When students and parents are asked to rate subjects according to their importance, the arts are unavoidably at the bottom of the list. Music is nice, people seem to say, but not important. Too often it is viewed as mere entertainment, but certainly not an education priority （优先）.This view is shortsighted. In fact, music education is beneficial and important for all students.
Music tells us who we are. Because music is an expression of the beings who create it, it reflects their thinking and values, as well as the social environment it came from. Rock music represents a lifestyle just as surely as a Schubert song. The jazz influence that George Gershwin and other musicians introduced into their music is obviously American because it came from American musical traditions. Music expresses our character and values. It gives us identity as a society.
Music provides a kind of perception（感知）that cannot be acquired any other way. Science can explain how the sun rises and sets. The arts explore the emotional meaning of the same phenomenon. We need every possible way to discover and respond to our world for one simple but powerful reason: No one way can get it all.
The arts are forms of thought as powerful in what they communicate as mathematical and scientific symbols. They are ways we human beings "talk" to each other. They are the language of civilization through which we express our fears, our curiosities, our hungers, our discoveries, and our hopes. The arts are ways we give form to our ideas and imagination so that they can be shared with others. When we do not give children access to an important way of expressing themselves such as music, we take away from them the meanings that music expresses.
Science and technology do not tell us what it means to be human. The arts do. Music is an important way we express human suffering, celebration, the meaning and value of peace and love.
So music education is far more necessary than people seem to realize.
1.According to Paragraph 1，students_________.
A. regard music as a way of entertainment
B. disagree with their parents on education
C. view music as an overlooked subject
D. prefer the arts to science
2.In Paragraph 2, the author uses jazz as an example to ___________.
A. compare it with rock music
B. show music reflects a society
C. introduce American musical traditions
D. prove music influences people's lifestyles
3.According to the passage, the arts and science________.
A. approach the world from different angles
B. explore different phenomena of the world
C. express people's feelings in different ways
D. explain what it means to be human differently
4.What is the main idea of the passage?
A. Music education deserves more attention.
B. Music should be of top education priority.
C. Music is an effective communication tool.
D. Music education makes students more imaginative. '
It is hardly surprising that clothing manufacturers （生产商） follow certain uniform standards for various features （特征） of clothes. What seems strange, however, is that the standard adopted for women is the opposite of the one for men. Take a look at the way your clothes button. Men's clothes tend to button from the right, and women's from the left. Considering most of the world's population—men and women—are right-handed, the men's standard would appear to make more sense for women. So why do women's clothes button from the left?
History really seems to matter here. Buttons first appeared only on the clothes of the rich in the 17th century, when rich women were dressed by servants. For the mostly right-handed servants, having women's shirts button from the left would be easier. On the other hand, having men's shirt button from the right made sense, too. Most men dressed themselves, and a sword drawn from the left with the right hand would be less likely to get caught in the shirt.
Today women are seldom dressed by servants, but buttoning from the left is still the standard for them. Is it interesting? Actually, a standard, once set, resists change. At a time when all women's shirts buttoned from the left, it would have been risky for any single manufacturer to offer women's shirts that buttoned from the right. After all, women had grown so used to shirts which buttoned from the left and would have to develop new habits and skills to switch. Besides, some women might have found it socially awkward to appear in public wearing shirts that buttoned from the right, since any one who noticed that would believe they were wearing men's shirts.
1.What is surprising about the standard of the clothing industry?
A. It has been followed by the industry for over 400 years.
B. It is different for men's clothing and women's.
C. It works better with men than with women.
D. It fails to consider right-handed people.
2.Women's clothes still button from the left today because.
A. adopting men's style is improper for women
B. manufacturers should follow standards
C. modern women dress themselves
D. customs are hard to change
3.The passage is mainly developed by_______.
A. analyzing causes
B. making comparisons
C. examining differences
D. following the time order
When I was thirteen, my family moved from Boston to Tucson, Arizona. __36__the move, my father __37__us in the living-room on a freezing January night. My sisters and I sat around the fire, not __38__ that the universe would suddenly change its course. “In May, we′re__39__ to Arizona.”
The words, so small, didn't seem__40__enough to hold my new life. But the world changed and I awoke on a tram moving across the country.1 watched the __41__change from green trees to flat dusty plains to high mountains as I saw strange new plants that __42__ mysteries yet to come. Finally, we arrived and __43__ into our new home.
__44__ my older sisters were sad at the loss of friends, I _45_explored our new surroundings.
One afternoon, I was out exploring __46__ and saw a new kind of cactus（仙人掌）. I crouched（蹲）down for a closer look. “You'd better not __47__ that”
I turned around to see an old woman.
“Are you new to this neighborhood?” I explained that I was, __48__,new to the entire state．
“My name is Ina Thorne.” Have you got used to life in the __49__? It must be quite a __50__ after living in Boston.”
How could I explain how I __51__ the desert? I couldn’t seem to find the right words.
“It’s vastness,” she offered. “That vastness __52__ you stand on the mountains overlooking the desert—you can __53__ how little you are in comparison with the world. __54__, you feel that the possibilities are limitless.”
That was it. That was the feeling I’d had ever since I’d first seen the mountains of my new home. Again, my __55__ would change with just a few simple words.
“Would you like to come to my home tomorrow?” Someone should teach you which plant you should and shouldn’t touch.”
1.A. During B. Until C. Upon D. Before
2.A. gathered B. warned C. organized D. comforted
3.A. hoping B. admitting C. realizing D. believing
4.A. going B. moving C. driving D. flying
5.A. good B. simple C. big D. proper
6.A. picture B. ground C. scene D. area
7.A. suggested B. solved C. discovered D. explained
8.A. settled B. walked C. hurried D. stepped
9.A. If B. After C. Once D. While
10.A. bitterly B. easily C. proudly D. eagerly
11.A. as well B. as usual C. right away D. on time
12.A. move B. dig C. pull D. touch
13.A. of course B. in fact C. after all D. at least
14.A. desert B. city C. state D. country
15.A. luck B. doubt C. shock D. danger
16.A. found B. examined C. watched D. reached
17.A. why B. when C. how D. where
18.A. prove B. guess C. sense D. expect
19.A. However B. Otherwise C. Therefore D. Meanwhile
20.A. idea B. life C. home D. family
The result is not the same ____they had expected, _____ was rather disappointing.
A. as; which B. as; that C. that; as D. which; as
—When did you meet him?
—It was on the day ____his house was broken into.
A. that B. which C. when D. in which
The beautiful dress _______Miss Jones went to the ball was borrowed from a friend of hers.
A. in which B. for which C. that D. where
