research says.
Dr. Aaron Reeves of the University of Oxford found that UK parents did not see musical achievement by their children as character building or useful in getting university places or jobs. Instead, it was usually only those parents who played instruments that encouraged their children to follow suit.
This contrasted with research carried out by other academics in America, he said. “Middle-class parents in the US appear to associate cultural practice with other benefits, such as developing specific characteristics and paving the way for educational success. Middle-class families are often marked by a pattern of ‘concerted cultivation’, where parents organize music-centred activities for their children, often in addition to school-based musical practice.”
Researchers had owed this to “parental anxiety over the declining fortunes of educated Americans. These parents have become increasingly worried about providing their children with skills and abilities enabling them to stand out from their competitors in the job market.”
By contrast, for British respondents, no such connection was made between what is considered as an overbearing parenting style and future educational or career possibilities. The parents interviewed here did not
connect music with usefulness but rather they focused on the value of music as a family tradition and, to a lesser extent, as something valuable in its own right.
One Scottish parent, a chemist by profession, said during the interviews, “We’ve got two learning musical instruments. If we think it’s maybe worthwhile we try and encourage them, but we wouldn't force them.” A housewife said, “My son’s just turned five and I want him to do the guitar because his uncle does it, but it’s up to him.”
In some UK families, said Dr. Reeves, music was even “believed to be an obstacle to educational success, or at least secondary to it.” 28. What do British parents think of music learning? A. Worthwhile as a family tradition. building.
C. Beneficial to further education. application.
29. What does the underlined word “this” in Paragraph 4 refer to? A. Cultural practice.
B. Educational success. D. School-based musical
D.
Useful
for
job
B. Helpful for character
C. Concerted cultivation. practice.
30. What can be inferred from the text?
A. The future of American kids is not promising. B. Music learning is a personal choice for British kids. C. American parents hardly link music with success. D. British parents show little concern about education. 31. What is the text mainly about? A. Reasons for British music preference.
B. Differences between British and American parents. C. Americans’ attitude towards music learning. D. British parenting style in music education. D
We traveled to Moscow for a river cruise. I had never been to Russia and my impressions of that country were formed by what I heard and saw on television and the newspaper. We were to be met at the airport by a driver who would then take us to the hotel as we decided to see Moscow before the cruise. We arrived on time, got our baggage and went to the gate, but no one was waiting and holding a sign with our names.
We had the phone number of the driver and travel agency but no phone that would work in Russia. I noticed a young woman sitting next to me with a cell phone so I asked her if she spoke English and she replied \
Would she please call our driver, I would pay for the call. I asked, \problem,\
A Russian woman holding a sign with someone's name on it, not ours, must have overheard this conversation and took the paper and called both numbers. Again, no one answered. She shrugged and sat down then her phone rang and in Russian she had a conversation.
Then she started to tell me about the call, but in Russian. I said, \Russian, English?\woman who had made the first call said she spoke Spanish. So the Russian woman relayed the information from our driver to the young woman in Spanish. Then the young woman told the information to me in English.
The three of us looked at each other and realized what had just happened and laughed and hugged each other. 32. We were supposed to be met by _______. A. a travel agent C. a driver
B. a Russian woman D. no one
33. How many people called the driver in the passage? A. 1.
B. 2.
C. 3.
D. 4.
34. In which order was the message translated to the writer? A. Spanish—Russian—English.
B. Spanish—English—Russian.
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