A
Robert Todd Duncan was born in 1903 in the southern city of Danville, Kentucky. His mother was his first music teacher. As a young man, he continued his music study in Indianapolis, Indiana.
In 1930, he completed more musical education at Columbia University in New York City. Then he moved to Washington. For fifteen years, he taught music at Howard University in Washington. At that time, not many black musicians were known for writing or performing classical music. Teaching at Howard gave Duncan the chance to share his knowledge of classical European music with a mainly black student population. He taught special ways to present the music. These special ways became known as the Duncan Technique.
Besides teaching, Duncan sang in several operas with performers who were all black. But it seemed that he always would be known mainly as a concert artist. However, his life took a different turn in the middle 1930s. At that time, the famous American music writer George Gershwin was looking for someone to play a leading part in his new work Porgy and Bess. The music critic (评论家) of the New York Times newspaper suggested Todd Duncan. Duncan had almost decided not to try for the part as he knew it would not be easy to get it. But he changed his mind. He sang a piece from an Italian opera for Gershwin. He had sung only a few minutes when Gershwin offered him the part. He became famous because of the part in Porgy and Bess.
Todd Duncan gained fame as an opera singer and concert artist. But his greatest love in music was teaching. When he stopped teaching at Howard, he continued giving singing lessons in his Washington home until the week before his death.
【语篇概述】本文主要介绍了罗伯特·托德·邓肯的音乐历程。
1. What is this passage mainly about?
A. What Robert Todd Duncan loved most.
B. How Robert Todd Duncan became famous.
C. Robert Todd Duncan and his works of music.
D. A brief introduction to Robert Todd Duncan.
【解析】选D。主旨大意题。全文主要介绍了Robert Todd Duncan的经历。
2. According to Paragraph 2, while teaching at Howard University, Duncan .
A. discovered special new ways to write music
B. opened doors for other black classical singers
C. had the chance to know many famous black musicians
D. became known for writing and performing classical music
【解析】选B。细节理解题。根据第二段的倒数第三句可知。
3. What happened to Duncan in the middle 1930s?
A. He gave up teaching at Howard University.
B. He was introduced by the New York Times in detail.
C. He was asked to be in charge of the opera Porgy and Bess.
D. He was given a big opportunity to become an opera singer.
【解析】选D。细节理解题。根据第三段第三句以及后面的叙述可知给了他一个机会演唱歌剧。可知答案是D。
4. We can infer that Robert Todd Duncan didn’t at first want to try for the part mainly because .
A. he was too busy to do it
B. he was not interested in it
C. he was not confident enough
D. he didn’t want to become famous
【解析】选C。推理判断题。根据文章第三段第六句. . . as he knew it would not be easy to get it. 可推断他不够自信。
