I love to play the piano and I greatly enjoy performing my songs, so when the annual winter recital (音乐演奏会) was canceled, I was disappointed. I had looked forward to it for a long time and had already prepared two of my best songs.
My mom had a wonderful idea, however, to turn this disappointing thing into something worthwhile. “You can perform your songs at Carriage House Senior Living,” my mom suggested brightly. “I’m sure the seniors there who do not have families to visit them that often, would really appreciate the music and you could play more than just two songs.”
I immediately thought this was a great idea. One of the things I did not like about the recitals was that I was limited to playing just a couple of songs. Playing the piano at Carriage House seemed like a win-win situation because not only could I play more songs, but I would also have the chance to cheer up the residents there with some lively tunes.
My mom called Carriage House and made arrangements for me to perform. In the coming including many old classics.
When the exciting day finally arrived, my family and I drove to Carriage House. Walking through the enormous double doors, we stepped into an entryway that overlooked the spacious grand dining room. Right at the entrance to the dining room stood the piano as if it were just waiting to make some music to liven the place up a bit. At nearly every table several gray-haired women or men were seated enjoying their dinner and the company that the crowded room provided. Despite the conversations going on at various tables, isolation hung like a dark cloud in the room.
Almost immediately, we were greeted by an old woman with a walker who introduced herself as Phyllis in charge of Carriage House. She welcomed me and led me to the stage.
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。
As I sat down on the bench, I pressed a key on the piano and was surprised to hear no sound.
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Nervousness melted away and I started to enjoy the performance with the old.
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2 . Since the age of three, Chelsie Hill had dreamed of becoming a dancer. That
Far from being an obstacle, her wheelchair
After graduation, Hill wanted to
Hill has
| A．plan | B．ambition | C．career | D．life |
| A．ruined | B．started | C．risked | D．changed |
| A．depressed | B．comforted | C．encouraged | D．abandoned |
| A．positive | B．hopeful | C．delighted | D．normal |
| A．brought up | B．cut off | C．taken away | D．given back |
| A．legs | B．hands | C．knees | D．feet |
| A．kindness | B．courage | C．intelligence | D．patience |
| A．expand | B．abandon | C．study | D．observe |
| A．invited | B．allowed | C．forced | D．requested |
| A．losses | B．injuries | C．defeat | D．consequences |
| A．concerts | B．lectures | C．reports | D．performances |
| A．removing | B．remaining | C．working | D．spreading |
| A．shouted | B．made | C．commented | D．explained |
| A．experienced | B．achieved | C．done | D．created |
| A．continue | B．worsen | C．stop | D．improve |
3 . Top London Musicals
London’s West End is well known for its musicals. It certainly is a place to enjoy an exciting musical production. The West End provides audiences with some of the best form of entertainment possible.
Frozen at Theatre Royal Drury Lane
The Frozen song “Let It Go”took over the world in 2013. Now it’s doing the same in the West End, as the icy kingdom finds a West End home at Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Join sisters Elsa and Anna on a wintry journey as Elsa runs away in fear of her powers. It boasts new songs and new scenery in a renovated (翻新的) West End theatre.
Mamma Mia! at Novello Theatre
The West End’s biggest party, Mamma Mia! is a show that you already know you’ re going to love. Featuring a string of ABBA songs, this is one of the world’s most successful musicals and continues to attract audiences time and again to relive the musical comedy story, fun songs and exciting characters.
Come From Away at Phoenix Theatre
Come From Away is set in the Canadian town of Gander where, on 11 Sept. 2001, thousands of passengers found themselves when their planes were diverted (使转向;使绕道) in the wake of the biggest attack on America. The town’s residents opened their hearts and their homes. It tells the many incredible tales of the townspeople, passengers and airline crews in a powerful and surprisingly uplifting original musical.
The Lion King at Lyceum Theatre
The multi-award-winning musical, The Lion King will roar forever in London. Since opening in London in 1999, millions of theatregoers young and old have witnessed the circle of life unfold. The Lion King follows Simba, a young lion cub, who eventually becomes King of the Pride Lands in his own special way.
1. Where would you go to enjoy ABBA’s songs?| A．To Theatre Royal Drury Lane. | B．To Novello Theatre. |
| C．To Phoenix Theatre. | D．To Lyceum Theatre. |
| A．Frozen. | B．Mamma Mia! | C．Come From Away. | D．The Lion King. |
| A．Frozen is performed in a brand new theatre. |
| B．The Lion King is enjoyed by people of all ages. |
| C．Mamma Mia! is the world’s most successful musical. |
| D．Come From Away is set in the American town of Gander. |
4 . Dancing is natural and almost any child can dance. However, why do so many people find it hard to dance when they reach their teens or adulthood?
Most people have heard the words Dance like nobody is watching. “
We all have patterns of muscle memory. Your body likes doing repetitive movements that it doesn t have to think about.
A lack of rhythm is the biggest obstacle to learning to dance. However, it can be overcome with enough practice.
| A．It’s human nature to dislike looking foolish |
| B．You’ll be able to do them almost without thinking. |
| C．If you have no rhythm, try to master dance steps first. |
| D．Learning a musical instrument is a good way to learn rhythm. |
| E．Dance requires you to move your arms and legs in unusual ways. |
| F．The other possibility is that you picked a style of dance that doesn’t suit you. |
| G．There are many things that can hold people back when they try to learn dancing. |
The National Ballet of China staged The Little Mermaid (小美人鱼) at Tianqiao Theater in Beijing, marking
The ballet piece was first performed by the Royal Danish Ballet in 2005
Ballet artists Wang Qimin and Ma Xiaodong, who played the lead
“
“The Little Mermaid marked a new era for the National Ballet of China,
6 . Have you experienced a condition when listening to a very loud music makes your heartbeat so fast that you can actually feel the heavy beating? From this experience, we can conclude that loud and fast music
But why does this happen? Experiments found that the
It is believed that people who have a slower heart rate have a longer life.
| A．obtains | B．evaluates | C．measures | D．increases |
| A．nature | B．anxiety | C．respect | D．security |
| A．integrated | B．changed | C．linked | D．marked |
| A．compared | B．adapted | C．exposed | D．opposed |
| A．style | B．effect | C．fantasy | D．beauty |
| A．structure | B．music | C．brain | D．equipment |
| A．normal | B．folk | C．modern | D．soft |
| A．abnormal | B．unbearable | C．unforgettable | D．beneficial |
| A．helpful | B．joyful | C．grateful | D．doubtful |
| A．Interestingly | B．Similarly | C．Absolutely | D．Unbelievably |
| A．limit | B．competition | C．risk | D．fame |
| A．temperature | B．medicine | C．dance | D．music |
| A．selflessness | B．helplessness | C．calmness | D．sadness |
| A．learning | B．relaxation | C．permission | D．cooperation |
| A．fact | B．resource | C．advice | D．intention |
7 . Florence, a 17-year-old senior student in high school, was busy composing (创作) a song. She plans to publish an album (音乐专辑) with three other music lovers whom she met at the 2016 Campus Singing Competition. Edward, 18, is another one of the four students to make their own album. Actually he was the one who came up with this fun idea in the first place.
“Everyone loves music. Being a good way to express our feelings and emotions, music can tell something about who we are and our experience of the world. We hope we can use our music to touch our peers (同龄人),” Edward said.
The album includes 15 songs on three themes-love, campus life and youth, with pop and electronic music styles. The inspiration for the songs came from the students’ lives. Take the song Sea of Tranquility for example—it was written by Edward during a flight back to Chengdu after he took part in the China High School Biology Olympiad in summer. “The sky is clear and the ground looks small from the plane. This scene makes me feel calm and peaceful,” Edward explained.
The songs were created one by one with the efforts of the four writers. But a challenge soon appeared. The students found that they didn’t have enough money to produce the album. So to cut down their costs, they used an iPad and headphones to record the songs in an empty classroom on the weekend.
Apart from reducing their costs, they also tried to raise money through crowdfunding on the Internet. They raised more than 7,000 dollars before the album was published in October. “Thanks to all the supporters, we’ll keep working on our own music,” Edward said.
1. Why did Edward and his music team make the album?| A．To earn money. | B．To be famous. |
| C．To influence young people. | D．To make friends. |
| A．They were written by Edward. |
| B．They are based on students’ lives. |
| C．They are quite different in style. |
| D．They are mainly about friendship. |
| A．They were short of money. |
| B．They disagreed on the theme. |
| C．They received stress from teachers. |
| D．They had poor abilities to make music. |
| A．Album Collections. | B．Student Musicians. |
| C．Theme Music. | D．School Life. |
Anna was the school's best dancer and this was what she told her parents everyday. “Mrs.Kelly says I am very gifted,” she said, “She says maybe I will be the best dancer in our ballet(芭蕾)team. ”
Mrs. Kelly had said these things, but she had said so to a number of dancers in order to encourage them because she believed it’s important to get students inspired. Anna was also inspired by her words to be winner and beat everyone else. However, Mrs Kelly actually preferred that Anna just liked to dance on the stage.
“Students! Students!”Mr. Kelly called to the small group of girls around Anna. “I’d like to introduce to you our new student, Sally. She loves dancing as you do. I hope you all take time to say hi to her nicely.”
Anna looked at Sally with dancing shoes in her hands. Sally did not have a dancer’s body: She was short, with legs that looked like they belonged to a frog instead of an eleven-year-old girl. Anna felt relaxed and was sure this girl would not dance well.
In the following weeks, however, it turned out that Anna made a wrong guess about Sally’s dancing performance. In fact, Sally was not jut a good dancer, but an amazingly gifted dancer. She danced in beautiful ways that Anna thought was impossible for such a short girl.
What’s more, Sally was a nice girl. She often helped girls with difficult dance moves. She was active, She was smart, and everyone liked her. It seemed that Sally was taking everything away from Anna.
Anna was sad and mad. The school ballet team would pick out the best dancer in only two weeks. She worried that Sally would win the contest and become the best dancer.
注意 ：
1.所续写短文词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1
Anna felt upset and then she thought out a plan.
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Paragraph 2
Sally put on her dancing shoes, feeling something wrong with them.
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9 . The History of Music Festivals
Outdoor music festivals have become a big gathering of summertime for many adults. While music festivals appear to be a recent development, their history dates back to hundreds of years ago. But they have always been about bringing people together to share a common cultural experience through music.
The earliest known music festival occurred in the 6th century BC. After centuries’ development, by the late 1960s, Rock bands began to organize their own music festivals. Perhaps the first formal and well-known festival to Rock was the Monterey Pop Festival in 1067, which brought that band to the attention of American audiences.
By 1970, the festival grew to bring in more than 600,000 people, showing the popularity of music festivals to organizers. Many others also began to organize such events. The Summerfest Festival was established in 1968.
Today, it’s hard to imagine summer without musical festivals. Many genres now have their own music festivals, ranging from Classical music to Heavy Metal. Countries in every habitable continent have music festivals.
| A．Some focus on traditional, folk music. |
| B．As the earliest music festival, Woodstock was a hit. |
| C．However, it focused not only on music but other events. |
| D．Another early rock festival was the Isle of Wight Festival. |
| E．Some music festivals like Woodstock became less popular. |
| F．This is one common element that has not changed for centuries. |
| G．What perhaps put music festivals on the map was Woodstock in 1969. |
10 . You don’t have to be a Grammy-award winner like Beyoncé to sing. Actually, it’s a skill you can learn and practice.
| Give yourself permission to try From the beginning, set your expectations in a reasonable place. Everybody can do music—singing with kids or in a chorus. You play the guitar, but you needn’t be a performer with a band. Allow yourself to try without worrying about sounding “good” at first. Singing is a skill that takes practice and time to develop. |
| Practice stretching your speaking voice to your singing voice A few exercises help make that transition: Take a speaking phrase and start to stretch it. Make it a positive one, like “My voice is strong!” for the extra bonus of hearing some encouragement. While repeating the phrase, add some excitement to your speech—that’ll help you slide into singing naturally. There are also many vocal (发声) exercises online. |
| Find your own singing style To find what songs and styles suit you best, a music talent has established a singing method (Click HERE to find out) focusing on creating strategies specific to you. You can copy sounds but remember you’re trying to find your voice. Let Beyoncé be Beyoncé. Let whoever be whoever. That’s their identity. It’s important to say, “What do I sound like?” |
| Think about singing as a gateway to others This process is as much about self-acceptance as it is about building community. Be it in a band or a chorus, you and a bunch of friends just get together and there’s something amazing about making music. It promises a really good and deep community. |
For more help, you can email us at moreinfo@lifekit.org.
1. What does the author suggest readers do?| A．Dream big when starting singing. | B．Establish a music band with friends. |
| C．Copy songs and styles of famous singers. | D．Mix vocal exercises with self-motivation. |
| A．live a positive life | B．land a place in chorus |
| C．create music strategies | D．strengthen bonds with friends |
| A．lack confidence in singing | B．run a band or a music studio |
| C．want to register for a music course | D．desire to win Grammy Awards |
