1 . Liu Xiaoyu, the Chinese-Canadian ever won first place in the 18th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. And he was the second pianist of Chinese origin to ________ the honor.

It was his first ________ in China when he played at the 51st Hong Kong Arts Festival in February. However, it was his third trip to the special region. He had ________ here twice before when he was three and nine. He ________ remembered visiting some attractions in Hong Kong at nine years old. When he would play the ________ once again, he was very ________ and looked forward to bringing Chopin’s music to the audience in Hong Kong as soon as possible.

At the ________ in February at the Hong Kong City Hall, Liu played Chopin’s two pieces of music, both of which he had played in the Warsaw competition. In the second half of the public performance of music, he played French composer Maurice Ravel’s music. The applause and ________ from the audience made him return to the stage three times to take a ________ as a sign of politeness.

Some say Liu’s musical style is ________, with less romance but more ________. The young pianist just ________ to express his inner emotions clearly and directly. He ________ that if we still play the same music played 200 years ago, the way of playing will be undoubtedly different. To confirm it, he points out, “Austrian. composer Mozart ________ Serenata Notturna (《月下小夜曲》) in a, time of candles, but in the 21st century, we have electric lights—our way of living is ________ the way we play.”

2 . Sanyé Mylo’s eyes twinkle with excitement when he stands in the sound booth of The Record Co. in Boston, eager to bring his creation to life. With the press of a button, his latest rap track fills the room. “I didn’t know spaces like this existed,” says Mylo, who grew up in the low-income neighborhood of Dorchester. He is one of the young musicians who, thanks to The Record Co. , has turned his music into a full-time occupation.

Founded in 2010 by Matt McArthur, The Record Co. aims to give musicians more affordable access to the creative workspace and introduce the world of music to those who may have never considered their place in it.

McArthur understands this challenge firsthand. As a music technology student at Berklee College of Music, he was frustrated by the high costs of renting time in production studios. On average, a recording studio in Boston costs more than $100 per hour to rent.

He saw a recording studio not as a private office for a man of means but as a community center available to all. So he took out loans, collected donations and opened a studio in a tiny basement in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Slowly but steadily, McArthur expanded it and eventually rented a new property to include spaces for practice and production.

Today, The Record Co., with a full-time staff of more than 20 people, is a state-of-the art, 12,000-foot facility that can be rented for as little as $10 per hour. Each month, it receives about 1,000 reservations, and around 3,500 musicians pass through its doors. At The Record Co., the principle is clear: Music should be affordable for everyone, and so should the space for creating it. The building has been shaped not only with an ear to acoustics(音响效果)but also with an eye to ensure it is as welcoming to a musician in a wheelchair as to one who walks in with a guitar over the shoulder.

Liu Wenwen is the first suona player to study for a doctor’s degree in China. On social media platforms, Liu’s name is often followed by a video of her    1    (perform) at a concert in Sydney. The audience    2    (impress) by the unfamiliar instrument and the music.

Both of Liu’s parents’ families     3    (play) suona for generations. But it takes time and hard work    4    (become) a musician. “To avoid disturbing the neighbors, my parents would take me to a park to practice at 4 a.m. everyday.” Her primary school classmates laughed at her,    5    (say) her whole family was engaged only in “weddings and funerals”. These are the two major     6    (occasion) where the instrument is played in China.

She found suona music beautiful    7    the first time in 2008, when entering Shanghai Conservatory of Music to learn the instrument systematically from Professor Liu Ying,    8    top player. “The music played by Professor Liu was amazing,    9    was quite different from what I’d heard before,” she said.

Speaking of the popular video, Liu said, “I felt my hard work paid off. I trained for over 20 years,    10    (probable) just to win cheers for traditional Chinese music on the international stage.”

6 . Leo Brouwer is considered as one of the most important living figures of classical music in Latin America. His works are played regularly in concert halls globally, and he has scored over 50 films. But now, Brouwer finds it’s hard to reflect on his success. He is just grateful that people are moved by his music.

Brouwer says, “Being useful is something incredible. Perhaps my root of being an orphan reminds me of these reflections.” His parents divorced when he was very young, and his mother died when he was 11. So he decided to go to look for his father. “I found him playing the guitar, and the instrument fascinated me,” he says.

Then Brouwer taught himself music. Though his grandmother was the sister of famous composer Ernesto Lecuona, the wealthy family refused to pay for his music education.

“Being in an orphanage made me reflect on the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of the essential things in life. I often asked myself what I was doing there and why I was fascinated with it?” he says. He listened to Cuba’s classical radio station all the time and learned how to read sheet music by staying in music stores in Havana when he was 15.

Brazilian guitarist Carlos Barbosa-Lima first heard Brouwer’s music when touring in Europe in the early 1970s. “For me it was a new experience, because I saw a composer with incredible view of the music and different styles,” Barbosa recalls. Part of that style includes traditional music and Cuban instruments in classical music forms.

Besides being a creative composer, Brouwer also founded important cultural institutions in Cuba. In 1960, he created the Cuban Institute of Art and Film Industry on the island. He stopped playing the guitar in the late 1970s, after an accident permanently damaged his right hand. Today, he focuses on composing, noting that he still has a lot of work to do. “Now I have many more ideas and have to be selective,” he says.

7 . Too much stress can make it more likely for a person to get sick, and so scientists are trying to think of ways to keep people from being overly stressed. In this experiment, scientists studied the effect of music on stress.

Scientists asked women to either listen to relaxing music, nature sounds, or to nothing. Following the music session, they had the women stand in front of an audience and perform two tasks. First, each woman had to give a speech. Second, each woman had to do complex math in her head. These two tasks make up the Trier Social Stress Task, a method scientists use as a sure-fire way to make people feel stressed.

Scientists know that the body responds to stress by releasing cortisol (皮质醇), and so they used it to measure stress. Scientists compared cortisol levels after listening to music and at various times after doing the Trier Social Stress Task. The scientists also measured an enzyme (酶) called alpha-amylase. Alpha-amylase is important to your body as it kills unwanted bacteria and it helps break down the food that you eat. Alpha-amylase is also released by the nervous system in response to stress.

The scientists tested how classical music and nature sounds affect levels of cortisol and alpha-amylase. The alpha-amylase levels of people who listened to classical music went back to normal more quickly compared to the people listening to nature sounds.

The people listening to relaxing music showed a stress response that was shorter compared to the other groups. The shorter response helps to prevent the body from getting worn out. This means that listening to relaxing music might help to improve the stress response and health.

The results of this study were a bit mixed. Scientists still have a lot of work to do to see if listening to music can reduce stress by lowering cortisol levels in the body. Until we know more, maybe play some tunes or listen to some nature sounds when you feel stressed. Even if it doesn't directly help your stress level, it's still nice to hear a good song.