1 . Mary Poppins held on to her famous black umbrella while floating overhead and singing “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” The audience watched in amazement, and many sang along! Poppins floated for a bit and eventually landed in the midst of the excited crowd before getting on stage. No, this wasn’t a scene from a Disney movie.
They had limited success until 1995 when Rieu was asked to provide entertainment for a soccer game. He got the entire stadium to sing along to a popular waltz.
Today Rieu is the best-selling classical artist worldwide. He has sold in the ballpark of an astonishing 40 million records. He is the biggest male solo touring artist on the planet. His concerts sell more tickets than Beyoncé and Bruce Springsteen!
Many classical concerts are serious events, but Rieu’s are the opposite. He’s been nicknamed “The King of the Waltz” because he loves waltzes.
His shows are attended by people of all ages and always include surprises, like the delightful appearance by Mary Poppins. As Rieu says, “I only play music that touched my heart. And I know when it touches my heart, it will touch your heart.” During his performances, many audience members are visibly moved. They often clap, sing, dance, laugh, weep or hug one another. Rieu promises his audience, “You will have an evening that you will never forget.”And he is true to his word.
| A．Afterward, he sold over 200,000 CDs and his popularity rising. |
| B．Rather, it was part of one of André Rieu’s amazing concerts. |
| C．As a result, Rieu became a house-hold name and won great popularity. |
| D．Yet his shows consist of an extensive variety of musical genres and performances. |
| E．Then, Rieu continued his style until he got his nickname. |
| F．From early on, Rieu knew what he wanted - his own orchestra. |
1. Why did Danny decide to start his recording studio?
| A．To work with musicians. | B．To make a living. | C．To reduce costs. |
| A．Drawing cartoons. |
| B．Recording commercial music. |
| C．Making his own pop albums. |
| A．Advertise his productions. |
| B．Produce all kinds of music. |
| C．Deal with well-known musicians. |
| A．His skill at music arrangement. |
| B．His ability to employ new techniques. |
| C．His capability to meet market needs. |
1. How many French songs should DJs play according to the new rule?
| A．40 percent. | B．60 percent. | C．90 percent. |
| A．More people will not listen to their radio. |
| B．No people will listen to their American songs. |
| C．The English language will get deeper into their culture. |
| A．To protect American culture. | B．To protect French culture. | C．To protect British culture. |
| A．They hate it. | B．They don’t care. | C．They’re for it. |
| A．She wishes she had seen the play. |
| B．The music wasn’t as good as the scenery. |
| C．The scenery could have been more realistic. |
| D．The actors in the play didn’t do so well. |
007 in the Kitchen
As a man who cheerfully sing in the shower without any embarrassment, I won’t feel shameful to admit that I also love playing loud music when cooking in the kitchen. But
One of
As the music plays, the killer instinct in my blood is unleashed (被释放), which makes
However, there will be other times when the success of the whole mission counts on whether I
Of course, in the end,
6 . On a rainy afternoon in Aspinwall, Pennsylvania, a group of amateur musicians gathered to lay down a few tracks. This wasn’t the first time the band had performed together, but it was their first time in a recording studio.
The band, which calls itself Infinity, first performed its work at the 2022 Pittsburgh Schizophrenia Conference in November. All four band members are diagnosed with schizophrenia, a mental disorder that can cause people to interpret reality in abnormal ways, which can cause many kinds of disordered thinking.
Infinity formed five years ago when Flavio Chamis, a Brazilian composer and conductor, began working with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) on how to use music to treat mental illness.
“Having a mental health diagnosis is not a reason to not have a creative life,” Chamis said. Schizophrenia can be disabling, but therapy, medication and even playing music can help, according to a growing body of research.
Chamis and K.N. Roy Chengappa, a professor of psychiatry (精神病学) at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital and the director of Pittsburgh’s schizophrenia conference, are continuing their efforts with the four musicians and to further investigate musical interventions in mental health outcomes.
As imaging techniques advance, scientists are working to answer precisely why music affects the brain in the ways that it does. Playing music seems to have an impact on timing systems in the brain, which are affected by major depression, schizophrenia and other illnesses. There is research indicating that training patients to play in rhythm can in fact help retrain the brain in other, less obvious ways. Interventions tend to have positive effects, but the research is still in early stages.
The band doesn’t have much formal music training, but they played and sang with touching sincerity. “It’s not supposed to be professional or perfect,” Chengappa said. “One of them has been my patient for 20 years. ... They’ve really blossomed.”
Chamis led the Infinity recording from the piano, with each musician in a separate sound-proof room listening to one another on headphones. The conductor and composer encouraged the musicians and gave advice after each take.
“It’s been great working on this with Flavio,” said guitarist David Baird. “I loved feeling like a professional. ... I want more.”
1. What is special about the band Infinity?| A．All the members were professional. | B．It performed for people with schizophrenia. |
| C．All the members have mental disorders. | D．It formed and gave its first performance in 2022. |
| A．investigate the causes of schizophrenia | B．study the effect of music on mental illness |
| C．stimulate the members’ creativity in music | D．obtain the opportunity to cooperate with UPMC |
| A．intervening its timing systems | B．employing imaging approaches |
| C．changing its reaction time | D．making its rhythm less obvious |
| A．sincere | B．professional | C．depressed | D．confident |
Why Ear-worms Get Stuck in Your Head
We all get a sensation when a song, for no apparent reason, refuses to leave your head — in fact we’re no strangers to the dreaded “ear-worm.” But a new study published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts reveals a fascinating insight into ear-worms, and why some songs are better than others in sticking in our heads by investigating the actual elements of the song that make it catchy in the first place.
To do this, most frequent ear-worms of the participants were entered into a database and compared to songs that had never been reported as an ear-worm at all. The melodic features of the tunes were then analyzed, revealing that ear-worm tunes were typically those songs that have overall melodic shapes common in Western pop music. A classic example of a common contour (音调的升降曲线) pattern is heard in Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, where the first phrase rises in pitch and the second falls. This makes the tune easy to remember and has been exploited in many other nursery rhymes, but also in pop music.
In addition to the melodic shape, the other ingredient to the ear-worm formula is the unusual interval structure. The aim of this is to surpass the listener’s expectations of an average pop song, showing unexpected leaps or more repeated notes than usual. “Our findings show that you can, to some extent, predict which songs are going to get stuck in people’s heads based on the song’s melodic content,” says one of the researchers, “This could help song-writers or advertisers write a jingle (短歌) everyone will remember for days or months afterwards.”
The authors conclude that studies of ear-worms can help explain how the brain works, and improve our understanding in how perception, emotions, memory and spontaneous thoughts behave in different people.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________8 . American country music is also known as country western music. It has a very long history. It comes from the folksongs of immigrants (移民) from Britain. Country music uses simple music and words to express everyday feelings such as loneliness, love, and sadness. That is to say, country music describes life. It talks about friends and enemies, trucks and roads, farm and crops. People in many parts of the world like country music, because everyone can understand what the music is about.
Country western, music became popular first among cowboys (牛仔) in the American west countryside. Cowboys had to take care of cows day and night. When they were alone with the cows, they often sang beautiful and peaceful songs to calm the animals and to overcome their own fear. They were not well-educated and so they sang about their daily life in very simple words. They played guitars，violins and other instruments. In the south of America, many people added instrument. from their homes, like bottles and spoons. When cow hoys visited their friends and families on holidays like Thanksgiving, they usually sang and played country we stemn music.
In recent years, many musicians have made country we stem music a little different from the one in the past. These changes make the songs sound even better. Today singers such as Carth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, Eddie Rabbitt, LeAnn Rimes, Randy Travis and a group called Alabama are singing and playing in different styles. They have brought count ty western music more and more fans from all over the world.
1. The underlined words “calm the animals” here mean “make the animals” become| A．sad and lonely | B．quiet and relaxed |
| C．angry and wild | D．upset and scared |
| A．Early immigrants lived a very simple life. |
| B．Many country music singers are not well-educated. |
| C．Cowboys usually played country western music on holidays. |
| D．In the west of America, cowboys added instruments from their homes. |
| A．violins | B．bottles | C．knives | D．spoons |
| A．it has a long history | B．it comes from Europe |
| C．it is sung by cowboys | D．it is easy to understand |
| A．The film is made up of world classics. |
| B．Mamma Mia has moved from the stage to the screen. |
| C．Mamma Mia tells Sufi’s search for her mother. |
| D．The story of Mamma Mia has a lot to do with the band. |
| A．In Sweden. | B．In Shanghai. |
| C．In London. | D．In America. |
| A．The mature cast. |
| B．The story with ABBA music. |
| C．The European Song Contest 1984 champion. |
| D．The Chinese version of Mamma of 2011. |
注意：(1) 词数80左右；
(2) 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear John,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
