二、阅读理解
As we often use our eyes to touch nature, most of us “lose” the ability to listen to the world.
Peter writes music. He likes sounds and uses natural sounds as part of his music. He often goes out into the wild with his microphone and records interesting sounds to put in films or to use in his own songs. Instead of trying to
capture just the sound of one animal or bird, he records the sound of everything all together—the animals, the trees, the wind and the earth. He calls these recordings “soundscapes”—the sound of a certain place. Every
soundscape Peter records has a lot of information.
Back in his workshop, Peter uses a computer to make a picture of all the sounds going on in a place. Each animal, bird and insect has its own place in the picture—its own notes in the music. The busier the picture, the richer the life in that place. “While a picture may be worth 1,000 words, a soundscape is worth 1,000 pictures,” Peter said. “Our ears tell us the sound of every leaf and animal and speak to the natural sources (来源) of our lives, which may hold the secrets of love for all things, especially our own humanity.”
But not everything is satisfying. When Peter began recording over forty years ago, he could record for ten hours and get only one hour of usable material good enough for a film. Now, because of human activities, it can take up to 1,000 hours or more to get the same thing. Some of the places he has recorded over the years have slowly fallen silent. His sound pictures show that although nature might look the same to humans, it has lost part of its orchestra (管弦乐队).
So next time you are in the forests, try another way to look—shut your eyes, and listen.
(
C
) 1. Why did Peter record natural sounds?
A. To write songs for a music group.
B. To discover rich lives in the forest.
C. To use some of them in his music.
D. To make music about birds singing.
(
B
) 2. What does the underlined word “capture” in paragraph 2 mean?
A. Shut. B. Catch. C. Touch. D. Check.
(
D
) 3. What is a sound picture according to the passage?
A. The sound of every leaf and animal in nature.
B. The sound recorded in the natural environment.
C. A picture of music with sounds of 1,000 animals.
D. A picture of music with natural sounds in a place.
(
C
) 4. What can we learn from paragraph 4?
A. Recording sounds needs less material.
B. Sound pictures are the same as before.
C. Some beautiful sounds in nature are lost.
D. Human activities improve recording results.
(
B
) 5. What does the passage mainly tell us?
A. Nature is the source of our future.
B. Nature has wonders to be heard.
C. Making music enriches our lives.
D. Making music needs information.
