1 . HARDCORE TANO*C is an independent Japanese music label that is known for releasing music compilations and albums focused on various forms of hardcore techno such as UK hardcore, happy hardcore, and gabber. The label was founded in 2003 by Yoshikazu Nagai (who at the time used the Akai Hito alias), originally under the name of Hardcore Tanoshii, but changed to its current name of HARDCORE TANO*C in 2007 after the release of the album HARDCORE SYNDROME. The label features a store which sells the most notable doujin (同人)music releases, and is well known for their frequent live events that are regularly organized throughout the years, including the annual TANO*C TOUR series of events and the S2TBTANO*C events done in collaboration with kors k’s S2TB Recording label.
From 2011 to 2018, HARDCORE TANO*C were very closely linked with BEMANI, most notably in beat mania IIDX and SOUND VOLTEX. Many of HARDCORE TANO*C’s members were frequent contributors to BEMANI,and KONAMI even collaborated with the label for a few of their own album releases. Their presence also expanded to various other music game titles.
Many guest artists have appeared in HARDCORE TANO*C compilations, including Ryu☆, kors k, DJ Shimamura, m1dy, M-Project, JAKAZiD (as Joshka), Hommarju, Camellia, lapix, C-Show, Maozon, Nhato, Dustvoxx, and Akira Complex.
By the end of 2017, HARDCORE TANO*C has started to produce major artist album releases, containing licensed works done for music games by the circle’s artists. From September 2018, a sub-label directed by DJ Myosuke named HARDCORE TANO*C HARD has been established, which focuses on harsher music. HARDCORE TANO*C is also heavily involved in the 2019 rhythm game WACCA, which is published by MARVELOUS!, with nearly its entire staff contributing to the game.
A song composed by various members of HARDCORE TANO*C, BATTLE NO.1, was planned to be in SOUND VOLTEX IV HEAVENLY HAVEN for the The 8th KONAMI Arcade Championship, under the artist name of TANO*C SOUND TEAM. KONAMI rejected the song (likely due to their poking fun (打趣) of the BEMANI Sound Team moniker, which was at its most extreme in the time of that event), and it later appeared instead in the HARDCORE TANO*C-produced game WACCA on August 1st, 2019. It also appeared in lowiro’s Arcaea as part of the Arcaea× HARDCORE TANO*C Collaboration (联动) and SEGA’s maimai でらっくす Splash. It was added to Muse Dash on February 5, 2021.
1. What’s the main idea of the first paragraph?| A．Some basic information about HARDCORE TANO*C. |
| B．The founder and members of HARDCORE TANO* |
| C．C. The relationship between Yoshikazu Nagai and HARDCORE TANO*C. |
| D．The relationship between BEMANI and HARDCORE TANO*C. |
| A．Camellia. | B．Laur. | C．Maozon. | D．Akira Complex. |
| A．It was produced by HARDCORE TANO*C last year. |
| B．None of MARVELOUS!’s employees is working for it. |
| C．The song BATTLE NO.1 was included in this game. |
| D．It had a collaboration with Muse Dash in Feb, 2021. |
| A．Try playing WACCA if possible. |
| B．Spread bad comments about HARDCORE TANO* |
| C．Only cheer for the game or the artist you like. |
| D．Ask the official staff about the song selection petulantly. |
2 . Project SEKAI Colorful Stage! feat. Hatsune Miku is a rhythm game jointly developed by SEGA, Craft Egg, and Crypton Future Media, and produced by SEGA Games and Craft Egg's subsidiary Colorful Palette. It is also known by the abbreviations “PJSK".
About the Project SEKAI
The Project SEKAI Colorful Stage! feat. Hatsune Miku primarily takes the real world area near Shibuya, Japan as its backdrop.
Game Features
Regarding the storyline, its dialogue scenes feature Live2D technology, and players can unlock new clothing, songs, and other elements as they progress through the story. Additionally, characters featured in 3DMV can be freely customized, and clothing purchased in the real world will be showcased in 3DMV. Players can appreciate the vivid and beautiful 3DMV with their favorite characters or designs.
As for the gameplay, commands will appear in a top-down format, coordinating with rhythm and various commands to create combos (连击数，即连续点击note的数目), which named the game’s chart. The game features three types of notes: TAP, FLICK, and HOLD.
Worldview
In the "Project SEKAI", Hoshino Ichika and others accidentally stumbled into the “SEKAI” and encountered six virtual singers.
| A．Notably, some songs in the game will be divided into “original version” and “SEKAI version” sung by both virtual singers and original game characters. |
| B．Virtual singers manifest in distinct guises and inhabit distinct worlds, aiding individuals in discerning their authentic aspirations. |
| C．When it comes to the 3DMV and songs, PJSK combines 3DMV with popular VOCALOID tracks (术力口歌曲), which widely attract various players. |
| D．However, the judgment criteria of PJSK’s notes differ, such as the ability to simultaneously hold a unique-shaped HOLDs with multiple fingers but not to swipe through dense TAPs. |
| E．Virtual singers, such as Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin&Len (镜音铃&镜音连), Megurine Luka (巡音流歌), MEIKO, and KAITO, are portrayed as being the same as how we perceive them in the real world |
| F．In the tangible world, the virtual singer Hatsune Miku, along with Kagamine Rin&Len, Megurine Luka, MEIKO, and KAITO, is collectively referred to as "Hatsune Miku and her partners" |
| G．In terms of songs, PJSK has featured a wide selection of highly popular VOCALOID tracks and collaborates with renowned VOCALOID composer to release original songs. |
1. What instrument did the speaker play when she was young?
| A．The piano. | B．The guitar. | C．The violin. |
| A．In London. | B．In Sydney. | C．In New York. |
| A．They’ll meet famous performers. |
| B．They’ll have a brighter future. |
| C．They’ll get a chance to travel the world. |
| A．Three. | B．Four. | C．Seven. |
| A．Too much traffic. |
| B．Too many people. |
| C．Cold temperature outdoors. |
| D．No food or drinks available. |
| A．Watch a football game. |
| B．Watch a display of fireworks. |
| C．Go for a picnic in the park. |
| D．Go to the gym for a workout. |
| A．She sneezes when exposed to grass. |
| B．She is quiet when watching a game. |
| C．She is a huge football fan. |
| D．She loves classical music. |
| A．Archie is good at arguing with others. |
| B．Archie always has his way in the end. |
| C．Sophie is considerate of others’ feelings. |
| D．Sophie is good at making up excuses. |
5 . Do you listen to quiet music to help you wind down before sleep? However, this practice could be counter-productive, according to a new study by Michael K. Scullin and colleagues at Baylor University. The work, published in Psychological Medicine, found that bedtime music was associated with more sleep disruptions and that instrumental music is even worse than music with lyrics.
In the first study, 199 online participants living in the US reported on their sleep quality and music listening frequency and timing, as well as their beliefs about how this affected their sleep. Almost all—87%—believed that music improves sleep, or at least does not disrupt it. However, the team found that more overall time spent listening to music was associated with poorer sleep and daytime sleepiness. Just over three quarters of the participants also reported experiencing frequent “earworms”—having a song or tune “stuck” and replaying in their minds. A quarter reported experiencing these during the night at least once per week, and these people were six times as likely to report poor sleep quality. The team’s analysis suggested that listening specifically to instrumental music near bedtime was linked to more sleep-related earworms and poorer sleep quality.
The team then ran an experimental study on 48 young adults. After arriving at the sleep lab at 8:45 p. m., participants went to a quiet bedroom, where they completed questionnaires that included measures of stress, sleep quality and daytime sleepiness. They also had electrodes applied, ready for the night-time polysomnography to record their brain wave activity, as well as heart rate and breathing, and reported on how relaxed, nervous, energetic, sleepy and stressed they felt. At 10:00 p. m., they were given some “downtime”, with quiet music playing. Half were randomized to hear three songs while the other half heard instrumental-only versions of these same songs.
Participants reported decreases in stress and nervousness and increased relaxation after listening to either set of songs, and also showed decreases in blood pressure. So-as earlier studies have also suggested- quiet music at bedtime was indeed relaxing at the time. However, a quarter of the participants woke from sleep with an earworm, and the polysomnography data showed that instrumental versions of the songs were more likely to induce these awakenings as well as other sleep disruptions, such as shifts from deeper sleep to lighter sleep. Taken together, the findings represent “causal evidence for bedtime instrumental music affecting sleep quality via triggering earworms” the team writes.
Why instrumental-only songs should have a bigger impact than music with lyrics isn’t clear. The three songs used in this study were chosen because they were likely to be familiar. Hearing them without the lyrics might have prompted the participant’s brains to try to add the words, which might have made earworms more likely. If this is the case, all instrumental music may not have the same effect. However, the data from the first study is consistent with the idea that instrumental music generally is more of a problem.
1. According to the passage, the participants in both studies______.| A．were required to listen to light music | B．felt their sleeping problems resolved |
| C．had their sleeping quality monitored | D．provided feedback on bedtime music |
| A．Lead to. | B．Impact on. | C．Break in. | D．Focus on. |
| A．Earworms are mainly caused by music with lyrics. |
| B．Bedtime music leads to high blood pressure and anxiety. |
| C．Quiet music improves sleeping quality while loud music harms sleep. |
| D．Both familiar and unfamiliar instrumental music can cause sleeping problems. |
| A．how instrumental music disturbs sleep |
| B．the possible negative effect of bedtime music |
| C．how people can improve their sleep quality |
| D．differences between music with and without lyrics |
6 . Behind the Mask
Wearing the face of Patih Manis, a character in Bali’s dance dramas, means more than simply putting on a tapel, or mask.
“When you dance with a tapel and perform its character, you undergo a transformation,”says I Made Bandem, a scholar and teacher of Balinese arts – and a dancer for seven decades. “You must’marry’that mask and make ritual (仪式) offerings to create unity between yourself and the tapel. Many dancers will sleep with the mask beside them, so that they can learn its true character.”
Hand – carved tapel are essential to Topeng Pajegan and Topeng Panca, dance dramas often held at temple festivals and family rituals across this Indonesian island. The masks, along with delicate costumes, music that makes you sleep, and staccato movements – sometimes only of the fingers – have attracted Balinese audiences since the 17th century. The stories staged in Pajegan and Panca tell the history of the Balinese people, and the characters never change: Their appearance, movements, roles, and even the order in which they emerge remain the same. Yet in spite of this structure, topeng leave room for a great deal of artistic freedom. With no written text and no required musical arrangement, the entire performance which can last around four hours will be an improvisation – dancers and musicians drawing signals from one another.
It’s believed that every mask used for performance has a spirit. And if the correct offerings and taboos have been observed and the dancers have devoted themselves to mental, physical, and spiritual training, then during a dance drama their bodies will become a medium for the tapel’s spirit.
“A dancer strives to achieve taksu, which is a combination of presence, power, and passion, ”says Bandem.“This is what we pray for before we perform; it is through taksu that we bring the ancestors and their stories to life.”
1. What can we learn about tapel from the first two paragraphs?| A．Tapel refers to a character’s name. |
| B．Tapel is supposed to be with the dancers all along. |
| C．Tapel builds a bridge between the dancer and the true character. |
| D．Tapel experiences dramatic changes when worn by a dancer. |
| A．Well-designed costumes. | B．Balinese stories. | C．Uplifting music. | D．Artistic freedom. |
| A．A performance created casually. | B．A performance with full preparation. |
| C．A performance given perfectly terribly. | D．A performance without deliberate preparation. |
| A．Taksu is a Balinese dancer’s pursuit. | B．The story behind the mask. |
| C．Tapel’s spirit is impossible to overlook. | D．Taksu is a medium to connect the past and the present. |
I spent 15 years trying to make it in the music industry. When I was a teenager, I did any odd job to afford time in a recording studio. I knocked at managers’ doors and sent out demo (录音样带) after demo, but I got nowhere. In 2010, aged 27, I was doing a job in a restaurant when I wrote a song called Dream Goes On. It was a song about never giving up. I just let out all of my frustrations at the keyboard.
Over the next five years, the music career never materialized but I persisted. Then, in 2019, I uploaded Dream Goes On to a music-sharing website. I just wanted someone to notice my music.
Later that year, I received an email out of the blue from Music World from South Korea, requesting a license for the song. They had chosen my song from the millions on the music-sharing website for a theme tune for one of their shows. I was amazed and negotiated a contract for $5,000 for the use of the song and signed up straight away. I was pretty excited, but didn’t think anything more would come of it, so I focused on my job in the restaurant.
This February, Music World organized a musical festival in Seoul and my song Dream Goes On was also chosen as the theme tune for the festival. I watched on YouTube as my song was being played to a huge crowd of people. It was amazing.
After three days of the festival, I was contacted by Music World and they asked if I’d like to go to Seoul to sing Dream Goes On in a concert. They flew me out there the next day. I was welcomed like a celebrity—everyone I met thought I was a big name in England. I had to break the news to them that I wasn’t a pop star.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
I had never performed the song live, and hadn’t been on stage for years.
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After the concert, I had photographers and journalists battling to interview me.
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1. What was Willis Conover?
| A．A jazz musician. | B．A radio announcer. | C．A music producer. |
| A．When he acted in a school play. |
| B．When he attended a jazz concert. |
| C．When he entered a spelling competition. |
| A．Washington D.C. | B．New York City. | C．Buffalo. |
| A．Duke Ellington. | B．Count Basie. | C．Louis Armstrong. |
1. What is the speech mainly about?
| A．Music and dancing in Guanajuato. |
| B．Traditional Mexican dresses. |
| C．The speaker’s career. |
| A．Rock music. | B．Pop music. | C．Traditional Mexican music. |
| A．Teamwork. | B．Hard work | C．Love for the culture and music. |
| A．By buying them at the store. |
| B．By making them on their own. |
| C．By borrowing them from their grandparents. |
A music concert “Echoes of Ancient Tang Poems” jointly performed by iSING! Suzhou and the Philadelphia Orchestra was staged at Kimmel Performing Arts Center in Philadelphia on Jan. 6.
Another concert featuring Tang poetry was
The iSING! Suzhou International Young Artists Festival
The performances were also held to commemorate(纪念) the
