Recent research shows that listening to music improves our mental well-being and boosts our physical health in surprising and astonishing ways.
Music reduces depression
More than 350 million people suffer from depression around the world. A study by Hans Joachim Trappe in Germany demonstrated that music can benefit patients with depressive symptoms, depending on the type of music.
Research shows that taking music lessons predicts higher academic performance and IQ in young children. In one study, 6-year-olds who took keyboard or singing lessons in small groups for 36 weeks had significantly larger increases in IQ and standardized educational test results than children who took either drama lessons or no lessons.
Music keeps your brain healthy in old age
A study with healthy older adults found that those with ten or more years of musical experience scored higher on cognitive tests than musicians with one to nine years of musical study. The non-musicians scored the lowest. Business magnate Warren Buffet stays sharp at age 84 by playing ukulele.
| A．To help them achieve academic excellence, encourage them to sing or play an instrument. |
| B．Musical training can help raise our IQs and even keep us sharp in old age. |
| C．Music raises IQ and academic performance. |
| D．It’s never too late to play an instrument to keep you on top of your game. |
| E．Meditative sounds and classical music lifted people up. |
| F．Music strengthens learning and memory. |
| G．Music can make you happy every day. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】A young musician carrying a violin case in Paraguay makes her way to rehearsal(彩排)．What's inside the case, however, is no ordinary violin. It's made from a salad bowl, a CD, and large pieces of wood.
The violinist, Ada Rios, 13, is a member of the Orchestra of Instruments Recycled from Cateura, a group of teen musicians whose instruments are made from the trash near their village. Cateura, just outside Paraguay's capital, Asuncion, is a poor area built on a very large landfill (垃圾填埋地)．Cateura is home to 2, 500 families, with 20 teens in the orchestra. They play everything from the classical works of Beethoven to Beatles' songs.
Now the orchestra is attracting world－wide attention.The musicians are being filmed for a documentary, Land－fill Harmonic.The film will show how people in Cateura turn trash into instruments, and the effect that being part of an orchestra can have on kids.
In Paraguay, nearly 35 percent of the population lives in poverty (贫穷)．In Cateura, a real musical instrument costs more than a house, says Favio Chavez, the orchestra's founder. About 1, 500 tons of waste are left at the landfill each day, and the people there earn a living searching through the garbage for things they can recycle and sell.
Chavez started teaching music in Cateura five years ago as a way to keep kids out of trouble. When he needed more instruments, he asked the landfill workers if they could build some from the trash. First, the men repaired a broken drum. Next, they built a guitar . The orchestra took_off_from there.
The group has already performed in Brazil and Colombia.The teens will travel to Arizona this year to play at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. Ada says music has already changed her life.“When I listen to the sound of a violin, I feel excited, ”she says.
1. What do we know about Ada's violin?| A．It's of big size. | B．It cost a lot of money. |
| C．It has a beautiful case. | D．It's made from waste. |
| A．are mostly homeless | B．are from different cities |
| C．play music of different types | D．search through the garbage each day |
| A．To recycle the trash. | B．To save some money. |
| C．To produce special sounds | D．To make the instruments more attractive. |
| A．became popular | B．got into trouble |
| C．stayed unchanged | D．got a lot of money |
【推荐2】A song plays in a crowded supermarket. To some people, this is just background music. But others can take out their smartphones and discover that implanted in the music is information, maybe a Wi-Fi password or a website URL. The scene is the vision put forward by Simon Tanner from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
“The whole idea is basically that we can send data locally without any setup,” Tanner explained, “We don't have to type any passwords or pair devices or anything like that. We just have speakers that can broadcast data along with a song and anyone in range could access it.” He also discovered not all music is created equal when it comes to data. It's easier to hide it on songs with more distracting loud notes.
If data wasn't hidden and was just put into a song, it might sound like random static (静电噪声) or a series of unpleasant sounds. But Tanner's program looks at very small parts of the song,and analyzes which tones are most dominant (支配的). Then data is added to the dominant tones. Because the data is now masked in the dominant tones, the song doesn't sound different to the human ear, but it does to a microphone.
Now, the data is transferred in about 200 bits (比特，存储单位) per second,which could be the length of a Wi-Fi password, or a short message. As the research continues to mature, the amount of data that can be stuffed into a song will likely expand to 1120 bits, which is the length of a standard text message.
But this will never be a system for mass data sending. For one thing, the more data you put into a song, the more noticeable it comes and the more difficult it is to hide. For another,this system of placing data in music isn't quicker than current ones. And it isn't the most secure system. Anyone in the room could receive the data with the app.
1. The purpose of the first paragraph is to .| A．summarize the whole passage |
| B．introduce the topic |
| C．offer background information |
| D．show a scene in the future |
| A．Data could be sent in a broad range without any setup. |
| B．Mass data sending is impossible only due to its insecurity. |
| C．Data are hidden in a way that is unnoticeable to the human ear. |
| D．Data that can be sent now are of the length of a standard text message. |
| A．The future of data sending through music. |
| B．The barriers to mass data sending through music. |
| C．The reasons for promoting the data-sending method. |
| D．The suggestions for applying the data-sending method. |
【推荐3】In the beginning, there was nothing. The vastness of an unborn galaxy was marked by the absence of sound, light and substance. Empty music stood on an empty stage. Then the universe began to form when colors and shapes began to dance across what we would soon come to call the sky, the stars and the planets. Sounds of an orchestra began to play, colorful and clean.
Gustay Holst’s “The Planets, Op. 32”, to put simply, is a magical piece of music. Written between 1914 and 1916, the suite has built a strong legacy. As explained by conductor Peter Bay, Holst found inspiration from a topic that has twisted the human mind for centuries. It cannot be argued how deeply our understanding of the planets has shaped our aesthetics and culture — and Holst takes full creative liberty with this insight.
Each movement proved spectacular. “Clouds” combines a solemn tone with that of peaceful permanence, while “Festivals” follows with blooming joy and loud confidence. “Sirens” features the chorus, with their fascinating calls over the ebb and flow (起伏) of the orchestra itself. Different sections make for an impressive playing and listening experience.
The main event of the evening, to no surprise, proved an excellent journey across the planets that we find so familiar, bringing each to life with persistence and passion. In a world so focused on the digital, it is often easy to forget the power of live performance, particularly that of orchestral music. Yet, the richness and energy that flowed throughout the hall again proved the power of this art form and how fascinating collective sound can be.
1. What does the author describe at the beginning of the text?| A．The setting of the stage. | B．The origin of the galaxy. |
| C．The formation of the universe. | D．The technique of the orchestra. |
| A．By listing examples. | B．By analyzing models. |
| C．By comparing theories. | D．By presenting arguments. |
| A．To praise its integration with music. | B．To reveal the appeal of the live show. |
| C．To show the importance of technology. | D．To emphasize its harm to concentration. |
| A．A Musical Journey across the Galaxy. | B．A Magical Exploration of the Universe. |
| C．A Powerful Piece of Music on the Planets. | D．A Creative Musician with Space Inspiration. |
