How affordable is high culture？One great myth of our time is that tickets for opera，theatre，ballet and orchestral（管弦樂）concerts are too expensive，especially for the young.This is infuriating as，in Britain，at least，the claim is ridiculous and offensive.The cheap tickets to hear London's orchestras range from ￡7 to ￡9—same as a cinema ticket，and lower than the entry price to many pop music and comedy clubs.For comparison，when the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra performs with top soloists（獨(dú)奏者）and conductors the cheapest seat Is ￡30；and at the Berlin Philharmonic，it's an expensive ￡46.
Finding cheap tickets to the opera and ballet isn't so easy.True.British companies don't charge the ridiculous high prices found on the Continent（￡2，000 for a good seat at a premiere of La Scala's Carmen last December），but the tickets are still pretty steep.Large fees paid to star performers mostly account for that.Luckily，however，one spectacular technological innovation has transformed the scene.It's live（or slightly delayed）cinema transmissions.The New York Metropolitan Opera now beams its shows to 800 cinemas round the world，and British companies aren't far behind.Cinematic opera is excellent value.For the cost of a good bottle of wine（￡10 or ￡15 for the Royal Opera House's shows）you can sit in your local movie-house and see a high-definition relay of what's occurring on the world's grandest stages.No，it's not the same as being there，but it's almost as good.The sound is incredible.The images，particularly of dancers，are fantastic.And you can react to the show as part of a live audience，rather than sitting on your own at home.）To me，this mountain of evidence，together with free museum admissions，indicates that the arts world should stop worrying that its audiences are still mostly middle-class.Anyone who can afford to visit a pub can also afford to see top-quality drama，music and dance.The real battle now should be ensuring that school children are given enough tastes of high culture to make them want to buy all those cheap tickets when they grow up.
（1）What does the underlined word "infuriating" in paragraph 1 mean？ BB
A．Quite interesting.
B．Very annoying.
C．Not certain.
D．Extremely obvious.
（2）What is the main reason for expensive opera tickets？ AA
A．The amount of money charged by top performers.
B．The costly technology required for broadcast.
C．The demand of companies for big profits.
D．The high cost of renting the stages.
（3）Which of the following is true about cinematic opera？ CC
A．People can decide where to watch the opera.
B．Audiences are discouraged from responding to 'The performances.
C．It provides an inexpensive way of enjoying a live opera performance.
D．The sound and visual quality are superior to the live performance.
（4）Which statement would the author agree with？ DD
A．The quality of opera performances is improving.
B．High culture is becoming more affordable in Europe.
C．The cost of access to high culture activities should be lowered.
D．Children should be encouraged to participate in high culture events.
【答案】B；A；C；D
【解答】
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發(fā)布：2024/4/20 14:35:0組卷：5引用：2難度：0.5
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