As a solo artist, Brightman has sold 26 million albums and two million DVDs in 34 countries. Her musical styles put opera, pop and jazz together. She is popular in the States but not here(Britain) – the image of her and her second husband, Andrew Lloyd Webber (he much older, she his muse) seems for ever frozen.

The 47-year-old singer talks about the new album Symphony that came out of a “very dark time”, including her decision to give up trying to have children. “People have suggested I could adopt,” Brightman says. “But work is central to my life now. And so I am going to put it to one side. After a while not having children becomes the norm and perhaps that might sound alarming, to parents especially, but I have never known anything different. I’m not hurt by not having children. My life and career are incredibly rich.”

Talking about growing up in a large family in Berkhamsted (father a property developer who later committed suicide), she says: “I was gifted as a child, and very musical. I seemed to be good at anything to do with the arts. At 5 I understood the music I was dancing to and had an eye for costume.” She first appeared in a West End musical at 11 and hated boarding school.

Brightman led the saucy dance troupe(辣妹三人舞) Hot Gossip and had her first hit with I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper in 1978. At 18 she married a music manager called Andrew Graham Stewart. “I was probably in love but I can’t remember. Girls change such a lot between 18 and 22. It didn’t really work out.” In 1981 she was spotted by Lloyd Webber. She became his leading lady in Song and Dance, Requiem and Phantom of the Opera. They married in 1984.

Brightman says she felt hostility(敌意) “from the beginning. I haven’t tried to understand it. I’ve done very well everywhere else, especially the US, where I now live, I just accept it for what it is. The more you are away from Britain, the more you appreciate it. But I don’t miss it, although I miss my family. Our profession can be uncomfortable but I enjoy what I do. I get on with it.”

The first paragraph tells us that _____.

  A. Brightman is very popular around the world except in America

  B. Brightman’s musical style is a mixture of opera, pop and jazz

  C. the British people don’t like her for her style of music

  D. Brightman is much older than Andrew Lloyd Webber

Brightman decided to give up having children because _____.

  A. she could adopt one    B. her life and career were unbelievably rich without children

  C. she felt it normal not to have children   D. she was too busy

The following statements are true except ______.

  A. Brightman first appeared in a West End musical at 5

  B. Brightman disliked life on the campus

  C. Brightman was very gifted when she was young

  D.The saucy dance troupe made Brightman famous

The underlined word in the fourth paragraph probably means _____.

  A. located     B. admired     C. followed     D. found

What does the author try to say in the last paragraph by quoting Brightman’s words?

  A. Brightman has to accept the fact that she is liked in Britain

  B. Brightman lives in America but she loves her own country

  C. The British coldness towards Brightman led to her hatred to her homeland

  D. Brightman was at a loss why she was not welcome in Britain

They may be small and not able to speak, but babies are proving their amazing cleverness. Scientists began finding infants’ skills are more than they are supposed to be.
_________
Speaking of music, babies can’t seem to resist it. Not only are their ears turned to the beats, babies can actually dance to the music.
To test babies’ dancing ability, the researchers played recordings of classical music, rhythmic beats and speech to infants, and recorded the results. They also invited professional dancers to analyze how well the babies matched their movements to the music. The babies moved their arms, hands, legs feet and heads in response to the music, much more than to the speech. The finding suggests this dancing ability is innate(与生俱来的) in humans, though the researchers aren’t sure why it becomes weaker later in their life.
Learning Quickly while Sleeping
Babies can learn even while asleep, according to a 2011 study. In experiments with 26 sleeping infants, each just 1 to 2 days old, scientists played a musical tone followed by a puff of air to their eyes 200 times over the course of a half-hour. 124 electrodes(电极) stuck on the head and face of each baby recorded brain activity during the experiments. The babies rapidly learned to foretell a puff of air upon hearing the tone, showing a four-time increase on average in the chances of tightening their eyelids in response to the sound by the end of the experiments.
As newborns spend most of their time asleep, this newfound ability might be crucial to rapidly adapting to the world around them and help to ensure their survival, researchers said.
Judging Characters Well
Judging another person helpful or harmful is crucial when choosing friends. And that ability starts early. Kiley Hamlin of Yale University showed both 6-and 10-month-olds a puppet(木偶) show, in which one character helped another climb a hill. In another scene a third character pushed the climber down. The little ones then got to choose which character they preferred. For both age groups, most babies chose the helper character. This character-judging ability could be baby’s first step in the formation of morals, Hamlin thought.
【小题1】Which of the following subtitles can fill in the underlined blank?

A.Dancing to Music
B.Babies’ Amazing Abilities
C.Learning to Dance Quickly
D.Born to Dance
【小题2】The underlined word “it” in the third paragraph refers to______.
A.the finding
B.the dancing ability
C.the response
D.the baby
【小题3】The experiment with 26 sleeping infants prove that_______.
A.babies can learn even while asleep
B.babies can respond to the world around them
C.babies can tighten their eyelids in response to the sound
D.babies can communicate with others while asleep
【小题4】In the last experiment, most babies chose the helper character, showing that________.
A.babies can judge a person helpful or harmful
B.babies love to see a puppet show
C.babies were born to help others
D.babes have learned to help others


D
“I started going to clubs when I was nineteen. My friends went and they told me that I’d love it. They were right.” –Lara
Lara is a twenty-one-year old student who loves dancing. “At the moment, my favorite kind of music is acid jazz. I’d love to go to a Fatboy Slim or Ken Ishii gig. They’re so cool,” says Lara. Fatboy Slim and Ken Ishii are not pop stars—they are famous DJs. Being a DJ these days means more than playing records at a nightclub. DJs like Fatboy Slim have also produced a lot of successful CDs of their own music.
Nightclubs have been popular since the seventies but today’s clubs are different. They don’t usually open until at least 11 pm, and people often stay until 7 or 8 o’clock the next morning. Some clubbers will keep on dancing until 12 o’clock in the morning.
Why has dance music become so popular? Some people believe that clubs give young people what the hippies found in the sixties. They have somewhere to meet people just like them. Many clubbers say that dance music helps them to escape from their problems. They feel they are part of a big happy family. But most people just love to dance.
Dance Dictionary
So, what is the difference between Garage and High Energy? Not sure? Well, you’re not alone! There are lots of different types of dance music. A few are described below.

Type of music
Speed
Description
High Energy
Very fast
Lots of remixed seventies songs
Garage
Fast
Lots of bass and keyboards
Acid Jazz
Quite fast
A mix of old and new jazz
Ambient
Slow or fast
Sometimes difficult to dance to
 
CITY CLUB GUIDE
Club Blue
Cover charge:
$12 (includes two drinks)
Music: mostly acid jazz
Free on Sunday night Closes at 3 a.m.
99
Cover charge: $6
Music:  garage, Closes at 2a.m.
The Warehouse
Cover charge:
$15($12 after 3am)
Music: high energy
SOHO
No cover charge, but drinks are $6 each.
Music: ambient
Open from 10p.m to 2 a.m.
71. Which of the following is not right about DJs?
A. They not only play records art a night club.
B. They are very cool in the eyes of music lovers.
C. Fatboy Slim and Ken Ishii are famous DJs.
D. Every DJ can produce his own CDs.
72. Many clubbers day that dance music helps them _________.
A. forget about their problems      B. escape from their families
C. keep fit                      D. become famous
73. Which of the following clubs is the cheapest?
A. 99 before 2 a.m.              B. Club blue on Sunday night
C. The Warehouse after 3 p/m/    D. SOHO after 10 p.m.
74. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A. These days nightclubs usually stay open until 7 or 8 pm.
B. Most people go to the dance club because they like to meet people.
C. The Warehouse has the fastest dance music of all the clubs.
D. Now music played in the clubs are only new music.
75. If you like dancing to the fast and a mix of old and new Jazz, you’d better to ________.
A. Club Blue     B. 99         C. The Warehouse     D. SOHO

D

“I started going to clubs when I was nineteen. My friends went and they told me that I’d love it. They were right.” –Lara

Lara is a twenty-one-year old student who loves dancing. “At the moment, my favorite kind of music is acid jazz. I’d love to go to a Fatboy Slim or Ken Ishii gig. They’re so cool,” says Lara. Fatboy Slim and Ken Ishii are not pop stars—they are famous DJs. Being a DJ these days means more than playing records at a nightclub. DJs like Fatboy Slim have also produced a lot of successful CDs of their own music.

Nightclubs have been popular since the seventies but today’s clubs are different. They don’t usually open until at least 11 pm, and people often stay until 7 or 8 o’clock the next morning. Some clubbers will keep on dancing until 12 o’clock in the morning.

Why has dance music become so popular? Some people believe that clubs give young people what the hippies found in the sixties. They have somewhere to meet people just like them. Many clubbers say that dance music helps them to escape from their problems. They feel they are part of a big happy family. But most people just love to dance.

Dance Dictionary

So, what is the difference between Garage and High Energy? Not sure? Well, you’re not alone! There are lots of different types of dance music. A few are described below.

Type of music

Speed

Description

High Energy

Very fast

Lots of remixed seventies songs

Garage

Fast

Lots of bass and keyboards

Acid Jazz

Quite fast

A mix of old and new jazz

Ambient

Slow or fast

Sometimes difficult to dance to

 

CITY CLUB GUIDE

Club Blue

Cover charge:

$12 (includes two drinks)

Music: mostly acid jazz

Free on Sunday night Closes at 3 a.m.

99

Cover charge: $6

Music:  garage, Closes at 2a.m.

The Warehouse

Cover charge:

$15($12 after 3am)

Music: high energy

SOHO

No cover charge, but drinks are $6 each.

Music: ambient

Open from 10p.m to 2 a.m.

71. Which of the following is not right about DJs?

A. They not only play records art a night club.

B. They are very cool in the eyes of music lovers.

C. Fatboy Slim and Ken Ishii are famous DJs.

D. Every DJ can produce his own CDs.

72. Many clubbers day that dance music helps them _________.

A. forget about their problems      B. escape from their families

C. keep fit                      D. become famous

73. Which of the following clubs is the cheapest?

A. 99 before 2 a.m.              B. Club blue on Sunday night

C. The Warehouse after 3 p/m/    D. SOHO after 10 p.m.

74. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

A. These days nightclubs usually stay open until 7 or 8 pm.

B. Most people go to the dance club because they like to meet people.

C. The Warehouse has the fastest dance music of all the clubs.

D. Now music played in the clubs are only new music.

75. If you like dancing to the fast and a mix of old and new Jazz, you’d better to ________.

A. Club Blue     B. 99         C. The Warehouse     D. SOHO

 

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