"Gangnam Style" by singer Psy from Korea, is a popular song, but its extraordinary global success is really the result of its music video, which is a great piece of genius. On September 22nd, Guinness World Records listed "Gangnam Style" as the most-liked video in the history of YouTube. It's been performed at West Point (West-Point Style), and Google's CEO, has done the "Gangnam Style" horse dance at the company's office in Seoul. Even Samsung is trying to make Psy the new model for the latest type of fridge.
The song's global popularity is such that the vast majority of people who enjoy it don't speak Korean, and have no idea what it is about. That's fine --- part of what makes "Gangnam Style" so fun is, like international pop music, the difficulty in understanding it. When we sing along, "Hey, sexy lady", we don't really know what we're singing about.
The joy of incomprehensibleness is familiar to anyone who loves pop music from elsewhere. Anthony Lane, in his 2010 review of the Eurovision Song Contest, Only Mr. God Knows Why, used "Eurovision English" as one of its chief pleasures. It's "a complex tongue, spoken nowhere else, which raises the heartfelt poetry (???) but absolute nonsense to a level of what sci-fi writers could only have dreamed. " In similar ways, "Gangnam Style" is just an over-the-top video where a fat man does a funny dance and sings repetitive words that don't make sense to most of us.
But on the other, the magic of the song also lies in its funny dance, which reflects not just cultural morals specific to Korea, but cultural values easily recognizable to western viewers. This song's words may be in Korean, but its scenes are in clear American. The dance moves are simple enough to copy.
Nonsense, in other words, forces us to let down our guards. It makes us relax, and asks us to let in all sorts of feelings from which, otherwise, we might distance ourselves. "Gangnam Style" happens to be so interesting because of its incomprehensibleness.
1.Some complex languages are used in pop music because _______.
A. singers regard it as one of the chief pleasures at the concert
B. they make the music hard to understand but poetic and attractive
C. the music can sound more pleasant and beautiful to the audience
D. people like listening to the music which makes special sense to them
2.What is true about the popularity of "Gangnam Style"?
A. It was considered as the most popular video on the Internet.
B. It makes people amused and removes their emotional guards.
C. Its dance only reflects cultural and morals specific to Korea.
D. Psy, its singer, has been the new model for Samsung .
3.What does the underlined word "incomprehensibleness" mean in Paragraph 3?
A. Being interesting to listen to. B. Being simple enough to copy.
C. Being complex and repetitive. D. Being difficult to understand.
4.The text is mainly about ________.
A. how "Gangnam Style" becomes popular among the youths
B. why "Gangnam Style" is popular even if few people understand it
C. how Psy gains worldwide success through his talent and hard work
D. what emotions and cultural morals Psy wants to convey with his song
1.B
2.B
3.D
4.B
【解析】
試題分析:
江南style如此流行,而喜愛這首歌的人大多不懂其歌詞。原因何在?其實,人們喜愛這首歌的原因正是人們不懂歌詞。歌詞的無意義可以讓人放松身心;人們喜愛這首歌的另一個原因是那簡單而易模仿的舞蹈動作。
1.細節(jié)題。由第三段The joy of incomprehensibleness is familiar to anyone who loves pop music from elsewhere以及a complex tongue, spoken nowhere else, which raises the heartfelt poetry (詩意) but absolute nonsense等文字可知,流行音樂中的歌詞“完全無意義但富有詩意”。選擇.B項。
2.細節(jié)題。第一段…listed "Gangnam Style" as the most-liked video in the history of YouTube提示排除A項;倒數第二段which reflects not just cultural morals specific to Korea,提示排除C項;第一段Samsung is trying to make Psy the new model for the latest type of fridge說明Psys尚未成為Samsung的new model,排除D項。由最后一段Nonsense, in other words, forces us to let down our guards.和"Gangnam Style" happens to be so interesting because of its incomprehensibleness.等文字可知,江南style之所以流行就是因為其不可理解性,這種不可理解性或無意義讓人們身心放松。故選擇B項。
3.詞義推斷題。由第二段the vast majority of people who enjoy it don't speak Korean, and have no idea what it is about.及后面的敘述可知,人們喜愛江南style是因為他們不懂其歌詞的意思,這種因不懂歌詞意思而獲得的樂趣與其他地區(qū)的流行歌曲是相似的。故選擇D項。
4.主旨大意題。文章首先介紹了一種現象:喜愛江南style的人大多不懂韓語,不理解歌詞的意思;接著解釋正是這種對歌詞的不解讓人們喜愛這首歌曲,原因是對于歌詞的不解可以讓人放松身心。人們喜愛這首歌曲的另一個原因是其簡單易模仿的舞蹈動作。故B項正確。
考點:議論文。
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