1 . 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. |
2 . 3D-Printed Violins
While professional violinists often have instruments that cost between $2000 and $10, 000, it is possible to have one that costs millions depending on how they were and who made them.
However, the good news for them is that they will meet with low-cost and durable (耐用的) 3D-printed violins thanks to The Acoustical Society of America’s AVIVA Young Artists Program. The team’s inspiration roots in multiple places. Their goals were to explore the new world of sounds created by using new materials, to use the new technology of other fields, and to make music education accessible through the printing of more durable instruments.
“The next step is to lower the costs of production for making such instruments more widely available, especially in the field of education,” said Mary-Elizabeth Brown, director of the AVIVA Young Artists Program. Violins are not the only instruments that are produced through 3D-printing technology.
| A．Besides, the AVIVA violin is less damaged than its traditional wooden cousins. |
| B．3D-printed violins have been popular with beginners since they were invented. |
| C．The violin was built in two pieces using 3D printing. |
| D．The project is also to get violins to children that couldn’t otherwise afford them. |
| E．Indeed, even basic violins for students often cost $1000 or more. |
| F．Many instruments have been produced with a 3D printer before. |
| G．Most students have to give up learning the instrument due to the high cost. |
3 . When everything is going wrong, there's nothing like listening to a few bars of your favorite sad song. But why do we find pleasure in sad music? This puzzled two researchers at the Freie Universität Berlin in Germany who set out to explore our strong feeling for sad songs in a world where entire industries exist to help us remove sadness from our lives.
Their study — based on a survey of more than 770 people around the world and published this month in the journal, PLOS ONE — discovered sad music can create positive emotions, like peacefulness and kindness, and that choosing the tearful ballad on your music player offers three benefits.
The biggest turned out to be that sad songs allow you to feel sadness without any of its “real-life contexts.” In other words, you can safely explore what it's like to be a little blue without experiencing the great pain of losing a loved one, for example.
“Emotion control” was another important benefit. Many of those surveyed said that when they were in a bad mood (情绪), experiencing sadness through music made them feel better afterwards and provided an emotional improvement. That may be because the songs help them to express and let go of their emotions, researchers noted. “Sad music promotes and creates a space for reflection and reexamination of personal experiences, thoughts and feelings,” one of the researchers added
The benefit of “empathy” (同理心) made the listener feel good by allowing him to share the sadness of another human being through the song. When we're having social problems, like when we're feeling lonely, homesick or missing someone, the sad songs can offer comfort by showing someone else shares our state of mind, the study found.
So it turns out that Elton John was right: Sad songs do say so much.
1. What does the underlined word “This” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．When things go wrong. | B．What to explore in sad songs. |
| C．Why sad music brings us joy. | D．How to remove sadness from life. |
| A．Benefits of sad music. |
| B．Strong feelings in sad music. |
| C．Real-life contexts of sad music. |
| D．Empathetic comforts from sad music. |
| A．By freeing us from bad moods. | B．By bringing great pain to us. |
| C．By helping us reflect on exams. | D．By providing a space for us. |
| A．To prove Elton John was right. | B．To show Elton John wrote songs. |
| C．To make the readers think deeply. | D．To stress the point of the passage. |
4 . Music can relax the mind, energize the body, and even help people better manage pain.
Music can improve mental performance.
Research suggests that background music improves mental performance. Playing more positive music leads to improvements in processing speed.
Music can help you eat less.
Sleeplessness is a problem that affects people of different age groups. While there are many approaches to treating this problem, research has demonstrated that listening to relaxing classical music can be a safe, effective, and affordable therapy.
Music can help you manage pain
Research has shown that music can be very helpful in the management of pain. One study of fibromyalgia (纤维性肌痛) patients found that those who listened to music for one hour a day experienced a significant reduction in pain.
| A．Music can reduce stress |
| B．The psychological effects of music can be powerful |
| C．So next time you are working on a task |
| D．Music can help you sleep better |
| E．The result of the study suggests music therapy can help treat some diseases |
| F．Some people enjoy listening to music before they go to sleep |
| G．Music can be a helpful weight-loss tool |
5 . Best Sleep Music Apps
If you want to sleep better at night, trying a sleep music app might be the answer. Here are some ideal sleep music apps to choose from.
Calm
Calm is one of the most popular sleep music apps and its large library of relaxing and sleep-causing tracks is largely responsible for that. This app offers a free version, but to really take advantage of what Calm has to offer, you had better choose the paid version, which costs $ 69.99 for one year. A lifetime membership is $ 399.99.
Relax Melodies
Relax Melodies is intended to calm your mind with relaxing sound. The composer is visual and easy to use, and the Discover page gives you access to other app features, like bedtime stories and breathing exercises. Though its free version provides a great introduction to the idea of sleep music, the paid version unlocks a larger library of sounds. Consider paying for it if there're particular sounds or features that really attract you.
Headspace
Headspace is a feature-rich app designed in a simple way that makes it quick and easy to use its library of sleep-specific music. The Sleep icon at the bottom of the app is easy to identify and leads to a library of options that include Sleep Music and Sleep Radio. It's worth noting that nearly everything in Headspace's Sleep Library requires an extra subscription. Headspace costs $ 69.99 annually, or you can pay $12.99 per month.
Pzizz
Pzizz offers sleep music tracks you can use at naptime, bedtime, or to improve focus. One thing that makes Pzizz different is its voice narration（旁白）option. If you find the presence of a calming voice to be comforting or benefit from someone helping you to relax your body and mind, then Pzizz is a good choice for you. Male and female voice options are available and the voice is low and calm. It has a free version but you should pay for extra subscriptions.
1. Which app allows you to combine sleep music with breathing exercises?| A．Calm. | B．Headspace. | C．Pzizz. | D．Relax Melodies. |
| A．$12.99. | B．$69.99. | C．$155.88. | D．$399.99. |
| A．Its voice for narration is fixed. | B．It provides low and calm music. |
| C．It offers voice narration options. | D．Its focus is sleep-specific music. |
The xiao, a traditional bamboo instrument, is now attracting more and more attention with
“From the Tang Dynasty on, usually the xiao was used for the purpose of
In Shen’s view, compared with others, the xiao is an
Since it is so simple that you can hardly make any changes on it, you can only change yourself to make your music performance better and better.
Researchers examined the benefits of singing among people with mental health conditions
They found people who took part in a community singing group improved their mental health and that the combination of singing and socialising was an important part of
The grassroots action runs weekly singing workshops for the people
The research project followed the group for six months and
The report shows how singing and socialising gave participants
8 . These destinations march to the beat of their own drum. So put on your dancing shoes and head to these sweet-sounding cities.
New Orleans
In the 19th century, slaves gathered on Sundays to play drums, dance, and sing in Congo Square. Those lively rhythms of Africa ran head on with the sounds of Europe to create jazz, a typical American art form that has inspired generations of Americans and spread around the globe. But this isn’t suit-wearing, head-nodding, polite jazz. New Orleans jazz sweeps you off your feet and makes you jump and clap and sing along.
Chicago
Large numbers of African Americans left the South in search of better opportunities during 1916~1970 and Chicago attracted scores of these people, who brought with them the sound of the Mississippi River. Here, it changed into something sad and symphonic: blues. Blues was not born in Chicago, but it was here that it found a new voice and began to spread its message around the world.
Memphis
Memphis is the birthplace of rock and roll. It was here in Sun Studios in the summer of 1951 that Ike Turner and his band the Delta Cats recorded “Rocket 88”, widely regarded as the first rock and roll song. But, like so many great things, it happened by accident the guitarist’s loudspeaker broke down during the recording, creating a unique guitar sound that would become a hallmark of the music. People didn’t know how to classify it, but they knew they loved it. The rest is history.
New York City
New York is one of the world’s greatest cities where you can listen to all kinds of music. But to experience a true New York state of mind, you have to leave the shiny towers and Broadway shows of Manhattan and head to Harlem, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens to explore the city’s hip-hop history.
1. What do New Orleans jazz and Chicago blues have in common?| A．They sound very sad. | B．They have similar origin. |
| C．They happened by accident. | D．They are played on the guitar. |
| A．In the 19th century. | B．In the late 19th century. |
| C．In the early 20th century. | D．In the mid-20th century. |
| A．Blues. | B．Jazz. | C．Hip-hop. | D．Rock and roll. |
Music is one of the most
I believe music has the power
I believe music affects people in many ways. To me, music is
10 . Beethoven is undoubtedly one of the greatest musicians. He completed 722 musical works. Unfortunately, the master died while still working on his 10th Symphony (交响曲). Now, a team of musicians and scientists have used artificial intelligence (AI) to complete the artist’s final composition.
Dr. Matthias first came up with the idea to complete the composition in 2019. He thought it was an appropriate way to celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday in December 2020. He began by enlisting an international team of music experts to help him with the giant task. They included music composer Walter and Dr. Ahmed, the creator of an innovative AI technology for the art market.
Ahmed and his colleagues started the process by familiarizing the AI software initially with a broad range of classical music, and then, narrowed it to just Beethoven’s work. Meanwhile, Walter and his group tried to interpret the rough drafts and the handful of notes that detailed Beethoven’s plans for the 10th Symphony.
The team then began the slow and careful task of feeding the AI software musical notes from the unfinished composition. To stay true to Beethoven’s original composition, Ahmed’s team sent Walter hundreds of AI-generated musical note variations every evening. Walter would listen to them and then select the one that he thought was closest to what the artist would have written. The AI team would add the music and rerun the software to generate the next suggestions. And piece by piece, the team was able to complete Beethoven’s 10th Symphony!
The composition was firstly released on October 9, 2021. Not surprisingly, it caused some controversy (争议). Critics believe technology should not be used to replicate the human creative process. Ahmed and his team agree with their opinions and say their AI software is not out to replace humans — it is just a tool to help artists to express themselves in new ways.
1. What is the purpose of the writer in writing paragraph 1?| A．To voice his greatest respect for Beethoven. |
| B．To compare traditional music and AI music. |
| C．To present the team of music experts’ hard work. |
| D．To introduce an innovative method to create music. |
| A．Horrible. | B．Steady. | C．Challenging. | D．Boring. |
| A．Question. | B．Copy. | C．Direct. | D．Speed. |
| A．Beethoven’s 10 Symphonies Is Eventually Staged |
| B．AI Helps Complete Beethoven’s Unfinished Symphony |
| C．A Team of Experts Conduct a Mission Impossible |
| D．A Controversial Way Successfully Interprets Beethoven’s Music |
