Module 4 Music

跟踪导练（一）

阅读理解

Miles was born in Alton， a city on the Mississippi River in Illinois on May 26， 1926. Miles’ father was a dentist， while his mother was a music teacher. Miles had a good childhood， catching fish and riding horses with his older sister and younger brother. He was known as a naughty boy in school.

He recalls his story， “By the age of 12， music had become the most important thing in my life.” His mother， a violinist herself， dearly wanted her son to play the violin. But brass （铜管乐器） was Miles’ calling， and he remembers arguments between their parents as his dad overruled her to fight his son’s corner. He received his first trumpet （小号） in 1935 and began weekly music lessons with his father’s friend Mr Elwood， his life-long teacher.

Talking about his school days， Miles said that Mr Buchanan was the biggest influence on his life. Mr Buchanan was the person who took Miles all the way into music at that time. He wanted to be a musician that he had dreamed.

When he was 16， Miles met his girlfriend， Irene Birth. Although she was a beautiful young woman in many ways， it was her easy-going character that attracted Miles. At the weekends， Miles and Irene would take the bus over the Mississippi River to St Louis to watch movies and go dancing. Although Miles was too shy to really enjoy dancing， he always felt confident when he danced with Irene.

When he turned 17， she persuaded him to ask for a job in the band—Eddie Handle’s Blue Devils. It worked. Joining the band was a breakthrough for Miles， and marked the time when he first began to write and arrange music.

1. What can we learn about Miles from Paragraph 1？

A. He lived by fishing. B. He had a comfortable family.

C. He had strict parents. D. He had no schooling in his childhood.

2. What does the underlined phrase “fight his son’s corner” in Paragraph 2 mean？

A. Defend Miles’ choice. B. Hit Miles in the corner.

C. Help his wife to beat Miles. D. Prevent Miles from choosing music.

3. Who influenced Miles most in music according to the text？

A. His father. B. His mother. C. Mr Elwood. D. Mr Buchanan.

4. What is the correct order of Miles’ life experience？

a. He fell in love with Irene.

b. He began to write and arrange music.

c. He had music lessons with Mr Elwood.

d. He dreamed to be a musician.

A. d→a→c→b B. c→a→b→d C. c→d→a→b D. d→c→b→a

阅读七选五

You listen to music every day. Some music hits your hearts. Some music makes you full of joy. 1 In order to analyze functions of music， let’s see the benefits it brings.

Music makes you express your emotion.

2 This way your brain convey the thoughts without speaking a word. When we try to express some sad emotion， you well use soft and deep music.

3

Music is an extremely unique way to develop the capability of memorizing. The best example to prove this sentence is that you can easily learn something in the form of songs.

Music makes you creative.

Music is key to creativity， it helps you in improving you mind by making it more artistic. No matter what the great invention is， it requires art. Creativity and imagination are fulfilled by music. 4

Music improves your fine reasoning skills.

During a study of children， it was shown that if children are exposed to three or more years of musical training， these same kids performed better. 5 They had better listening and speaking skills than those who had none. The children even tested better for vocabulary and reasoning skills.

A. This was the result.

B. That’s because music is an art of beauty.

C. Music makes you live a better life.

D. Music makes learning more pleasant.

E. Some music makes you burst into tears.

F. You should choose some kind of music with powerful beats.

G. You usually play the music that reflects your thoughts or your emotions.

1. ____________2. ____________3. ____________4. ____________5. ____________

跟踪导练（二）

完形填空

Lena Horne was born in Brooklyn， New York in 1917. Her mother was away for much of her 1 . So her grandmother helped raise her.

At the age of sixteen， Lena 2 a job as a dancer at the famous Cotton Club in New York City. After 3 voice lessons， she soon began performing there as a singer too. At the age of nineteen， Lena moved to Pittsburgh and 4 Louis Jones， who was an actor. 5 ， their life together did not last long. But they had two 6 ， Gail and Edwin.

In 1940， Lena Horne became the first African-American to travel and 7 with an all-white jazz band. She also made 8 and performed at New York City’s Café Society jazz club. This was the first nightclub in the United States 9 racial barriers. Many jazz clubs during this period had black performers， but few 10 them to watch the performance as part of the 11 .