From Mozart to Metallica, tons of people enjoy listening to various types of music while they paint, write, or draw. Many believe that music helps boost creativity, but an international study conducted by English and Swedish researchers is challenging that belief. Their findings indicate music actually stymies creativity.
To come to their conclusions, researchers had participants complete verbal insight problems designed to inspire creativity while sitting in a quiet room, and then again while music played in the background. They found that background music “significantly damaged” the participants’ ability to complete tasks associated with verbal creativity. The research team also tested background noises such as those commonly heard in a library, but found that such noises had no impact on subjects’ creativity. The tasks were simple word games. For example, participants were given three words, such as dress, dial, and flower. Then, they were asked to find a single word associated with all three that could be combined to form a common phrase or word. The single word, in this case, would be “sun” (sundress, sunflower, etc). Participants completed the tasks in either a quiet room, or while exposed to three different types of music; music with unfamiliar lyrics, instrumental music, or music with familiar lyrics.
“We found strong evidence of damaged performance when playing background music in comparison to quiet background conditions,” says co-author Dr. Neil McLatchie of Lancaster University.
Dr. McLatchie and his colleagues theorize that music interferes with the verbal working memory processes of the brain, blocking creativity. Also, as far as the library background noises having seemingly no effect, the study’s authors believe that was the case because library noises create a “steady state” environment that doesn’t disrupt concentration. It’s worth mentioning that even familiar music with well known lyrics damaged participants’ creativity, regardless of whether or not it caused a positive reaction, or whether participants typically studied or created while listening to music.
“To conclude, the findings here challenge the popular view that music strengthens creativity, and instead demonstrate that music, regardless of the presence of semantic (语义的) content (no lyrics, familiar lyrics or unfamiliar lyrics), consistently disrupts creative performance in insight problem solving,” the study reads.
1.Why are Mozart and Metallica mentioned at the beginning?
A.To prove they are very creative. B.To introduce the topic of the text.
C.To show the importance of music. D.To offer some background information.
2.What does the underlined word “stymies” in the first paragraph probably mean?
A.Blocks. B.Boosts.
C.Inspires. D.Strengthens.
3.If the participants were given the words fire, place and book during the game, a proper answer could be .
A.man B.store
C.work D.birth
4.What do we know about the study?
A.The tasks were very difficult for participants to finish.
B.All participants were exposed to two different types of music.
C.Music with famous lyrics didn’t harm participants’ creativity.
D.Library background noises hardly affected participants’ creativity.
Back in 2012, Dylan Mayer was 19 years old. He was a few years into a new passion: scuba (水肺) diving. He says spending time under water is like visiting an alien planet full of strange creatures.
Dylan grew up in Maple Valley Washington, just outside of the liberal blue bubble of Seattle. Dylan learned young how to hunt and do farm work. On October 31, 2012, he decided to marry his love of scuba diving with his desire to be self-sufficient and harvest his own food. That gray morning, the goal was to pull a giant pacific octopus from its den, wrestle it to the surface and take it home for dinner.
He and a friend headed to the popular dive site at Cove 2 in West Seattle. With his bare hands, Dylan caught an 80-pound cephalopod (头足类动物). “The key is to stay calm. Once you start to panic, you’ll drown,” said Dylan, recalling his 45-minute hand-to-tentacle (触须) battle with the octopus.
But when he hauled it out of the water, people nearby didn’t look very happy. Dylan and his dive partner threw the octopus in the back of their truck and quickly left the scene.
Even though what Dylan did was perfectly legal and even though octopus is on restaurant menus all over the Northwest, the taking of this particular octopus touched a nerve. Adult members of the diving community that Dylan was so excited to be a part of not only roundly rejected him, but also threatened to kill him and his family. However, one diver from the Cove 2 community rose above the criticism to guide this young diver.
1.What did Dylan Mayer decide to do on October 31, 2012?
A.To get married. B.To grow his own food.
C.To support himself by diving. D.To pull a giant pacific octopus.
2.Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A.Dylan went to Cove 2 alone.
B.Dylan spent 54 minutes catching the octopus.
C.Dylan attached great importance to keeping calm.
D.Dylan caught a cephalopod with some equipment.
3.What were people’s reactions to Dylan’s taking of the octopus?
A.Not all people liked it.
B.People nearby were very satisfied.
C.Adult members of the diving community were very excited.
D.Nobody liked it because they thought it was against the law.
Directions: Write an English composition in 100-120 words according to the instructions given below.
Angela wants to write a letter to a travel agency asking for help in arranging a one-week family trip to Shanghai. Help her write a letter to the travel agency.
Angela 给某旅行社写信，想要旅行社为其一家安排去上海进行为期一周的旅行。请帮她完成这封信，具体询问旅行的住宿，饮食以及景点的安排等。
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Translations
1.长时间盯着陌生人看被认为是不礼貌的。(consider)
2.缺少自信使他没有给面试的考官们留下好的印象。(lack)
3.坐火车去西藏，不然你看不到沿途那些伟大的建筑了。(or)
4.专家建议青少年不要过度使用耳机，因为那会损伤大脑和耳朵。(overuse)
This Way to Dreamland
Daydreaming means people think about something pleasant，especially when this makes them forget what they should be doing. Daydreamers have a bad reputation for being unaware of what’s happening around them. They can seem forgetful and clumsy. 1.They annoy us because they seem to be ignoring us and missing the important things.
But daydreamers are also responsible for some of the greatest ideas and achievements in human history. 2.Can you imagine what kind of world we would have without such ideas and inventions?
So how can you come up with brilliant daydreams and avoid falling over tree roots or otherwise looking like a fool?
First，understand that some opportunities(机会) for daydreaming are better than others. Feeling safe and relaxed will help you to slip into daydreams. 3.And if you want to improve your chances of having a creative idea while you’re daydreaming，try to do it while you are involved in another task—preferably something simple，like taking a shower or walking，or even making meaningless drawings.
It’s also important to know how to avoid daydreams for those times when you really need to concentrate. “Mindfulness”，being focused，is a tool that some people use to avoid falling asleep.4..
Finally，you never know what wonderful idea might strike while your mind has moved slowly away. Always remember that your best ideas might come when your head is actually in the clouds.
A. Having interesting things to think about also helps.
B. They stare off into space and wander by themselves.
C. Without wandering minds，we wouldn’t have relativity，Coke or Post-it notes.
D. At one time，daydreaming was thought to be a cause of some mental illnesses.
E. It involves slow，steady breathing for self-control that helps people stay calm and attentive.
F. Daydreams are often very simple and direct，quite unlike sleep dreams，which may be hard to understand.
Cynthia Kadohata wrote Kira-Kira and never thought it would be so popular among students. It is a book about a young Japanese-American girl, Katie Takeshima, and the difficulties that her family have to face when they are forced to move to Georgia. This book tells the story of one family’s journey to a new place, their experience of racism, and the ability of people to move forward through hard time.
In the book, Kate and Lynn Takeshima are sisters. The story begins in Lowa, where their parents’ small family-owned store runs out of business. Soon after, the Takeshimas begin to face financial difficulties and they have to go in search of a new living. The family moves to Georgia where they work at a hatchery（孵化厂）with their uncle. On the way to their new home in Georgia they experience racism. They have difficulty in “fitting in” when a hotel manager tells them to go to “the back” where the “Indians” have to stay.
Life gets even harder for the Takeshimas when they begin to work at the hatchery. Katie’s parents are over-worked there. They have to stay in a cramped apartment with little space. And as if that isn’t enough, Katie has too much schoolwork to do. During Katie’s struggle, Lynn becomes sick and Katie feels unsafe, because she has always looked up to Lynn. There are hard times that Katie and her family have to experience. This story is a beautiful-example of resilience (适应力) and friendship. It also opens the reader’s eyes to some of the struggles that Asian Americans are facing.
1.Why does the family have to move to Georgis?
A.They are not used to the life in Lowa.
B.They don’t have enough money to live in Lowa.
C.People look down on them in Lowa.
D.They want to open a hatchery in Georgia.
2.From the second paragraph, we can infer that Indians ___________.
A.run the hotel B.are not friendly
C.have a hard life D.like staying in the back
3.The underlined word “cramped” in the third paragraph probably means ____________.
A.comfortable B.crowded
C.quiet D.bright
4.Which of the following is TRUE, according to the passage?
A.Katie’s parents died in the hatchery.
B.Lynn really looked up to Katie.
C.Katie’s uncle owned the hatchery.
D.Katie went on schooling in Georgia.
