武汉理工大学研究生英语口语考试unit3music.doc

Music
Do you think music makes you smarter and healthier?
I think music can make us smarter and healthier. Studies show that music has a strong effect on our mood levels and emotions, and also on how we think and our general intelligence.Music can make people calmer and more relaxed. The music we listen to can have a profound effect on our test scores and our ability to quickly process information.And it can help students to integrate both sides of the brain for more efficient learning and reduce errors.If we’ve ever played an instrument, studies show that we’re already ahead of the curve. Playing an instrument is a great way to test out our creative thinking and push our brain to process information in a new way.

I think music can make us smarter and healthier.
Music plays a significant role in our life, it can make you relaxed, give you inspiration, and make your life colorful.

Studies show that music has a strong effect on our mood level and emotions, and also on how we think and our general intelligence. The music we listen to can have a profound effect on our test scores and our ability to quickly process information.

Music can help me concentrate. When I am feeling anxious or stressed , a piece of good music can bring me a pleasant feeling and good mood, I will be better to equipped to concentrate and focus my attention on a fairly lengthy task.

Music can be a great pick-me-up for when you are stressed. Tuning in to one of your favourite songs can be incredibly soothing and help to reduce anxiety.

Music can help increase endurance , listening to certain music could actually help you run faster. The best choices for exercise are up-beat songs that match the tempo of your running stride and which can have a metronomic effect on the body, enabling you to run for longer.

Music can actually have a significant positive impact on patients with long-term illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer and respiratory conditions. Numerous trials have shown that music can help lower heart rate, blood pressure and help relieve pain, anxiety and improve patient quality of life.

 If you’ve ever played an instrument, studies show that you’re already ahead of the curve. Playing an instrument is a great way to test out your creative thinking and push your brain to process information in a new way.

Some other activities that make people smarter and healthier.
I think regular exercise can make people healthier, smarter and happier. Working out regularly may make us stronger and reduce the risk of illness. It can also lessen the possibility that you’ll lose brain function as you age. And exercise can help us to deal with stress in our studies, relationships or any area of life, because exercise is a form of stress itself and helps condition our body to deal with it. Even a little exercise can also make us calmer and more relaxed. And our brain is able work faster and more efficiently after exercise.

I think having a good lifestyle can make people healthier, smarter and happier, such as getting a good night's sleep. Getting a good night's sleep can prevent cancer and keep our heart healthy and it may help us to lose weight. So if you are interested in controlling or losing weight, don't forget to pay attention to getting a good night's sleep. And it can reduce stress and make us more alert and more effective. It is also an essential behavior that can maximize brain power. So you should try to get a good night’s sleep however much work you have to do.

If you were parents, would you make your child learn music? Why?

If I were a mother, I’d like to make my child learn music. Studies show that music has a strong effect on our mood levels and emotions, and also on how we think and our general intelligence. So music has a positive effect on children’s development. It can cultivate their ideology moral and improve the development of children’s intelligence and emotional quotient(EQ). And music can have a profound effect on children’s test scores and their ability to quickly process information. It can also help them to integrate both sides of the brain for more efficient learning and reduce errors. Playing an instrument is a great way to test out our creative thinking and push our brain to process information in a new way.
But I think that being a good parent is like being a good guidance counselor. We have to help them find from within what they like to do. If they are very young, you probably do need to nudge them, but not everyone has to be a musician. Parents should know how to be supportive of their kids. And parents should not be very critical and put much pressure on their children, but at the end of day it is the child’s decision I think.
 一个好的家长，应该作为好的参谋指导：你须帮助孩子找出他们到底喜欢什么。如果孩子太小，你可能需要小心地给他们一点外在的推动，但要知道不是每个人都能成为音乐家。好的音乐老师会经常帮助父母，让他们知道如何帮助支持孩子们，并告诉父母不要给孩子太多的批评和压力，而要更多地支持孩子，但最终，我认为是孩子自己最终决定一切。

If you were parent, would you make your child learn music? Why or why not?

Child Should Learn Music?
When it comes to children's education, most parents prefer to develop their capabilities in an early age, among them, learning music has gradually become the first choice to develop their musical talents.But still there are some debates about whether child should learn music.
Those who go against it believe that child shall have a happy childhood.In their mind,learning music in an early age will not do much benefit in their growth.Besides,learning music in an early age will make the child in a busy situation so that he has no time or no space to do what he wants to do,thus some natures of children may disappear,and this will be a pity for them.
However,there are still many people voting for it.Most parents hold that learning music can make their children smarter especially when the “Mozart Effect”was found.Besides,they think music has the ability to increase self-confidence and teach abstract idea, spatial awareness, rhythm, patterns.What’s the most important is that their children will behavior better and smarter than the same age if they have learned music in early age.
As far as I am concerned,I will first find out that whether my child is keenly interested or not.Standing on my standpoint,I will never force my child,because it is never a wise idea to force him to do anything he's not ready to do unless it's a matter of utmost importance. Nevertheless, I will guide him consciously to the music as learning music can benefit him in his whole life.At the same time I will let him know how to balance between learning music and developing other aspects.Only in this way may children lead a healthy childhood.

How important is IQ to a person? What do you think of EQ? Which is more important?

IQ is short for Intelligence quotient (系数)。It is a score to assess human intelligence. Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is a value that indicates a person's ability to learn, understand, and apply information and skills in a meaningful way. A high IQ is important to a person. Persons with a high IQ have a better chance of being successful at school and professionally. For example, if one children with a high IQ, when he study at school, he will learn Knowledge quicker than others and have more spare time to do something what he is interested in. And his life will be more rich and colorful 。
Emotional Quotient (EQ) is a way to measure how a person recognizes emotions in himself or herself and others, and manages these emotional states to work better as a group or team. People with high EQ can often better recognize and control their own emotions, and recognize emotional states in others to adjust their behavior accordingly. Your emotional intelligence are important to the success you will achieve in life. If you have a High EQ you can have good relationships with others and you can work easily. And what sets people apart now are their abilities to manage themselves and develop productive relationships with others. Unlike IQ, which is pretty much established at birth, EQ can be learned, implemented and improved upon at any age.

Nowadays there are many people focusing on the debate which is important between EQ and IQ. In my opinion, I think EQ is more important. IQ defines how smart we are, while EQ defines how well we use the smartness we have. And I think IQ only accounts for 20% of our success in life. The emotional intelligence are more important to the success you will achieve in life. If you have a High EQ, you can have good relationships with others and you can work easily. And what sets people apart now are their abilities to manage themselves and develop productive relationships with others. And Unlike IQ, which is pretty much established at birth, EQ can be learned, implemented and improved upon at any age.
Pair work:
3.Where you listen to music?
I often listen to music by music player or on the internet, and my favorite music application on my phone is Netease Music. I strongly recommend that you have a try, and I promise that you will like it.

4.What can you benefit from music?
I think music can make me smarter and healthier. For example, when I am terribly upset, listening to some peaceful music can calm me down and help me to concentrate on my own things; when I am in low spirits, rock music can makes me full of energy. Lying on the bed, I would like to listen to some soft music, which can helps me to have a good sleep, thus do much good to my health.

Group work:
4. Listening to individual pieces again and again is the basic activity that leads to the understanding and love of music?
No, I don’t agree with this opinion. Only after you have listen a lot of music, you know what kind of music you like, then you are willing to know more about those music that you are interested in. If you don’t like it, it will be boring to listen to individual pieces again and again. Besides, the understanding of music calls for some professional knowdege, for example, you need to know something about the instrument, background of the creation, and so on.

5. To regard music and value it only as an entertainment is to miss what is most important about it?
Well, it depends. If you are someone who wants to be a musician in the future, of course you need to regard it as a kind of knowdege, you have to learn it, understand it and at last, you can creat music that belongs to you. But if you are someone who wants to get some pleasure from music, music is just a kind of entertainment to you, you get what you want, and that is good enough. What’s more, there are so many things to learn in the world, it’s impossible for someone to learn all those things, just concentrate on what you need and you will enjoy it.

6. Early childhood exposure to classical music has a beneficial effect on mental development?
According to the research results of the Mozart Effect, it is true that early childhood exposure to classical music has a beneficial effect on mental development, and those children will be smarter than the other.

Unit 3 Music
Critical Thinking for Passage One：
Role play：Create an advertisement show to promote the sale of classical music types or CDs based on the text.
(Tom and Jerry are brothers, it is 6:30PM now, they just get home after school. Their father is sitting in the sitting room, watching TV.)
Jim Daddy, I get the first place in the math exam！
Father: Well done! You are my good Boy! Jerry, come on, how did you do I the exam?
Jerry: Sorry, Dad, I failed the exam, I can hardly concentrate on what the teacher said in the class!
Father: Okay, don’t give up, my dear, you will do better next time.
Jerry: Thank you dad, I will try.
Father: Jim, you can get some prize, what do you want?
Jim: I want some classical music CDs, especially Mozart Effect music.
Father: Is a kind of strange, why do you like classical music?
Jim: Because classical music do much good to my study. For example, when I am study in the classroom, listening to classic music can calm me down and cuts my learning time, reduces errors and improve my test scores. I think that’s why I made a great progress on my study recently.
Father: Wow, that’s awesome!
Jerry: I want some CDs, too.
Father: OK, Let’s go buy some classical music CDs.

Brainstorming:
Do you think music makes you smarter or healthier?
反对：
No, I don’t think music can makes me smarter or healthier directly. For example, when I am reading books or doing homework, listening to music at the same time will often interrupt my thoughts. Thus makes me less efficient, but could not cuts learning time or reduce errors.
When I listen to music in bed, the longer I listen, the harder I can fall asleep. Then, the next morning, I fell sleepy.
And it is kind of dangerous to listen to music when you walk on the road or driving car, a accident may happen because your attention is being placed on music but not the cars or crowds.
Besides, listening to music with headphone for a long time will do harm to our ears, which can even cause a hearing loss, so we would better do not listen to much music. At last, it’s not easy to find some nice music to listen to, so I often waste a lot of time in searching for music.
赞成：
Yes, I think music can make me smarter and healthier. At last mentally healthier, for example, when I am terribly upset, listening to some peaceful music can calm me down and help me to concentrate on my own things; when I am in low spirits, rock music can makes me full of energy. Lying on the bed, I would like to listen to some soft music, which can helps me to have a good sleep, thus do much good to my health. So I believe music can make me smarter and healthier.
How much do you agree with the ideas in the text?
In fact, I don’t agree with some of the ideas in passage one. For example, one benefit of the Mozart Effect is it can heal the body faster. We all have known that our body is a complex system. How fast our body heals from the injury depends on the severity of injury, our health state, our age and many other unkown factors. It is almost impossible for reasearchers to control those variables in an experiment, then how did they come up to the conclusion that Mozart Effect pieces can heals the body faster? Besides, according to my observation, most of the hospitals require people to keep silence, I think that may because patients need a quiet place to rest, playing music in a hospital may make patients angry, so I don’t think it’s a good idea to use music during treatment.

Critical Thinking for Passage Two：
1.Do you think there is enough music for children? What do you think of it?
No, I don’t think there is enough music for children. According to my observation, most musical works we can get on the Internet or hear in TV/radio are for teenagers or grown-ups. And most of these music’s topic is love, though love is an eternal theme for human beings, it should not be the only