3 . An underwater dance performance brought He Haohao into the spotlight. The show, titled Pray, features He as the Goddess of the Luohe River. It became popular after being played on Henan TV in June 2021. Thousands of Internet users were amazed at her graceful but highly demanding moves, such as flying in the water.

The 31-year-old started to learn synchronized (花样的) swimming at the age of eight and won a national championship. In 2013, she graduated from college and went to work a nine-to-five job in an office. But her true passion for the underwater sport pushed her out of her comfort zone. Three years later, she gave up the job and was qualified as a professional dance coach.

To let more people know about the underwater dance, she has been trying to film short videos of dances that feature Chinese traditional culture. One of her most impressive pieces of work is an underwater dance for a public service announcement about ocean protection in 2018.She created the dance in the sea.

“As a lover of traditional culture, it’s my own way to present it by combining it with the underwater dance,” He added. “You can do many impossible movements that can’t be accomplished on land, such as flying.” This makes the underwater dance more beautiful to watch.

When shooting Pray, she had to wear counterweights (平衡物) weighing from 2 to 10kilograms to stand still in the water. More dangerously, her neck was once wounded around by costumes that can float without control under the water.

Now, her next work that features swinging tai chi swords is to be released soon. The audience is expecting to see another fascinating performance under the water.

7 . For as long as I can remember, music has been a special part of my life. Throughout my _________, my family constantly had music playing in our house. I _________ the music that my parents liked, from The Beatles to John Denver to the Irish music that everyone in my family loved. As I grew older, music remained something that was _________ to me. It became more and more meaningful to me as I began to _________ my own taste in music. I started finding songs that I _________ over others, and I found singers that I admired. Taylor Swift was my favorite; I loved her poetic lyrics and I looked up to her as a person. As an idealistic child who loved to daydream, I loved all of Taylor Swift’s passionate _________ about love and the beauty of life.

As I grew older, I began to develop a unique taste in music. I saw the world of music as a place to _________, a place where I could discover who I was and express myself. I loved listening to different types of music and finding my own bands that I liked. My _________ were like a collection to me; I could keep adding more to enjoy and to show to other people. Listening to music was a hobby for me. It allowed me to feel as if I was free to do _________ I wanted to do. I felt happiest when I was listening to music because it was, and _________ is, my favorite thing to do.

I felt a sense of _________ and independence when I could choose whatever I was in the mood to hear, and I loved feeling as if I could use music to _________ myself and my personality. I was a shy and _________ child, but music gave me the ability to be someone else. When I listened to music, I could be whoever I wanted to be. Whenever I felt _________ or afraid, I listened to my favorite music and immediately felt _________ alone. Music has brought me so much joy in my life that I would not trade for anything.

9 . Can you imagine a civilization without music? Impossible, I would say. In addition, history shows that every culture on this planet has used music all the way.     1    .

They say that music is good for the soul, but what about the heart?     2    . Heart patients were observed at Massachusetts General Hospital. They were recovering from heart surgery. Some patients listened to Mozart’s piano sonatas for half an hour every day. These patients were the ones who had improved heart rates and lower blood pressure compared with those who never listened to any music at all.

Patients suffering from pain have found relief from listening to music. Classical music seems to be the best choice and Mozart and Bach are the most suitable. But heavy metal and other techno sounds can actually excite patients and cause irregular heartbeats, so they are not recommended.

Studies show that simply playing soft and relaxing music while eating can have a controlling effect on how full you feel.     4    .

There was a lot of publicity about the “Mozart Effect” which showed that a group of college students did better at math while they were listening to some classical music.     5    .

10 . Depending on your view, the recorder (竖笛) is an instrument of “incredible functions” or a tool of annoyance that has bothered primary schools for too many generations. But now, it faces extinction, with one of the UK’s top music schools reporting an 80% decline in the number of young people playing it in the last 10 years.

The instrument’s future is so imperilled that the European Recorder Teachers Association is trying to bring it back to life again so it does not go the way of the lute. The ERTA argues that if the recorder was good enough for the Beatles, it has a place in modern music today. Tom Redmond, the principal of Chetham’s school of music in Manchester, said only three of its pupils practised the recorder, compared with 15 a decade ago. “More pupils were taking up the piano or other instruments,” said Redmond. “The ones that became really popular are the ones students spend more time playing alone. With the instruments being more socially or orchestral based, there has been a decline.”

Redmond also said that this problem extended “beyond the recorder itself” and was a mirror of the future of music. “Like removing any plant or animal from an ecosystem, removing the recorder has a huge ripple effect (连锁反应) beyond just the instrument. You need these instruments to create the inspiration for music, and without that, there is less excitement for it and to learn music,” he said. Chris Orton, a recorder tutor and chair of the ERTA, is leading the fight against the instrument’s extinction. He said, “The recorder is increasingly overlooked by students, and yet it has a rich history and incredible attractions. As well as making beautiful sounds, it’s an accessible instrument in that it is low-cost compared to other woodwind instruments, and it’s light and easy to carry.”