For some people, music is no fun at all. About 4% of the population is what scientists call “amusic”. People who are amusic are born without the ability to enjoy musical notes. Amusic people often cannot tell the differences between two songs.
As a result, songs sound like noise to an amusic. Many amusics compare the sound of music to pieces of metal hitting each other. Life can be hard for amusics. In fact, most people cannot understand what it feels like to be amusic. Just going to a restaurant or a shopping center can be uncomfortable or even painful. That is why many amusics have to stay away from places where there is music. However, this can result in social loneliness. “I used to hate parties,” says Margaret, a seventy-year-old woman who only recently discovered that she was amusic. By studying people like Margaret, scientists are finally learning how to identify (辨别) this unusual condition.
Scientists say that the brains of amusics are different from those of people who can enjoy music. The difference is complex(复杂的), and it is not connected with poor hearing. Amusics can understand other non-musical sounds well. They also have no problems understanding common speech. Scientists compare amusics to people who just can ’t see certain colors.
Many amusics are happy when their condition is finally diagnosed (诊断). For years, Margaret felt embarrassed about her music problem. Now she knows that she is not alone. That makes it easier for her to explain. “When people invite me to a concert, I just say ’No, thanks. I ’m amusic, ’” says Margaret.
1. Amusics are the people who ______.| A．like music | B．are born unable to enjoy music |
| C．don ’t like music | D．have poor listening |
| A．they know they cannot enjoy music |
| B．they hate parties, restaurants or shopping centers |
| C．they try to stay at the place full of music |
| D．they are not understood by others |
| A．Their lack of colors. | B．Their poor hearing. |
| C．Their brains. | D．Their problems with speech. |
| A．Some people ’s inability to enjoy music. |
| B．Some people ’ s musical ability. |
| C．Amusics ’ strange behaviors. |
| D．Diagnosis and treatment of amusics. |
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Known as the ‘Elphi’ by the locals, the Elbphilharmonie is a beautiful tower of glittering glass sitting atop an old warehouse by the banks of the river Elbe. The plaza(露天广场)is open to the public an from the middle of the city’s tallest building, you can gaze across the harbour, miles of rooftops and passing ships below.
The main concert hall seats over 2000 people and is one of the most advanced music venues in the world. Two smaller concert halls are used for jazz, world and contemporary music. In addition, if you’re unbelievably rich, you can buy one of the 45 luxurious apartments lying within the building.
Construction began in 2007 with a budget of €241 million and a two-year period. Fast forward ten years, the building eventually opened with a final price tag of over 800 million!
I consider myself very lucky that the Elbphilharmonie opened during my time living in Hamburg, but unfortunately I haven’t yet been able to attend a concert. Everything is sold out for six months! For now, I’m content to visit the plaza to enjoy the impressive view over the docks and see the innovative architecture up close. Hopefully one day soon, I’ll be lucky enough to grab a last-minute concert ticket!
1. What does “it” in Paragraph 1 refer to?
| A．Germany | B．Hamburg |
| C．A new concert hall | D．Its celebration of classical music |
| A．A hall | B．A river |
| C．A tower | D．A warehouse |
| A．The new concert hall can hold 3000 people at least |
| B．The construction of the new concert hall is perfect |
| C．It took a longer time and more money to build the concert hall |
| D．The majority of audience are likely to pay for the luxurious apartments |
| A．I was invited to visit it |
| B．Few concerts have been held |
| C．The performance was well received |
| D．People find it easy to get concert tickets |
【推荐2】Math and music are two entirely different fields of study, but there is a strong relevance between them. At some point, they tend to overlap, and it is common for people good at math to be good at music. It may seem illogical to compare the two, but there are more similarities between math and music than you would imagine.
Numbers can tell us more about music. Sounds strange but it’s true. Music is divided into sections that are called measures, where each measure has equal amounts of beats. This is comparable to mathematical divisions of time. Now, each piece of music will tell us how many beats there are in each measure. All the music notes have numerical connections and a number of beats. It is important to understand the value of fractions (分数) and notes to count the music correctly.
The biggest similarity between math and music in pattern. For example, music has repeating choruses while math uses patterns to explain the unknown. You can use different mathematical phenomena in music. These include geometry (几何学), signal processing, etc. In fact, research has shown that when music shows some mathematical structure, it tends to be more popular.
In addition to their shared elements, math and music can be taught using the principles of both. A student who enjoys math and music can benefit from both. For example, music can enhance cognition and reasoning skills. For instance, Einstein listened to music when solving math problems to increase clarity. Similarly, playing music can improve cognition, as it increases communication between the two brains.
Music is a gateway to many things, and until now, you probably didn’t realize that it’s just as demanding, analytical, logical and scientific as math. Something as simple as learning “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on the piano is actually setting your child up for bigger and better things; maybe they’ll pick up Pythagoras (毕达哥拉斯) in a flash, maybe they’ll be a genius in math, perhaps they’ll one day discover their own theory of relativity.
1. What does the author think about math and music?| A．Math and music are deeply intertwined. |
| B．Music is a totally different subject from math. |
| C．It sounds reasonable to compare math and music. |
| D．People expert at math all tend to be music lovers. |
| A．Measure is a piece of music. | B．Math helps in reading music. |
| C．Music sound appears strange. | D．Music beats equal to math numbers. |
| A．Patterns are common in both math and music. |
| B．Certain music skills are practised via choruses. |
| C．Music principle seems easier than mathematics. |
| D．Reasoning skills in math chiefly rely on music. |
| A．Musical involvement promotes to be a genius. |
| B．Music allows kids to combine math with piano. |
| C．Music offers kids potential success in mathematics. |
| D．Music may enhance the mathematics skills of all kids. |
【推荐3】SUMMER CAMP 2024 REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!
Welcome to the USF Youth Experiences summer camp, where music meets technology! In this camp, you will have the opportunity to explore your creativity by making music using computers, iPads, DJ decks, guitars, ukuleles, drumsets, keyboards, and vocals.
Led by Haley Garrett and Dr. David Williams from the School of Music at the University of South Florida, this camp is designed for those who have no related experience in music but want to learn skills. We will guide you through the process of songwriting, beat writing, and rapping.
Camp Details:
During the camp, you will work with a small group of peers to create your own unique sound and perform as part of a team. All the equipment you need will be provided, so all you need to bring is your creativity and enthusiasm.
Our experienced instructors will teach you how to use various tools and techniques to produce your music, from using software to playing instruments. You will learn about different genres of music and explore how to incorporate them into your own music.
Above all, this camp is designed to be fun! You will have a great time making music with new friends and discovering your own musical talents. Join us for an unforgettable summer experience and let’s make some amazing music together!
Camp Directors: Dr. David Williams and Haley Garrett
Format: In-person
Register: Now
Location: USF Tampa Campus
Grade Levels: Entering 7th–12th grade
Learning Time: 9:00 am -3:00 pm EDT (Eastern Daylight Time)
Music Tech Lab Dates:
Camper Arrival Time | Thursday, June 17th,8:00 am |
Camper Pick up Time | Monday, June 21th,4:00 pm |
| A．The creative music instructors. |
| B．The skilled computer technicians. |
| C．The students in an academy of music. |
| D．The beginners with no experience in music. |
| A．Appreciate and explore music individually. |
| B．Make music by using tools and techniques. |
| C．Ask friends to discover their musical talents. |
| D．Take necessary instruments with themselves. |
| A．5. | B．6. | C．30. | D．35. |
【推荐1】Many researchers use the term artificial intelligence (AI) to describe the thinking and intelligent behavior by machines. While AI can be helpful to human beings, scientists warn it can also be a threat.
Stuart Russell, who teaches computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, says humans should make AI products that we like.
“In the future,"Russell says, “many of today's jobs that require a lot of physical labor will be replaced by machines with artificial intelligence. These include agricultural jobs, and ones with repetitive duties like telephone call centers. Al machines can also replace jobs like ones in the financial industry-jobs that require studying a lot of data."
The health industry is one area that artificial intelligence is already changing. AI can process huge amounts of data, so doctors can use the most up-to-date information to diagnose and treat patients.
IBM's Watson technology is already in use at hospitals in North and South America, Europe and Asia. Watson helps doctors keep up with information.
There is also a dangerous side of artificial intelligence. One example is combining drone technology and AI to create autonomous weapons.
Stuart Russell is working to create international treaties to ban such weapons. He says the risk is that people will use the technology to develop a kind of “poor men's nuclear weapon”.
IBM's Banavar points out the value of artificial intelligence, including search engines and the autopilot function on planes.
The debate about whether artificial intelligence is good or bad for humans continues. Researchers agree there is no question that the technology is here, and that will continue to change the life on our planet.
1. What can be inferred from Russell's words in paragraph 3?| A．People's lives are becoming better. |
| B．Machines are cleverer and cleverer. |
| C．More people are in danger of unemployment. |
| D．People are bored with today's physical jobs. |
| A．Machines with AI can take the place of human beings. |
| B．Machines with AI can help doctors treat and diagnose all diseases. |
| C．Machines with AI can only fly a plane by itself without the need for a pilot. |
| D．Machines with AI can be used in many fields, search engines included. |
| A．AI is definitely changing human life. |
| B．AI will change our life for the better. |
| C．More people are needed in developing AI. |
| D．AI is a big threat to people in the future. |
| A．The Wide Usage of AI |
| B．AI: a Double-edged Sword |
| C．A Breakthrough in Developing AI |
| D．AI: a Threat for Humans |
【推荐2】How does an ecosystem work? What makes the population of different species the way they are? Why are there so many flies and so few wolves? To find an answer, scientists have built mathematical models of food webs, noting who eats whom and how much each one eats.
With such models, scientists have found out some key principles operating in food webs. Most food webs, for instance, consist of many weak links rather than a few strong ones. When a predator always eats huge numbers of a single prey, the two species are strongly linked; when a predator lives on various species, they are weakly linked. Food webs may be dominated by many weak links because that arrangement is more stable over the long term. If a predator can eat several species, it can survive the extinction of one of them. And if a predator can move on to another species that is easier to find when a prey species becomes rare, the switch allows the original prey to recover. The weak links may thus keep species from driving one another to extinction.
Mathematical models have also revealed that food webs maybe unstable, where small changes of top predators can lead to big effects throughout entire ecosystems. In the 1960s, scientists proposed that predators at the top of a food web had a surprising amount of control over the size of populations of other species—including species they did not directly attack.
And unplanned human activities have proved the idea of top-down control by top predators to be true. In the ocean, we fished for top predators such as cod on an industrial scale, while on land, we killed off large predators such as wolves. These actions have greatly affected the ecological balance.
Scientists have built an early-warning system based on mathematical models. Ideally, the system would tell us when to breakdown or would even allow us to pull an ecosystem back from the borderline. Prevention is key, scientists say, because once ecosystems pass their tipping point, it is remarkably difficult for them to return.
1. What have scientists discovered with the help of mathematical models of food webs?| A．The living habits of species in food webs. |
| B．The rules governing food webs of the ecosystems. |
| C．The approaches to studying the species in the ecosystems. |
| D．The differences between weak and strong links in food webs. |
| A．has a wide fond choice | B．can easily find new prey |
| C．sticks to one prey species | D．can quickly move to another place |
| A．The prey species they directly attack will die out. |
| B．The species they indirectly attack will turn into top predators. |
| C．The living environment of other species will remain unchanged. |
| D．The populations of other species will experience unexpected changes. |
| A．Uncontrolled human activities greatly upset ecosystems. |
| B．Rapid economic development threatens animal habitats. |
| C．Species of commercial value dominate other species. |
| D．Industrial activities help keep food webs stable. |
【推荐3】Few Americans remain in one position or one place for a lifetime. We move from town to city to suburb, from high school to college in a different state, from a job in one region to a better job elsewhere, from the home where we raise our children to the home where we plan to live in retirement. With each move we are forever making new friends, who become part of our new life at that time.
For many of us summer is a special time for forming new friendships. Today millions of Americans vacation abroad, and they go not only to see new sights but also with the hope of meeting new people. No one really expects a vacation trip to produce a close friend, but the beginning of a friendship is possible.
The word “friend” can be applied to a wide range of relationships — to someone one has known for a few weeks in a new place, to a fellow worker, to a childhood playmate, to a man or woman, to a trusted confidant.
1. Many Americans move from place to place for the following reasons except_______.| A．going to college | B．getting a better job |
| C．saving money | D．finding a place to live in retirement |
| A．enjoy the sunlight | B．feel strange | C．get a new job | D．travel to other countries |
| A．expect to find some close friends | B．hope to meet new people |
| C．want to begin lasting friendships with new people | D．Both A and B |
| A．Today millions of Americans vacation abroad. |
| B．For many of us summer is a special time for forming new friendships. |
| C．No one really expects a vacation trip to produce a close friendship. |
| D．But surely the beginning of friendship is possible. |
