英语听力教程第三版(张民伦主编)Unit 8 The Sound of Music听力原文

propulsive rhythm, forcing the symphony to articulate the profoundest personal drama. Host: The story of a soul struggling against implacable fate and emerging incandescently victorious. One of the great contrasts available to a composer are the contrasts of darkness and lightness. And in his Fifth Symphony, builds up from hesitant darkness into the radiant blaze of optimism, confidence, whatever. Now he does this through the simplest of means. At the end of the third movement, which is the rather shadowy, dark scherzo, his plan is to burst us into the light without stopping. Now he does this by making the orchestra play as quietly as it can, all the strings just plucking very, very quietly. Then comes the heartbeat of the drum, very, very quiet and distant and the strings just moving up and down, uncertain about which way they're going to go. And then suddenly, very quickly, the whole orchestra comes in, and, without stopping, we burst into the final movement. This is in the major key. Lights full on, after lights hardly on at all. The symphony is a masterpiece of storytelling without words. When the French Revolution erupted, Beethoven was a teenager, struggling to support his family after the death of their mother, and the concept of individual liberty became a lifelong issue. And we, the listeners, are compelled to share his battle against fate. Although Beethoven wanted to write something that was comprehensible at first hearing, he wasn't writing simply to give pleasure. He wanted it to be a potentially life-changing experience,