TOEFL - Reading Comprehension.

Lịch sử nhạc jazz-TOEFL SUCCESS 2000-p431


Just before and during WWI, a number of musicians came to Chicago from New Orleans playing in an idiom they had learned from blacks in that city. Five of them formed what eventually became known as the Original Dixieland Bankd. They moved to New York in 1917 and won fame there. That year they recored the first phonograph record identified as jazz.

The first important recording by black musicians was made in Chicago in 1923 by King Oliver''s Creocle Jazz Band, a group that featured some of the foremost jazz musicians of the time, including trumpet player Louis Armstrong. Armstrong''s dynamic trumpet style became famous worldwide. Other band members had played in Fate Marable''s bạnd, which travelled up and down the Mississippi River entertaining passengers on riverboats.

The characteristics of this early type of jazz, known as Dixieland Jazz, included a complex interweaving of melodic lines among the coronet or trumpet, clarinet and trombone, and a steady chomp-chomp beat provided by the rhymth section, which included the piano, bass and drums. Most bands used no written notations, preferring arrangements agreed on verbally.

Improvisation was an indispensable element. Even bandleaders such as Duke Ellington, who provided his musicians with written arrangements, permitted them plenty to freedom to improvise when playing solos.

In the late 1920s, the most influential jazz artists in Chicago were members of small bands such as the Wolverines. In New York, the trend was toward larger groups. These groups played in revues, large dance halls, and theatres. Band would become larger still during the next age of jazz, the Swing era.

Vocabularies:
-idiom: =style: loại
-phonograph=record player
-interweaving: sự đan quyện, hoà trộn
-melodic lines: âm điệu?
-improvisation: sự ứng biến, ngẫu hứng
-revues: kịch thời sự

Trước và trong thế chiến thứ nhất, một số nhạc công người da trắng từ New Orleans đến Chicago, họ chơi một loại nhạc học được từ những người da đen ở đây. Năm trong số những nhạc công da trắng này đã thành lập một ban nhạc mà sau này biết đến với cái tên Ban nhạc Dixieland đầu tiên. Năm 1917 ban nhạc chuyển tới New York và trở nên nổi tiếng ở đó. Cũng trong năm này họ ghi âm bản nhạc jazz đầu tiên.

Bản ghi âm nhạc jazz đáng kể đầu tiên của những nghệ sĩ da đen do ban nhạc jazz Creocle của King Oliver thực hiện tại Chicago vào năm 1923, đây là ban nhạc hội tụ những nghệ sĩ nổi bật nhất trong làng nhạc jazz thời bấy giờ trong đó có Louis Amstrong, nhạc công chơi trumpet. Lối chơi trumpet sôi động của ông đã trở nên nổi tiếng khắp thế giới. Những thành viên khác của ban nhạc này đã từng chơi trong ban nhạc Fate Marable, họ ngồi trên thuyền dạo khắp bờ sông Mississippi chơi cho khách bộ hành thưởng thức.

Đặc điểm của thể loại nhạc jazz đầu tiên, Dixieland này là sự hoà quyện âm điệu của các loại nhạc cụ coronet, trumpet, clarinet và trombone trên nền nhịp đều đặn hợp thành bởi ba nhạc cụ là piano, bass và trống. Hầu hết các ban nhạc đều không chơi theo những bản nhạc viết sẵn, họ ưa thích sự sáng tác một cách ngẫu hứng.

Sáng tác ngẫu hứng là một yếu tố không thể thiếu được trong nhạc jazz. Ngay cả những người đứng đầu ban nhạc như Duke Ellington cũng để cho những nhạc công trong ban nhạc của mình tự do ngẫu hứng sáng tác khi chơi solo dù có viết sẵn cho họ bản nhạc của mình.

Vào cuối những năm 20 của thế kỷ 19, những nghệ sỹ nhạc jazz có ảnh hưởng nhất tại Chicago đều là thành v iên của những ban nhạc nhỏ như ban nhạc Wolverines. Ở New York lại có xu hướng thành lập những ban nhạc lớn hơn. Những ban nhạc này biểu diễn trong những vở kịch thời sự, những vũ trường lớn và nhà hát. Các ban nhạc vẫn tiếp tục xu hướng mở rộng về quy mô trong suốt thời đại tiếp theo của nhạc jazz, thời đại Swing.



Time that is not used for love is wasteftul.

Ai hứng thú thì vào cùng dịch, nhất là các bạn đang ôn TOEFL , ai không hứng thú thì góp ý với nhỉ
Mọi người bảo những bài đọc trong TOEFL thì một là chỉ nên đọc lướt qua để nắm ý chính rồi thôi, không đủ thú vị để nghiền ngẫm sâu, hai là không nên tra từ mới nhiều vì trong một bài đọc luôn có những từ lạ xuất hiện nhưng nghĩa thì có thể đoán được, có nên tiếp tục công việc khô khan này không
Được britneybritney sửa chữa / chuyển vào 21:58 ngày 11/01/2004

Brit cũng ko nghĩ là nên dịch những bài TOEFL ra đâu, vừa đọc vừa hiểu luôn chứ dịch ra nữa thì lấy đâu ra thời gian. TB mỗi bài chỉ có 11'' thôi. Với cả Brit nghĩ đã học tiếng Anh thì luôn luôn phải nhớ trong đầu nguyên tắc đầu tiên: "THINK IN ENGLISH"]/b]. Dịch ra như vậy không những không có ích lúc thi lai. không có lợi trong việc học tiếng Anh. Tuy nhiên, về nội dung thì những bài reading của TOEFL thì đúng là chưa worth nghiền ngẫm sâu xa nhưng cũng cho rất nhiều kiến thức mới đấy chứ nhỉ Brit nghĩ topic này nên chuyển từ việc dịch các bài đọc hiểu mà là post lên những bài đọc bạn đã làm, share với mọi người chút ít material nhỉ. Ngày mai Brit rỗi thì sẽ bắt đầu nhé.

Now that I've found you, I won't let you go away...

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, workers were differentiated by skill, income and relative opportunities for advancement. The unskilled fared poorly. Laborers, weavers and mill workers, who constituted perhaps 40 percent of the mechanics - received about a dollar a day. Skilled workers ?" variously knowned as craftsman, artisans, or mechanics - received received nearly double that. The tools they owned and their proficiency in using them gave skilled workers marketable assets. Working independently or with others as journeyman in small shops directed by master craftsmen, who supervised the production of goods for a custom market, they could realistically anticipate becoming masters someday.
The technological and economic changes of the nineteenth century had a marked impact on American workers. Improvements in turnpikes or toll roads gave way to "canal fever" accompanied by the appearance of steamboats and, in the 1830s and 1840s, railroads. The resulting sharp reduction in transportation costs enabled sellers to compete successfully in distant markets, opening up great profit-making opportunities to efficient large-scale manufacturers. Limited custom-order and local trade gave way to a massive national market, inevitably affecting the con***ions of the workers who produced for this market.
On the surface, little seemed to have changed. In the typical shop, the master was still the chief, and the craftsmen he presided over still owned their tools. Their style of work in many cases differed little from what it had been in the eighteenth century. But now the merchant capitalist supplied the raw material and owned and marketed the finished product made in the shop. The masters became small contractors employed by the merchant capitalist and, in turn, employing one to a dozen journeymen. Since the profits of masters came solely out of wages and work, they sought to lessen dependence on skill and to increase speed of output. To increase profits, masters demanded greater productivity from skilled workers and resorted to cheaper labor - prisoners, women, children and the unskilled. Under the increasing economic pressure, the apprentice system eventually broke down.
1. What is the passage primarily concerned with?
A. Compensation paid to laborers.
B. Changes in working con***ions.
C. Development of transportation.
D. Categorising workers by job.
2. Which of the following did not separate the skilled worker from the unskilled worker?
A. Geographical location of the workplace
B. Ownership of the tools of the trade
C. Ability to use tools to make goods
D. Prospect of advancement within the trade
3. The word "fared" in paragraph 1 most nearly means
A. learned
B. lived
C. paid
D. enjoyed
4. The possibility of filling orders for a national market was due to
A. changed con***ions for all workers
B. New machinery for producing goods
C. advances in modes of transportation
D. decreased demand for local goods
5. Which of the following did not contribute to the rise of the merchants?
A. easy acess to cre***
B. cheaper transportation
C. shortage of skill labor
D. Control over substantial capital
6. The work "custom" in paragraphs 1 and 2 is closest in meaning to
A. taxed
B. handicraft
C. specific
D. tra***ional
7. masters who were under contract to merchants replaced skilled workers in order to
A. reduce the cost of labor
B. lower the cost of materials
C. raise the price of the finished goods
D. obtain local orders
8. According to the passage, the most important change in the structure of the workplace was
A. the hierarchy of workers
B. style of working
C. ownership of tools
D. financial arrangement
9. What can be inferred about a typical shop at the beginning of the 19th century
A. Masters owned all the tools
B. Masters supplied raw material and sold finished goods
C. Unskilled workers competed against skilled workers
D. Finished goods had to be shipped long distances.
10. The "apprentice system" in paragraph 3 refers to the
A. organisation of workers according to skill and experience
B. practice of paying silled workers more than unskilled ones.
C. classification of industry by good produced
D. division of markets into locak, custom and national
11. The passage is primarily concerned to
A. analyse an economic development
B. argue for social reform
C. encourage the use of skilled labor
D. describe manufacturing processes.
Key: 1B 2A 3B 4C 5C 6C 7A 8D 9B 10A 11A
Được britneybritney sửa chữa / chuyển vào 00:24 ngày 17/01/2004

Wows, where did you get this awesome reading???
Actually, most real TOEFL reading now is at the same level as this one. So well it will be just great if we have more reading like that to practise.
VC
"LOVE MEANS YOU NEVER HAVE TO SAY YOU'RE SORRY"

The alphabet took thousands of years to develop, from the picture writing of the ancient Egyptians through modifications by Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, and others, Yet in just a dozen years, one man, Sequoyah, invented an alphabet for the Cherokee people. Born in Eastern Tennessee, Sequoyah was a hunter and a silversmith in his youth, as well as an able interpreter who knew Spanish, French and English.
Sequoyah wanted his people to have the secret of the "talking leaves", as he called the books of white people, and so he set out to design a written form of Cherokee. His chief aim was to record his people''s ancient tribal customs. He began by designing pictographs for every word in the Cherokee vocabulary. Reputedly his wife, angry at him for his neglect of garden and house, burned his notes, and he had to start over. This time, having concluded that picture-writing was cumbersome, he made symbols for the sounds of the Cherokee language. Eventually he refined his system to eighty-five characters, which he borrowed from the Roman, Greek and Hebrew alphabets. He presented this system to the Cherokee General Council in 1821, and it was wholeheartedly approved. The response was phenomenal. Cherokees who had struggled for months to learn English lettering in school picked up the new system in days. Several books were printed in Cherokee, and in 1828, a newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, was first published in the new alphabet. Sequoyah was acclaimed by his people.
In his later life, Sequoyah dedicated himself to the general advancement of his people. He went to the Washington, D.C., as a representative of the Western tribes. He helped settle bitter differences among Cherokee after their forced movement by the federal government to the Oklahoma territory in the 1830s. He died in Mexico in 1843 while searching for groups of lost Cherokee. A statue of Sequoyah represents Oklahoma in the Statuary Hall in the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. However, he is probably chiefly remembered today because of sequoias, the giant redwood trees of California, are named for him.
1. The passage is mainly concerned with
A. The development of the Roman alphabet
B. the accomplishments of Sequoyah
C. the pictographic system of writing
D. Sequoyah''s experiences in Mexico.
2. According to the passage, how long did it take to develop the Cherokee alphabet?
A. Twelve years
B. Twenty years
C. Eighty five years
D. Thousands of years
3. There is NO indication in the passage that, as a young man, Sequoyah
A. served as an interpreter
B. made things from silver
C. served as a representative in Washington
D. hunted game
4. According to the passage, Sequoyah used the phrase "talking leaves" in paragraph 2 to refer to
A. redwood trees
B. books
C. symbols for the sounds
D. newspaper
5. What was Sequoyah''s main purpose in designing a Cherokee alphabet?
A. To record the Cherokee customs
B. To write books in Cherokee
C. To write about his own life
D. To publish a newspaper.
6. The word "cumbersome" in papagraph 2 is closest in meaning to
A. awkward
B. radical
C. simplistic
D. unfamiliar
7. In the final version of the Cherokee alphabet system, each of the characters represents a
A. word
B. picture
C. sound
D. thought
8. All of the following were mentioned in the passage as alphabet systems that Sequoyah borrowed from EXCEPT
A. Egyptian
B. Roman
C. Hebrew
D. Greek
9. The word "phenomenal" in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to
A. unanimous
B. exceptional
C. immediate
D. Greek
10. The word "acclaimed" in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to
A. commended
B. realised
C. remembered
D. welcomed
11. According to the passage, a memorial statue of Sequoyah is located in
A. Oklahoma
B. Mexico
C. Tennessee
D. Washington, D.C.
12. Why does the author mention the giant redwood trees of California in the passage?
A. Sequoyah took his name from those trees
B. The trees inspired Sequoyah to write a book
C. Sequoyah was borin in the vicinity of the redwood forest
D. The trees were named in Sequoyah''s honor.
Key: 1B 2. A 3.C 4B 5A 6A 7C 8A 9B 10 A 11D 12 D
There might be some typing errors .

Now that I've found you, I won't let you go away...

The history of America could be said to have started in the 1600s, which saw the beginning of a great tide of emigration from Europe to North America. Spanning more then three centuries, this movement grew from a trickle of a few hundred English colonists to a floodtide of newcomers numbered in the millions. Impelled by powerful and diverse motivations, they built a new civilization on a once savage continent.
The first English immigrants to what is now the United States of America crossed the Atlantic long after thriving Spanish colonies had been established in Mexico, the West Indies, and South America. Like all new travelers to the New World, they came in small, overcrowded ships. During their 6 -to- 12-week voyages, they lived on meager rations. Many of them died of disease. Ships were often battered by storms, and some were lost at sea.
To they weary voyage, the sight of the American shore brought immense relief. The colonists'' first glimpse of the new land was a vista of dense woods. These vast, virgin forest extending nearly 1,300 miles along the eastern seaboard from north to south, proved to be a treasure house, providing abundant food, fuel, and a rich source of dew materials for houses, furniture, ships and profitable cargoes for export.
The first permanent English settlement in America was a trading post founded in 1607 at Jamestown, in the Old Dominion of Virginia. This region was soon to develop a flourishing economy from its tobacco crop, which found a ready market in England. By 1620, when women were recruited in England to come to Virginia, marry, and make their homes, great plantations had already risen along the James River, and the population had increased to a thousand settlers.
1. The passage mainly discusses American
A. civilization
B. exploration
C. immigration
D. agriculture
2. The word "Spanning" in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to
A. combining
B. reaching
C. uniting
D. bridging
3. From the passage, it can be inferred that
A. most of the immigrants arrived in America in the 1600s.
B. emigration to America became more and more popular.
C. millions of English people emigrated to America
D. the Spanish were the first to emigrate to America
4. The word "they" in paragraph 2 refers to
A. Spanish colonists
B. Mexican travellers
C. West Indian voyages
D. English immigrants
5. It can be inferred from the passage that the English immigrants to America often
A. were half-starved on their sea voyages
B. died because the voyages were too long
C. traveled in ships which got lost on the voyages
D. were suffering from diseases when they started the voyages.
6. The author refers to the forests as being "virgin" because
A. they were completely impenatrable
B. they had never been explored
C. they contained nothing but trees
D. they covered an enormous area.
7. According to the passage, which of the following was welcoming to the exhausted immigrants?
A. The shoreline
B. Vast woods
C. The eastern seaboard
D. The settlement
8. The word "which" in paragraph 4 refers to
A. region
B. economy
C. crop
D. market
9. The word "ready" in paragraph 4 could best be replaced by
A. waiting
B. perfect
C. chosen
D. total
10. According to the passage, English women traveled to America to
A. become wealthy
B. work on the plantations
C. by employed as housekeepers
D. find a partner
Key: 1C 2D 3C 4D 5B 6B 7C 8B 9A 10A
With this kind of exercise, you really should get at least 9/10 since the real test will be far more difficult.

Now that I've found you, I won't let you go away...

To be honest, I don''t think this reading is hard but some answer choises are very tricky. Anyway, its good to be prepared for everything in the TOEFL.
VC
"LOVE MEANS YOU NEVER HAVE TO SAY YOU'RE SORRY"