Read first and then discuss the questions.

　　Where did jazz originate? What musical, social, and cultural ingredients (n. 成分, 因素) combined to form jazz? These questions, and their respective answers, are important for the student of jazz history to investigate.

　　Jazz is the only indigenous American art form and it is truly a cultural product of the United States. Western and African musical culture were the seeds of jazz, but America was the soil where jazz grew and prospered (V．成功, 兴隆, 昌盛). Jazz is neither a music of Blacks nor the music of Whites, but jazz is actually a blending of a variety of traditions, heritages, and philosophies (n. 哲学, 哲学体系) .

　　During the early history of America, slavery was a standard social practice. Slaves were forcibly brought from Africa to America. While in America, the displaced African’s (including African musicians who brought their musical traditions and talents with them) would learn from already established Western musical theories and performance practices. At the same time, Western musicians would learn African (Eastern) musical theories and performance practices from the African musicians.

　　Primitive (原始的) African culture places a great emphasis on music, much more so than Western societies. Music is an important aspect (n. 方面) of many of the day-today activities of the primitive African societies. As a primitive musical expression, early African music placed a great emphasis on rhythmic (adj. 节奏的, 合拍的) activity with a more simple use of melody (n. 悦耳的音调) and harmony (n. 协调, 融洽). African rhythms are quite complex and very advanced, yet the melodies and harmonies are simple. This strong emphasis on musical tradition and usage was brought with the African populations during their forced exile of slavery to America.

　　While in America, these new Black Americans still expressed themselves through their musical traditions. Since they were in America, their old musical traditions could not be reproduced exactly for many reasons, including not being allowed to use traditional African instruments. To understand a comparable situation, let us assume (vt. 假定, 设想) that we have a fictional American rock band who are forcibly taken to a foreign country. While in slavery, the rock musicians still desire to create their music. Unfortunately, their new “owners” give them permission to perform their rock music, but the rock band is not allowed to use any electric guitars, an electric bass, a drum set, keyboards, or any type of electronic instruments. This would cause quite a problem for the rock band, but if they have a strong enough desire to create their music, they would have to find a way to do so with the resources (instruments etc. ) that were available to them. This imaginary (adj. 假想的, 想象的) scenario (剧情概要, 或是某一特定情节) was exactly what the African musicians faced as slaves in America.

　　Along with finding new instruments, the African musicians were being exposed to the Western musical culture. This exposure was a vital essence to the evolution of jazz. These new Western melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, and aural traditions affected the African musicians tremendously. Of course, White musicians were also being affected by what they head from the African musicians. As time passes, the give and take between the African and Western musical traditions would blossom into what would be called Jazz.

　　To this day, elements that started with the African slaves can still be heard in jazz and rock. One example still in use is the African “call and response” method of early African songs. In a call and response, the soloist sings a portion of a melody while the group responds afterwards (much like a musical question and answer) .

　　Another example is “pitch-bending”. During the advent of jazz, the musicians would bend pitches for expressive purposes. This bent pitch catches our ears because the ear does not know where the pitch will actually end up, thus creating a musical surprise. Countless jazz and rock musicians use this technique today. Listen to a rock lead-guitar solo and count all the pitch-bends utilized. Most of today's synthesizers even have a pitch-bend device built in.

　　The roots of jazz are from African and Western musical traditions blended together. Over a period of many years, these traditions exchanged musical qualities and slowly evolved into jazz. The African emphasis on rhythm combined with Western theoretical musical thought created a new music for all musicians and audiences to enjoy. As the jazz musical tree grew, other sub-styles of music grew from the trunk of jazz. Music styles such as Rhythm and Blues (n. 节奏和布鲁斯) Soul, Funk, Rap, and Rock and Roll are all descendants (n. 子孙, 后裔, 后代) of jazz and the jazz heritage.

Questions For Discussion:

1．Does Jazz come from Africa?

2．Does Jazz come from Blues?

In junior high school, one of my classmates, Ethan, was addicted to TV. This boy simply knew everything about such pop shows as Who’s the Boss?

    Then one day Ethan’s mother made an offer in order to draw him back to his school subjects. She promised that she would give him $200 if he could go a full month without watching any TV. None of us thought Ethan could do it, but he did quite well. His mom paid him $200. He went out and bought a TV, the biggest he could find.

    In recent years, hundreds of schools have carried out experiments with paying kids with each for showing up or getting good grades. All school kids admire this trend. But it upsets adults. Teachers say that we are rewarding kids for doing what they should be doing of their own will. Psychologists warn that money can actually make kids perform worse by making the act of learning cheap. The debate has become a typical battle over why our kids are not learning at the rate they should he despite decades of reforms and budget increases.

[写作内容] 1. 以约30词概括上文的主要内容。

2. 以约120词对用金钱鼓励孩子学习的现象进行议论，内容包括：

(1)你对用金钱鼓励孩子学习的看法;

(2)你的父母(或其他亲人)是如何鼓励你学习的；

(3)你认为怎样才能更好地鼓励孩子学习。

[写作要求]

1. 可以使用实例或其它论述方法支持你的论点，也可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不得直接引用原文中的句子；

2. 标题自定。

3. 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。

[评分标准] 概括准确，语言规范，内容合适，篇章连贯。

In the beauty competition, women are asked ________ some of the exercises ________ the music．

1. A.
   performing; to
2. B.
   performing; with
3. C.
   to perform; to
4. D.
   to perform; by

Why do men die earlier than women? The latest research makes it known that the reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age.

The largest study of the effects of ageing on the heart has found that women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts hardly lose their pumping power with age.

“We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 percent between 18 and 70 years of age.” said the head of the study, David Goldspink of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK. “Within the heart there are millions of cells that enable it to beat. Between the age of 20 and 70. one-third of those cells die and are not replaced in men,” said Goldspink. “This is part of the ageing process.”

What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells. A healthy 70-year-old woman’s heart could perform almost as well as a 20-year-old one’s.

“This gender(性别)difference might just explain why women live longer than men,” said Goldspink.

They studied more than 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 80, focusing on heahhy persons to remove the confusing influence of disease.

The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart, said Goldspink.

The good news is that men can improve the health of their heart with regular exercise. Goldspink stressed that women also need regular exercise to prevent their leg muscles becoming smaller and weaker as they age.

1.The underlined word “longevity” in the second paragraph probably refers to _____.

A．health            B．long life           C．ageing            D．effect

2.The text mainly talks about ______.

A．men’s heart cells                      B．women’s ageing process

C．the gender difference                    D．hearts and long life

3.According to the text, the UK scientists have known that _____.

A．women have more cells than men when they are born

B．women can replace the cells that enable the heart to beat

C．the female heart loses few of the cells with age

D．women never lose their pumping power with age

4. We can know from the passage that ______.

A．scientists are on the way to finding out why the male heart loses more of the cells

B．the reason why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart has been found out

C．the team has done something to prevent the male from suffering the greater loss

D．wome over 70 could lose more heart cells than those at the age of 20

Each new school year brings fresh reminders of what educators call the summer learning gap. Some call it the summer learning setback. Simply speaking, it means the longer kids are out of school, the more they forget. The only thing they might gain is weight.

Most American schools follow a traditional nine-month calendar. Students get winter and spring breaks and about ten weeks of summer vacation. Some schools follow a year-round calendar. They hold classes for about eight weeks at a time, with a few weeks off in between. The National Association for Year-Round Education says there were fewer than three thousand such schools at last count. They were spread among forty-six of the fifty states.

But many experts point out that the number of class days in a year-round school is generally the same as in a traditional school. Lead researcher Paul von Hippel said, "Year-round schools don't really solve the problem of the summer learning setback. They simply spread it out across the year."

Across the country, research shows that students from poor families fall farther behind over the summer than other students. Experts say this can be prevented. They note that many schools and local governments offer programs that can help.

But calling them "summer school" could be a problem. The director of the summer learning center at Johns Hopkins, Ron Fairchild, said research with groups of different parents in Chicago and Baltimore found that almost all strongly disliked the term summer school”. In American culture, the idea of summer vacation is connected to beliefs about freedom and the joys of childhood. The parents welcomed other terms like "summer camp," "enrichment," "extra time" and "hands-on learning."

1.According to the first paragraph the summer learning gap         .

2.Compared to traditional schools, students in the year-round ones          .

3.Which of the following statements is true?

4.Why did almost all parents dislike the term “summer school”?

5.What would be the best title of this passage?