Most parents and teachers would get angry when they hear that teenagers listen to their iPods while preparing for exams. But pupils who listen to music when doing their homework may be, in fact, working hard.

????????????? Thirty three schools have downloaded specially written pop and rock songs for their 10,000 pupils who are studying for GCSE (初级毕业证书). The professionally recorded music, based on texts in English literature, teaches teenagers about themes in the GCSE curriculum (课程). Two young men set up “Revise”, the company that produced the songs, and worked with teachers to make sure the lyrics (歌词) reflected the curriculum. Some of the songs were written by Geraint Brown, a director, and they are performed by professional singers and musicians.

????????????? Songs for the GCSE science and maths lessons are also being developed in 36 schools. They have also started using the program, called, “LearnThruMusic”.

????????????? Dave Matthews, the head of Hawthorn High School in the South Wales valleys, said the program aimed at helping teenagers who are unwilling to study. He said, “There are lots of pupils who don’t have a high level of home support. It’s almost cool to say you have no need to find a support and we have got to change that. With this, they don’t have to be sitting at their desk at home. They can be outside, walking around or even listening to it on the bus, which is very convenient for them.” Everyone has a phone, MP3 or CD player, and they’re more likely to listen to these than pick up a book. “I think everyone would agree that music had an important influence on us when growing up. Both boys and girls are very good at remembering the words and dancing to the music in the charts. There’s no one thing that will successfully engage (使…产生兴趣) every child, and some of them will make little or no use of this. But the fact that they don’t have to do any extra work makes this a very good deal for a kid,” Dave Matthews added.

1.The pop and rock songs used in 36 schools ________.

A. were written for the students to relax themselves

B. made most parents and teachers angry

C. were specially written for hardworking students

D. were closely related to the curriculum

2.Which benefit of the program is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A. It saves students much extra work.

B. It offers different ways of learning.

C. It makes remembering easier.

D. It improves family support to kids.

3.Which of the following can be inferred in the passage?

A. The program is not expected to have equal effect on every student.

B. Some students used the song as an excuse for not reading textbooks.

C. It’s more difficult to create songs for science and maths lessons.

D. Students involved in the program needn’t go to school every day.

4.Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?

A. Special-written Songs — A Reason Why Students Should Listen to IPods.

B. Special-written Songs — A New Way to Learn the Curriculum.

C. Special-written Songs — A Substitution for Textbooks.

D. Special-written Songs — Mothers’ New Concern.

George Gershwin, born in 1998, was one of America’s greatest composers. He published his first song when he was eighteen years old. During the next twenty years he wrote more than five hundred songs.
Many of Gershwin’s songs were first written for musical plays performed in theatres in New York City. These plays were a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s and 1930s. Many of his songs have remained popular as ever. Over the years they have been sung and played in every possible way — from jazz to country.
In the 1920s there was a debate in the United States about jazz music. Could jazz, some people asked, be considered serious music? In 1924 jazz musician and orchestra leader Paul Whiteman decided to organize a special concert to show that jazz was serious music. Gershwin agreed to compose something for the concert before he realized he had just a few weeks to do it. And in that short time, he composed a piece for piano and orchestra which he called Rhapsody in Blue. Gershwin himself played the piano at the concert. The audience were thrilled when they heard his music. It made him world-famous and showed that jazz music could be both serious and popular.
In 1928, Gershwin went to Paris. He applied to study composition (作曲)with the well-known musician Nadia Boulanger, but she rejected him. She was afraid that classical study would ruin his jazz-influenced style. While there, Gershwin wrote An American in Paris. When it was first performed, critics (评论家)were divided over the music. Some called it happy and full of life, to others it was silly and boring. But it quickly became popular in Europe and the United States. It still remains one of his most famous works.
George Gershwin died in 1937, just days after doctors learned he had brain cancer. He was only thirty-nine years old. Newspapers all over the world reported his death on their front pages. People mourned the loss of the man and all the music he might have still written.
【小题1】Many of Gershwin’s musical works were ________ .

第三部分阅读理解（共10小题；每小题2分，满分20分）

A

No other band has had the same influence in the world as the Beatles. Over eight years and with more than a dozen albums (专辑)，four young men from Liverpool, England — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Star changed popular music and culture forever.

People in the UK became crazy about the Beatles in late 1963. The phenomenon (现象) was called “Beatlemania” by the British press. The term referred to the young women seen screaming at the band’s concerts. Beatlemania came to North America in early 1964, and the band’s popularity spread across much of the world.

Within five years, the Beatles’music changed greatly from their simple early hits like “She Loves You” and “I want to Hold Your Hand”.

The band wrote their own songs, explored new ways to create music and strived (奋斗)for high quality in every album they put out.

However, with their popularity came criticism (批评). The press criticized the band as symbols of 1960s youth culture, which celebrated freedom from traditional family roles.

In 1970, Paul McCartney announced he was leaving the Beatles. And the group quietly came to an end.

In the 70s, fans hoped for a reunion, but the group decided to follow their own careers with different degrees of success.

Fans lost hope with a tragedy; John Lennon was murdered in New York in 1980.

51. How long did the Beatles exist?

A. Five years.                           B. Six years.

C. Eight years.                         D. Thirteen years.

52. The underlined word “press” means _______.

A. young women of a country         

B. young fans of a singer or film star

C. a business that prints and sometimes also sells books           

D. reports in newspapers and on radio and television

53. For what reason were the Beatles criticized？

A. Because their own songs were not popular.

B. Because they influenced the youth culture.

C. Because of their own families.

D. Because of their roles in the band.

54. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A. Beatles changed the face of music       B. John Lennon’s death

C. John Lennon and his band             D. The break-up of the Beatles

  Over the past twenty years, American country music become    1. ________

more and more popular. Some writers are no longer writing about          2. ________

modern values of the USA. In 1950s, American music was about other      3. ________

things . Money was also thought to be important. Ten years late,           4. ________

some writers turned other subjects. During these years, many young        5. ________

students were angry with society. So songs were often full of angry.        6. ________

Political leaders were not well thought and those songs often made         7. ________

fun of them. Country music today remains much the same as ago.          8. ________

One subject which country music often returns is “the good old days”.      9. ________

And in “the good old days”, people love life on the open air.              10.  ________

Searching for love is no longer just a favorite subject for songs. It has also become a huge industry. Researchers say the online dating industry in the US earned 649 million dollars in 2006. They expect this number to increase to more than 9 million dollars by 2011.

Experts say that the industry has grown because traditional social ties have weakened. Many young people leave behind a close community of friends and family to find work in bigger cities. People work longer hours, so they have less time to meet new people.

This helps explain the popularity of online dating. Some estimates say120 thousand marriages a year result from matches made on the Internet.

The dating industry has also been expanding in new ways. Many companies offer personalized services for finding the perfect mate. These companies are answering a large demand by single people. They are willing to invest their time and money to find love with carefully planned methods, instead of leaving love to chance.

AskRomeo is a company in Virginia. It provides single people with advice on how to meet a person for the first time.

Also in Virginia, the company True Life Partners provides a more costly and detailed dating service. The company hires a team of professional persons who help couples meet. But this level of service comes at a high price. Men pay thousands of dollars for the service. But women get to take part at no cost.

There are lots of other costs linked to dating. And we wonder how the economic recession(衰退) has affected dating in the US.

1.What can we infer from the first paragraph?

2.According to the passage, we can know ______.

3.The author took AskRomeo and True Life Partners for examples to ______.

4. What will the author talk about in the following paragraph?