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.

2. What pushed the poetic dance?

A．CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala.	B．A Chinese blue-green landscape.
C．Song Dynasty painter Wang Ximeng.	D．An old Chinese traditional painting.

3. Why did this poetic dance enjoy welcome?

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.

4. What’s the main idea of the whole text?

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 . You have probably heard of the Mozart effect. It’s the idea that if children or even babies listen to music composed by Mozart, they will become more intelligent. A quick Internet search reveals plenty of products to assist you in the task. Whatever your age there are CDs and books to help you taste the power of Mozart’s music, but when it comes to scientific evidence that it can make you more clever, the picture is more mixed

The phrase “the Mozart effect” was made up in 1991, but it was a study described two years later in the journal Nature that sparked real media and public interest about the idea that listening to classical music somehow improves the brain. It is one of those ideas that sound reasonable. Mozart was undoubtedly a genius himself; his music is complex and there is a hope that if we listen to enough of it, we’ll become more intelligent.

The idea took off, with thousands of parents playing Mozart to their children, and in 1998 Zell Miller, the Governor of the state of Georgia in the US, even asked for money to be set aside in the state budget so that every newborn baby could be sent a CD of classical music. It was not just babies and children who were exposed to Mozart’s music on purpose, even an Italian farmer proudly explained that the cows were played Mozart three times a day to help them to produce better milk. I’ll leave the debate on the impact on milk yield to farmers, but what about the evidence that listening to Mozart makes people more intelligent? More research was carried out but an analysis of sixteen different studies confirmed that listening to music does lead to a temporary improvement in the ability to handle shapes mentally, but the benefits are short—lived and it doesn’t make us more intelligent.

1. What can we learn from paragraph 1?

A．Mozart composed many musical pieces for children.

B．Children listening to Mozart will be more intelligent.

C．There is little scientific evidence to support Mozart effect.

D．There are few products on the Internet about Mozart’s music.

2. What does the sentence “The idea took off” in Paragraph 3 suggest?

A．People were strongly against the idea.

B．The idea was accepted by many people.

C．The US government helped promote the idea.

D．Mozart played an important part in people’s life.

3. What is the author’s attitude towards the Mozart effect?

A．Favorable.

B．Positive.

C．Objective.

D．Doubtful.

4. What would be the best title for the passage?

A．What music is beneficial?	B．What is the Mozart effect?
C．Listening to Mozart, necessary?	D．To be or not to be?

4 . Elena Yi dreamed of pursuing piano performance in college, never minding that her fingers could barely reach the length of an octave (八度音阶）. Unable to fully play many works by Romantic-era composers including Beethoven and Brahms, she tried anyway-and in her determination to spend hours practicing a Chopin concerto, wound up injuring herself.

The efforts of Professor Carol Leone from the Southern Methodist University (SMU） are changing all that: twenty years ago, the school became the first major university in the U.S. to introduce smaller keyboards into its music program, leveling the playing field for Yi and other piano majors.

Yi, 21, tried one of the smaller keyboards, “I remember being really excited, because my hands could actually reach and play all the right notes,” she said.

For decades, few questioned the size of the traditional piano. For those with small hand spans (掌距）, it’s difficult to properly play many works of Beethoven and Brahms. Those who attempt to play them either get used to skipping notes or risk injury with repeated play. Leone is familiar with such challenges. Born into a family of musicians, she favored classical music and pursued piano despite her small hand span and earned a degree as a doctor in musical arts.

The idea of smaller keyboards first met resistance from some traditionalists. Leone also said that when she raised the issue with one Viennese professor, he told her there were already too many pianists anyway.

Though such resistance is fading, there are some very traditional people who think of piano as a competitive thing. Leone said, “This is art, not sport. It’s about making as much beautiful art as possible, and we should give everybody the opportunity to do that.”

1. Why did Elena Yi find it hard to play a Chopin concerto so well?

A．Her fingers got injured.	B．It was time-consuming.
C．Her hand spans were small.	D．The traditional piano was out of tune.

2. What is paragraph 4 intended to do?

A．Summarize the previous paragraphs.	B．Add some background information.
C．Introduce a new topic for discussion.	D．Provide some advice for pianists.

3. What is the Viennese professor’s attitude towards smaller keyboards?

A．Disapproving.	B．Objective.
C．Unclear.	D．Positive.

4. Which is the most suitable title for the text?

A．Yi’s Road to a Brilliant Artist

B．Hard-working SMU Professor

C．Traditional Piano: A Competitive Thing

D．The Story Behind Smaller Keyboard Pianos.

5 . 你校上周日举办了一个音乐节，请按下面要求写一篇有关这次音乐节的英语短文，在你所在的英语微信群里交流。
1. 音乐节的活动；
2. 你的感受或认识。
注意：1. 词数80字左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯

6 . Find your new favorite West End musicals, from heartwarming adaptations and award-winning scores to extremely funny musicals and must-see London shows.

	The Lion King Enjoy songs such as Circle Of Life. The award-winning adaptation of Disney’s The Lion King features music by Elton John, plus outstanding costumes and wonderful special effects. The Lion King delights all ages with rhythms of Africa and touching stories of love and life. Prices from £43.05       Call 077-533-0589 for Booking!
	The Phantom of the Opera Andrew Lloyd Webber’s famous musical, The Phantom of the Opera, tells the tale of a shadowy character who attempts to make Christina the leading lady of the Paris Opera. With a fantastic plot and breathtaking scene, this long-running show is one of the must-see musicals in London. Prices from £30.75       Call 077-916-4545 for Booking!
	Thriller Live See Thriller Live, a musical in memory of Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5. The show joined London's West End after three UK tours and popularity across Europe. Celebrate the career of the King of Pop during non-stop hits at this top London theatre show. Prices from £32.72       Call 077-816-3148 for Booking!
	School of Rock Rock out at this award-winning new musical. Based on the 2003 movie, School of Rock follows the story of Dewey Finn and his discovery to transform a class of A-grade students into a real rock group. But will they make it to the Battle of the Bands? Booking until Feb. Prices from £18.00       Call 077-317-8315 for Booking!
	Matilda The Musical Be wowed by the Royal Shakespeare Company’s multi-award-winning production of Matilda The Musical. Roald Dahl's celebrated story bursts into life in this West End musical by Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin. Children and adults alike will be delighted by the little girl with an extraordinary imagination. Prices from £24.00       Call 077-517-8367 for Booking!

1. The Phantom of the Opera is a must-see musical because of ________

A．its shadowy character	B．the Paris Opera
C．its attractive story	D．a long-running show

2. Which of the following musicals would probably attract both kids and adults?

A．The Lion King and The Phantom of the Opera.	B．Matilda The Musical and School of Rock.
C．Thriller Live and School of Rock.	D．The Lion King and Matilda The Musical.

3. What is the main purpose of the passage?

A．To analyze musicals.	B．To criticize musicals.
C．To advertise musicals.	D．To evaluate musicals.

7 . Should you listen to music when you work? Some will say they love it, claiming that it improves their performance; others will say they cannot work effectively with music playing in the background.     1     It just depends on what sort of work you’re doing.

In a recent study, we brought participants into our lab with a variety of tasks. They included an easy task — searching through word lists and crossing out words containing the letter “a” and a more difficult task — memorizing word pairs and recalling the partner to each word. Some participants completed all of the tasks in silence, whereas others completed the tasks with instrumental music that was either loud or soft, and either simple or complex, the latter meaning music with more instrumental tracks.     2    

We found that participants who listened to simple music or no music performed about the same on the easy task.     3     Contrarily, participants performed worse on the more difficult task when they listened to any music, regardless of complexity or volume, compared to those who didn’t listen to any music.

    4     Not surprisingly, we typically need to use fewer of our mental resources when we perform easy tasks, whereas demanding tasks require more brainpower. However, because we might be less engaged during easier tasks, there’s a greater risk of drifting off to sleep. Music might give us the extra boost we need to get refreshed.     5     Listening to music can become overkill (过犹不及). So we have to strike a balance between the type of music and the type of task.

A．What should we make of these findings?

B．Several key findings emerged from our study.

C．However, difficult tasks already demand a lot of our mental resources.

D．Our research has found that the effects of work may depend on our personalities.

E．We want to develop a more comprehensive framework that could be applied broader.

F．However, participants who listened to complex music performed best on the easy task.

G．Interestingly enough, our research has found that both of these perspectives can be true.