单项选择题

Music comes in many forms; most countries have a style. of their own. Poland has its polkas. Hungary has its ezardas. Brazil is famous for the bossa nova, Caribbean countries for the merengue, and Argentina for the tango. The U.S. is known for jazz , a completely original type of music that has gained world-wide popularity.
Jazz is America's contribution to popular music. In contrast to classical music, which follows formal European traditions, jazz is spontaneous and free-form. It bubbles with energy, expressing the moods, interests, and emotions of the people. Brash, uninhibited, exciting, it has a modem sound. In the 1920's jazz sounded like America. And so it does today.
The origins of this music are as interesting as the music itself. Jazz was invented by American Negroes, or blacks, as they are called today, who were brought to the Southern states as slaves. They were sold to plantation owners and forced to work long hours in the cotton and tobacco fields. This work was hard and life was short. When a Negro died his .friends and relatives formed a procession to carry the body to the cemetery.
A band often accompanied the procession. On the way, to the cemetery the band played slow, solemn music suited to the occasion. But on the way home the mood changed. Spirits lifted. Everybody was happy. Death had removed one of their number, but the living were 'glad to be alive. The band played happy music, improvising on both the harmony and the melody of the tunes presented at the funeral. This music made everyone want to dance. It was an early form. of jazz. But there were other influences, too.
Music has always been important in Negro life. Coming mainly from West Africa, the blacks who were brought to America already possessed a irich musical tradition, This music centered on religious ceremonies in which .dancing, singing, clapping, and stamping to the beat of a drum were important forms of musical and rhythmic expression. As these people settled in to their new life in the plantations of the South, music retained its importance. In the fields, they made UP work songs. Singing made the hard work go faster. And as the people were converted to Christianity, they composed lovely spirituals which have become a permanent part of American music.
Another musical form. which contributed to jazz was the blues. Blues songs always describe something sad — an unhappy love affair, a money problem, bad luck. To this day, the expression 'feeling blue' mean being sad or depressed.
In fact, there was hardly any activity or social event that could not be set to music, Weddings, births, christenings, funerals, picnics, parades — all had their musical accompaniment.
After the American Civil War, the Negroes had gained their freedom and were ready for a new type of music, one that would preserve their musical, traditions but be fast and happy to express their new-found freedom. They wanted something they could play as professional
musicians for both black and white audiences. Jazz was the answer. It combined themes from Negro work songs, spirituals and blues, set to a fast beat, with the musicians improvising as they went along, like the funeral marching bands. To be good, a musician had not only to remember his part but also to be able to invent new variations on the spur of the moment.
Jazz belongs to the people, but popular taste is changeable. Jazz has to keep up to date. Over the last half century it has changed many times in form, style, and tempo. Each change added something new.
This passage is primarily concerned with______.
A.the history of Jazz
B.the themes of pop music
C.the varieties of world music
D.the importance of music in everyday life

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With 500 days left until the year 2000, experts said last week, that it may already be too late for many companies to defuse the millennium computer time bomb.
According to the Gartner Group, a US high-technology consultant agency, nearly a quarter of all worldwide companies have not yet started work on plans to solve the year 2000 programs problems.
This means most of these organizations will effectively be unable to fix their systems in time.
The Gartner Group, which said last year that the millennium bomb rehabilitation would cost between US $300 billion and US $600 billion worldwide, also said in the report published this month that only 50 percent of companies that had projects to eliminate the bug planned to test their corrected systems.
Dangerous policy
Experts said this was a dangerous policy, because correcting computer programs often introduced new flaws.. Testing was essential.
The millennium computer bomb is a legacy from shortcuts by software writers, who in the name of economy expressed years with just the final two digits rather than four.
When clocks tick past midnight on December 31, 1999, many unrectified computers and chips will interpret the double zero as 1900.
This will turn many computer programs to mush, Unchecked, many public utilities, assembly lines, bank teller machines, traffic lights and lifts/nay shut down.
Some experts say the problem has been grossly exaggerated by software companies seeking to scare customers into buying the latest, bug-free products.
But Graham Titterington, consultant at London Consultancy Ovum, does not share this optimistic view.
The situation is pretty critical. Most companies are doing something, but are they doing enough? He said in an interview.
Titterington also said that for the vast majority of businesses there was no external check on the effectiveness of their remedial work.
Running out of time
Mitul Mehta, senior European research manager at Frost & Sullivan in London, said time was running out for many companies.
'Companies now could just have to run the risk of crashing and be fixed later,” Mehta said.
'Some crucial areas apart from computers are not getting enough attention. I don't think networking companies have their act together — meaning manufacturers of routes, switches and network equipment like Bay and Cisco,. these kinds of companies,' Mehta said.
He said. 'Anybody looking at their systems now is probably too late anyway.'
Critical situation
In its report, Gartner Group millennium research director, Lou Marcoccio, said that of the 15,000 companies and government agencies surveyed 23 percent, had not started millennium bomb projects. Of these, 86 per cent were small companies which would not have a chance to correct their systems unless they began immediately, Marcoccio said.
The Gartner report said most Western European companies and the United States had made good progress. Germany was a notable laggard.
'Eastern Europe, Russia, India, Pakistan, Southern Asia, Japan, most of South America, most of the Middle East and Central Africa all lag behind the United States by more than 12 months. Most of Western Europe is six months behind the United States, except for Germany which is 12 months behind, and France, which is eight to 10 months behind. The US Government has the lead on all other national governments by an even wider margin than the companies in those countries. Most government agencies are significantly behind the United States,' the report said.
Which of the following countries lags behind the United States by the largest margin?
A.France
B.Britain
C.Germany
D.Japan

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