1 . Music has strong effects on us and different music has different effects. Faster music helps us concentrate better. Lively music makes us feel more pleased.
New findings show that music around 60 beats a minute can cause the brain to synchronize (合拍) with the beat causing alpha brainwaves.
Researchers at Stanford University have said that listening to music can change our brain activities. They also said that music can be reached easily, making it a helpful stress reduction tool.
How can we choose the music that is best for us?
| A．The answer depends on ourselves. |
| B．It means our brain and body are relaxed. |
| C．What type of music reduces stress greatly? |
| D．This wave will appear when we are relaxed. |
| E．Where can we find proper music to make us relax? |
| F．And slower music quiets our mind and makes us relax. |
| G．Experience a “sound bath” and let the music carry us away. |
2 . Top Music Festivals
The festival season is just kicking off, and there is a lot to look forward to in the upcoming months.
The Pitchfork Music Festival
Anyone who likes indie (独立的) music and up-and-coming artists will have an amazing time at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago’s Union Park. It is an indie rock heaven where you can explore more underground and lesser-known bands than at the other big Chicago summer festival, Lollapalooza.
Date: July 14—16
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Music Type: Indie rock
Price:$126—$2,700
The Essence Music Festival
No matter what time of the year it is, New Orleans is an amazing place if you love live music. The Essence Music Festival is a celebration of well-known artists like Diana Ross, Chaka Khan, and Mary J. Blige.
Date: June 29—July 2
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Music Type: R&B, soul, rock
Price: $75—$365
The Sziget Festival
Budapest knows how to hold a party, and the Sziget Festival is one of the biggest celebrations of music and culture in all of Europe. You can expect to find favorite artists like Bad Religion and Mac DeMarco playing here during this three-day festival.
Date: August 9—11
Location: Budapest, Hungary
Music Type: Eclectic, Indie rock
Price: $70—$296
The Flow Festival
The Flow Festival is a great excuse to explore the city of Helsinki. Artists including Lana Del Rey and The XX will be playing, among many others. Come to this festival to enjoy yourselves with an earth-friendly belief.
Date: August 11—13
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Music Type: Rock, soul, jazz
Price: $106—$199
1. What do the music festivals have in common?| A．They are given in the open air. |
| B．They are held in the USA. |
| C．They include rock music. |
| D．They take place from July to August. |
| A．The Essence Music Festival. |
| B．The Sziget Festival. |
| C．The Flow Festival. |
| D．The Pitchfork Music Festival. |
| A．It has the longest cultural tradition in Europe. |
| B．It is home to many well-known bands. |
| C．It is a city of high living costs in all of Europe. |
| D．It is good at organizing entertainment events. |
3 . There have certainly been records that have been hugely popular and some of those have had a message. Can there be many songs that really did change the world? Did they really change the hearts and minds of ordinary people?
There is one, Goettingen, which did, but it’s hardly known now.
Even though France and Germany are neighbors, there was bad feeling between them 50 years ago as a result of World War Ⅱ. Into this area of hatred and anger stepped a singer with a gentle voice.
Barbara was her stage name. She took it from her Russian grandmother. She was born in Paris in 1930. She was Jewish and so a target (目标) for the Nazis. But, twenty years after the end of the Second World War, she travelled to the German city Goettingen. She fell in love with the city and its people and recorded the song Goettingen, first in French and then in German.
It moved her German audience at the theatre.The song became a hit.A street was named after her. The city gave its Medal of Honor to her. The song’s popularity made an important contribution to repairing FranceGermany relations.
One of the people in the audience was a student by the name of Gerhard Schroeder. He later became Chancellor of Germany. He said, “I was a college student when she came to sing. It went to our hearts, the start of a wonderful friendship between our countries.”
Listening to the song today, it’s easy to understand its attraction then. It is still a beautiful song of love, although it is a bit sad in parts.Barbara had much to be sad about. She was extremely frightened by the war.
In Germany, she was loved for the love she had given to the people. In France, she was a star. Streets were named after her there, too. A stamp had her face on it. When she died in 1997, 250 thousand people went to the funeral (葬礼).
Lionel Jospin, who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002, once said, “Barbara was a woman who knew suffering and understood the suffering of others.”
1. The author raises questions in the first paragraph to ________.| A．introduce the topic | B．expect an answer |
| C．criticize some songs | D．support his argument |
| A．She was born in Russia. |
| B．She was a popular German singer. |
| C．She had suffered a lot during World War. |
| D．She came to Germany soon after World War Ⅱ. |
| A．is a very cheerful song |
| B．was first recorded in German |
| C．helped bring France and Germany closer |
| D．was more popular in Germany than in France |
| A．Barbara died in her eighties |
| B．a French city was named after Barbara |
| C．Barbara once appeared on Germany stamps |
| D．Lionel Jospin believed Barbara was a caring lady |
4 . A new study, published in Music Education Research, examined whether an extended music education had an impact on pupils’ experienced satisfaction with school. Nearly 1,000 pupils at ten Finnish schools with extended music classes and comparison classes participated in a survey that measured the quality of school life at Year 3 and Year 6.
According to the results, the differences between the extended music classes and the comparison classes were significant at Year 6. But there were no differences between the groups at Year 3. The most likely explanation is the amount of music lessons which was four hours per week for the extended music classes and one lesson per week for the normal classes.
Merely attending an extended education class at Year 3 did not cause differences in school satisfaction. To explore whether belonging to any extended education class would have the same benefits, some extended education classes that focus on visual arts and sports were recently included in the analysis. However, school satisfaction in these classes did not differ from that in the normal ones at Year 6.
"Singing in a choir and group performance are popular activities at extended music classes. Other studies have established that people find it very satisfying to synchronize (合拍)with one another. That increases connection within the group and may even make people like each other. Other objects in the school do not have as much training in synchrony and cooperation as music lessons, which could explain part of the phenomenon,” says doctoral student Pävi-Sisko Eerola, at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
A particular answer may be that girls usually tend to give more positive scores on satisfaction with school and they also make up the majority of pupils at extended music classes. However, the gender differences do not fully explain the observed results. In fact, it seems that extended music classes improve the quality of school life more for boys than girls.
Maybe it’s impossible to adopt the Finnish music education system, but the benefits of having a few extra hours of art and self-expression via music every week are dramatic and necessary.
1. What did the new study find?| A．Elder kids are content with school when receiving more music lessons. |
| B．Extended music education is getting popular in many Finnish schools. |
| C．Primary pupils have different preference for the class arrangements. |
| D．Music education may have different functions in different grades. |
| A．They pay more attention to kids’ feelings and emotions. |
| B．They stress visual appreciation and physical activity. |
| C．They are extended to the same length and frequency. |
| D．They are attended by both younger and elder kids. |
| A．They can promote teamwork between students. |
| B．They can build good teacher-student relationship. |
| C．They effectively practice studenls’ singing skill. |
| D．They will develop students’ interest in music. |
| A．The researchers. | B．Music teachers. |
| C．Finnish students. | D．School administrators. |
5 . Summer vacation is coming soon. To enjoy a relaxing holiday，here we’d like to share with you some of the best rock and jazz festivals. Although many Ukrainian(乌克兰的) music festivals were cancelled because of the bad financial condition，plenty remain for music lovers.
KrayinaMriy
When and where: June 20－21，Kyiv，Pyrohovo folk museum
Lineup (阵容): TNMK，Boombox，VopliVidoplyasova，Onuka
KrayinaMriy is an annual(每年的) rock music festival that promotes modern music. Besides music，the festival will offer dances as well as literary and theatrical performances and also playing of a traditional music instrument.
Alfa Fest
When and where: June 26－28，Lviv
So far all tickets have been booked，but a waiting list is available at www.alfajazzfest.com/buyticket. This yearly festival held in Lviv will be interesting for both experienced jazz lovers and jazz learners. The performers on the lineup come from Ukraine，Japan，Cuba and the U．S.
Koktebel
When and where: Aug.22－Sept.6，Zatoka village，Odesa Oblast
Koktebel Jazz is the biggest outdoor jazz festival.The Cinematic Orchestra，ParovStelar，Nino Katamadze，Bonobo，Submotion Orchestra，Billy’s Band were the GALA’S superstars in previous years. This year the list of festival’s participants and tickets prices still remain unknown but the organizers revealed(透露) that apart from good jazz，the guests will be offered music lectures and movie screenings.
Respublica
When and where: Sept.4－7，KamyanetsPodilsky，Khmelnytska Oblast
Folk music and street art festival Respublica will take place in Kamyanets，Podilsky，one of the most beautiful cities in the west. Kyiv Post staff writer NataliyaTrach can be reached at trach@kyivpost.com.Booking in advance can get a good discount.
1. Who are the text mainly intended for?| A．People enthusiastic about music. |
| B．People fond of travelling around. |
| C．Merchants able to make a fortune. |
| D．Musicians able to play various instruments. |
| A．Their performers are all from Ukraine. |
| B．Their aim is to spread modern music. |
| C．They both offer other performances. |
| D．They are both yearly held festivals. |
| A．KrayinaMriy. | B．Alfa Fest. |
| C．Koktebel. | D．Respublica. |
6 . Why read, and sometimes even write poetry? That question is not difficult to answer if we change the word poetry to songs.
I sing when I feel good. When I sing my favorite songs, I feel even better. Sometimes when I am listening to music and to the song words, I feel that it was written for me. A good song always makes me feel something. There are songs that I sing in my head between classes and songs that I want to sing when the school bell rings by the end of the day. They help me get through the day.
They are like bright and warm colors in the middle of grays and shades. I like songs about love and friendship. The extraordinary thing is that my feelings are more special when I sing my favorite songs in English.
I also like reading. I used to avoid poetry until an e-friend told me I should recite poems and not look up the meaning of the words. Poetry uses many difficult words and idioms, but the best thing is to just forget about them. In the beginning I felt quite strange. Now I always lock the door. Reading aloud gives you a strange feeling, but when you have some practice and fall into the rhythm, and the sounds of the words, it is really a special experience.
I started with small poems, but now I think I most like long poems. I have different feelings with different poems. When I have had a bad day at school, I read Keats and forget everything. When I am sad I read Wordsworth by the light of a candle. When the poem is finished, I close the book and my sadness is gone.
1. Which of the following statements is closest in meaning to the underlined sentence?| A．Songs are like different colors in different times. |
| B．Songs can help people better understand colors. |
| C．Songs can describe a mixture of different colors. |
| D．Songs can bring people warmth and comfort. |
| A．the writer likes singing songs aloud at any time |
| B．songs and poems can help get over bad emotions |
| C．the writer’s native language is English |
| D．the writer like songs better than poems |
| A．Keats’ poems are full of bad feelings. |
| B．Wordsworth’s poems contain much sad description. |
| C．Both of their poetry can create positive feelings. |
| D．The themes of their poems are not different at all. |
