Musicians&Film Industry托福听力原文翻译及问题答案
一、Musicians&Film Industry托福听力原文:
NARRATOR:Listen to part of a lecture in a music history class.
MALE PROFESSOR:So,uh,if you were a musician in the United States in the early twentieth century,where could you work?MALE STUDENT:Same as now,I suppose...in an orchestra mainly?MALE PROFESSOR:OK,and where would the orchestra be playing?MALE STUDENT:Uh,in a concert hall?or a dance hall?MALE PROFESSOR:That's right,and smaller groups of musicians were needed in theaters as accompaniment to visual entertainment,like cabarets and variety shows;but,the largest employer for musicians back then was the film industry—especially during the silent-film era.MALE STUDENT:Really?You mean being a piano player or something?I thought movie theaters would have used recorded music?MALE PROFESSOR:Well,no,not during the silent-film era.We're talking a period of maybe 30 years where working in movie theaters was the best job for musicians. It was very well paid.The rapid growth of the film industry meant movie theaters were popping up everywhere?so suddenly there was this huge demand for musicians. IIn fact,over 20,000 jobs for musicians were gone—disappeared—at the end of the silent-film era.Twenty-thousand!OK,so,from the beginning,music was a big part of film.Even at the first...
FEMALE STUDENT:Excuse me,Professor?I think I read somewhere that they used music to drown out the sound of the film projectors?MALE PROFESSOR:Ye-yeah,that's a good story,isn't it?Too bad it keeps getting printed as if it were the only reason music was used.Well,think about it.Even if that were the case,noisy projectors were separated from the main house pretty quickly—yet music continued to accompany film?so?As I was saying,even the very first public projection of a movie had piano accompaniment?so music was pretty much always there.
What's strange to me,though,is that at first,film music didn't necessarily correspond to what was on the screen. You know,a fast number for a chase;deep bass notes for danger;something light and humorous for comedy?and that's instantly recognizable now,even expected.But,in the very early days of film,any music was played.
A theater owner would just buy a pile of sheet music,and musicians would play it,no matter what it was.Pretty quickly though,thankfully,everybody realized the music should suit the film.So,eventually,filmmakers tried to get more control over the musical accompaniment of their films and specified what type of music to use,and how fast or slow to play it?FEMALE STUDENT:Are you saying there was no music written specifically for a particular movie?MALE PROFESSOR:Yeah,original scores weren't common then. Rarely,a filmmaker might send along an original score composed especially for a film?but usually a compilation of music that already existed would be used.Yeah,that was a good time for a lot of musicians.But that all changed with the introduction of sound-on-film technology.
Actually,even before that—organs could mimic a number of instruments and also do some sound effects, so they were starting to replace live orchestras in some movie theaters.And it only takes one person to play an organ?
MALE STUDENT:OK,but even after that,someone still had to play the music for the sound recordings,the soundtracks?MALE PROFESSOR:Yeah,but,think of all the movie theaters there were,most employing about six to eight musicians.Some even had full orchestras.But in the early 1930s,most theater owners installed new sound systems. So suddenly a lot of musicians were looking for work.
Once recording technology took off,studio jobs working exclusively for one film company,eh,studio jobs did become available.But the thing is,each major movie company pretty much had only one orchestra for all their productions,a set number of regular musicians.So if you could get it,studio musician was a good job---
If you were cut out for it,musicians had to be able to read music very well,since the producers were very conscious of how much money they were spending.They didn't want to waste any time.So a musician was expected to play complicated pieces of music pretty much without any preparation.If one couldn't do it,there were plenty of others waiting to try.So there was a lot of pressure to do well.
二、Musicians&Film Industry托福听力中文翻译:
旁白:在音乐史课上听一节课的一部分。
男教授:那么,呃,如果你是二十世纪初美国的一位音乐家,你可以在哪里工作?男学生:我想和现在一样。。。主要是在管弦乐队?男教授:好的,那么管弦乐队将在哪里演奏呢?男生:呃,在音乐厅?还是舞厅?男教授:没错,剧院里需要一些小规模的音乐家作为视觉娱乐的伴奏,比如歌舞表演和综艺节目;但是,当时音乐家的最大雇主是电影业,尤其是在无声电影时代。男学生:真的吗?你是说当钢琴演奏家还是什么?我以为电影院会用录音音乐?男教授:嗯,不,不是在无声电影时代。我们谈论的是一个大约30年的时期,在电影院工作对音乐家来说是最好的工作;工资很高。电影业的快速发展意味着电影院到处都在涌现?所以突然间,对音乐家的需求巨大;事实上,在无声电影时代末,超过20000个音乐家的工作岗位消失了。两万!好吧,从一开始,音乐就是电影的重要组成部分。即使在一开始。。。
女学生:打扰一下,教授?我想我在哪里读到过,他们用音乐来掩盖电影放映机的声音?男教授:是的,这是个好故事,不是吗?糟糕的是,它一直被打印出来,好像这是使用音乐的唯一原因。好吧,想想看。即便如此,嘈杂的投影仪很快就从主楼中分离出来了,但音乐仍然伴随着这部电影?所以正如我所说,即使是第一部公开放映的电影也有钢琴伴奏?所以音乐几乎总是存在的。
然而,让我感到奇怪的是,起初,电影音乐并不一定与屏幕上的音乐相对应;你知道,一个追逐的快速数字;深沉的低音提示危险;一些轻松幽默的喜剧?这一点现在可以立即识别,甚至可以预料到。但是,在电影的早期,任何音乐都会播放。
剧院老板只会买一堆乐谱,音乐家们会演奏,不管它是什么。不过很快,谢天谢地,每个人都意识到音乐应该适合这部电影。因此,最终,电影制作人试图对电影的音乐伴奏进行更多的控制,并指定使用哪种类型的音乐,以及播放的快慢?女生:你是说没有专门为某部电影写的音乐?男教授:是的,最初的分数在当时并不常见;很少,电影制作人会发送专门为电影创作的原始乐谱?但通常会使用已经存在的音乐汇编。是的,那是很多音乐家的好时光。但随着有声电影技术的引入,一切都发生了变化。
事实上,即使在那之前,器官也可以模仿许多乐器并产生一些音效;因此,他们开始在一些电影院取代现场管弦乐队。而且只需要一个人就能演奏一个风琴?
男学生:好吧,但即使在那之后,还是有人要播放录音的音乐,配乐?男教授:是的,但是,想想那里所有的电影院,大多数都雇用了大约六到八名音乐家。有些甚至有完整的管弦乐队。但在20世纪30年代初,大多数影院业主安装了新的音响系统;所以突然有很多音乐家在找工作。
一旦录音技术起飞,专门为一家电影公司工作的制片厂工作机会就出现了,呃,制片厂工作机会确实出现了。但问题是,每一家主要电影公司几乎只有一个管弦乐队负责他们的所有作品,一组固定数量的音乐家。所以,如果你能得到它,录音室音乐家是一份好工作---
如果你是天生的,音乐家必须能够很好地阅读音乐,因为制作人非常清楚他们花了多少钱。他们不想浪费任何时间。因此,人们期望音乐家在没有任何准备的情况下演奏复杂的音乐片段。如果一个人做不到,那么还有很多其他人在等待着尝试。所以有很大的压力要做好。
三、Musicians&Film Industry托福听力问题:
Q1:1.What does the professor mainly discuss?
A.The changing opportunities for musicians in the early twentieth century
B.The history of film music from the early twentieth century to the present
C.The types of music that accompanied silent films in the early twentieth century
D.The influence of new sound technology on the film industry
Q2:2.Why does the professor point out that 20,000 jobs for musicians disappeared at the end of the silent-film era?
A.To explain that many movie theaters closed at the end of the silent-film era
B.To explain that live music had lost popularity
C.To illustrate the huge demand for musicians during the silent-film era
D.To emphasize the number of jobs created by the production of sound movies
Q3:3.What is the professor’s attitude about the view that music was used in movie theaters to cover up the noise of the film projector?
A.He is surprised that anyone would have that view.
B.He doubts that film projectors were very noisy.
C.He is convinced that it was true for most of the silent-film era.
D.He doubts that it can fully explain why music was played.
Q4:4.What does the professor find unusual about the music accompanying early silent films?
A.It was very difficult to perform.
B.It did not relate to the action on the screen.
C.It was usually improvised by piano players.
D.It was selected by the filmmakers.
Q5:5.What does the professor imply about the use of organs to accompany silent films?
A.The audience preferred organ music over other types of music.
B.Organs were too expensive for many theater owners.
C.It delayed the introduction of recorded music in theaters.
D.It led to a loss of employment for many musicians.
Q6:6.According to the professor,why was it difficult for musicians to get a job at one of the film studios?[Click on 2 answers.]
A.Musicians who had played in movie theaters were not usually hired by the film studios.
B.There were more musicians looking for jobs than there were jobs available at the film studios.
C.Musicians had to be very talented to meet the demands of the film studios.
D.The film studios preferred musicians who had some acting experience.
四、Musicians&Film Industry托福听力答案:
A1:正确答案:A
A2:正确答案:C
A3:正确答案:D
A4:正确答案:B
A5:正确答案:D
A6:正确答案:BC