Wearing Hanfu and sitting in front of a Chinese zither (筝), Peng Jingxuan, a young Chinese student, moves her fingers gently along the strings on a street in Paris, France.
Peng has shared more than 200
Chinese zither (筝), or guzheng, is an ancient musical instrument with 21-26 strings and a length of 1.63 meters. Peng
Considering her audience’s
2 . Seated at the grand piano in MIT’s Killian Hall last fall, first-year student Jacqueline Wang played one piece of Mozart’s music. When she’d finished, Mi-Eun Kim, a pianist and lecturer at MIT, asked her to move to the back of the hall. Kim tapped at an iPad. Suddenly, the music Wang had just played poured forth again from the piano — its keys sinking and rising just as they had with Wang’s fingers on them. Wang stood with a confused expression, taking in a repeat of her own performance.
This unusual lesson took place during a three-week residency (驻留期) of the Steinway Spirio|r, a piano that obtains the data of live performances and offers students new possibilities for studying and experimenting with music.
Wang was one of several participants to have the experience of hearing herself play while watching the data of her performance move up and down across a screen: color-coded rectangles (矩形) indicating the speed and duration of each note, and a moving line charting her use of the damper pedal (阻尼踏板). Wang could even edit her own performance when Kim suggested her rhythmic use of the pedal might be unnecessary. Using the iPad interface to erase the pedaling entirely, they listened to the playback again, the notes gaining new clarity,
For Wang, the session introduced an element she’d never experienced since beginning her piano studies. The visual display of how long each key was played and with what speed gave her a more precise demonstration of the ideas of voicing and evenness.
Playing the piano is one of the most complex activities that humans do with their hands. Some people might think the new technology will replace the pianist. In Kim’s view, that human complexity is complemented by this kind of technical possibility. But it doesn’t mean all of the things that go into learning music will be abandoned. It’s going to be an invaluable third partner: the student, the teacher, and the Spirio|r. It’s going to play a necessary role in lots of musical efforts.
1. What happened after Jacqueline Wang finished her performance?| A．Her teacher played a piece of music to compete against her. |
| B．She got her performance reviewed on the Spirio|r. |
| C．She was asked to comment on her performance. |
| D．Her teacher instructed her to improve her skills. |
| A．It is difficult to operate. | B．It needs to be more intelligent. |
| C．It might reveal users’ privacy. | D．It is beneficial for students’ learning. |
| A．The music world is full of uncertainties. |
| B．Technology cannot replace human pianists. |
| C．There won’t be fiercer competition among pianists. |
| D．Pianists should be updated with the latest technology. |
| A．Making Full Use of MIT’s Program |
| B．The Evolution of Musical Instruments |
| C．Exploring Music with the Steinway Spirio|r |
| D．The Challenges of Learning a New Instrument |
3 . Chinese singer Gong Linna released her new song, titled Return Home, which describes the overseas Chinese people’s longing for their homeland.
Performed in Chaoshan dialect, the song is part of Gong’s music project, which has the singer perform songs in different Chinese dialects. “It is very challenging to sing in Chaoshan dialect, which is a new language to me, and thanks to the songwriter Danny Sim and the song’s producer Wesley Tan, who speak the dialect, I received intensive training and practised very hard,” says Gong. “The beauty of dialects lies in telling stories of different places. It’s like a music al map, allowing me to explore different places through dialects.”
The idea of the song came from Qiaopi, a unique form of mail that served as both a letter and a remittance (汇款) sent by overseas Chinese people to their families in provinces of Guangdong and Fujian in the 19th and 20th centuries. At that time, many of those emigrants, particularly from Guangdong and Fujian, sent money back home to support their families, as well as communicating with their beloved ones and expressing their longing to be reunited.
“Dialects are a source of knowledge, traditions and the country’s cultural heritage. When I listen to a song performed in a dialect, I feel the local culture instantly even though I never go there and know nothing about the place,” says Sim, who wrote lyrics for the song, adding that there are a growing number of musicians in China performing in dialects, which allow listeners to get an emotional touch.
“Chaoshan dialect links people from the region. However, like many languages, it’s dying. Many young people, especially children, rarely speak the dialect, which is a sad thing.” Sim says, explaining why he is keen on writing songs by using the dialect, “I love my hometown and by writing songs in the dialect, I feel close to my home. Maybe that is, culture identity.”
1. What difficulty did Gong face when performing the song?| A．She had the language barrier. | B．The culture was unfamiliar to her. |
| C．The song had to fit in with the whole project. | D．There were many unknown stories in the song. |
| A．Its history. | B．Its influence. | C．Its inspiration. | D．Its significance. |
| A．They are dropping in numbers. | B．They are seldom sung by young singers. |
| C．They can stimulate affective bond. | D．They help us know many unknown places. |
| A．A sense of duty as a song writer. | B．A sense of belonging to his hometown. |
| C．His eagerness to revive Chaoshan culture. | D．His addiction to the charm of the dialect. |
What would life like without music? I wonder how music started and when we first become interested in music. Music is a essential part of my day. It changes my feelings and put me in a good mood. There’s nothing good to do on a train or bus than put on my headphones to listen to my favorite music. I like all types of music, from classical music and opera for jazz and rock. I’m always looking for something that sounds amazed. Sometimes I hear a song or some music on the radio or on TV I enjoy it very much. I always use my pockets money to pay online to download and saving the music.
5 . It is thought that music can make maths more enjoyable, keep students engaged and help ease fear or anxiety they have about maths.
To find out more, Turkish researcher Dr Ayca Akin, from the Department of Software Engineering, Antalya Belek University, searched academic databases for research on the topic published between 1975 and 2022. She then combined the results of 55 studies from around the world, involving almost 78,000 young people from kindergarten pupils to university students, to come up with an answer.
Students took maths tests before and after taking part in the intervention and the change in their scores was compared with that of youngsters who didn’t take part in an intervention. The use of music, whether in separate lessons or as part of maths classes, was associated with greater improvement in maths over time. The integrated lessons had the biggest effect, with around 73% of students who had integrated lessons doing significantly better than youngsters who didn’t have any type of musical intervention. Some 69% of students who learned how to play instruments and 58% of students who had normal music lessons improved more than pupils with no musical intervention.
The results also indicate that music helps more with learning arithmetic (算术) than other types of maths and has a bigger impact on younger pupils and those learning more basic mathematical concepts. Dr Akin point s out that maths and music have much in common, such as the use of symmetry symbols. Both subjects also require abstract thought and quantitative reasoning.
Limitations of the analysis include the relatively small number of studies available for inclusion. This meant it wasn’t possible to look at the effect of factors such as gender, socio-economic status and length of musical instruction on the results.
Dr Akin adds, “Encouraging mathematics and music teachers to plan lessons together could help ease students’ anxiety about mathematics, while also boosting achievement.”
1. How did Dr Akin conduct her research?| A．By launching a questionnaire online. | B．By creating a data model. |
| C．By analyzing data worldwide. | D．By surveying university students. |
| A．Take maths tests. | B．Develop abstract thought. |
| C．Plan lessons with music teachers. | D．Learn more basic mathematical concepts. |
| A．Music has some similarities with mathematics. | B．Music can help students learn mathematical models. |
| C．Music is involved in mathematical calculation. | D．Music comes from mathematics. |
| A．Overall. | B．Sensitive. | C．Subjective. | D．Imperfect. |
6 . In a world of music streaming services, access to almost any song is just a few clicks away. Yet, the live performance lives on. People still fill sweaty basements, muddy fields and gilded concert halls to hear their favourite musicians play. And now neuroscientists might know why—live music engages the brain’s emotion centres more than its recorded counterpart.
Concerts are immersive (沉浸式的) social experiences in which people listen to and feel the music together through crescendos, key changes and rhythmic drops. Moreover, they are dynamic — artists can adapt their playing according to the crowd’s reaction.
It was this last difference that led neuroscientists, based at the Universities of Zurich and Oslo, to study the brain responses of people listening to music. In the “live” experiment, participants lay in an MRI scanner listening to the music through earphones, while a pianist was positioned outside the room. The pianist was shown the participant’s real-time brain activity as a form of feedback. In the recorded condition, participants listened to pre-recorded versions of the same tunes.
The scientists were interested in how live music affected the areas of the brain responsible for processing emotions, particularly the amygdala, an area deep inside the brain. The results, just published in the journal PNAS, revealed that live music had a significantly greater emotional impact. Whether the music conveyed happiness or sadness, dynamic live performances led to increased activity not only in the amygdala but also other parts of the brain’s emotion processing network. The researchers also found that participants’ brain activity tracked the acoustic (声学的) features of the music, like tempo and pitch, far more closely when it was played live.
While the study didn’t fully recreate the live concert experience, the findings suggest that artists’ ability to adjust their performance in real time contributes to the emotional resonance (共鸣) of live music. Some musical acts now attempt to recreate live concerts, such as ABBA Voyage, an immersive pre-recorded VR concert, but without artists’ capacity to read audience’s mood and respond accordingly, it will never quite match the real thing.
1. Why do people attend live shows despite music streaming services?| A．Because they prefer being with friends at a concert. |
| B．Because they enjoy the process of finding popular music. |
| C．Because they intend to meet their favorite musicians in person. |
| D．Because they value the emotional connection live music brings. |
| A．observe the participants’ brain activity as feedback |
| B．compare the effectiveness of live performances and recorded ones |
| C．provide live accompaniment to participants inside the MRI scanner |
| D．demonstrate their ability to read and respond to the audience’s mood |
| A．Live music affected only the amygdala of the brain. |
| B．The brain responded more intensely to acoustic features of live music. |
| C．Live music had a reduced emotional impact compared to recorded music. |
| D．The participants’ brain activity was especially sensitive to dynamic music. |
| A．It fails to create a perfect performing atmosphere. |
| B．It matches the sound quality of live performances. |
| C．It greatly stirs up the audience’s emotional response. |
| D．It lacks artists’ response based on audience’s feedback. |
7 . Music is arguably the most life-enriching academic subject.
Increase language capabilities
Music and language have a far-reaching relationship. Musical training stimulates the same part of the brain that deals with understanding language. Children who have some exposure to music al education will, therefore, have a greater understanding of tones and how different phrases are arranged.
Improve hand-eye coordination (协调)
Music is a great way for your child to meet new people and create lasting friendships. If they decide to take up music as an extracurricular (课外的) activity, they’ll be bonding with like-minded children who share their passion. In a time when children are increasingly interested in communicating online and focusing on digital skills, music is a refreshing return to face-to-face contact.
Bring about a sense of achievement
When your child does achieve a musical goal, they get the incredible satisfaction that comes from working hard to obtain something.
| A．Develop social skills |
| B．Encourage teamwork |
| C．In that sense, music is a great confidence builder |
| D．Hand-eye coordination is important in many sports |
| E．Learning an instrument to a high level is no easy task |
| F．It activates emotional responses and creativity like no other |
| G．It can be incredibly useful if your child is learning a second language |
1. What is the woman’s main interest for the future?
| A．To teach music in school. |
| B．To become a pop singer. |
| C．To sing in a band. |
| A．He’ll lend her some money. |
| B．He’ll give her a career contract. |
| C．He’ll introduce her to influential people. |
Six hundred anxious parents and relatives sat in the school hall waiting for the talent show to begin. Jane sat alone in the crowd. It seemed everything she did lately, she did alone. Over the past several years the unexpected downward spirals (逐渐下滑) had destroyed her marriage and seriously threatened her financial situation, leaving her exhausted and hopeless. She worried how she was going to provide a future for herself and her eight-year-old daughter, Renee.
Renee had one passion—to learn Irish dance. For several years, with a borrowed CD, she had taught herself a few steps and had even danced in front of both her first and second grade classes. This year, despite their situation, Jane had somehow managed to squeeze enough from her budget to pay for Renee’s dancing lessons. For four months Renee had practiced, determined to perform in this talent show.
Renee could not have been more excited or looked more beautiful than she did tonight in her borrowed Irish costume and shoes. Full of confidence, she was ready to dance! As the program moved through each performance, Jane was anxious and wondered how her little third grade daughter would respond to such a large audience. In her short eight years, Renee had never faced such a challenge.
Finally, it was Renee’s turn. Jane held her breath as the curtain rose and the spotlight piereed (穿透) through the darkness and onto her daughter looking so small and alone on the stage. The audience greeted her with polite applause and the music began.
Renee fell quickly into step with the cheerful Irish tune. Her joy was evident as she danced and spun (旋转) in circles around the stage. A few in the crowd began to clap with the music. More joined in until the entire audience, caught up in the beat, was clapping along with Renee as she danced lightly.
But wait! Jane wanted to shout. What happened?
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:
The music shouldn’t have stopped!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
In the silence of that hall, Renee danced on and on.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________10 . Having spent more than a decade on the dance floor, Niccolo Filippi, a 23-year-old Italian dance performer, recently decided to explore Chinese culture and its traditional dance forms and believes that this experience will not only boost his career, but also broaden his horizons beyond the world of dance.
His interest in diversifying his skills grew after he stumbled upon a short video of traditional Chinese-styled dance on YouTube. “I saw it as an art that combines tradition and modernity, which was mostly the reason why I liked it.” says Filippi.
Ever since, he has been closely following Chinese dance performers and watching numerous videos to learn more about the traditional style that he admires. “I prefer the traditional style because of its light movements. It also reflects my personality with elegance,” he adds.
Filippi’s chance came when he was invited to perform for a Chinese New Year celebration in the central Italian city of Florence. He has fully committed himself to the art form, learning several pieces and putting his newfound passion into practice.
“The biggest difference that I found (compared to other disciplines) is the change of mood and emotional expressions among dances,” says Filippi, adding that he needed to shift from the dynamic moves of hip-hop to the graceful and fluid movements of Chinese dance. Despite various obstacles, Filippi’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. Two of his friends shared videos of his performances on social media, and the response was overwhelming. One video gathered 500,000 views, while the other received 200,000 views.
Filippi believes that learning about different cultures is priceless, and he sees it as a means of personal growth. “I like to think of a person as a book,” he says. “Embracing different traditions and cultures, such as Chinese culture and many others, is like adding new chapters to my book, making it more diverse and wonderful.”
1. What was the main reason why Filippi fell in love with traditional Chinese dance?| A．Its potential to boost his career. |
| B．Its mix of traditional and modern elements. |
| C．Its graceful and light movements. |
| D．Its true reflection of his elegant personality. |
| A．By listing numbers. | B．By giving an example. |
| C．By sharing a story. | D．By making a comparison. |
| A．Chinese-styled dance videos go viral on social media. |
| B．An Italian’s dance journey towards specialization starts. |
| C．Filippi’s desire for Italian culture extends beyond dance. |
| D．An Italian dancer shows passion for Chinese-styled dance. |
