Nowadays, it is common to see ordinary people listening to music with headphones,     1     (absorb) themselves in their own world. Thanks     2     music, people become closer by sharing     3     string of appealing records with their friends. Moreover, music can transport us     4     a world of joy, thus helping us gain relief from grief and keep     5     (energy).

    6     some extent, music can be used as a cure for diseases. Listening to positive and peaceful music has an extremely positive impact, which results     7     many patients reducing pain. Often classical music     8     (combine) with medicine in cancer treatment to relieve aches and side effects.

Does music have the power to help us sleep better? According to a recent research, it does. Using an experiment in     1     62 young adults listened to five nights of happy music, five nights of sad music, and five nights of pink noise, researchers found that people reported sleeping better and feeling more positive    2     (little) negative, and more satisfied with life on mornings after listening to music while falling asleep.

These benefits    3     (find) when comparing listening to music with listening to pink noise. Given that pink noise is thought    4     (help) deepen sleep, the additional beneficial effects of music beyond pink noise are    5     (impress).

Does the type of music matter? There were no    6     (difference) in sleep quality and well-being when comparing happy and sad music.     7     (important), all of the music was selected with the goal of being calm and relaxing. And although this study focused    8     young adults, other research has found effects on older adults, suggesting music might be helpful across the lifespan.

Why would music have these beneficial effects? So far, little research     9     (test) the reasons why music improves sleep quality but suggested reasons include relaxation, a distraction from unwanted thoughts,     10     masking of unpleasant background noise.

Nanyin is a form of ancient Chinese music. It dates back to the Han Dynasty     1     people from Central Plains of ancient China brought their music to Quanzhou, Fujian province. Later it mixed     2     the local music.

Nanyin is     3    (traditional) played by a group of five people. The singer, who also plays the wooden clapper (拍板) to keep the beat, stands in the middle of the other four. Usually, on the left are two musicians who play a bamboo flute     4    (call) dongxiao and erxian while on the right are two musicians     5    (play) pipa and sanxian. As for the unique singing style, which is usually sung in the southern Fujian dialect (方言), every song tells a story.

However, Nanyin was nearly destroyed during     6     Mid-nineteenth century. Despite     7    (survive), the art lost a lot of its audience. It has taken the Quanzhou local government more than 38 million yuan     8    (preserve) and develop Nanyin since 2004. In order to pass down this cultural heritage, schools in Quanzhou have made Nanyin a course that students in kindergarten and primary schools can take. Now Four hundred Nanyin     9     (club) in Quanzhou have more than 7,000 players.

In 2009, Nanyin     10    (list) as intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO. “We sincerely hope that more teenagers can join us in breathing new life into this culture,” said Mr. Chen, chairman of Quanzhou Nanyin Artists Association.

The lion dance is a     1     (tradition) dance performed during Chinese New Year. It is     2     (wide) believed that it will bring good luck.

Two dancers dress up as the lion. One dancer holds the large head of the brightly colored costume and the other dancer is the body. The dancers have to be very fit as they perform lots of moves. They dance to music     3     (play) by drums, gongs and cymbals. A performer     4     is dressed as a laughing Buddha sometimes joins the lion dance. He     5     (wear) a longrobe (袍子) and teases the lion with a fan to make it perform tricks.

People will often hang the head of a lettuce (生菜) from ceilings or doorways. The lion will go in search     6     these. Sometimes, red envelopes with money inside     7     (hide) in the lettuce. The lion pretends to eat the lettuces and money. The     8    (leaf) are then thrown into the crowd for good fortune. The lion dance ends with       9     message of good luck written on a scroll, unfolding from the lion’s mouth. Firecrackers are set off     10     (frighten) away any evil beings.

The xiao, a traditional bamboo instrument, is now attracting more and more attention with     1     (it) long history and rich cultural meanings. In ancient China, bamboo was a symbol of honesty, and a spirit of trying to make progress. So, many used it to refer     2     their pursuits (追求) in poems. For example, the poet Su Shi once wrote, “Better to eat without meat than live without bamboo”, suggesting the     3     (important) of bamboo. Therefore, the xiao,     4     (make) of bamboo, was not just     5     instrument, but something the ancient literati (文人) often held in hands or put on walls to remind themselves of their pursuits.

“From the Tang Dynasty on, usually the xiao was used for the purpose of     6     (gather) the educated. It was so popular,” says Shen, a xiao player. “The instrument     7     (keep) its unique attractiveness, which paved its way     8     (become) alive again. It produces pleasant music,     9     agrees with the traditional Chinese sense of beauty — the greatest music has the faintest notes.”

In Shen’s view, compared with others, the xiao is an     10     (extreme) simple instrument.

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.

As I walked through the square, I     1     (invite) to join a dance at the Malaysian booth. In no time, I found     2     (I) in the midst of a large dance circle. People from     3     (difference) backgrounds celebrated together with energetic movements and joyful laughter. Beside me were a girl from Inner Mongolia, China, and a girl from Russia     4     were excited to discover that their hometowns were right next to each other, despite being in different countries.

Lion dance is very popular in China. As a well-known folk activity    1     is traditionally believed to bring prosperity and good luck, lion dance is often seen performed at festive occasions. Accompanied by the sound of beating drums, dancers     2     (dress) up in lion costumes jump back and forth, showing stunning Kung Fu and acrobatic(杂技的) skills. Crowds bursting into applause in response to the performance of this special kind of dancing always help create     3     festive atmosphere that fills the air.

In the 1990s, high-pole lion dancing     4     (introduce) and promoted in Nanhai of Foshan City. Different     5    traditional lion dancing, it has its own unique rules.     6     (performer) do not jump around on the ground but on poles ranging between one to three meters high. Besides, the space between poles also     7     (vary). The poles are often set up where dancers’ skills could be showed while at the same time the audience can enjoy a safe    8     satisfying watching experience. It’s not easy    9     (balance)well while performing the dance of a fierce lion so     10     (active) on poles. That’s why compared with the traditional one, the high-pole lion dance is more challenging and dangerous.