1 . An international group of electronic music composers is taking beats from the dance club to jungles and forests and back, all to help save nature’s greatest singers. A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean is a new album that includes the sounds of endangered birds. The album will come out next month, whose proceeds will go directly towards efforts to save birds.
The whole project was born out of this idea of trying to combine birdsong, electronic music and conservation. A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean was organized by activist, music producer, Robin Perkins. He invited artists from each of the endangered birds ‘homelands to build their own songs around the birds’ songs. There are contributions from ten artists in eight different countries.
First single Black Catbird was created by The Garifuna Collective, from Belize. Al Obando, guitarist and producer of the group, always took in national parks and viewed birds when on the road with the band. “There are no trails, and there are no signs there to tell you about what you’re seeing,” Obando says. “So we’re trying to do something for the birds and nature tourism.”
Another musician who responded to Robin’s call is Tamara Montenegro, an artist from Nicaragua. She was shocked to hear of the serious situation of the Guardabarranco after being approached: “This beautiful creature I grew up adoring also faced the influence of the systematic human activities”. In response, she created a song inspired by this bird and the challenges it faces to live naturally.
The new album is the second edition, following on from A Guide to the Birdsong of South America, produced by Robin in 2015. That first album has raised, to date, over $15,000 benefitting conservation projects in South America. As with the first album, all of the money from the sales of the new album will support specific organizations, including Birds Caribbean.
1. What does the underlined word “proceeds” in Paragraph 1 refer to?A.Profits. | B.Budgets. | C.Challenges. | D.Effects. |
A.He created a hit single himself. |
B.He was fond of observing birds. |
C.He was the organizer of the new album. |
D.He did a lot for birds in South America. |
A.It was friendly to humans. |
B.It was living in bad conditions. |
C.It was beautiful in appearance. |
D.It was facing challenges from other birds. |
A.To collect money for a project. |
B.To popularize electronic music. |
C.To recommend some famous artists. |
D.To introduce a new album of electronic music. |
2 . A music festival is a community event focusing on live performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme. On the list are the music festivals for fans around the world. Find your favorite now!
Field Day
January 1, 2023, Sydney
Field Day means New Year’s Day for young people in Sydney. Seen as the city’s original multi-stage party, it’s a gathering of friends coming together for a great fun-filled first day of the year. There’s an air of hope and positive energy on a perfect summer’s day.
The Envision Festival
February 27—March 6, 2023, Uvita
The Envision Festival is an annual gathering in Costa Rica that aims to provide an opportunity for different cultures to work with one another to create a better community. The festival encourages people to practice art, music, dance performances, and education. Meanwhile, our connection with nature is expected to be strengthened.
The McDowell Mountain Music Festival
March 2—4, 2023, Phoenix
The McDowell Mountain Music Festival is Phoenix’s musical celebration of community culture. Since its foundation in 2004, it has been the only 100% non-profit music festival designed to support, entertain and educate the community. The festival attracts thousands of visitors each year from around the country, and it is an opportunity to experience true culture.
The Old Settler’s Music Festival
April 20—23, 2023, Dale
The Old Settler’s Music Festival is a nationally known music festival for American music. The festival is held in the country of Texas at the height of the wild flower season. The Old Settler’s Music Festival offers great music and activities for the whole family.
1. In which city can people enjoy a fun New Year’s Day?A.Phoenix. | B.Uvita. | C.Sydney. | D.Dale. |
A.It encourages people to receive education. | B.It is not aimed at making money. |
C.It provides an opportunity for friend gathering. | D.It focuses on cultural exchanges. |
A.Field Day and the Envision Festival. |
B.The Envision Festival and the McDowell Mountain Music Festival. |
C.The Old Settler’s Music Festival and the McDowell Mountain Music Festival. |
D.The Envision Festival and the Old Settler’s Music Festival. |
A. Beethoven thought about giving up, but in the end he continued to write music.
B. In his twenties, he had been very famous for his skills on the piano, but then he began to lose his hearing.
C. Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer, who is regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of music.
D. He proceeded with the composition until his death in 1827, writing more than 130 musical works, including his Symphony No.9 in D minor.
E. Inspired by his struggles with deafness, the composer produced some amazing pieces, including nine symphonies, five piano pieces, and an opera!
The guzheng is one of the
In the 1950s and 1960s, the guzheng and a number of other traditional Chinese instruments experienced a major overhaul (改造) to expand their sound range and improve their expressiveness. The redesign of the guzheng was led by Professor Wang Xunzhi from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
The new instrument
I spent 15 years trying to make it in the music industry. When I was a teenager, I did any odd job to afford time in a recording studio. I knocked at managers’ doors and sent out demo (录音样带) after demo, but I got nowhere. In 2010, aged 27, I was doing a job in a restaurant when I wrote a song called Dream Goes On. It was a song about never giving up. I just let out all of my frustrations at the keyboard.
Over the next five years, the music career never materialized but I persisted. Then, in 2019, I uploaded Dream Goes On to a music-sharing website. I just wanted someone to notice my music.
Later that year, I received an email out of the blue from Music World from South Korea, requesting a license for the song. They had chosen my song from the millions on the music-sharing website for a theme tune for one of their shows. I was amazed and negotiated a contract for $5,000 for the use of the song and signed up straight away. I was pretty excited, but didn’t think anything more would come of it, so I focused on my job in the restaurant.
This February, Music World organized a musical festival in Seoul and my song Dream Goes On was also chosen as the theme tune for the festival. I watched on YouTube as my song was being played to a huge crowd of people. It was amazing.
After three days of the festival, I was contacted by Music World and they asked if I’d like to go to Seoul to sing Dream Goes On in a concert. They flew me out there the next day. I was welcomed like a celebrity—everyone I met thought I was a big name in England. I had to break the news to them that I wasn’t a pop star.
注意:
1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
I had never performed the song live, and hadn’t been on stage for years.
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After the concert, I had photographers and journalists battling to interview me.
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6 . A broken heart. A sad ending to a love affair. That’s something most of us have experienced, or probably will. After all, it’s part of human life. But no question, the experience can be hard to get over.
But research shows there are pathways through the heartache. Listening to sad music is a major one. It can help you begin to feel joy and hopefulness about your life again. It can arouse (激发,唤醒) the desire (渴望) to connect with others.
Sad music can help heal and uplift you from your broken heart. A recent study from Germany found the emotional influence of listening to sad music is an arousal of feelings of empathy (共情), and a desire for positive connection with others. That, itself, is psychologically healing. It draws you away from concentration on yourself, and possibly towards helping others in need of comfort.
Another experiment, from the University of Kent, found that when people were experiencing sadness, listening to music that was “beautiful but sad” improved their mood. In fact, it did so when the person first consciously accept the situation causing their sadness, and then began listening to the sad music. That is, when they intended that the sad music might help, they found that it did.
These findings link with other studies that show accepting your sad situation emotionally leads to healing and growth beyond it. It seems unbelievable but it does make sense. For example, research from Cornell University, published in Psychological Science, found that accepting discomfort about a life experience or new situation, and viewing it as a step towards growth and change, encourages people to find a pathway through it, beyond it. As Churchill famously said, “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” That discomfort points you towards creating a plan, a new action. It fuels hope.
1. What can we learn from paragraph 3 and paragraph 4?A.Sad music can make people help others. |
B.Sad music can make sad people feel better. |
C.Sad music can make people believe in themselves. |
D.Sad music can make people concentrate on themselves. |
A.Listen to a sad song. | B.Avoid unwise actions. |
C.Find support from others. | D.Face the discomfort directly. |
A.By listing figures. |
B.By giving directions. |
C.By comparing examples. |
D.By presenting research findings. |
A.How to Find Pathways through Heartaches |
B.How We React to A Broken Heart Matters a Lot |
C.What We Can Do to Overcome Discomfort in Life |
D.Why Listening to Sad Music Heals Your Broken Heart |
7 . Having spent more than a decade on the dance floor, ROME — 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 since 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 garnered 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 is the main reason why Filippi falls 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.Filippi thinks little of learning from other cultures. |
B.People prefer to write down their past experiences. |
C.Accepting various cultures boosts personal growth. |
D.A book with chapters on traditions is more wonderful. |
A.Chinese-styled dance videos go viral on social media. |
B.An Italian’s dance journey towards specialization starts. |
C.Filippi’s desire for Chinese culture extends beyond dance. |
D.An Italian dancer shows passion for Chinese-styled dance. |
8 . Chelsie Hill had dreamed of becoming a dancer since the age of three. That ambition
Hill did it in her wheelchair right with her non-disabled high school dance team. After graduation, Hill wanted to expand her dance network to
Hoping to
Hill has
Edna Serrano says that being part of the Rollettes team has given her the
A.totally | B.quickly | C.nearly | D.really |
A.extended | B.ruined | C.exchanged | D.challenged |
A.dismissed | B.excited | C.shocked | D.encouraged |
A.living | B.normal | C.clever | D.strong |
A.include | B.improve | C.understand | D.inform |
A.ideas | B.diseases | C.disasters | D.injuries |
A.reach | B.correct | C.keep | D.attack |
A.hopes | B.dreams | C.disabilities | D.spirits |
A.hurt | B.entertained | C.praised | D.moved |
A.attained | B.donated | C.resulted | D.concentrated |
A.expert | B.teacher | C.dancer | D.boss |
A.satisfying | B.boring | C.puzzling | D.surprising |
A.imagine | B.discover | C.expect | D.suit |
A.gift | B.experience | C.courage | D.method |
A.fearful | B.colourful | C.careful | D.powerful |
9 . Both Gladys and her daughter Grace liked dancing. They often danced, painted, and cooked together. They had a
A dance
It was the day of the competition. They were on the stage to
A.brief | B.strange | C.serious | D.good |
A.class | B.program | C.competition | D.meeting |
A.excited | B.hopeful | C.careful | D.puzzled |
A.when | B.whether | C.where | D.why |
A.angry | B.bored | C.busy | D.strict |
A.described | B.created | C.used | D.voiced |
A.agreement | B.plan | C.goal | D.joke |
A.gave up | B.took out | C.thought of | D.put up |
A.gain | B.hear | C.see | D.realize |
A.forget | B.want | C.prefer | D.remember |
A.refused | B.waited | C.practiced | D.dreamed |
A.stand | B.speak | C.look | D.perform |
A.watched | B.held | C.won | D.entered |
A.suddenly | B.happily | C.quickly | D.politely |
A.mistake | B.game | C.reward | D.lie |
1. 音乐可以使我们放松身心,缓解压力;
2. 音乐可以振奋并鼓舞人心;
3. 音乐能够抚慰我们的心灵,帮助我们走出困境;
4. 音乐可以帮我们更好地了解别的文化
注意:不可逐句翻译,可根据你自己对音乐的理解适当发挥、拓展。
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