1 . For those who are deaf or have hearing loss, making and enjoying music can be a challenge. However, that hasn’t stopped Dame Evelyn Glennie from achieving success.
Scottish-born Dame Evelyn Glennie is one of the world’s most recognized percussionists (打击乐器乐手). However, she started going deaf at the age of eight due to a nerve disease. At 12, she totally lost her hearing.
At first, Glennie was desperate. But her percussion teacher at school taught her to feel particular notes. For example, she had to place her hands on a wall, and he would play two notes on two timpani. He would then ask her which was the higher note and where she felt the vibration. Through trials and errors, she managed to distinguish the pitch of notes by associating where on her body she feels the sound. Thanks to her perfect pitch and the fact that she performs barefoot, Evelyn “hears” the sound. Together with her lip-reading skills, and amazing musicianship, she has conquered any troubles and inconvenience caused by her impairment.
Till now, Glennie has performed with almost all the major orchestras (管弦乐队) globally. Besides classical music, she is famous for partnerships with pop and rock artists like Sting and Bjork. Glennie’s works has earned her over 100 music awards, including two Grammys. She even led 1,000 drummers in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
At the age of 58 this year, Glennie’s mission now is to “teach the world to listen” to improve communication by encouraging everyone to discover a new way of listening. “It’s important to grab on to any opportunity that comes your way, but you also need to create your own opportunities,” says Evelyn. “It’s a personal time to reflect on the impact you might have on other people as well. I don’t know if age plays a part in it, because I feel as though I haven’t really achieved very much and there’s still so much to do!”
1. How could Glennie identify different notes as a deaf person?| A．By reading her teacher’s lips. | B．By putting her hands on a wall. |
| C．By applying her amazing musicianship. | D．By feeling the vibration through her body. |
| A．Sorrow. | B．Mismatch. | C．Abnormality. | D．Fear. |
| A．faithful and tolerant | B．cheerful and practical |
| C．determined and kind | D．considerate and dutiful |
| A．A Dream Pursued by Evelyn Glennie | B．A Deaf Musician Heard by the World |
| C．Evelyn Glennie: Teach the World to Listen | D．Talented Percussionist: Say “No” to Age |
2 . Tod Morgan was born blind, mentally challenged, and autistic. So he couldn't see, he could not learn like other children, and he didn't interact with people very much. He did not seem to have much of a chance. Then, when he was two years old, he began to play little songs on his tiny toy piano. He could play perfectly some of the children's tunes he had heard.
Today, Tod works as a professional pianist. He plays jazz, Broadway songs, and classical pieces. After hearing a tune, he can imitate it almost perfectly the first time he plays it. He doesn't only imitate; Tod is creative too. He can change a classical piece to a jazz, a jazz to a polka, and a polka to a waltz. In addition to the p1ano, Tod plays 13 other instruments and also sings. Tod's list of musical heroes includes Louis Armstrong, Mozart, and Beethoven. How can this be? How can such a severely challenged person be so musically talented?
Tod has what is called “savant syndrome'' — a condition in which a mentally challenged person has a tightly developed talent of a specific kind. Savant syndrome is a mystery to medical researchers. One person who is studying savant syndrome is Dr. David Brighton. He says that he has never seen a musical savant like Tod. Most musical savants are limited to simply repeating tunes they hear. Dr. Brighton points out that Tod's ability to come up with his own tunes is a giant step beyond memorization.
As for Tod, after studying jazz piano at the Music School at Rivers in Massachusetts, he attended and graduated from the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston. Tod is encouraged by his parents as he performs all over the world, appearing on TV and radio shows.
1. What does the author mean by saying that Tod “did not seem to have much of a chance"?| A．Tod was not likely to be completely cured. |
| B．Tod's chances of success in life were small. |
| C．Tod's ability to learn music was very limited. |
| D．Tod would have few opportunities to meet others. |
| A．mentally disabled but specially gifted |
| B．socially inactive but musically talented |
| C．physically disabled but highly intelligent |
| D．psychologically challenged but physically gifted |
| A．His memory. | B．His creativity. |
| C．His sociability. | D．His learning speed. |
| A．Tod is a typical case of a serious disease. |
| B．Family support is vital to Tod's recovery. |
| C．Music connects Tod to the world around him. |
| D．Music education is a cure to the mentally disabled. |
3 . As pianist Mahani Teave was ready to begin her international career, she remembered the moment when the first piano arrived on her remote island, Rapa Nui.
“I had to go, break all the rules, and just go straight to see this piano,” Teave took her first lessons on that piano. They strengthened her love for the instrument and inspired her to eventually leave her island home for dreams of becoming a star soloist (独奏者). Teave’s departure for the mainland, just a few months after those lessons, came at the suggestion of Roberto Bravo, a well-known pianist from Chile who visited the island and heard her play.
As a teenager, awards began to roll in, including a first place finish at the Claudio Arrau Piano Competition. After nine years, Teave left Chile and became a pupil of pianist Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music and then went to Berlin to learn from Fabio Bidini. “The future of Mahani is only in her hands,” Bidini says in the documentary.
But after four years in Berlin, Teave began to feel the island strongly pulling on her heart and her head. She began to think of giving up a promising career that was hardly off the ground. “I could have stayed there perfectly and would have also been very happy,” Teave says. "But there was a saying in my mind, ‘Mahani, you had all these opportunities. There are lots of other children who are waiting to have them too, and you only can do this.’”
So she moved back to Chile. In 2016, along with her partner Enrique Icka, Teave officially opened their Toki School of Music.
Teave, at age 37, may have given up a successful career as a concert pianist, but through her ambition she gained something more — the satisfaction of supporting the dreams of children, hungry to learn music.
1. What inspired Teave to leave her island home?| A．Her inborn soloist dream. | B．Her first lessons on the piano. |
| C．Her bad living conditions. | D．The help from Roberto Bravo. |
| A．Her unique personality. | B．Her talent for music. |
| C．Her learning experience. | D．Her musical career. |
| A．The desire to help kids in her island home. | B．The tiredness of traveling off the ground. |
| C．The lack of talent to be a successful soloist. | D．The calling of her partner Enrique Icka. |
| A．Selfless. | B．Stubborn. | C．Competitive. | D．Cautious |
