2011考研英语真题英语一阅读部分.docVIP

Text 1 ①The decision of the New York Philharmonic to hire Alan Gilbert as its next music director has been the talk of the classical-music world ever since the sudden announcement of his appointment in 2009. ②For the most part, the response has been favorable, to say the least. ③“Hooray! At last!”wrote Anthony Tommasini, a sober-sided classical-music critic. ①One of the reasons why the appointment came as such a surprise, however, is that Gilbert is comparatively little known. ②Even Tommasini, who had advocated Gilberts appointment in the Times, calls him“an unpretentious musician with no air of the formidable conductor about him.”③As a description of the next music director of an orchestra that has hitherto been led by musicians like Gustav Mahler and Pierre Boulez, that seems likely to have struck at least some Times readers as faint praise. ①For my part, I have no idea whether Gilbert is a great conductor or even a good one. ②To be sure, he performs an impressive variety of interesting compositions, but it is not necessary for me to visit Avery Fisher Hall, or anywhere else, to hear interesting orchestral music. ③All I have to do is to go to my CD shelf, or boot up my computer and download still more recorded music from iTunes. ①Devoted concertgoers who reply that recordings are no substitute for live performance are missing the point. ②For the time, attention, and money of the art-loving public, classical instrumentalists must compete not only with opera houses, dance troupes, theater companies, and museums, but also with the recorded performances of the great classical musicians of the 20th century. ③These recordings are cheap, available everywhere, and very often much higher in artistic quality than todays live performances；moreover, they can be“consumed”at a time and place of the listeners choosing. ④The widespread availability of such recordings has thus brought about a crisis in the institution of the traditional classical concert. ①One possible response is