Need inspiration？Happy background music can help people get the creative juice flowing.

Simone Ritter, at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, and Sam Ferguson at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia, have been studying the effect of silence and different types of music on how we think.

They divided 155 volunteers into five groups. Four of these were each given a type of music to listen to while taking a series of tests, while the fifth group did the tests in silence. The tests were produced to judge two types of thinking: divergent thinking, which refers to the process of creating new ideas, and convergent thinking, which is how we find the best solution to a problem. Ritter and Ferguson found that people were more creative when listening to music they thought was positive, coming up with more special ideas than the people who worked in silence.

"We also performed other types of music that were sad, anxious and calm, and didn't see this effect, " says Ferguson. "It seems that the type of music present is important, rather than just any music." In addition, no type of music helped convergent thinking, suggesting that it's better to solve problems in silence.

Ritter and Ferguson write that their finding could be used to improve creative thinking in places like educational institutions or laboratories, but Irma at the University of Helsinki in Finland, says happy music may help creativity by setting off the release of dopamine, a brain chemical involved in pleasure and relief." Dopamine also increases creative thinking and goal-directed working, "says Irma. And she also thinks happy music may not help convergent thinking because this kind of thinking relies more on logic and less on creativity.

   I like music so much that I believe I can't live without it. I was once asked by a friend of mine why I took such a great interest in it. First I would like to go deep into my soul and find myself through the music I like. Actually，some people call it the process of looking for the purpose of life，but I consider it to find my own spirit rather than the purpose of life. And the other reason is that I can communicate with other people and share all the things we have with the help of music. In fact，the use of music as a communication tool has been kept by human beings for thousands of years.

My friend asked me for further explanation after hearing what I said. I told him that this can date back to the original time，and to the very beginning of the world. At the very beginning of human beings，our forerunners（先驱）already had a special hobby of music. You'll know exactly what I mean if you happen to know the musical sentence when Adam，the first man，said to the first woman Eve，“Madam，I'm Adam”，which may have the meaning when you read from the end to the beginning. Later on，Adam and Eve and their children began to enjoy the sound of nature as a result of the special hobby of music. They found interest in listening to the sound of wind and rain, the singing of birds, the howls of beasts as well as the simple songs they themselves made.

As time went by, people started to form different kinds of music, such as Eastern music, pop music, rock and roll and light music. People became more skillful at enjoying the music. They were not just paying attention to the words and melodies, but they went deep into the soul of a piece of music. They began to know the relationship between music and their own life. They realized the power of music and started to use music to show their feelings and emotions. At the same time, people who listened to music and found the right way of enjoying it were going deeper and deeper into their soul and spirit through music. They got the whole colourful world which was surrounded by music. They began to communicate with others and share their feelings with the help of music. Music has become a kind of language since then.

Nowadays, people take a greater interest in music than ever before. More and more people begin to like music because they want to find their soul deep in their spirit and also because they have a need to share their life with other people. It is said that music has become an exactly international language today. It is even believed that if there are creatures on other planets and all other ways can't help communicate with them, music will probably do!

The song Lili Marleen was originally a poem written by a young soldier during World War I，【小题1】 missed his sweetheart，Lili. Later，a German musician set the poem to music and a popular German singer made a recording of it. But the recording wasn't popular. Then in 1941 when Germany invaded（侵略）Yugoslavia and took over Radio Belgrade，the German officer in charge there found that most of the station's 【小题2】（record）had been destroyed in the battle. However，in a dusty box，he found a record named Lili Marleen and began to play 【小题3】.In a very short time，it became 【小题4】（huge）popular with German soldiers.

Lili Marleen was asked 【小题5】（play）again by Radio Belgrade. As a result，it was broadcast every night at 9：57. Then something amazing happened. Although the song 【小题6】（sing）in German and played on a radio station by their enemy，it 【小题7】（become）popular with the local people and afterwards with American soldiers，too. Lili Marleen was at the top of the US music charts in 1944 and 1968，and later，the German and Japanese charts in 【小题8】 1980s. So what was the secret of its fame？Some say it was because of its theme of everlasting love，【小题9】（pain）separation and danger in times of war. But the most poetic comment about its 【小题10】（popular）came from Lale Andersen，"Can the wind explain why it became a storm？"

   When students and parents are asked to rate subjects according to their importance, the arts are unavoidably at the bottom of the list. Music is nice, people seem to say, but not ________ Too often it is viewed as mere entertainment, but certainly not an _______ priority (最重要的事). This view is shortsighted._______ , music education is _______ and important to all students.

Music tells us who we are. Because music is an expression of human beings who _______ it, it reflects their thinking and values,_______ the social environment it came from. Rock music shows a _______ just as surely as does a Schubert song. The jazz influence that George Gershwin and other musicians introduced into their _______ is obviously American because it came from American musical traditions. Music expresses our character and _______ . It gives us identity as a society.

Music provides a kind of emotive perception (感知) that can ________ be shown in any other way. Science can just explain how the sun rises and sets. The arts,________ , explore emotive meaning of the same phenomenon. We need every possible way to discover and ________ to our world for one simple but powerful reason: No one way can get it all.

In exploration of the world, the arts are as ________ as mathematical and scientific symbols. They are ways we human beings “talk” to each other. They are the ________ of civilization through which we ________ our fears, our curiosity, our hunger, our discoveries and our hopes. The arts are ways we give form to our ideas and imagination so that they can be ________ with others. When we do not give children access (机会) to an important way of expressing themselves such as music,________ , they miss an effective way to express themselves.

Science and technology do not tell us what it ________ to be human. The arts do. Through music, we express and ________ human suffering, celebration, the meaning and value of peace and love.

So music education is far more necessary than people to ________.

   The symphony ended and after much applause the audience moved out of the warmth of the hall and into the cold night air. It had been one of the best performances of recent months and you could feel the excitement as the crowd moved down the street. Taxis seemed to appear from nowhere to convey people home，while others sought out bars and restaurants. Everyone was chatting excitedly and the magic of the performance carried on in their minds.

This had been a traditional classic，with none of the clumsy notes so loved by the so-called modernists. The music had thrilled the soul and assisted in lifting the spirits to a higher level. Perhaps in these hard times someone might learn this valuable lesson. What was wanted was traditional works that attracted crowds，not the shameful and incomprehensible pieces that had left so many seats unoccupied for so long.

As the people left they seemed to carry some of the performances along with them. It was like the fragrance of a rose bush carried by a gentle wind，sweet and exciting，yet at a distance the source unknown. A few hummed（哼）the tunes as they walked along，spreading their enjoyment far and wide. Long into the night you could still feel the emotion of the music and as dawn rose over the city the next day，the last faint echoes（回声）still remained as people returned to work.

Critics are critics；they are never really interested in ordinary people and simple pleasures. Where was the skill in simply playing well to a fascinated audience？What was advanced by the performance of well-known overtures（序曲）？So，as would be expected，they used their usual phrases and quotations to belittle（贬低）the traditional classics. As a result，the pop returned. And within a week the concert hall was almost empty again.