1 . Can you imagine a world without music? Studies show that public schools across the country are cutting back on music classes to save money. Worse, some schools have never had music classes to begin with. But without them,students’ academic growth and emotional health could suffer. In fact, music classes are necessary for all students in schools.
Recent studies by Brown University have shown that students who received music education classes were better in maths and reading skills than those without music classes. Another study by the College Board found that students taking music and art classes got higher points. Students' academic success seems to depend on their taking part in music education.
Music programmes in public schools also help to add to a students sense of pride and self-confidence. Teens today have too many learning tasks. Besides, they have family problems, self-confidence problems, relationship troubles, and other troubles. All of these can stop academic success, but music education can help. A study by the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse found that students who took part in school music programmes were less likely to turn to drugs. Music programmes encourage students to work together to produce an excellent performance.
Music crosses language, class, cultural and political boundaries. Music allows students from different countries to connect. For example, at a school talent show, a new Japanese student played a piano duet with an American classmate. Although they could not communicate verbally, they were able to read the music in order to play the duet. Two students from different cultures worked as a team with self-confidence and common purpose through music.
The gift of music is priceless. We need to be sure to have necessary music classes for all students. The world is losing its music, and putting music into schools is the first step to get it back.
1. What can we learn about education with music classes?| A．It allows schools to make more profits. |
| B．It leads to a lot of emotional problems easily. |
| C．It helps students to improve their schoolwork. |
| D．It has a great influence on the culture of the country. |
| A．Not all students take part in music lessons. |
| B．Students with great success like to attend music lessons. |
| C．Music plays an important role in students’ success. |
| D．Students having music classes are better in all lessons. |
| A．different cultures have different styles of music |
| B．music makes cross-country communication possible |
| C．Japan has a good international relationship with America |
| D．Japanese and American students are good at playing the piano |
| A．How to Get Music Back | B．Music Education in Schools |
| C．Music—a Bridge to Understanding | D．The Importance of Listening to Music |
2 . When we’re small children, our mistakes are applauded. Our falling-down attempts to walk for the first time are cheered by our parents, giving us the courage to get up and try again. When we accidentally put our shirt on backwards, people smile and praise our independence. At this age, the world teaches us that failure is merely part of the journey to success.
But when we get to school, we quickly learn that mistakes are bad. Answers are right or wrong, true or false. The risk-taking that used to be rewarded is now punished, and we either give up or learn to stick with safe answers. Unfortunately, this black-or-white thinking doesn’t encourage learning. Instead, it encourages a fear of failure and discourages inventiveness.
Teachers are starting to worry, and “resiliency(心理弹性)” is perhaps the latest buzzword(术语) in education. In June, the California Teacher’s Association published an article called “Teaching Students to Bounce Back.” It argued that children are under more stress than ever, but lacking in “basic coping skills”. The article infers that this loss of coping skills could be because “years of testing and test preparation have robbed them of critical thinking skills and the ability to self-reflect.” It’s no coincidence that anxiety among teenagers is on the rise. In her book, The Price of Privilege, Marilyn Levine tries to make sense of this phenomenon: “When parents place an extremely high value on outstanding performance, children come to see anything less than perfection as failure. While most kids hang in there and try to meet those high expectations, more and more kids are quitting.” Students are afraid to try anything new, prevented by fears of appearing imperfect.
Allowing our children to make mistakes is the best way to fight this culture of perfectionism. We must remind them of what they knew as toddlers(初学走路的孩子): mistakes are a valuable part of the learning process. Creation and discovery can only be developed if we give our children the freedom to fail. Schools can build resiliency by stressing exploration over correctness. School needs to be a place that doesn’t just teach the right answers: it should also be a place that teaches kids how to bounce back from failure.
1. What does the underlined word “it”(Paragraph 2) most probably refer to?| A．The risk-taking. | B．The falling-down attempt. |
| C．Putting one’s shirt on backwards. | D．The black-or-white thinking. |
| A．lack parents’ understanding and teachers’ guiding |
| B．lack critical thinking skills and self-reflection ability |
| C．have too much anxiety and need comfort |
| D．have too much independence and freedom |
| A．most children quit because they are imperfect |
| B．parents are trying to prevent their children from appearing imperfect |
| C．children are so afraid of things that they try to avoid trying new things |
| D．children place a high value on trying new things |
| A．Making Mistakes in School Is a Must. |
| B．Teaching Students to Bounce Back Is Popular. |
| C．Students Should Learn Without Failure. |
| D．Anxiety among Teenagers Is on the Rise. |
Many people like the action of cheating. It makes difficult things seem easy, like getting all the right answers on the test. But it doesn’t solve the problem of not knowing the material and it won’t help on the next test --- unless the person cheats again.
Some people lose respect for cheaters and think less of them. The cheaters themselves may feel bad because they know they are not really earning that good grade. And, if they get caught cheating, they will be in trouble at school, and maybe at home, too.
Some kids cheat because they’re busy or lazy and they want to get good grades without spending the time studying. Other kids might feel like they can’t pass the test without cheating. Even when there seems to be a “good reason” for cheating, cheating isn’t a good idea.
If you were sick or upset about something the night before and couldn’t study, it would be better to talk with the teacher about this. And if you don’t have enough time to study for a test because of swim practice, you need to talk with your parents about how to balance swimming and school.
A kid who thinks cheating is the only way to pass a test needs to talk with the teacher and his or her parents so they can find some solutions(解决办法) together. Talking about these problems and working them out will feel better than cheating.
1. The author thinks that when kids cheat in class,________.
| A．it is unfair to other people |
| B．it does harm to their health |
| C．teachers should punish them |
| D．teachers shouldn’t stop them at once |
| A．the material in the test is very difficult |
| B．they want to do better than the others |
| C．cheating can make hard things seem very easy |
| D．they have little time to study their lessons |
| A．cheating isn’t a good idea |
| B．why kids cheat in the test |
| C．some kids can’t pass the test without cheating |
| D．some kids don’t spend the time studying |
| A．spend more time on school than on sports |
| B．find good solutions instead of cheating |
| C．try hard to be intelligent rather than lazy |
| D．ask their classmates for good methods of study |
