One British school is finding that allowing children to listen to music or even to have the TV on while studying is helping improve grades. When your teenager starts a family _____ by sitting in an armchair listening to music while doing his homework next time, why not _____ a simple experiment? Rather than taking the strict line of _____ him to go to his bedroom to get on with it _____ , let him do the homework the _____ he wants. You might well find that his essay is more interesting than _____ he’s done before.

___ the research of Millfield Prep School, around 20% of youngsters _____ best with background music, 10% do extremely well when allowed to ______ their work with short walks around the room while up to 80% can focus ______ if allowed to play with a small object.

The research has advised the school to adopt a complete ______ approach, analyzing pupils to discover which learning style ______ them best — then letting them do their work listening to music or ______ lying down. Doubtful (感到怀疑的) parents at first regarded the ______ as a layabout’s (懒汉) deed but many are now applying it at ______ where children are also allowed to do their work ______ the television on.

“I ______ to work on the floor with music on low, ” admits Susan, 13, a day girl. “______ my parents thought I was playing truant (偷懒), but my ______ persuaded them to look at my homework and when they saw it was okay, they ______.”

   For some people,music is no fun at all. About four percent of the population is what scientists call “amusic.” People who are amusic are born without the ability to recognize or reproduce musical notes(音调). Amusic people often cannot tell the difference between two songs. Amusics can only hear the difference between two notes if they are very far apart on the musical scale.

As a result, songs sound like noise to an amusic. Many amusics compare the sound of music to pieces of metal hitting each other. Life can be hard for amusics. Their inability to enjoy music sets them apart from others. It can be difficult for other people to identify with their condition. In fact, most people cannot begin to grasp what it feels like to be amusic. Just going to a restaurant or a shopping mall can be uncomfortable or even painful. That is why many amusics intentionally stay away from places where there is music. However, this can result in withdrawal and social isolation. “I used to hate parties,” says Margaret,a seventy-year-old woman who only recently discovered that she was amusic. By studying people like Margaret, scientists are finally learning how to identify this unusual condition.

Scientists say that the brains of amusics are different from the brains of people who can appreciate music. The difference is complex, and it doesn't involve defective hearing. Amusics can understand other nonmusical sounds well. They also have no problems understanding ordinary speech. Scientists compare amusics to people who just can't see. certain colors.

Many amusics are happy when their condition is finally diagnosed(诊断). For years, Margaret felt embarrassed about her problem with music. Now she knows that she is not alone. There is a name for her condition. That makes it easier for her to explain. “When people invite me to a concert, I just say,” No thanks, I'm amusic,'“says Margaret. “I just wish I had learned to say that when I was seventeen and not seventy.”

   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.

   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.