1 . 【课本改编题】

Imagine having the opportunity to sing together with hundreds of other people while you are at home alone. You can do this in a virtual choir. Virtual choir members record themselves while they perform alone on video. These videos are uploaded onto the Internet, and then they are put together into one video that you can see online—a virtual choir. Anyone can take part in a virtual choir from anywhere—all you need is a video camera and an Internet connection. You do not even need a studio. A virtual choir helps connect ordinary people together. Many people do not have close friends or contacts who have the same interest in music. Many others do not have the chance to join a local choir. A virtual choir enables them to add their voices to those of other individuals and become part of the global community. It has proved to be a positive influence on the lives of many people. As one virtual choir member said, “Music helps me to … forget my problems. With music, I become someone else.”

The virtual choir was the idea of award-winning composer and conductor Eric Whitacre. Born in the USA on 2 January 1970, Whitacre began studying music at the University of Nevada in 1988. He fell in love with Mozart’s classical music when he sang for the university choir. Moved by this music, he said, “It was like seeing color for the first time.” He graduated from university in 1995, and then received a master’s degree in musical composition from the Juilliard School in New York in 1997. Over the next 10 years, Whitacre’s original compositions began to become quite popular among choirs and singers. This led to the creation of the virtual choir.

In 2009, Whitacre received a video of a girl who was singing one of his works. Inspired, he asked his fans to make videos, which he then joined together into one performance. His first virtual choir, “Lux Aurumque”, had 185 singers from 12 different countries. It has received millions of views on the Internet. Since then, the virtual choir has become a worldwide phenomenon. Whitacre’s next effort was the Virtual Youth Choir for UNICEF, which was first seen on stage on 23 July 2014 in the UK. Altogether, 2,292 young people from 80 countries joined in to sing Whitacre’s song “What If”.

The virtual choir is a wonderful way for people around the world to sing with one voice and thus make the world a better place.

1. Scan the text and find out the following information.

The man who came up with the idea for a virtual choir	____________________________
The place where he studied musical composition	____________________________
The name of his song	____________________________

Intensive reading
2. Activity 1　Read Paragraph 1 and find out the key elements of virtual choir.
_______________________________________________________________
3. Activity 2　Find out the differences between a virtual choir and a real choir.

	Virtual choir	Real choir
Form	____________	____________
Place	____________	____________
Identity of singers	____________	____________
Number of singers	____________	____________

4. Activity 3　Read Paragraph 2 and describe Eric Whitacre’s life experience according to the timeline.

_______________________________________________________________
5. Activity 4　Read Paragraph 2 again and answer the following questions.
(1)What can you learn from what Whitacre said?
_______________________________________________________________
(2)Why does the author mention Eric Whitacre’s studying experience and his achievements in music?
_______________________________________________________________
6. Activity 5　Read Paragraph 3 and 4 and answer the following questions.
(1)What gave him the inspiration to make his first virtual choir?
_______________________________________________________________
(2)Does the writer hold a positive attitude toward the virtual choir? How do you know?
_______________________________________________________________

2 . 【课本改编题】

Good morning! My name is Sarah Williams. It’s an honour to be here and to share with you the story of how music has had an impact on my life.

(A) Have you ever faced a time when things looked dark and you had no hope at all? Two years ago, I was told I had a serious disease which was difficult to cure. My body ached all the time and thus I thought I didn’t have much longer to live. I was very afraid and I felt so alone and discouraged. Then one day, I had to go through a two-hour medical treatment. The doctor wanted me to relax, so he had me listen to some music, and one of the songs was “Happy”. The song made me feel so much better that from then on I began to listen to music all the time. (B) John A. Logan said, “Music is the medicine of the mind.” And it’s true. Music helped me recover.

(C) Music gave me happiness. When I listened to music, (D) it made my spirits fly like a kite in the wind. (C) Music gave me strength and brought me relief. (E) It was the rock I leant on to become strong and to get through those hard times. Moreover, (C) music gave me hope and a sense of satisfaction. (F) It became my best friend. It spoke words of encouragement to the deepest part of my being.

Of course, I hope none of you have to go through the same kind of suffering that I did. At the same time, we all go through various periods when we feel sad or alone. During those times, music can help you in the same way that it helped me. I hope all of you will somehow begin to treasure music and make it a part of your life.

Thank you!

1. Reading for information
Read the speech and answer the questions.
(1) What was Sarah’s problem?
__________________________________________________________________________
(2) How did music help her during her difficult time?
__________________________________________________________________________
(3) What is her advice to others?
__________________________________________________________________________
2. Reading for structure
Read the speech again and figure out the structure.
3. Reading for language features
Match the names of rhetorical devices to the lettered sentences in the speech.
metaphor _______
personification _______
quote _______
repetition _______
rhetorical question _______
simile _______

8 . 语法填空

    1    is possible that we simply do not stay in one place for a true friendship to develop. However, there can be no disagreement on the need for each of us    2    (think) carefully about the kind of friendships we want.

To most of us, friendships are considered    3    (importance), but need to have clear in our own minds    4    kinds of friendships we want. Are they to be close or    5    (keep) at arm’s length? Do we want to share ourselves or do we want to walk on the surface? For some people, many friendships on the surface are quite enough—and that’s all right. But at some point we need to make sure that our expectations are the same as our    6    (friend)expectations. If one wants more from the friendship than the other,     7    if this is not talked about, one is likely at last to fell that he’s holding the short end of the stick. The sharing of personal experience    8    (include) our tears as well as our dark dreams    9     (be) the surest way to deepen friendships. But it must be undertaken slowly and carried on only if there signs of interest and action    10    return.

10 . 语法填空

PERU is a country on the Pacific coast of South America     1    three main areas. It was the centre of the     2    (power) ancient Inca Empire in the 1400s and 1500s. Spain took control of it in the 16th century and ruled until 1821. So Spanish is the main     3    (office) language of Peru now.

Peru is a popular destination for     4    (tour). There are two especially interesting tours     5     (admire) for tourists from all over the world. The first is Amazon Rainforest Tour. From there, you will spend one day travelling     6    boat to your accommodation in the middle of the forest. Then you can spend 3 days     7    (explore) the rainforest with a local guide and enjoying the plants and animals unique to the rainforest. The second is Machu Picchu Tour,     8    you can be     9    (amaze) by the ancient city, especially the Incas’ dry stone method of building. The builders can hold walls together only     10    (use) the perfect fit of the stones.