| A．She learned singing by herself. |
| B．She used to be a music teacher. |
| C．She got some training as a student. |
2 . Colette Maze has been playing the piano for over a century. She practices four hours a day and her fingers never tire. Music is her spiritual food. The piano, her passion and her friend, instills (注入) a sense of wonder in life each day, making her a source of inspiration to all.
Colette Maze was born in Paris in 1914. She started playing the piano at the age of five. As a young student, she was taught a technique by the legendary piano master Alfred Cortot, which focuses on relaxing the arms and hands when playing. To this day, the manner in which Colette Maze touches the piano while playing the tender music of Robert Schumann and Claude Debussy is still unusual and attractive.
Contrary to the social conventions of the times, Maze decided to pursue music as a career. “She decided she was an artist, a musician, not a housewife, so she married the piano,” said her son Fabrice Maze. Later she became a piano teacher and a single mother with great difficulty. The piano always brings her solace. “Music is an affective language and a poetic language. In music, there is everything—nature, emotion, love, dreams,” Colette Maze said.
Colette Maze’s talent and enthusiasm are priceless, especially during the times of the pandemic. “She helps improve morale (士气). Though at an old age, she is in good form for she has passion and can look after herself. Her sense of humor, her joy, and her love of life make other people smile,” Fabrice Maze said.
Colette Maze explained that life is not about being old or young. “Youth is inside us. Life is all about staying passionate and curious. You can’t let that slip away. If you appreciate what’s beautiful around you, you will find a sense of wonder in it,” she said. Every day she plays the piano, and her fingers lightly touch the keys, embracing life and engaging with the love and tenderness of her music.
1. How did Alfred Cortot influence Colette Maze?| A．He presented her with a special piano. | B．He invited famous pianists to train her. |
| C．He took her to enjoy some piano concerts. | D．He taught her a unique way to play the piano. |
| A．Pity. | B．Comfort. | C．Glory. | D．Trouble. |
| A．Colette has given up a lot for music. | B．Colette is highly spoken of by music lovers. |
| C．Colette inspires others to live with strength. | D．Colette feels concerned about other people’s life. |
| A．Be active and passionate about life forever. | B．Family support is important to career success. |
| C．Experience helps to promote excellence. | D．It’s never too old to learn. |
3 . As a child, Liu Wenwen disliked the suona, a “loud, high-pitched” traditional Chinese musical instrument, an ancestral heritage of her family that was to become her career.
Her peers at primary school laughed at her, saying her whole family was engaged only in “weddings and funerals.” Indeed, these are the two major occasions where the horn-like wind instrument is played in China’s rural areas. Liu felt ashamed. People admired things that were modern and international. “Suona, in comparison, was considered an art of the hillbilly.” Her father’s family has performed suona for seven generations.
The music is rooted in Liu’s DNA, but it takes time and hard work to become a skilled musician. The instrument was so loud that it annoyed the neighbors when she practiced at home. “So my parents would wake me up at 4 a.m. every day and take me to practice outside in a park.”
While she followed her parents to play the suona as a child, she only fell in love with the instrument at university. She found suona music beautiful for the first time in 2008, when she entered Shanghai Conservatory of Music to learn the instrument more systematically.
On China’s social media platforms, her name is often followed by a video of her live performance at a concert in Sydney, Australia, alongside award-winning composer Tan Dun in 2017. For her debut on the international stage, she was playing Hundreds of Birds Paying Homage to Phoenix, a masterpiece that often represents excellence in suona performance.
Liu promoted the “hillbilly” music to an international audience, thanks to Tan and his team, who recomposed the traditional music and arranged the piece into an orchestra. “It was a smooth dialogue between a Chinese instrument and a Western orchestra, loved by the musicians and audience alike,” she said. “I felt my hard work had paid off. I trained for over 20 years, probably just to win cheers and applause for traditional Chinese music on the international stage.”
1. What can we learn about Liu from the first two paragraphs?| A．She was born into a musical family. |
| B．She enjoyed playing the suona as a child. |
| C．She showed a talent for suona when she was young. |
| D．She felt ashamed of admiring modern and international things. |
| A．To get more time for her practice. | B．To avoid disturbing the neighbors. |
| C．To spend more time with her parents. | D．To make practising the suona a habit. |
| A．Audience like Chinese instruments better than Western orchestra. |
| B．Liu’s performance at a Sydney concert got her recognized by the public. |
| C．Liu promoted traditional Chinese music to the whole world with her parents. |
| D．Social media is a major platform to carry forward traditional Chinese music. |
| A．Technology. | B．Education. |
| C．People. | D．Entertainment. |
1. When is the Jane Austen Festival held?
| A．In March. | B．In September. | C．In December. |
| A．The concert. | B．The fashion show. | C．The dance class. |
| A．For eighteen years. | B．For ten years. | C．For eight years. |
| A．Go to the tea room. |
| B．Try on traditional costumes. |
| C．See a life-sized statue of Jane. |
5 . Top Music Festivals
The festival season is just kicking off, and there is a lot to look forward to in the upcoming months.
Pitchfork Music Festival
Anyone who likes indie (独立的) music and up-and-coming artists will have an amazing time at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago’s Union Park. It is an indie rock heaven where you can explore more underground and lesser-known bands than at the other big Chicago summer festival, Lollapalooza.
Date: July 14-16
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Music Type: Indie rock
Price: $126-$2,700
Essence Music Festival
No matter what time of the year it is, New Orleans is an amazing place if you love live music. The Essence Music Festival is a celebration of well-known artists like Diana Ross, Chaka Khan, and Mary J. Blige.
Date: June 29-July 2
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Music Type: R& B, soul, rock
Price: $75-$365
Sziget Festival
Budapest knows how to hold a party, and Sziget is one of the biggest celebrations of music and culture in all of Europe. You can expect to find favorite artists like Bad Religion and Mac DeMarco playing here during this three-day festival.
Date: August 9-11
Location: Budapest, Hungary
Music Type: Eclectic, Indie rock
Price: $70-$296
Flow Festival
The Flow Festival is a great excuse to explore the city of Helsinki. Artists including Lana Del Rey and The XX will be playing, among many others. Come to this festival to enjoy yourselves with an earth-friendly belief.
Date: August 11-13
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Music Type: Rock, soul, jazz
Price: $106-$199
1. What do the music festivals have in common?| A．They are given in the open air. |
| B．They are held in the USA. |
| C．They include rock music. |
| D．They take place from July to August. |
| A．Essence Music Festival. |
| B．Sziget Festival. |
| C．Flow Festival. |
| D．Pitchfork Music Festival. |
| A．It has the longest cultural tradition in Europe. |
| B．It is home to many well-known bands. |
| C．It is a city of high living cost in all of Europe. |
| D．It is good at organizing parties. |
6 . Gong Linna, well-known Chinese musician and founder of Chinese New Art Music, put her music teaching methods to practice for the first time at the Tracing Roots practice concert and music festival of the Affiliated High School of Peking University on May 23.
The first song of the concert, Search High and Low, is an allusion (暗指) to the classical poem Li Sao(离骚), “The road ahead will be long. I shall search high and low.” “It’s arranged to be sung by all performers, indicating that we should all search high and low for our roots,” Gong says.
To explore the education and the popularization of Chinese music, in 2017, Gong established a research and development team, which includes ethnomusicologist, Du Yaxiong, and music historian, Zhao Zhongming, to introduce her music teaching methods and summarize the vocal skills of Chinese music.
Gong believed that the popularization of Chinese music should rely on primary and secondary schools rather than music academies. The children’s passion for music and their outstanding performance amazed Gong, “When singing, they are completely absorbed in the music. Music brings light and richness to one’s spiritual world. So, learning to sing is never about passing examinations, but about enjoying the music.”
Lu Yueming, instructor of the school’s art center, said, “The children worked really hard and kept in mind Gong’s instructions. Seeing their performance, I know that they truly fell in love with traditional Chinese music.”
Lu Yueming, instructor of the school’s art center, said, “The children worked really hard and kept in mind Gong’s instructions. Seeing their performance, I know that they truly fell in love with traditional Chinese music.”
“Seeing the children perform my pieces, I realized I should write more songs for them,” Lao Luo, Gong’s husband said proudly. “It’s a great encouragement for me to see how much they like the songs, and they really need content related to Chinese culture.” With an international vision, Gong will continue to write songs based on Chinese folk music or ancient poems.
Gong said children should learn about the beauty of Chinese music. Only when you know about your own sounds, can you have cultural confidence.
1. Why is the song Search High and Low arranged at the concert?| A．Because Gong is a famous Chinese musician. |
| B．Because people are expected to search their roots. |
| C．Because Gong’s music teaching method is practical. |
| D．Because Gong wants to introduce her music teaching method. |
| A．Music academies. | B．The support of the government. |
| C．Primary and secondary schools. | D．Famous musicians across the country. |
| A．She will train more children to study abroad. |
| B．She will perform more concerts to promote Chinese music. |
| C．She will help children learn about the beauty of various types of music. |
| D．She will write more songs based on Chinese folk music or ancient poems. |
| A．Creating Music Makes You Confident |
| B．Gong Linna — Chinese Folk Music Instructor |
| C．Music Education Helps Gain Cultural Confidence |
| D．Chinese Music: Development, Instruments |
7 . For anyone connected with a school, the last couple of weeks should have been a pile-up of plays, choir (合唱团) performances, and talent shows. But a report found, alarmingly, that 53% of primaries and 63% of secondaries that normally hold a festive concert at the end of the first term did not do so.
It is deeply troubling that music is no longer being taught to 11-to-14-year-olds in more than half of state secondaries. And some children get as little as one day of music lesson a year. If this situation is allowed to continue, music-making will become the preserve (保留地) of those who can afford it. And the intense competition for better academic performance has only sped up this trend. A survey published this month of more than 1, 300 music teachers found that a third of British primary schools are not singing, while a quarter have stopped instrumental lessons. Almost three-quarters of primary and two-thirds of secondary schools have cancelled extracurricular music. Though a sharp decline of music provision is due to various social factors, Ofsted appeared to put this down to schools themselves, rather than pointing the finger at the government’s silence to educators’ appeal.
This is very sad and shortsighted. On the most basic level, music aids academic achievement. Research suggests that music-making improves speech and literacy. But academic progress is too narrow a standard of success. In her book, Joan Koenig argues that music is fundamental to a well-functioning society. Besides that, music-making nurtures sympathy and belonging. “People stand a much better chance of finding meaning and happiness in their lives if they feel that they belong,” as Koenig puts it. “Studies show that group musical practice can create and increase this feeling. It is when people don’t have a sense of belonging that things go wrong.”
In this time of uncertainty and fear, ensuring that all children can access music-making is a cause deserving meaningful backup and help from the government.
1. What does Paragraph 2 mainly talk about?| A．Music plays an important role in schools. |
| B．Music lessons are nearly absent from classrooms. |
| C．Schools only value academic achievements. |
| D．Parents cannot afford students, music lessons. |
| A．The government. | B．The educators. |
| C．The schools. | D．The researchers |
| A．Worsens. | B．Ruins. | C．Symbolizes. | D．Promotes |
| A．Music education calls for support and attention. |
| B．Music education is uncertain. |
| C．Music-making is tough. |
| D．Music-making makes sense. |
1. What day is it today?
| A．Saturday. | B．Friday. | C．Monday. |
| A．She has no time to prepare. |
| B．Nobody can lead the dance group. |
| C．There aren’t enough people in the group. |
9 . Our ancient nomadic (游牧的) ancestor would often sing or dance to show others where to find food. In my family, we’ve always had music around us too and this influence is starting to
What is most joyous about our shared
At that point, I felt like music would be the way to
Through
| A．make up | B．come back | C．pay off | D．sign up |
| A．quit | B．arranged | C．agreed | D．started |
| A．excited | B．young | C．curious | D．outgoing |
| A．impression | B．ability | C．taste | D．strategy |
| A．understanding | B．style | C．love | D．training |
| A．family | B．empire | C．group | D．solution |
| A．1ow | B．frightened | C．amazed | D．addicted |
| A．guessed | B．scheduled | C．admired | D．heard |
| A．recommended | B．contacted | C．attracted | D．supported |
| A．sight | B．luck | C．power | D．joy |
| A．get through | B．comment on | C．hold on | D．pay attention |
| A．wondering | B．learning | C．communicating | D．impressing |
| A．topic | B．education | C．goal | D．opportunity |
| A．games | B．history | C．examples | D．music |
| A．bigger | B．closer | C．newer | D．richer |
10 . About a year ago, I had to spend a week in a hospital, because of the deadly food poisoning. There I met an elderly woman, who
And only recently, I suddenly decided to learn singing.1 was
It was easy to find that woman. I remembered her name and there was only one
Learning to sing was like learning to walk. It was like
| A．turned out | B．ran out | C．went out | D．called on |
| A．lose | B．cross | C．change | D．slip |
| A．realistic | B．fashionable | C．unavailable | D．worthless |
| A．sorting | B．owning | C．evolving | D．walking |
| A．jokingly | B．painfully | C．lightly | D．properly |
| A．planned | B．wished | C．heard | D．regretted |
| A．sound | B．hope | C．talk | D．voice |
| A．practical | B．different | C．interesting | D．accurate |
| A．benefit | B．damage | C．habits | D．dates |
| A．literary | B．architectural | C．medical | D．musical |
| A．angry | B．afraid | C．surprised | D．pleased |
| A．citizen | B．patient | C．amateur | D．friend |
| A．casually | B．seriously | C．rudely | D．uniquely |
| A．from | B．under | C．for | D．during |
| A．wrote | B．left | C．played | D．kept |
| A．make a sound | B．take a walk | C．write the song | D．tell the truth |
| A．Instead | B．Therefore | C．Moreover | D．However |
| A．giving out | B．admitting to | C．belonging to | D．finding out |
| A．existence | B．contents | C．purpose | D．forms |
| A．words | B．notes | C．noises | D．spirits |
