老托福听力93篇(45-46)-So, why did what is now 45
So, why did what is now called "modern dance" begin in the United States? To begin to answer this question, I'll need to backtrack a little bit and talk about classical ballet. By the late 1800's, ballet had lost a lot of its popularity. Most of the ballet dancers who performed in the United States were brought over from Europe. They performed using the rigid techniques that had been passed down through the centuries. Audiences and dancers in the United States were eager for their own, "contemporary" dance form. And, so, around 1900, dancers created one. So, how was this "modern" dance so different from classical ballet? Well, most notably, it wasn't carefully choreographed. Instead, the dance depended on the improvisation and free, personal expression of the dancers. Music and scenery were of little importance to the "modern" dance, and lightness of movement wasn't important either. In fact, modern dancers made no attempt at all to conceal the effort involved in a dance step. But even if improvisation appealed to audiences, many dance critics were less than enthusiastic about the performances. They questioned the artistic integrity of dancers who were not professionally trained and the artistic value of works that had no formal structure. Loie Fuller, after performing Fire Dance, was described as doing little more than turning "round and round like an eggbeater." Yet, the free, personal expression of the pioneer dancers is the basis of the "controlled freedom" of modern dance today.
【生词摘录】
1. backtrack: v. (由原路)返回，后退
2. ballet: n. [C]芭蕾舞
3. rigid: adj. 严格的
4. contemporary: adj. 当代的
5. choreograph: v. 设计舞蹈动作，精心编排
6. improvisation: n. 即席创作
7. scenery: n. 舞台布景
8. lightness: n. 轻盈，灵活
9. conceal: v. 隐藏
10. eggbeater: n. [C]打蛋器
11. pioneer: adj. 先驱，创始人
12. controlled freedom: 克制的自由
46
Today I want to discuss fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. The term "fossil fuel" refers to the trapped remains of plants and animals in sedimentary rock. You see, living plants trap energy from the sun by the process of photosynthesis, and they store the energy in their chemical compounds. Most of that energy is released when the plant dies and decays. However, sometimes organic matter is buried before it decays completely. In this way some of the solar energy becomes trapped in rocks, hence the name fossil fuel. Although the amount of organic matter trapped in any one growing season is small, the accumulated remains from millions of years are considerable. Because the accumulation rate is so slow, millions of times slower than the rate at which we now dig up this organic matter and
burn it for energy, we must consider fossil fuels as nonrenewable resources. Tomorrow we'll be discussing alternatives to fossil fuels that can be renewed.
【生词摘录】
1. fossil fuel: 化石燃料
2. trapped: adj. 捕集的，捕获的
3. remains: n. [C]残留
4. sedimentary: adj. 沉积的
5. photosynthesis: n. [U]光合作用
6. decay: v. 腐烂
7. considerable: adj. 相当多的，相当可观的
8. nonrenewable: adj. 不可再生的
9. alternative: n. 二中选一，可供选择的事物。