983 and 1995.

Advertisements and stories in newspapers about how Carnegie Hall needed help to recover its history led people to send in old concert programmes and information from all over the world.  Over 12，000 concert programmes were received and with these it was possible to make a proper record of Carnegie Hall's concert history.

Carnegie Hall is actually made up of several different halls, but the Main Hall, now  called the Isaac Stem Auditorium，is the most famous. The hall itself can hold an audience of 2，804 in five levels of seating.

Because the best and most famous musicians of all time have played at Carnegie Hall, it is the dream of most musicians who want to be great to play there. This has led to a very old joke which is now part of Carnegie Hall's history. Question: “How do I get to Carnegie Hall？” Answer: “Practice, practice, practice.”

1.It can be inferred that people wanted to save Carnegie Hall mainly because________．

A. it made a lot of money

B. it was worth visiting

C. many important concerts were held in it

D. it made some players become famous

2.How did Carnegie Hall recover its concert history?

A. Through newspaper reports.

B. Through old concert programmes.

C. Through old photographs.

D. Through old jokes.

3.Why is the Carnegie Hall joke funny?

A. Because you expect the answer to be directions but not advice.

B. Because Carnegie Hall is a place where musicians practice a lot.

C. Because it is difficult to find your way to Carnegie Hall.

D. Because you don't expect the answer to repeat the same word three times.

4.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

A. The history of Carnegie Hall

B. The best musician having played in Carnegie Hall

C. A joke about Carnegie Hall

D. The dream of most musicians

Answer

1.C

2.B

3.A

4.A

【解析】本文主要介绍了有号称“世界一流音响设备”的卡内基音乐厅，并讲述它的历史与辉煌。 因此能在卡内基音乐厅举办自己的音乐会，成为众多音乐家的梦想。

1.推理判断题。根据最后一段第一句卡内基音乐厅曾举办过许多音乐会，许多名家都在这里演奏过可知，它的历史辉煌，因此当它要被拆迁改建时人们极力挽救。故选C.

2.细节理解题。根据第三段第二句“收到12 000多份节目单，这样才能够记录下大厅比较完整的历史”可知，B项为正确答案。故选B.

3.细节理解题。民间流传着一个有关卡内基音乐大厅的笑话：有人问：“去卡内基大厅怎么走？”按照常规思维，答话者应该直接指路，然而答话者却回答说：“练习、练习、再练习。”这就是这个笑话的幽默所在。故选A.

4.标题归纳题。本文主要介绍了有号称“世界一流音响设备”的卡内基音乐厅的历史。故选A.

【名师点睛】

每篇文章都会有一个主旨要义。主旨要义型题范围一般包括：短文标题、主题大意或段落大意等。此题型要求考生在理解文章后归纳文章要点，概括中心思想。考生需要分析文章的篇章结构，抓住文章的开头或结尾，从而找出能概括文章的主题句。主题句的特点：（1）语言特点：归纳性、概括性、抽象性；（2）位置特点：主题句常出现在“总结性”语言的“信号词”后，如：in summary, in a word, as a result, finally, in short, in conclusion和in brief等；主题句常出现在“转移话题式”语言的“信号词”后，如：but, however, nevertheless等。标题的语言特点：独特新颖 、概括性强、短小精炼。

A．主旨大意主要的设题方式有：

（1）Which of the following best gives the main idea of this newspaper article?

（2）The best headline for this newspaper article is ____.

（3）What is the topic of the text?

（4）The text is mainly about ______.

（5）What's the main point the writer is trying to make in the last paragraph？

（6）What would be the best title for the text？

B．主旨大意主要的解题策略有：

（1）标题类。文章标题可以是单词，短语，也可以是句子，它的特点是：短小精悍，多为一短语；涵盖性强，一般要求能覆盖全文，其确定的范围要恰当，既不能太大，也不能太小；精确性强，不能随意改变语言表意的程度及色彩。

（2）主旨类。概括主旨的方法是：先看首尾或各段开头再看全文找主题句，若无明显主题句，就通过关键词句来概括(如议论文中寻找表达作者观点态度的词句，记叙文寻找概括情节和中心的动词或反映人物特点的形容词)。文中出现两种或两种以上的不同观点时，务必牢记作者的观点才是体现全文中心的。此时，要注意一些转折词，如but, yet, however, although, in spite of, by contrast, on the contrary等。当文章中表示相反的观点时，往往用到这些词。答题时要弄清哪个是作者的观点，排除迷惑性信息，准确归纳主旨大意。

如小题4，该题属于标题类，标题的特点是短小精悍，要覆盖全文，范围适当，精确性强。根据本文主要围绕“世界一流音响设备”的卡内基音乐厅的历史展开，因此A项作为标题最准确。