Listening to Music While Studying

Do you like listening to music when you’re studying? A lot of students think that listening to their favorite songs helps them study better, especially when they are revising (复习). But does it really make them learn more? And will it be different if they choose different kinds of music?

How to research

To answer these questions, teachers from Cardiff Metropolitan University recently ran a study. They divided students into different groups:

Group A revised in silence;

Group B revised to music without words;

Group C revised to music with words they liked;

Group D revised to music with words they disliked.

The students then took a test on the passages they had been revising.

Main findings

Group A did better in the exam than the other three groups.

Group B got higher scores than Group C and Group D.

There’s no difference between Group C and Group D. Both groups got lower scores than usual.

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Shadow play, known as “Ying zi xi” in Chinese, is a kind of ancient shadow art. It has a history of about 2,000 years in China, India and Southeast Asia. The moving shadows on a screen are used to tell history and folk stories. And hand shadow is one of the simplest ways to make shadow play. With a bit of practise, most people can change the shape of hands to make animals, like dogs and birds, on the wall.

Today, shadow art has developed into one more creative style. In the spring of 2016, Vincent Bal, an artist in Europe, turned the shadows into a clever art form—shadow drawing. He named this special drawing “Shadowology”. In the Shadowology, a little drawing is added into the shadows of everyday things to create wonderful pictures.

Like most good things in life, Shadowology came by accident. One day, during a break from work, Bal noticed that the shadow of his teacup looked like a little elephant. He drew eyes, legs and a smile for the shadow, and took a photo of that. After sharing the photo on the Internet, Bal surprisingly found people’s love for it, which encouraged him to continue.

Since then, Bal has got 600,000 fans on the Internet. He keeps producing as many different shadow works as possible. For example, he made a pair of sunglasses look like the wings of a butterfly, and a bottle become a lamp. All his works are interesting and playful. In 2023, Bal finished Shadowology films and a museum exhibition.

Nowadays, Shadowology has won the hearts of people around the world. With the wonderful drawing, people have got a chance to see the beauty in everyday things and discover the joy all around in such a busy world.

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Different kinds of plants make the earth a beautiful place. And humans also depend on some plants, like rice and corn, for food. But what will happen if wars or natural disasters make these plants die out? Will it be really difficult for people to live?

To prepare for such risks, humans build seed (种子) banks—a type of bank where seeds from lots of different plants are kept safe. These seed banks serve as repositories of genetic diversity (基因多样性资源库), making sure that valuable plants are protected for future use.

________ Experts from all over the world collect the endangered and useful plant species (物种). Once the seeds arrive at the bank, they are divided into groups according to their looks or tastes. The workers then check the seeds with X-rays to make sure they’re healthy, and all the unhealthy ones are given up. With the bad seeds gone, the good ones are then cleaned, dried and kept in the cold condition—around -20°C. It helps to protect and store the seeds, making sure they can still grow when they are needed later.

In seed banks, the strongest seeds are those of the sorghum (高粱). They will be able to live in seed banks for about 19,500 years under the right conditions. Though seed banks are a great idea, they are not perfect. For example, seed banks are not suitable for all the plant species. A 2018 study showed that 36% of endangered plant species cannot be stored in seed banks. Species like coffee and bananas need special care and cannot be stored in this way.

So more things need to be done to take care of the plants in nature. That means we should do something to protect forests, keep our planet clean, and grow plants in ways that are good for the earth. Seed banks are like a safety net, but it’s really up to all of us to make sure plants can thrive (繁荣) in the future!

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Our star Kayla was practising for the school’s musical show. But the dog Sandy, an important supporting role, didn’t work very well with her. Every time when Kayla sang her beautiful notes, the dog would cut in with a woooof together. “This isn’t working! I can’t sing this song until we find a decent (合适的) dog!” Kayla stormed off the stage (舞台).

This dog was already our third one, but now everyone knew it would not be the last.

“Ashley, can you get another dog by Monday?” asked Mr. Loomis, our director and drama teacher. He was almost driven crazy.

“OK. I’ll try.” I answered. I had been one of the actors on the show, but now I did something backstage. I loved acting but it seemed my large birthmark (胎记) on face made some people uncomfortable. So I chose to leave the show and stay backstage.

Now I took over the job of searching. But unluckily, my weekend search only made one possibility. It was the dog called Farley from the local shelter (收容所). It was smart and good at comforting people, but the main thing about it was that it missed a leg.

I didn’t think Kayla would be satisfied with this dog. However, Mr. Loomis gave me an unexpected answer. “The new dog is wonderful! We practiced with Kayla, and she loves it. It does nothing bad on the stage.”

“Aren’t you worried that people will dislike it having only three legs? Don’t you think everything should be perfect for the show?” I worried.

“Oh, my goodness,” Mr. Loomis laughed, “Theater is art, and if everyone in it were perfect, it would be the most boring place in the world. The world needs all kinds of actors.”

Hearing this, I still felt doubtful. Would people think good of my acting without caring much about my birthmark? Should I keep my dream of acting?

Several days later, it turned out Farley was a huge hit. Many people made comments about how sweet it was for us to give this dog a chance. But it was not just a chance for Farley, we knew it was actually the best dog actor.

On the day we celebrated the success of the show, Mr. Loomis handed me a paper sheet. It was about our next musical show.

“Thanks!” I smiled.

“So you’re returning to the world of acting?” Mr. Loomis asked.

Why not? This time I was sure, the theater could be for everyone.

Tuan Shan—A Traditional Fan in China

Let’s make a fan and enjoy the beauty of Chinese culture!

“Time’s up!” Mr. Crane started collecting the test paper.

Andy felt his face get ________ and he set his pencil down anxiously. It wasn’t the first time he handed in a blank (空白的) ________. No matter how hard he studied, nothing seemed to stay in his brain for long.

Later that day, the paper went back to them. ________ did fine except Andy. So after school, Andy was the only one standing at Mr. Crane’s office. ________ Mr. Crane wasn’t in a hurry to let Andy retake (补考) right away. He ________ the back wall and said. “Could you help me tidy up a bit first?”

“Sure.” Andy said as he walked to the back of the room. On the wall hung a ________. And he found some magnets (磁铁) on the floor, each ________ the name of a state on it.

Instead of putting the magnets into a box, Andy stepped forward and ________ them up. “There” Andy said and stuck New Jersey magnet into place. “Utah was the washing machine! Michigan is…” The memory tricks (窍门) seemed to appear in his mind suddenly ________ he was moving the pieces around. Soon, Andy placed all magnets on the map in order and it was the first time that he felt so ________.

“It is a good way to practice, right? How about coming here and trying it again ________?” Mr. Crane got up from his seat and said.

The next day after school, Andy stopped by Mr. Crane’s ________ again. When he looked at the map, he felt more confident and ________ the task in less time.

Then, Andy said “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow for the retake.”

“How about right now? You look ________ to me.” Mr Crane suggested.

Feeling a little worried, Andy decided to have a try. Ten minutes later, he was more than glad to see an “88” on the paper. Now, he had found his own ________ to study. He is no longer afraid of taking any memory tests.

Do you like reading? If so, ElDeafo can be a good choice for you to enjoy. It is     51     a little girl called Cece. She has become one of     52     (popular) cartoon heroes among American young readers recently.

At the age of four, Cece loses her hearing because of     53     serious illness. Her world has changed a lot since then. She has to stay in hospital for a long time. After     54     (return) home, her family moves to a small town and she enters a new school there. To help her hear better at school, Cece     55     (give) a special hearing aid machine: the Phonic Ear. At the same time, there’s a microphone for her teacher to wear. So whenever the teacher     56     (talk), Cece can hear her very clearly. With this “super hearing”, she gets a superhero name—ElDeafo.

As being different, some children always laugh at her. Luckily, there are a group of     57     (friend) standing by her side. Thanks to     58     (they) help, Cece has got enough courage. She can get over those difficulties     59     (successful).

Like other good books for young people, this story makes us think about     60     we should act in such situations. And it helps us understand how to care about others as well.

61. 假定你是李平，你的英国朋友Harry将作为交换生到你校学习，请你对他的邮件进行回复。

Glad to hear from you!

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Yours,

Li Hua