王强口语 第二册 Read Text 024

（单词翻译）

　　口语部分
文化篇
Read the text carefully and be prepared to answer the question:
Arts
A Japanese man who came to the US said, "When I first came here, what struck me most about this place was sex and money."  He had noticed the emphasis that is placed on both those things - the desire for money and the constant reference to sex in advertising¹.
Americans have done very well in many areas of the arts, which may seem very unexpected in such a crude environment.  But only a small portion of the population goes to museums, attends the opera, listens to orchestras and watches dance companies.  There is still a very wide gap between high culture (the ballet, opera, museum art and classical music) and pop culture (movies, TV, pop art and popular music).
In spite of  this, the arts are booming and performance quality is very high.  Financial support of the arts comes mainly from private individuals and groups, instead of the government.  Lately, immigrants to the USA have contributed greatly to the pool  of talent.  Many of the cities in the west and south which were once seen as culturally dead have developed first-class artistic² programs in the past ten years or so.