1 . What's your favorite type of music? Most people may prefer rock and roll, pop or jazz. These types are most publicized by television and the radio. Country music now would seem to mistakenly belong to the category of rock or pop. Publicity of this category started to drop only after the year 2000; however, it did have its peak years just before falling down.
What people may not know is that this type of music inspired(促成) rock and roll especially with one of the most important figures in music history-Elvis Presley-who is known as the 6/King of Rock and Roll". Elvis used to be very famous at a radio program which broadcast country music back in the late 1940- s. Country music is influenced by jazz and blues. Rock music is also influenced by jazz and blues so that they may even seem similar.
Nowadays, country music is closely related to pop music due to artists' preference and popular demand. Starting from the 1980's it slowly divided itself into New and Old Country Music. Legends like Johnny Cash began to slip away because the new understanding of country music actually contains pop and his music just doesn't fit the category. Fortunately, country music is still heavily promoted through websites and reviews.
Certain types of music nowadays are linked with different age groups. Classical for the people in the mid 19th century, pop in the 1920's, and then there's country music. All these types continue to grow and modernize while still appealing to certain age groups. More modern country music compositions tend to become different in their own ways which makes it even harder to identify them as country music while they, again, remain appealing only to certain age groups. Active promoters of country music videos, however, seem to appeal to a large number of age groups especially those active in Australia, for as long as country music isn't mixed with other types, it will eventually regain its charm as music for all ages.
1. It can be learned from the first paragraph that country music____.| A．is most publicized by television and the radio |
| B．used to be liked by more people compared to jazz |
| C．has become less popular since the year 2000 |
| D．should be included in the category of rock or pop |
| A．Both types influenced the formation of rock and roll. |
| B．Presley turned pop music into country music. |
| C．They are both influenced by jazz and blues. |
| D．The use of the same instruments makes them sound similar. |
| A．their songs totally changed the style of country music |
| B．they began to work on pop music for more profits |
| C．there is no marketing space for country music anymore |
| D．they can't meet the popular demands on country music |
| A．country music should keep its own style to attract more listeners |
| B．it's necessary for country music to be mixed with other types |
| C．only a certain age group of people will like country music in the future |
| D．common characteristics can be found in all modern music |
2 . You can’t walk into the office without Rihanna’s voice singing “work work work work work work” in your head. And that one line from Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” still makes you want to scream. These are commonly known as earworm songs—those sticky tunes that continue to play in your head. A recent study finds that more than 90% of adults report hearing earworm songs on a weekly basis.
Fortunately, most people report earworm songs as pleasant. But others find them annoying or even maddening. “Some people are troubled by them to the point that it disturbs life,” says Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis, a professor at the University of Arkansas who has studied earworm songs.
Margulis says earworm songs tend to have some predictable characteristics. For one thing, they tend to small parts of a song—not the whole track. And “the songs you’ve heard recently also have the most possibility to get stuck in your memory,” she says.
But sometimes something strange and unpredictable can also start a track paying in your head. “Once I was at the doctor’s office and saw a poster of a man who I thought looked like Gaston—a character from Beauty and the Beast,” Margulis recalls. A couple minutes passed, and she realized she couldn’t get “Be Our Guest”, the song in the movie, out of her head, even though she hadn’t thought of the tune in years. In that instance, she was able to identify her earworm’s trigger: the Gaston-looking man in the poster. “But the connections can be really unclear,” she says.
Margulis points out that, in all of human history, recorded music is a very new phenomenon. She says some have inferred that earworm songs are also new—the unintended consequence of being able to hear the same song played everywhere in the same way over and over again. So far, the convincing explanation for why human beings experience earworm songs remains a mystery. But there are some well-established ways to cast off the earworm songs.
“Finding a mentally demanding task and putting your mind on it usually shifts attention away from internal music. People tend to get earworms when performing tasks that don’t require their full attention—stuff like doing the dishes,” Margulis says.
Chewing gum can also help. When a song is stuck in our heads, it’s almost like we’re singing along with it. If you make your mouth do something else—chewing gum, eating a meal or talking with a friend—that can kick out the earworm.
You could also face your enemy. By listening to the full track that includes the passage stuck in your head, you may find “closure” and relief.
1. Which of the following is most likely to be an earworm song?| A．A song made up of simple words. |
| B．A song heard frequently these days. |
| C．A song sung by a most famous singer. |
| D．A song learned during one’s childhood. |
| A．Type. | B．Tune. |
| C．Cause. | D．Characteristic. |
| A．result from modern technology | B．be experienced over meals |
| C．help regain lost memories | D．hurt one’s hearing |
| A．Why we hear earworm songs. | B．Where to find earworm songs. |
| C．When we hear earworm songs. | D．How to get over earworm songs. |
1. What kind of music does the woman prefer?
| A．Classical music. | B．Pop music. | C．Country music. |
| A．He listens to it when cooking. |
| B．It is good for his brain. |
| C．It can help reduce stress. |
| A．He can find some recordings on the Internet. |
| B．He can buy some new CDs online. |
| C．He can listen to Mozart’s music. |
4 . Language is part of our daily lives, no matter where we live in the world. It is the same with music, whether you listen to it on the radio on your drive to work or sit before an orchestra. Both language and music play a huge role in our culture.
Both language and music have a writing system. In English we record language using the alphabet, which is a collection of letters. In the same way, we use notes to keep a record of music. Just as you are reading this collection of letters on the screen and find meaning in it, musicians read notes and create meaning in the form of music which we can hear.
Both share emotion. How do you know that I am angry? Of course you may be able to see it in my face, but you will know for sure through my words.
| A．Both vary with culture. |
| B．Here are some of their similarities. |
| C．They have some distinguishing characteristics. |
| D．So just as you read English, you can read music. |
| E．Similarly, music can sound angry, sad or happy. |
| F．This also means that there is something for everyone! |
5 . When Dee Dee Bridgewater learned that she would become a 2017 NEA Jazz Master, a series of thoughts and feelings flooded her mind. “It was so far out of my orbit and just my whole sphere of thinking,” she said in a conversation at NPR this spring, hours before she formally received her award.
She’s 66-far from retirement age in jazz, and on the extreme forward edge of the NEA Jazz Masters people. So she was aware of her relative youth in the field She also recognized that there haven’t been many women in the ranks of NEA Jazz Masters: fewer than 20, out of 145. That idea led her to reflect on her predecessors (前任): legendary singers like Betty Carter* who was seated back in 1992, and Abbey Lincoln, who received the nod in 2003.
Bridgewater sought inspiration and advice from both Carter and Lincoln, as she recalls in this period of Jazz Night, which features music recorded during the season opener for Jazz at Lincoln Center. On a program called “Songs of Freedom”, organized by drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr., Bridgewater sang material associated with Lincoln as well as Nina Simone: an extremely angry song of the civil rights movement, like “Mississippi Goddam”.
A separate concert, “Songs We Love”, found Bridgewater singing less politically charged (but still exciting) fare like “St. James Infirmary”, which appears on her most recent album. In words as well as music, this period reveals how seriously Bridgewater takes that responsibility, seeing as how it connects to her own experience in the jazz lineage. But maybe “seriously” isn’t the right word when it comes to Dee Dee, whose effervescence (欢腾) shines through even in a reflective mood. Join her here for a while; she’s excellent company, no more or less so now that mastery is officially a part of her resume.
1. What did Bridgewater think of her winning the award?| A．It confused her. |
| B．It was beyond her expectation. |
| C．It won great popular support for her. |
| D．It gave her much confidence about her career. |
| A．Women ranked higher than men. |
| B．Men accounted for a bigger part of them. |
| C．Most of them were unwilling to retire at first. |
| D．Many of them received the award at an early age. |
| A．Carter and Lincoln. | B．Ulysses and Lincoln. |
| C．Nina Simone and Carter. | D．Nina Simone and Ulysses. |
| A．Bridgewater’s music theme. |
| B．Bridgewater’s music experience. |
| C．Bridgewater’s personal characters. |
| D．Bridgewater’s great achievements. |
6 . Most people know that listening to music when they are feeling down or depressed can encourage their spirits.
However studies have also shown that music, especially certain tones can reduce stress. Music can change brainwave patterns, deepen breathing, and bring on a totally stress-free and more open mindset（心态）. Using music to relax when considering a particular problem may not only raise your mood, but also could help you reach that "a-ha"moment and find a solution.
Music has also been shown not only to make you feel good, but also, to be a great motivator. For example, during exercise, listening to music can keep you going, or get you to exercise more by helping you to ignore negative feelings of tiredness and focus on the pleasurable feelings you get from being absorbed in the music.
Music is mainly used to record emotion. When we listen to a piece of music we share the artist's feelings on a visceral（本来的）level. That can be sad, and who among us hasn't put on a painful love song to share in the misery after a bad break-up? On the contrary, we can share in the delight of songs of joy and happiness, or any song or piece of music that reminds us of a particular happy time in our past.
So next time you are feeling down, put on Beethoven' s Ode to Joy, I bet you will feel a lot better about whatever it was that was bothering you!
1. We can infer from the first paragraph that music can .| A．benefit you in many ways |
| B．promote you to find more questions |
| C．change the patterns of your lifestyle |
| D．influence your attention to a problem |
| A．tell us a story | B．make some comments |
| C．give us an example | D．list some facts |
| A．we'll share the artist's feelings deeply |
| B．we may recall our miserable past |
| C．we may be reminded of particular joy |
| D．we'll show mercy on the artist' s life |
| A．What music means to a music lover | B．Why people love happy music |
| C．What kind of music is popular | D．How music changes your life |
7 . It is reported that in the near future robots and humans will probably work together to create jazz. A singing robot is being taught to create jazz with human being in a project.
Antonio Chella from Italy is working with a Telenoid robot. To start with, the Telenoid will be trained to imitate (模仿) the movements and simple sounds made by a human singer, and then connect music with different human emotions.
Previous robots had the ability to find common connections between things. But Chella suggests that a conscious robot should be able to go a step further and find new connections. The Telenoid is of this kind. “This work raises interesting questions about the connection between consciousness and music creating,” says Philippe Pasquier．A musician needs a physical body.
Pasquier argues that the robot musician is faced with a big challenge. “Its software has already been developed and it can imitate The Beatles, a famous band. However, what made The Beatles famous were not only their songs but their wonderful performance of the songs, ” he says.
It is not clear how a robot would perform music in a new way. But by imitating humans, the Telenoid robot could provide some useful information. What is important is that human musicians often listen to and compare music made by others for a long time before creating music of their own. So the Telenoid robot had better listen to more jazz music first.
1. What will the Telenoid robot be taught to do first?| A．Communicate with human beings. |
| B．Connect music with human emotions. |
| C．Live and work comfortably with human beings. |
| D．Imitate the movements and simple sounds of a human singer. |
| A．will replace human musicians soon |
| B．may have trouble performing music |
| C．will become more popular than The Beatles |
| D．can find connections between things that humans cannot find |
| A．The Telenoid, future robot musician. |
| B．How to teach robots to perform music. |
| C．The right music the robots should listen to. |
| D．Differences between a human singer and a robot musician. |
| A．Arts. | B．Entertainment. |
| C．Science. | D．Education. |
8 . Are you interested in movie musicals? Here are some best movie musicals you need to watch.
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Debbie Reynolds (the heroine) is ultra-charming in this time-honored classic musical about the coming of the talking pictures in movie history. She plays a winning showgirl with a golden singing voice designed for Hollywood stars. You can also see how Gene Kelly (the hero) made a hit in the timeless "Singin' in the Rain".
The Sound of Music (1965)
It hit the big screen in 1965 and became an early blockbuster. It's one of those movies that everybody watches again and again. Whether you're singing along to "Do-Re-Mi" or "My Favorite Things", you'll still think of the cute Von Trapp children and the beautiful Austrian setting. Christopher Plummer (the hero) is wonderful as the serious captain melts into gentleness when singing "Edelweiss". And Julie Andrews (the heroine) shows her addictive voice in such songs as "I Have Confidence".
Chicago (2002)
Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones sing and dance as criminals in this musical about fame, envy, and murderous love. Famous songs include "Cell Block Tango", where female criminals sing about how they ended up in jail. It won Best Picture, Best Actress in a supporting role, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound in Oscar 2003.
La La Land (2016)
Struggling actress Mia (Emma Stone) and ambitious jazz pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) begin a romance as they both follow their heart in the path of their dreams in Los Angeles. It won Best Performance by an Actress in a leading role, Best achievement in Directing, Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Best achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, and Best Achievement in Production Design in Oscar 2017.
1. Which movie musical marks a change in the movie history?| A．Chicago | B．La La Land |
| C．Singin' in the Rain | D．The Sound of Music |
| A．"Do-Re-Mi" | B．"Edelweiss" |
| C．"Singin' in the Rain" | D．"Cell Block Tango" |
| A．They both won Best Picture | B．They both talk about crimes |
| C．They both talk about dream. | D．They both won 6 Oscar Awards |
| A．Ryan Gosling's | B．Renee Zellweger's |
| C．Catherine Zeta-Jones' | D．Christopher Plummer's |
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Researchers asked 40 Mbenzele Pygmies in the Congolese rainforest to listen to short clips of music. They were asked to listen to their own music and to unfamiliar Western music.
The same 19 selections of music were also played to 40 amateur or professional musicians in Montreal. Musicians were included in the Montreal group because Mbenzele Pygmies could be considered musicians as they all sing regularly for ceremonial purposes, the study authors explained.
Both groups were asked to rate how the music made them feel using emoticons, such as happy, sad or excited faces.
There were significant differences between the two groups as to whether a specific piece of music made them feel good or bad. However, both groups had similar responses to how exciting or calming they found the different types of music.
"Our major discovery is that listeners from very different groups both responded to how exciting or calming they felt the music to be in similar ways," Hauke Egermann, of the Technical University of Berlin, said in a news release from McGill University in Montreal. Egermann conducted part of the study as a postdoctoral fellow at McGill.
The Montreal participants felt a wider range of emotions as they listened to the Western music than the Pygmies expressed when listening to either their own or Western music. This may be due to the different roles music plays in the two cultures.
"Negative emotions are felt to disturb the harmony of the forest in Pygmy culture and are therefore dangerous," Nathalie Fernando, of the University of Montreal's faculty of music, said in the news release. "If a baby is crying, the Mbenzele will sing a happy song. If the men are scared of going hunting, they will sing a happy song — in general, music is used in this culture to evacuate all negative emotions, so it is not really surprising that the Mbenzele feel that all the music they hear makes them feel good," she explained.
1. Why could Mbenzele Pygmies be regarded as musicians?
| A．They are crazy about music. |
| B．They major in music at school. |
| C．They can play musical instruments well. |
| D．They often sing songs on ceremony. |
| A．music is universal across cultures |
| B．music varies among different countries |
| C．western music results in negative emotions |
| D．music makes people happy |
| A．set off | B．benefit from | C．get rid of | D．account for |
| A．music plays different roles in the two cultures |
| B．music plays the same role in the two cultures |
| C．negative music disturbs the harmony of the forest |
| D．happy music is welcomed everywhere |
