Beyond Baby Mozart, Students Who Rock
Music education hasn’t changed much since the 1970s. Students are still taught to read notation(乐谱) so they can recite compositions that they would never listen to on their MP3 players or play with friends. Playing music enriches life. The question is: Why do schools teach music in a way that turns off so many young people rather than catch their imagination? Can we do a better job of using the power of music to get kids excited about school?
The experience of an organization called Little Kids Rock suggests the answer is yes — if we change the way music is taught. Little Kids Rock has helped music programs in over a thousand public schools and served 150,000 children. The organization has given 30,000 free instruments out, mainly guitars, and trained 1,500 teachers to run music classes in which students quickly experience the joys of playing their favorite songs, performing in bands(乐队), and writing their own music.

The key to Little Kids Rock is that it teaches children to play music the way many musicians learn to play it — not by notation, but by listening, imitation(模仿) and meaningful experimentation. “The knowledge you need to get started playing rock music is very limited,” explains Dave Wish, the founder of Little Kids Rock. “In high school, my friend Paul taught me a couple of chords(和弦) and my life was changed forever. On the first day of class, Little Kids Rock teachers place guitars in the hands of their students and get them practicing chords that will enable them to play thousands of songs. The kids decide what songs they want to learn and the class is off and running. Their progress is surprising. Within a year, eight and nine-year-olds are playing musical instruments, and giving concerts, even performing their own songs.
One of the biggest advantages that music offers is the ability to encourage students who are otherwise bored by school. “I’ve had students start coming back to school because of this program,” said Adkison Thomas, who heads up music for the Dallas Independent School District. He added, “One of the best things is that the teachers discover a new side of their students. They see kids become successful who weren’t before.”
【小题1】The expression “turn off” in Paragraph 1 means “______”.

At, call, try, discover, however, beyond, travel, send, be, understand, reach， good

Scientists think that there has    1    life on the earth for millions of years.    2   , we haven’t found life on other planets yet. Why?

The earth is a planet and it goes around the sun. There are other planets that also go around the sun. The sun and its planets    3    the solar system(太阳系). The solar system is a small part of our galaxy(银河系).

The stars we see at night are the suns in other solar systems. There are more than 200 billion stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way, and our sun is only one of them.

But scientists have    4    many other galaxies in the universe. They are a long way away and their light has    5    for many years to    6    us. It’s hard to    7    how large the universe is.

Scientists have    8    lots of spacecrafts to visit other planets in our solar system, and some spacecrafts have gone    9    the solar system. However, no one has discovered any life in space yet.

But why has no one from other planets sent us a message? Have they   10   to send information to us? Are we alone. Is there life out there in space? We don’t know.

1.___________  2.____________  3.____________  4.______________  5.______________

6.___________  7.____________  8.____________  9.______________ 10.______________

At, call, try, discover, however, beyond, travel, send, be, understand, reach， good

Scientists think that there has    1    life on the earth for millions of years.    2   , we haven’t found life on other planets yet. Why?

The earth is a planet and it goes around the sun. There are other planets that also go around the sun. The sun and its planets    3    the solar system(太阳系). The solar system is a small part of our galaxy(银河系).

The stars we see at night are the suns in other solar systems. There are more than 200 billion stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way, and our sun is only one of them.

But scientists have    4    many other galaxies in the universe. They are a long way away and their light has    5    for many years to    6    us. It’s hard to    7    how large the universe is.

Scientists have    8    lots of spacecrafts to visit other planets in our solar system, and some spacecrafts have gone    9    the solar system. However, no one has discovered any life in space yet.

But why has no one from other planets sent us a message? Have they   10   to send information to us? Are we alone. Is there life out there in space? We don’t know.

1.___________  2.____________  3.____________  4.______________  5.______________

6.___________  7.____________  8.____________  9.______________ 10.______________