Part Ⅰ Fast Reading
In this section，you are going to read two passageswith ten statements attached to each one.Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs.Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived.You may choose a paragraph more than once.Each paragraph is marked with a letter.Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter.
“A Point of View:Why it's time to turn the music Off.”
[A]In almost every public place today the ears are assailed by the sound of pop music.In shopping malls，public houses，restaurants，hotels and elevators the sound is not human conversation but the music—usually invisible and inaccessible speakers that cannot be punished for their impertinence.Some places brand themselveswith their own signature sound—folk，jazz or excerpts from the Broadwaymusicals.For themost part，however，the prevailing music is there in order not to be really there.It is a background to the business of consuming things.The worst forms of thismusic are produced without the intervention ofmusicians，being put together on a computer from a repertoire of standard effects.
[B]The background sounds ofmodern life are therefore less and less human.Rhythm，which is the sound of life，has been largely replaced by electrical pulses，produced by a machine programmed to repeat itself ad infinitum.Whole areas of civic space in our society are now policed by this sound，which drives anybody with the slightest feeling for music to distraction.These are no longer social events，but experiments in endurance，as you shout at each other over the deadly noise.
[C]There are two reasonswhy this vacuousmusic has flown into every public space.One is the vast change in the human ear brought about by the mass production of sound.For our ancestorsmusic was something that you sat down to listen to，or which you made for yourself.With the advent of the gramophone，the radio and now the iPod，music is no longer something that youmustmake for yourself，nor is it something that you sit down to listen to.It follows you aboutwherever you go，and you switch it on as a background.It is not somuch listened to as overheard.
[D]The other is the failure of the law to protect us from the result.Of course，you can ask for themusic to be turned off.But you will bemet by blank and even hostile stares.What kind of a weirdo is this，who wants to impose his will on everyone?Who is he to dictate the noise levels?Such is the usual response.
[E]I don't think we should underestimate the tyranny exerted over the human brain by pop.The constant repetition of backgroundmusic，ateverymomentof the day and night，leads to addiction.It also has a dampening effect on conversation.I suspect that the increasing inarticulateness of the young，their inability to complete their sentences，to find telling phrases or images，or to say anything at allwithout calling upon the word“like”to help them out，has something to do with the fact that their ears are constantly stuffed with cotton wool.Round and round in their heads go the chord progressions，the empty lyrics and the impoverished fragments of tune，and boom goes the brain box at the start of every bar.
[F]Is there a remedy？Yes，I think there is.The addictive ear，dulled by repetition，is shut tight as a clam around its pointless treasures.But you can prise it open with musical instruments.Put a young person in a position to make music and not just to hear it and immediately the ear begins to recover from its lethargy（无生气）.By teaching children to play musical instruments，we acquaint them with the roots ofmusic in human life.
[G]The next step is to introduce the idea of judgment.The belief that there is a difference between good and bad，meaningful and meaningless，profound and vapid，exciting and banal—this belief was once fundamental to musical education.But it offends against political correctness.Today there is only my taste and yours.The suggestion thatmy taste is better than yours is elitist，an offence against equality.But unlesswe teach children to judge，to discriminate，to recognize the difference betweenmusic of lasting value andmere ephemera，we give up on the task of education.
[H]The good news is that，in their hearts，people are aware of this.All who have had the experience of teachingmusic appreciation know it to be so.The first step is to introduce the precious commodity of silence，so that your students are listening with open ears to the cosmos，and are beginning to forget their addictive pleasures.
[I]Then you play to them the things that you love.They will be bewildered at first.After all，how can this old geezer sit still for 50 minutes listening to something that hasn't got a beat or a tune?Then you discuss the things that they love.Had they noticed，for example，that Lady Gaga in“Poker Face”stays formostof the tune on one note?Is that realmelody?After a while they will see that they have in factbeenmaking judgments all along—it is just that they weremaking the wrong ones.When Metallica appeared at the 2014 Glastonbury festival there was awake-upmomentof this kind—the recognition that these guys，unlike somany who had performed there，actually had something to say.Yes，there are distinctions of quality，even in the realm of pop.
[J]The next stage is to get the students to perform—to sing in unison（共同），and then in parts.Very soon they will understand that music is not a blanket with which to shut out communication，but a form of communication in itself.And gradually they will know the place of this great art form in the world that they have inherited.Our civilization wasmade bymusic and the musical tradition that we have inherited is as worthy of praise as all our other achievements in art，science，religion and politics.Thismusical tradition speaks for itself but to hear it you must clear the air of noise.
( )1.The people who know music have open ears to harmony of silence and sound.
( )2.Pop pollution does damage on musical appreciation and pop addicts lose the capacity for genuinemusical experience.
( )3.For many people music is no longer a language shaped by our deepest feelings，which signifies the eclipse ofmusical ear.
( )4.You are rightly prevented from polluting the air of a restaurant with smoke；but nothing prevents the owner from forcing this far worse pollution on his customers.
( )5.It is an effective way to cure addictive ear to acquaint them withmusical instruments.
( )6.To compare the things you love and they love is a good way to distinguish which type ofmusic is lasting.
( )7.Music is not a way to stop communication，but a useful tool to shape civilization.
( )8.The backgroundmusic is a surrounding nothingnesswith representative of the signature sound of standard effects.
( )9.Inhuman pulses thrust its booming bass notes into the very bones of the people surrounded by this sound.
( )10.Judgment is the precondition of true enjoyment，and the discrimination from good and bad.
[A]Iwrote my first story in a university library，in Boston.It was 1978，and Iwas bored to death with structuralism and post-structuralism.Iwrote with a cheap ballpoint pen in the exercise book that Iused for lecture notes.Inoticed atonce that the time passed differently when writing a story.It wasn't quicker or slower，simply absent.You moved into a dream space.
[B]When I finished，I typed up the story on a smallmanual typewriter.Ihave to thank America for teachingme how to type fast，with all fingers and never looking at the keys.In England，you gave your weekly essay assignments to professors handwritten.In the United States，they had to be typed.Walking back through the campus，late on spring evenings，you could hear a clatter of typewriters from open windows.
[C]Itwasmany years before I had a story published.Meantime，Imoved back to the U.K.，then，withmy Italian wife，to Verona，where Ibegan to translate.Here，typing skills were invaluable.You rode yourmoped into town in themorning，picked up a piece of work，rode home and had to translate it onto camera-ready paper for evening delivery and immediate printing.There was no time for rough drafts.You read each sentence，thought it through，produced an English version in your head，and typed it out perfect the first time.It was a fantastic discipline，and hugely stressful.
[D]In the early eighties，we boughtan electric typewriter that could memorize about half a page before printing it out.To read the page，you had to scroll it from right to left，on a single line of display，between keyboard and print roller.It cost the equivalent of a thousand euros in today'smoney and wasn't satisfactory.
[E]Despite the introduction of this technology into thewriting process，feedback on what you wrote was still slow.Long-distance and international phone calls were expensive，and editors and agents tended to communicate by letter.Post from London took at least a week to arrive in Italy.When it came to reviews，English newspaperswere hard to find and expensive if you did find them.You had to wait，sometimes months，for press cuttings from London.Every day，I listened for the postman，passing on his scooter，and rushed downstairs to check themail when he passed.Nothing.Just when the price of fax machines fell to something affordable，we bought a flat in a new development on the edge of town.The phone company made uswait eighteen months for a line.
[F]But this slownesswas positive.You concentrated on the next piece of writing or the next translation.You learned not to worry toomuch what people were saying about you.What did itmatter，so long as your publisherwasmore or less happy?We had personal computers at this point，but Istillwrote fiction by hand.I like to use a nice pen and see the page slowly fill.But，for newspaper articles and translations，Inow worked straightonto the computer.The writing was definitely different.Butmore playful，too.You could move things around.You could experiment so easily.Iam glad the computer wasn't available when I started writing.I might have been overwhelmed by the possibilities.But once you know what you're doing，the facility of the computer is wonderful.
[G]Then e-mail arrived and changed everything.First，you would only hook the computer up through your landline phone a couple of times a day，as if there were a special moment to send and receivemail.Then came the permanent connection.Finally，thewireless，and，of course，the Internet.In the space of perhaps ten years，you passed from waiting literallymonths for a decision on something that you'd written，or simply for a reaction from a friend or an agent，to expecting a reaction immediately.Whereas in the past you checked your in-box once a day，now you checked every fiveminutes.
[H]And now you could write an article for The Guardian or The New York Times as easily as you could write it for L’Arena di Verona.Write it and expect a response in hours or in minutes.You write the first chapter of a book and send it at once to four or five friends.Hoping they'd read itatonce.You，me，everybody，are suddenly incredibly needy of immediate feedback.A few more years and you were publishing regularly online for The New York Review ofBooks.And，hours after publication，you could know how many people were reading the piece.Is it a success?Shall I follow up with something similar?
[I]Themind becomes locked into an obsessive，manic back-and-forth.When immediate confirmation is not forthcoming，there is a sense of failure.Suddenly，the writer，very close to his public，is tempted to work hard and fast to please immediately，superficially，in order to have immediate gratification for himself in return.Curiously，the apparent freedom of e-mail and the Internetmakes usmore and more conformist aswe talk to each other unceasingly.
[J]While you sit at your computer now，the world seethes behind the letters as they appear on the screen.You can toggle to a footballmatch，a parliamentary debate，a tsunami.A beep tells you that an e-mail has arrived.Whats App flashes on the screen.Interruption is constant but also desired.Or at least you're conflicted about it.You realize that the people reading what you have written will also be interrupted.They are also sitting at screens，with smartphones in their pockets.They won't be able to deal with long sentences，extended metaphors.They won't be drawn into the enchantment of the text.So should you change the way you write accordingly?Have you already changed，unwittingly?
[K]Or should you step back?Time to leave your computer and phone in one room，perhaps，and go and work silently on paper in another.To turn off the WiFi for eight hours.Just as you once learned not to drink everything in the hotelminibar，not to eat toomuch at free buffets，now you have to cut down on communication.You have learned how compulsive you are，how fragile your identity，how important it is to cultivate a little distance.And your only hope is that others have learned the same lesson.Otherwise，your profession，as least as you thought of it，is finished.
( )11.American are used to typing their paper work while Englishmen are required to handwrite their work.
( )12.You know exactly the amount of reading for yourwork and need immediate feedback.
( )13.When you write concentratedly，you didn't know whether itwas early or late.
( )14.In a sense the introduction of e-mail，wireless，and internet save a lot of time for one to get reaction.
( )15.Ihad a fantastic but stressful typing experience of translation in the United Kingdom.
( )16.The convenience of computer make you conflicted and doubtful about the your writing style.
( )17.Themental space feels quieter when you work with paper.
( )18.The freedom of e-mail and the Internet seems to restrict you if you cannot get immediate confirmation.
( )19.To leave compulsive computer and phonemay be a good way for your writing.
( )20.You would get slow feedback on writingwork in spite of the invention of typewriting.