湖南长沙市高考英语二轮阅读理解训练49及答案.docVIP

湖南长沙市2016高考英语（二轮）阅读理解训练（49）及答案 阅读下列四篇短文，从每小题后所给的A,B,C或D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。 George Gershwin，born in 1898，was one of Americas greatest composers.He published his first song when he was eighteen years old.During the next twenty years he wrote more than five hundred songs. Many of Gershwins songs were first written for musical plays performed in theatres in New York City.These plays were a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s and 1930s.Many of his songs have remained popular as ever.Over the years they have been sung and played in every possible way—from jazz to country. In the 1920s there was a debate in the United States about jazz music.Could jazz，some people asked，be considered serious music? In 1924 jazz musician and orchestra leader Paul Whiteman decided to organize a special concert to show that jazz was serious music.Gershwin agreed to compose something for the concert before he realized he had just a few weeks to do it.And in that short time，he composed a piece for piano and orchestra which he called Rhapsody in Blue.Gershwin himself played the piano at the concert.The audience were thrilled when they heard his music.It made him world-famous and showed that jazz music could be both serious and popular. In 1928，Gershwin went to Paris.He applied to study composition (作曲)with the well-known musician Nadia Boulanger，but she rejected him.She was afraid that classical study would ruin his jazz-influenced style.While there，Gershwin wrote An American in Paris.When it was first performed，critics (评论家)were divided over the music.Some called it happy and full of life，to others it was stilly and boring.But it quickly became popular in Europe and the United States.It still remains one of his most famous works. George Gershwin died in 1937，just days after doctors learned he had brain cancer.He was only thirty-nine years old.Newspapers all over the world reported his death on their front pages.People mourned the loss of the man and all the music he might have still written.