Listening comprehension 1

Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following conversation.

M: Do you come from a particularly musical family?

W: Not really, my family are farming people and my parents have always lived on farms. My oldest brother is a born farmer and my second brother works on a farm too, but he’s also got an office job to do with agriculture. And so they appreciate music, but they don’t really know much about classical, in inverted commas, that sort of things. They appreciate perhaps Scottish traditional music more and they like a good tune. And if they can trace a tune, and they can tap their feet tune or clap tune. They are quite happy, but they don’t know about Stravinsky or something like that. Then they are quite lost.

M: Why did you choose percussion? I mean, it’s not the obvious thing even for a musical student to choose.

W: No, but I liked it. I was always keen on percussion. Clarinet and percussion were my two instruments, and I like the sheer variety. But I feel I was very much influenced by a local girl who played the xylophone. And she was absolutely brilliant. And I just said “gosh, I want to do that too.” But then I discovered that percussion didn’t just consist of xylophone, it consisted of a lot more and so I liked that as well. And so, that’s how it really all began.

M: You started to play percussion quite young?

W: Yes, that’s when I was at secondary school at the age of 12. I had a bit of job actually, starting percussion. Because when you are a pupil at school, you all go through a music oral test, and which is done through a tape recorder. And you just listen and you write down answers, things like that. And afterwards, when I asked if I could play percussion, the obvious reaction of my teachers was “Well, look at these marks, they are not good”. But I said, “Well, really? I play the piano”. That was the only thing I could back myself up with. Until eventually he said, “Well, the percussion teacher happens to be at school today. Perhaps she might want to go through and see what he says”. And so the percussion teacher said, “Well, I can’t really see why she shouldn’t be playing percussion”. And so it’s really just gone from there. But at the time,they didn’t know that I was wearing hearing aids and this sort of thing. And so when I told them, their reaction was much different. You know what I mean?

M: They didn’t know that when they gave you the test?

W: Oh, no, and I refuse to tell anyone. Rightly or wrongly, I’m not sure. But certainly, that was the case. That’s how it all started really.

1. Which type of family does the woman come from?

2. What kind of music does the woman say her family likes most?

3. Which of the following instruments does the woman play?

4. When did she start to play the musical instrument she’s talking about now?

5. Which of the following statements is true according to the conversation?

【解析】

高口第一篇听力理解，主题是采访音乐人怎样开始play percussion的。文章难度中下，只有几个乐器名词和古典音乐人名，不影响理解。建议考生在听力过程中，多加留意题目的关键词语。clarinet  n. 单簧管；percussion  n. 打击乐器；xylophone  n. 木琴。