阅读试题

In 1947 a group of famous people from the art world headed by an Austrian conductor decided to hold an international festival(节日) of music, dance and theatre in Edinburgh. The idea was to reunite Europe after the Second World War.

It quickly attracted famous names such as Alec Guinness, Richard Burton, Dame Margot Fonteyn and Marlenne Dietrich as well as the big symphony orchestras(交响乐团). It became a fixed event every August and now attracts 400,000 people yearly.

At the same time, the "Fringe" appeared as a challenge(挑战) to the official festival. Eight theatre groups turned up uninvited in 1947, in the belief that everyone should have the right to perform, and they did so in a public house disused for years.

Soon, groups of students firstly from Edinburgh University, and later from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Durham and Birmingham were making the journey to the Scottish capital each summer to perform theatre by little-known writers of plays in small church halls to the people of Edinburgh.

Today the "Fringe", once less recognized, has far outgrown the festival with around 1,500 performances of theatre, music and dance on every one of the 21 days it lasts. And yet as early as 1959, with only 19 theatre groups performing, some said it was getting too big.

A paid administrator(行政人员) was first employed only in 1971, and today there are eight administrators working all year round and the number rises to 150 during August itself. In 2004 there were 200 places housing 1,695 shows by over 600 different groups from 50 different countries. More than 1.25 million tickets were sold.

阅读试题

60. What was the purpose of Edinburgh Festival at the beginning?

A. To bring Europe together again.

B. To honor heroes of World War II.

C. To introduce young theatre groups.

D. To attract great artists from Europe.

61. Why did some uninvited theatre groups come to Edinburgh in 1947?

A. They owned a public house there.

B. They came to take up a challenge.

C. They thought they were also famous.

D. They wanted to take part in the festival.

62. Who joined the "Fringe" after it appeared?

A. Popular writers　　

B. University students.

C. Artists from around the world.

D. Performers of music and dance.

63. We may learn from the text that Edinburgh Festival .

A. has become a non-official event

B. has gone beyond an art festival

C. gives shows all year round

D. keeps growing rapidly

参考译文

1947年，由一位奥地利指挥家领导的一群来自世界艺术前沿的名人们决定在爱丁堡举办一次国际音乐、舞蹈及戏剧节。这个想法使得欧洲人在二战之后又一次团结起来了。

它迅速吸引了知名人士，例如亚历克·吉尼斯，理查德•伯顿，玛歌·芳婷士和玛琳·黛德丽以及大交响乐团。随后它成为每年八月都要做的事，且如今每年它都能吸引40万人前来参加。

与此同时，“边缘”作为官方节日的一个挑战而兴起。1947年，八大剧院组不请自来，他们相信每个人都应该有表演的权利，并且在一个废弃多年的公共房屋里，他们也确实这样做了。

不久，首先是一群来自爱丁堡大学的学生，后来又有来自牛津和剑桥大学以及杜伦大学和伯明翰大学的学生，每年夏季，他们都会经过长途跋涉来到苏格兰的首都爱丁堡，在爱丁堡的小教堂的大厅里表演那些鲜为人知的作家写的剧本。

当下，曾不被认可的“边缘”已经成为一个远超约1500种戏剧、音乐和舞蹈表演的节日，且每一个都能持续21天。然而，早在1959年，只有19个戏剧团体表演，但是有人说它变得太大了。

1971年，首次雇佣了一个行政人员，但如今有八个管理员全年负责，而在八月份管理员数量则自行上升到150个人。2004年，来自50个不同国家的600多个不同群体在200个演播室里上演了1650场表演。125万多张票售罄。

答案解析

60. A 考查细节理解。由第一段最后一句下知，举办爱丁堡艺术节的目的是让欧洲人民在二战后团结起来。

61. D 考查细节理解。由第三段第二句可知，8个剧组于1947年在未受到邀请的情况下参加了这次音乐节，他们是带着每个人都有权表演的信念来的。D项符合文意。

62. B 考查细节理解。由第四段可知，先是爱丁堡大学的学生，后来便是牛津、剑桥、达勒姆和伯明翰的大学的学生，他们纷纷来多到苏格兰首府表演。故本题选B。

63. D 考查推理判断。由倒数第二段可知，该节日曾经不受承认，但现在已经成为持续21天、每天都有约l,500种表演的盛大的艺术节。