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TOEFL Directory > TOEFL writing > TOEFL Reading Class Unit 1_Passage 3_Question 23-33
TOEFL Reading Class Unit 1_Passage 3_Question 23-33
You have about 15 minutes to finish this passage.
First,use about 3-4 minutes to read the passage, try to understand the main idea of this passage.
Don't read it so slowly or try to remember all details.You need to do "fast reading",and "scan" the passage.
Second, read questions 1-11, and with questions you go back the passage again and look for correct answers.
Questions 23-33
Passage 3
The 1920's saw major developments in popular music in the United States. Some of the most important were technological: the establishment of commercial radio stations and the development of the public-address system, the sound track for film, and the electrical recording process used for producing phonograph records. All used the microphone and the sound amplifier, with significant impact on the nature of orchestration and popular vocal style, and consequently on the ideas of performers, arrangers, and even songwriters. All tended to broaden the audience for popular music---in a sense to nationalize it---but at the same time they tended to make it a more passive one, an audience of listeners rather than participants. This process tended to heighten the importance of professionalism and sophistication among both performers and arrangers; it also tended to increase commercialism in the transmission (the "distribution? of popular music to its audience. Thus, the era of the American popular music industry was born---an inevitable result of the electronic age's "mass media?(though the term was not yet coined).
New York City was the center of the popular music industry during the 1920's: it had Broadway and Schubert Alley, center of the American popular musical theater, and it had Tin Pan Alley, center of the songwriting business and the still-powerful sheet music publishers. The recording studios and radio networks were also based in New York.
In addition, recordings and radio opened up new possibilities for a striking new development. They made available kinds of popular music heard previously only in limited geographical areas or by specific ethnic and social groups---especially the blues, gospel songs, and jazz of African Americans and the traditional music of the southern Appalachian Mountains and other rural areas of the southern and western United States. The latter music was not to affect the mainstream of American popular music until much later, but the former influenced American popular music of the 1920's in many ways. In fact, novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald could even call the era "The Jazz Age?--which reflected the inroads of African American musical influence on the nation at large.
23. What aspect of music in the 1920's in the United States does the passage mainly discuss?
a) The growth of musical theater
b) The effect of technology on the popular music industry
c) Technological advances in sound recording for film
d) The influence of professional songwriters on popular music
24. The word establishment in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) necessity
b) formation
c) connection
d) enrichment
25. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a technological development of the 1920's?
a) The public-address system
b) Film sound tracks
c) Magnetic recording tape
d) The electrical recording process
26. According to the passage, what was the importance of the microphone and the sound amplifier mentioned in paragraph 1?
a) They caused major changes in the creation and performance of popular music.
b) They helped the performance of people who were not professionals.
c) They were used to preserve a historical record of older styles of music and performance.
d) They helped performers meet audience demand for louder music.
27. The word consequently in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) otherwise
b) in fact
c) therefore
d) although
28. The word it in the passage refers to the
a) audience
b) process
c) importance
d) commercialism
29. The word heighten in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) consider
b) announce
c) increase
d) adjust
30. Why does the passage mention New York City in paragraph 2 ?
a) It was a major center for the invention of new technology.
b) It had a significant concentration of performing, composing, and music business activity.
c) It had the broadest range of audiences of any city in the United States.
d) It was the source of a popular regional style of music.
31. What is the new development that the author discusses in paragraph 3 ?
a) A blending of traditional musical styles occurred.
b) Popular music performers began to avoid using elements of traditional music.
c) The center of the recording industry moved south.
d) Music styles formerly known only to a few people became known to many people.
32. The word previously in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) before
b) there
c) inexpensively
d) significantly
33. The word era in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) period
b) nation
c) movement
d) book
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