Does music have the power to help us sleep better? According to a recent research, it does. Using an experiment in
These benefits
Does the type of music matter? There were no
Why would music have these beneficial effects? So far, little research
2 . For more culture coverage and the new streaming services, www. vulture. com has prepared a wide range of funny things to see, hear, watch, and read.
TV: The Crown (Season Six)
Netflix, November 16.
The final season of The Crown is being divided into two parts, with four episodes on show before Thanksgiving and the remaining six landing on December 14. And, yes, those initial episodes will address the death of Princess Diana, played by Elizabeth Debicki, a talented Australian actress.
OPERA: Later the Same Evening
Juilliard Opera presents. Peter Jay Sharp Theater, November 12, 15, and 17.
Composer John Musto and play writer Mark Campbell turned those moody scenes into a one-act opera that’s become a student favorite but rarely gets seen on a greater stage. It would be a once in a life time chance to have a feast for eyes.
MOVIES: Fallen Leaves
In theaters, November 17.
Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki, a master of deadpan, returns with what might be his most romantic film so far — an unexpected meet up of an alcoholic construction worker and a headstrong supermarket employee.
MUSIC: Heaven Knows
Warner Records UK, November 10.
Pink Pantheress, 22, combines R&B, pop, and electronic music into relaxing but impactful tracks like “Do You Miss Me?” from December’s Take Me Home EP. This fall, her first complete studio-recorded album, consisting of 13 songs, will be released. Early tastes of Heaven Knows like “Capable of Love” and “Mosquito” suggest that we’re in for tighter hooks and longer, more ambitious compositions.
1. Which will attract those who enjoy Elizabeth Debicki’s performance?| A．Mosquito. | B．Malarkoi. |
| C．The Crown. | D．Fallen Leaves. |
| A．They are coming into market in November. |
| B．The works can be enjoyed once in a life time. |
| C．More details can be accessible from newspaper. |
| D．They are the works by the world-famous artists. |
| A．It is produced by Netflix. |
| B．It is divided into two parts. |
| C．It’ll be released on Nov.17. |
| D．It is her first full studio album. |
3 . It was a warm evening in August in 1995. Robert Blocker was driving to Yale University after being appointed as the university’s Dean (院长) of Music. He didn’t expect to see many people, but a couple of students met him and showed him around.
“When I looked at the history of the university and how people are devoted to the school’s art programs, I was honored by the chance to work there. I could not wait for the next day to start my job. And that excitement never changed because every day was different. My job as dean was not scheduled. I walked around the campus and students talked to me. I went to rehearsals (排演) by the students and teachers and got inspired by them,” he adds.
After nearly three decades as the Dean of Music at Yale, the 77-year-old retired from the position on Aug 31. Also an expert pianist, he remains a professor of piano at the music school, as well as professor of leadership strategies at Yale School of Management. Among his countless contributions as dean, Blocker developed long-term relationships with fellow musicians in China. He once toured cities, including Shenzhen, Shanghai and Hangzhou, giving lectures to the youngsters.
“China is a very special place for me. I am very happy to be back after the pandemic (疫情) to meet my friends and colleagues,” Blocker says, adding that he is particularly excited about being with young students.
Yang Suxian, director of the Shenzhen Piano Music Festival, says, “He has been very supportive and has participated in the Shenzhen Piano Music Festival for years, even during the pandemic.”
Blocker’s vision of a more hopeful world is reflected in his belief that music bridges the understanding between people.
“Music brings hope. People may speak different languages and have different ideas but music speaks to each other’s heart, and that’s why we keep this work going on and why the work never ends,” he says, “Our job is to let music heal the world by allowing us to understand and find a common place in our hearts.”
1. How did Robert Blocker feel after being appointed as the university’s Dean?| A．Anxious. | B．Thrilled. | C．Terrified. | D．Challenged. |
| A．Teaching leadership skills. | B．Reviving art programs of the school. |
| C．Giving concerts when touring cities in China. | D．Organizing rehearsals for students and teachers. |
| A．To advertise the festival in Shenzhen. | B．To stress Robert’s preference for music. |
| C．To review the hardships during the pandemic. | D．To show Robert’s care about Chinese musicians. |
| A．Spreading music to the whole world. |
| B．Translating music into a common language. |
| C．Helping people to reach an agreement on music. |
| D．Guiding people to know themselves better through music. |
4 . Chinese traditional painting and dance are two vital parts of the art world. But what about when they meet each other?
This year, a dance drama titled Poetic Dance: The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting (《只此青绿》) was staged on CCTV’ Spring Festival Gala and went viral.
According to CCTV, this poetic dance programme was inspired by the about 900-year-old Chinese painting A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains(《千里江山图》). Created by Song Dynasty painter Wang Ximeng at the age of 18, the painting is amazing in its marvellous size, rich coloration and the expressive details, reported CCTV. It shows a Chinese blue-green landscape: mountains and groupings of infinite rise and fall between cloudless sky and rippling water.
When the dancers moved elegantly, audiences seemed to be looking at the moving mountains and rivers. “It brings me a pure experience of beauty. It is not only dance but also an ‘exhibition’. Vast mountains and rivers are coming to life!” An Internet user Mo Weisha wrote in a review, “About a thousand years later, green mountains and rivers still wow people as they did long ago.
Some people even decided to watch the dance again when it was staged in the theaters later. In fact, in recent years, more and more modern shows highlight Chinese traditional culture and have received warm welcome. As for why, it is due to people’s great love for traditional culture.
“The younger generations have grown up with a more open mindset. They embrace Chinese culture and are proud of it. ”Yao Wei, director of Henan TV Station’s Innovation Center, told China Daily.
1. What is the function of Paragraph 1 in the text?| A．To present a common phenomenon. | B．To compare painting with dance. |
| C．To describe the art world. | D．To introduce the topic. |
| A．It was painted in several bright colors. |
| B．It shows natural beauty vividly. |
| C．It was created over thousand years ago. |
| D．It is of small size but includes great details. |
| A．People are more open to traditional culture. |
| B．People are happy to see new forms of art. |
| C．Chinese culture has been spreading around the world. |
| D．People have gained more access to traditional culture. |
| A．Passion for Chinese Traditional Painting |
| B．Art Coming Alive Through Poetic Dance |
| C．Connection Between Painting and Dance |
| D．Highlights in Traditional Chinese Culture |
Although Emily’s singing was very pleasant to hear, lacking of courage, she never dared to sing in front of strangers.
One summer, the neighborhood where she lived would hold a singing competition. Her best friend, Lucy, came to invite her to participate in the competition, but Emily said. “I’m afraid to take part in it.” Her mother said, “It’s okay, just do it bravely.” Emily followed her mama’s advice and decided to give herself a try. The day came. Emily and Lucy went to the competition site. But she was too frightened to walk onto the stage. She had been waiting until others finished singing. She shakily forced herself to stand on the stage. She started to sing, but her voice was so low. What’s worse, she was so nervous that she forgot the lyrics after singing a few words. Being laughed at by others, embarrassed and shy, she ran away from the stage.
Some naughty boys ran after her and said, “Emily, coward (胆小鬼)! Emily, coward!” Emily didn’t argue with them. What she wanted was to go back home as quickly as she could. Finally, she rushed into the house, hugged her mom and cried sadly.
“Well, my poor girl. Don’t cry. Tell me what happened to you,” asked her mom. Emily looked up at her mother and told her what she had experienced.
Listening to her, her mom cupped her face and said, “It doesn’t matter, girl. As long as you practice singing more in front of strangers, you will become braver little by little. So, my girl, don’t be beaten by a failure. You can go out to practice singing every day. No matter who is listening to you, go on singing and never stop. I believe there will be a harvest for you.”
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。
Paragraph 1
Emily followed her mom’s advice and walked into the park where many people were singing and dancing.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2
The second year, the neighborhood held the singing competition again.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6 . Do you like Chinese traditional painting and dance? They are two important parts of the traditional Chinese art. But what about when they meet each other?
This year, a dance drama titled Poetic Dance: The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting (《只此青绿》) was staged on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala and became popular.
According to CCTV, this poetic dance program was inspired by the 900-year-old Chinese painting A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains (《千里江山图》), created by Song Dynasty painter Wang Ximeng at about 18. The painting is amazing in its sweeping size, rich coloration and the expressive details, reported by CCTV. It shows a Chinese blue-green landscape: mountains and groupings of infinite (无限的) rise and fall between cloudless sky and rippling (涟漪的) water.
When the dancers moved elegantly, audiences seemed to be looking at the moving mountains and rivers. “It brings me a pure experience of beauty. It is not only a drama but also an exhibition. Vast mountains and rivers are coming to life!” Internet user Mo Weisha wrote in a review. “More than a thousand years later, green mountains and rivers still impress people as they did long ago.” Some people even decided to watch the dance again when it was staged in the theaters later. In fact, in recent years, more and more modern shows have featured Chinese traditional culture and received warm welcome. As for the reason, it is due to people’s great love for traditional culture.
“The younger generations have grown up with a more open mind. They accept Chinese culture and are proud of it,” Yao Wei, director of Henan TV Station’s Innovation Center, told China Daily.
1. What’s the writing purpose of paragraph 1?| A．To raise a question. | B．To introduce the topic. |
| C．To describe the art world. | D．To show a doubtful thought. |
| A．CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala. | B．A Chinese blue-green landscape. |
| C．Song Dynasty painter Wang Ximeng. | D．An old Chinese traditional painting. |
| A．Traditional culture is accepted and loved by people. |
| B．Green mountains and rivers greatly impress people. |
| C．The poetic dance can be staged in the theaters later. |
| D．Increasing modern shows feature Chinese traditional culture. |
| A．It explains why Chinese art enjoys popularity. |
| B．It shows us art can come to life through dance. |
| C．It highlights the beauty of Chinese traditional art. |
| D．It tells us the love for Chinese traditional painting. |
7 . Peng Jingxuan, a 26-year-old Chinese girl, is now studying in a music university in Paris. While learning abroad, she is also working at spreading traditional Chinese culture to the world. She can often be found on French streets, wearing a silk Han Dynasty-style dress and playing the guzheng to passers-by.
Born in 1995, Peng began to learn the guzheng when she was seven years old. After arriving in France in late 2017, she saw many people do street performances, but few of them knew about Chinese music. So she decided to play the guzheng on the streets.
Peng made her first performance in front of a theater in October, 2018. “I was very nervous at that time, but a lot of people said they enjoyed my performance,” Peng said. Then she started to perform during weekends and holidays. After being asked plenty of times by local people about the guzheng, Peng now carries a book that explains the instrument to foreigners. Later, she posted her first video of playing the guzheng online and it spread quickly. From then on, Peng has posted many videos of her street performances. The videos have got many likes and made her a very popular guzheng artist. She has millions of fans on the Internet now.
More and more people show great interest in the guzheng after watching Peng’s performances. “People come to me and praise me for the beauty of the instrument and the music. Every time they ask me which country the guzheng comes from, I am very happy to tell them it’s from China.” Peng feels she has more responsibility to spread traditional culture. “What is national is universal. I hope to play a bigger role in making Chinese music known by the world.” said Peng.
1. Why did Peng decide to play the guzheng on the streets in Paris?| A．Because she needed to make money for her education. |
| B．Because she wanted to become famous. |
| C．Because she found few people there knew about Chinese music. |
| D．Because she wanted to make videos to post online. |
①put her first video online
②got many fans
③went to Paris
④made her first performance
| A．③④①② | B．①②③④ | C．③①④② | D．①④②③ |
| A．Advising people to visit Pang. | B．Telling the story of a popular guzheng artist. |
| C．Asking people to learn the guzheng. | D．Encouraging readers to do street performances. |
8 . 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．Career pressure. | B．Social trend. |
| C．Family tradition. | D．Her professor’s performance. |
| A．Her early passion for suona. | B．Her exposure to vocal music and dance. |
| C．Her learning knowledge of rhyme. | D．Her performing experiences with family. |
| A．By learning from the famous professor Liu. |
| B．By visiting Shanghai Conservatory of Music. |
| C．By combining suona with other music forms. |
| D．By watching her family performing with suona. |
| A．She is now working as a professor overseas. |
| B．She appreciates the value of her performance. |
| C．She has made a fortune after 20 years’ devotion. |
| D．She has amazed Westerners with her hard work. |
9 . From Asia to America and everywhere in between, Swing — an energetic form of dance that includes six-step and eight-step rhythms (节奏) — has taken the world by storm. Making a recent comeback, swing dance floors have popped up all over the world. Many clubs make fans of Swing happy by holding nights when swing music is played, and sometimes even offering classes to attract customers.
Though Swing is now popular worldwide, it first appeared alongside the jazz movements of the 1920s and 1930s in New York City. While listening to jazz, the young black people of that time developed the movements of the Lindy Hop — a style of dance that is best known for a break away or “swing out” move and sudden improvisation (即兴表演).
It was reportedly given this name when a reporter was interviewing a person at the dance hall who was watching other couples dance. When asked what that dance was called, the watcher looked at a newspaper next to him that had an article about Lindbergh — the first person to fly alone across the Atlantic (大西洋) — which was titled, “Lindy Hops the Atlantic”. Then the watcher announced that “Lindy Hop” was the name of the dance, and it has stuck since then.
In 1926, the Savoy Ballroom was the first large business to offer a place for people to listen to swing music and dance. With its huge dance floor, the Savoy became a big success overnight, attracting some of the best dancers and musicians in the New York area.
Within ten years, the Lindy Hop was sweeping through the United States and became a symbol of unity, as young people of all racial (种族的) backgrounds crowded into dance halls to swing the night away. Traditional dance teachers did not welcome it because they thought it was not even a real dance and were quite sure about its demise but Swing has proved them wrong; it continues to be one of the world’s most fun dances.
1. What’s the purpose of this passage?| A．To introduce a popular form of dance. |
| B．To discover the fun secrets of a dance. |
| C．To tell stories about an energetic dance. |
| D．To describe the special moves of a dance. |
| A．Challenge. | B．Change. | C．Development. | D．Death. |
| A．It’s a lively dance with strict rules. |
| B．It has a close connection with a pilot. |
| C．It has a history of over 90 years. |
| D．It attracts mostly young black people. |
| A．The dance style will soon be accepted by traditional dance teachers. |
| B．The name was changed from “Lindy Hop” to “Swing” in the 1940s. |
| C．The movements of different Swing dancers always look the same. |
| D．The dance might have become unpopular sometime in its history. |
10 . A music festival, which is often presented with a main idea, is a community event mainly about live performances of singing and instrument playing. On the list are the music festivals for fans around the world. Find your favourite now!
Field Day
January 1, 2022, Sydney
Field Day means New Year’s Day for young people in Sydney. Seen as the city’s original outdoor party, it’s a gathering of friends coming together for a great fun-filled first day of the year. There’s an air of hope and active energy on a perfect summer’s day.
Envision Festival
February 21-26, 2022, Uvita
The Envision Festival is an annual event in Costa Rica that wants to provide a chance for different cultures to work with one another to create a better community. The festival encourages people to practise art, music and dance performances. At the same time, our connection with nature is expected to be strengthened.
McDowell Mountain Music Festival
March 2-4, 2022, Phoenix
The McDowell Mountain Music Festival is Phoenix’s musical celebration of community culture. Since its founding in 2004, it is the only 100% nonprofit(非营利的) music festival designed to support, entertain and educate the community. The festival attracts thousands of visitors each year from around the country, and it is an opportunity to experience true culture.
Old Settler’s Music Festival
April 19-22, 2022, Tilmon
The Old Settler’s Music Festival is a nationally known music festival for American music. The festival is held in Tilmon, Texas at the height of the wild flower season. The Old Settler’s Music Festival offers great music and activities for the whole family.
1. Which city should you go to if you intend to participate in a music festival in January?| A．Sydney. | B．Uvita. | C．Phoenix. | D．Tilmon. |
| A．It encourages people to receive education. |
| B．It is not held to make money. |
| C．It provides a chance for friends to meet each other. |
| D．It focuses on culture spread. |
| A．Field Day and Envision Festival. |
| B．Envision Festival and McDowell Mountain Music Festival |
| C．Old Settler’s Music Festival and McDowell Mountain Music Festival. |
| D．Envision Festival and Old Settler’s Music Festival. |
