1 . What are the two different things that make humans different from other animals? One is language, and the other is music. It is true that some animals can sing. However, the songs of animals are very simple. It is also true that humans, not animals, have developed musical instruments.
Music is clearly different from language. However, people can use music to communicate with others, especially expressing their emotions. When music is combined with speech, it’s a very powerful form of communication.
If music is truly different from speech, then we should process music and language in different parts of the brain. The scientific studies have proved that it is true. For example, Vissarion Shebalin, a Russian composer, had a stroke (中风) in 1953. It injured the left side of his brain. He couldn’t speak or understand speech. However, he still could compose music until his death. On the other hand, sometimes strokes cause people to lose their musical ability, but they can still speak and understand speech.
Why does music have a strong effect on us physically and emotionally? That’s a hard question to answer. Geoffrey Miller, a researcher at a university, thinks that music and love have a strong connection. Music requires a special talent, practice and physical ability. For example, playing a musical instrument requires fine muscular control. You also need good memory to remember the notes. And playing those notes correctly suggests that your hearing is in excellent condition. Finally, when a man sings to the woman he loves, it may be a way of showing off.
However, Miller’s theory still doesn’t explain why certain combinations of sounds influence our emotions so deeply. For scientists, this is clearly an area that needs further research.
1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To introduce the main topic. |
| B．To show the author’s attitude. |
| C．To analyse causes. |
| D．To describe a process. |
| A．is translated into a language |
| B．is combined with speech |
| C．is sung by some famous musicians |
| D．is mixed with the cry of an animal |
| A．he is one of the luckiest persons |
| B．he is really interested in composing music |
| C．the brain processes music and language separately |
| D．music and language are two different things for some |
| A．The effects of music on humans’ works. |
| B．The studies on how music affects our works. |
| C．The reasons why music affects us. |
| D．The ways of using music in daily life. |
1. What music makes the man want to dance?
| A．The 80s music. | B．The song “Holiday“ | C．Madonna’s new music. |
| A．Think about past experiences. | B．Drive more carefully. | C．Try something new. |
| A．Getting good grades is important. |
| B．One shouldn’t study history at school. |
| C．Studying is complicated. |
| A．He will forget the past. | B．The woman is right. | C．He will study harder. |
1. What do we know about Radio Caroline?
| A．It closed down in 1964. |
| B．It was popular with the young. |
| C．It was started by a ship owner. |
| A．Several DJs of Radio Caroline. |
| B．Books signed by The Beatles. |
| C．Letters from music fans. |
| A．In April. | B．In May. | C．In June. |
4 . Free Summer Concerts in Downtown Gastonia
Gastonia presents 4 downtown concert events. As usual, profits from adult beverage sales support local charities.
May 19: On the Border with Garrett Huffman
Garrett Huffman 6:00 pm
Garrett Huffman entertains audiences with a variety of musical styles, including 80’s hits, country, and alternative pop.
On the Border: The Ultimate Eagles Tribute 7:30 pm
On the Border treats fans to an authentic concert experience while journeying through the Eagles songbook. The band covers every big hit, from ballads such as “Desperado” to rockin’ hits like “Heartache Tonight”.
June 23: The Voltage Brothers with Emerald Empire
Emerald Empire 6:00 pm
Playing all your favorite songs from the 70’s to the 90’s, Emerald Empire will get you dancing all night long.
The Voltage Brothers 7:30 pm
The Voltage Brothers’ repertoire consists of your favorite R & B, Swing, Disco, Funk, Hip Hop, Jazz, Motown, and even Classic Rock hits.
August 11: Caleb Davis with Tangerine Trees
Tangerine Trees 6:00 pm
Tangerine Trees is the Carolinas premier Beatles tribute band, recreating the authentic sounds of the original The Beatles.
Caleb Davis 7:30 pm
Caleb Davis takes crowds to experience a diverse mix of blues, rock, pop, and dance hits from the 60’s through the 90’s.
Sept 15: Kids in America with Akita
Akita 6:00 pm
A funk band, Akita creates a wave of infectious beats that draws a crowd and gets your feet moving.
Kids in America 7:30 pm
Kids in America is a high-energy, power-packed fun band. It covers from new wave, pop, dance, rock, hair metal, and sing along iconic ballads.
New in 2023!
Games, activities, and toys are provided for kids!
Local favorite food vendors (摊贩) are on hand for tasty treats!
In addition to beer, we’ve got seltzers, IPAs, and sodas.
Water is available free of charge.
1. Who originally sings the song “Desperado”?| A．Garrett Huffman. | B．Caleb Davis. |
| C．Eagles. | D．Emerald Empire. |
| A．May 19. | B．June 23. | C．August 11. | D．September 15. |
| A．On the Border with Garrett Huffman. |
| B．The Voltage Brothers with Emerald Empire. |
| C．Caleb Davis with Tangerine Trees. |
| D．Kids in America with Akita. |
5 . It is difficult for a teacher to decide whether to allow students to listen to music in the classroom. Every time students need to write an essay or work on a problem, they say, “Can I put my headphones on? I think better that way.” But is that really true? Does music help concentrate?
Research offers little to back up the idea that listening to music improves concentration. In one small study, 133 students performed reading tasks while listening to either light music, hip hop, or no music at all. Students who performed the reading tasks in silence scored the highest. Music with a higher intensity (强度) like hip hop was more distracting and had a bad effect on task performance.
Volume (音量) plays a more important role than the type of music. The study found that the louder the music, the worse the performance in concentration. The type of music didn’t matter. Data from the study showed once again that silence was the best environment to improve concentration.
However, music has a positive effect on work performance. Studies have showed that listening to music leads to positive changes in mood, as well as creativity. In fact, in music-listening cultures, which students are certainly part of, there’s actually a change in mood when the music is taken away.
It’s hard to convince my students that music doesn’t help with their concentration. Taj, a senior told me, “I wouldn’t be able to concentrate if I were listening to music and trying to read. However, when I write, I feel like music helps me concentrate deeply. I don’t have writer’s block. It’s easy for me to put my words on paper.”
“Maybe not with reading, but when it comes to math, listening to music certainly helps,” Danela told me. “You could actually be singing along with what you’re listening to and doing well in math.”
1. What does the underlined word “distracting” in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Making it difficult for someone to concentrate. |
| B．Causing great excitement. |
| C．Making someone want to do something. |
| D．Making someone feel frightened. |
| A．Students do well in reading tasks while listening to music. |
| B．Music can’t improve people’s mood and creativity. |
| C．Different types of music lead to different performances. |
| D．The volume of music affects concentration. |
| A．They believe music doesn’t help concentrate. |
| B．They use music to help with their paper-writing. |
| C．They can’t focus on reading while listening to music. |
| D．They don’t listen to music while doing math problems. |
| A．Should Students Listen to Music? | B．Does Music Help Concentration? |
| C．Is Music Related to Reading? | D．Can Music Change Mood? |
| A．The woman should learn the guitar. |
| B．The woman should change her mind. |
| C．The woman should give up the violin. |
7 . As a child, Liu Wenwen didn’t like the suona, a “loud” traditional Chinese musical instrument, also an ancestral treasure of her family that was to become her career.
Liu says she felt ashamed. In the 1990s, people admired things that were modern and international. The suona was considered out of date. Her father’s family has performed with the suona for seven generations, while the tradition on her mother’s side of the family can be traced back to the early Qing Dynasty. Despite her unwillingness, she followed her parents to play the suona as early as 3 years old. Besides it, Liu has also learned traditional Chinese vocal music and dancing—skills that have improved her oral muscles and sense of rhyme, helping equip her to be a professional musician.
It wasn’t until 2008 that she first found suona music beautiful. That was when she entered the Shanghai Conservatory of Music to learn the instrument more systematically from Liu Ying, a professor and top player. “The music played by the professor is just amazing, and different from what I had heard before,” she says.
She loves exchanging ideas about suona playing techniques with her students. “It’s wonderful to see the younger generation carrying on this cultural tradition.” Liu Wenwen said she is pleased to see the suona regain popularity among young people, sometimes combined with jazz, opera and other art forms. This has stopped its decline in the 1990s. Her name, when mentioned on China’s social media platforms, often is followed by a video of her live performance at a concert in Sydney, Australia. Westerners were amazed by the loud, unfamiliar instrument and its colorful music. “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 urged Liu Wenwen to learn to play the suona?| A．Family tradition. | B．Personal interest. |
| C．Her professor. | D．Her ambition. |
| A．Follow her parents to play the suona. |
| B．Learn music history at an early age. |
| C．Play the suona with her parents on the stage. |
| D．Better her oral muscles and sense of rhyme. |
| A．By learning from the famous professor Liu. |
| B．By visiting Shanghai Conservatory of Music. |
| C．By performing the suona music in Sydney. |
| D．By hearing her family playing the suona. |
| A．She learned the value of her performance. |
| B．She earned a fortune after 20 years’ training. |
| C．She worked hard and became an international professor. |
| D．She surprised many westerners with a video of her performance. |
8 . While most musicians work with other artists when creating their music, Holly Herndon, an American musician and sound artist who is now based in Berlin, takes a different way, working with the machine learning software called Spawn. The software uses artificial neural networks modeled after the structure of the human brain. These networks learn patterns from datasets during the training process. Based on the data, the networks create new material that includes Herndon’s own voice.
When producing her album, PROTO, Holly trained datasets to write new music. The process requires the input data of music written by people or by artificial intelligence (AI). The neural networks then produce variations of that music. “Computers surprise you in a way that an instrument doesn’t,” Holly said. So what does music sound like when composed by what is essentially a robot? It sounds like music from the future!
But Holly Herndon isn’t the only one exploring AI in composition. Machines have played an increasingly important role in music over the last century. The godfather of computer science, Alan Turing, developed the first computer generated music in 1951. Then in 1980. David Cope from the University of California, Santa Cruz developed EMI — Experiments in Musical Intelligence, a system that analyzes existing music and produces new pieces based on it.
AI might not take over the job of the “pop star” anytime soon, or will it? Miquela Sousa is a computer-generated artist with over one million followers on Instagram. “I’m a model and singer. And I’m a robot,” Miquela said. This then raises the question: Can we reproduce creativity using a computer?
Though those questions are not easy to answer, I believe the next frontier of music lies somewhere in between. I can see the path forward with a new dawn of creativity that combines human inventiveness with AI. And the next chapter of music will certainly become wonderful as music and AI become even more closely connected.
1. What plays an important role in producing PROTO?| A．Holly’s special voice. | B．The input of existing music. |
| C．Holly’s rich knowledge. | D．The use of an instrument. |
| A．To promote deep thinking on AI musicians. |
| B．To show the popularity of smart robots. |
| C．To explain the tasks of computer-generated artists. |
| D．To make comparisons between human and robotic artists. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Surprised. | C．Confused. | D．Confident. |
| A．The increasing diversity of AI music. | B．The development of musical composition. |
| C．The history of computer-generated music. | D．The combination of AI and musical composition. |
1. What was the increase of the number of searches for ‘Cuba(古巴)’ on Mafengwo?
| A．1,170%. | B．1,130%. | C．1,113%. |
| A．Carlos | B．Ernest Hemingway. | C．Jay Chou. |
| A．They can’t experience a local mojito due to the COVID-19. |
| B．Many of them like mojito very much. |
| C．Supermarkets were doing discounts(折扣) on mojito. |
As a single mother, I’ve never doubted my daughter Jane’s dream to be a singer on the stage. At an early age, she was crazy about singing. Whenever she had a chance, she would sing to her heart’s content. Her sweet and charming voice tended to get people around attracted to her songs.
Living in a small city, I took several odd jobs, determined to do everything in my power to support her. Soon after Jane attended school, her music teacher Mary noticed her talent by chance and volunteered to give her some guidance on how to sing. Jane practiced so hard that before long she made great progress in singing.
Unfortunately, one noon a year later, Jane was crossing the street when a careless driver knocked her down. She was rushed to hospital. When I hurried there, the doctor told me that my daughter would probably not stand on her own feet. I froze with shock, feeling as if I had been thrown into a dark world. Weak and dizzy, I was about to fall to the ground when someone took hold of me.
It was Mary, who got the news and raced here. She comforted me, saying firmly, “Grace, Jane needs you. You must stay calm and strong.” I nodded. Having calmed down, I entered the ward with Mary.
That night, Jane recovered her consciousness (知觉) and opened her eyes. Holding her hand, I said, “My dear, everything would be fine.” Mary comforted her gently, “I know you are a strong girl, Jane. Don’t worry. We’ll be standing by you.” I was heartbroken to see tears streaming down Jane’s cheeks.
After two months, we returned home from hospital. Her teachers and friends frequently visited her. Jane eventually accepted the fact that she would have to get around in a wheelchair. Never did she refer to the subject of singing again. I knew she was a nice and understanding girl, who was afraid that talking about her original dream would upset the two of us.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
One day, however, Mary came with good news.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When the host announced it was Jane’s turn, she was wheeled onto the stage.
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