英语听力—环球英语 846 Making Music

　　Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight¹. I'm Ryan Geertsma.
Voice 2
And I'm Robin² Basselin. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
Resonaari is a music school in the country of Finland. Like other music schools around the world, students come to Resonaari to learn how to play musical instruments. But Resonaari is not like other schools. Most people never expected its students to be able to make music. Today's Spotlight is on how the Resonaari Music Center helped these students play music by teaching³ in a new way.
Voice 2
Learning⁴ to play a musical instrument takes lots of time and practice. And playing music requires many skills. A person must learn the musical language. The way that music is written is international. It is a system of symbols. These symbols show things like the notes to play and the speed, or tempo⁵, of the music. A musician needs to translate that information into actions. This is necessary so that the sound coming out of the instrument expresses the written music. So a musician needs to understand the written music. And a musician needs to know how to make the instrument create that music.
Voice 1
But Resonaari is different from most other music schools.  Most of its students have mental or physical problems. These problems would normally⁶ prevent them from doing anything difficult. But at Resonaari the students' disabilities are not important. Instead, it is a place where people notice their musical skill and not their disabilities.
Voice 2
Students often begin at Resonaari with no understanding of the basic ideas of music. Some can use only one finger to play. So it is difficult for these people to learn how to play instruments the traditional way. For some it is difficult to understand the written music. For others it is difficult to translate the written music into what the instrument needs to do to produce the sound.
Voice 1
Two of the teachers at Resonaari recognized this difficulty⁷. So, Markku Kaikkonen and Kaarlo Uusitalo began to develop a new method for writing down music. Markku and Kaarlo spent ten years developing⁸ and testing their new method. They call the new method Figurenotes. This is the method that the Resonaari Music Center uses to teach its students.
Voice 2
Figurenotes is a system of writing down and teaching music. It uses small, sticky⁹ pieces of colored paper to show the students what to play. These "stickers" are different colors and shapes. Each color shows what note to play. The shapes show which octave the note is in, a higher one or a lower¹⁰ one.
Voice 1
The written music uses these shapes and colors to show the music. And the stickers can be placed on a piano, guitar, or other musical instrument. The Figurenotes sticker on the instrument shows the student exactly what to play when they see the sticker. Students learn to play by finding¹¹ the same sticker on the instrument that is written on the music. Markku described this to the newspaper ‘Christian¹² Science Monitor'. He explained how the student experiences the Figurenotes method,
Voice 3
"In the beginning, it is only colors and symbols. But then suddenly it starts to be music. That is the miracle¹³ moment. When a person is playing for the first time in his life, and he understands, 'I played music!' ... I call it the big-smile effect."
Voice 2
It can take many years before the students are ready to perform. But the teachers at Resonaari are very patient. And they celebrate every little bit of progress a student achieves.
Voice 1
People with disabilities can understand Figurenotes more easily than traditionally¹⁴ written music. But Figurenotes can be helpful for anyone who is just beginning to play music - even very young children. Figurenotes gives the same information as traditionally written music. So it can be easy for a new musician to learn Figurenotes first, then, change later to traditionally written music.
Voice 2
For many of the students at Resonaari the study of music is just the beginning. This study gives them courage. They begin to trust their own skills and gifts. It opens up the world of music to them, a world which they could not have taken part in before. Music can also improve the quality of life for people with physical or mental disabilities. For many of the students, Figurenotes begins a process of life-long learning. Markku shared an example with the Christian Science Monitor. It is about one of his students named Marko.
Voice 3
"The student Marko Koivu began classes about ten years ago. When he arrived, he had only two friends: his mother and a nurse who cared for him. He was a very quiet boy who just let things happen around him. Soon, Marko was learning to play the piano. His mother called to say, 'Marko is teaching me how to play chords¹⁵ on the piano. Are these groups of notes real chords?' It was a great experience. The son had knowledge about something that the mother did not know anything about."
Voice 1
Playing music gave Marko faith in his own skills. He began to feel like he could do more things on his own. For example, he learned¹⁶ about his local buses. Soon he began riding the bus to his music practices. He became friends with some famous musicians from Finland. These musicians joined him and other Resonaari students in a musical performance. Now Marko says,
Voice 4
"Music is my life. When we have performances, it gives me a good feeling."
Voice 2
The Resonaari Music Center has concerts every year. These musical performances give the students a chance to play for people. Many famous musicians join the students. The crowds that come to hear the concerts are always surprised. Before, no one thought that these students were able to create music. But using Figurenotes shows that even students with disabilities have the gift of music.
Voice 1
The Figurenotes method is becoming popular. It is now being used in other countries - such as Japan, Estonia, Italy, and Iceland. Brian Cope¹⁷ is the director¹⁸ of Drake Music Scotland¹⁹. His school will be the first school in Scotland to use the Figurenotes method. The school will be using Figurenotes for students with and without disabilities. He heard Resonaari students play a concert. Now he thinks that Figurenotes will change how people learn and teach music. He says,
Voice 5
"The Resonaari music students are teaching us. They are teaching us that people with learning disabilities are able to do so much more in music than what we knew before."
 

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

3 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

4 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

5 tempo   

n.(音乐的)速度；节奏，行进速度

参考例句：

• The boss is unsatisfied with the tardy tempo.老板不满于这种缓慢的进度。
• They waltz to the tempo of the music.他们跟着音乐的节奏跳华尔兹舞。

6 normally   

adv.正常地，通常地

参考例句：

• I normally do all my shopping on Saturdays.我通常在星期六买东西。
• My pulse beats normally.我脉搏正常。

7 difficulty   

n.困难，费劲；难事，难题；麻烦，困境

参考例句：

• If there is any difficulty,please let us know promptly.倘有困难，请迅速通知我们。
• A little difficulty like this is nothing to us.这点困难算不了什么。

8 developing   

adj.发展中的

参考例句：

• Transport has always been the key to developing trade.运输一直是发展贸易的关键。
• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。

9 sticky   

adj.粘的，闷热的，困难的，令人不满意的

参考例句：

• This paste is not sticky enough.这糨糊不黏。
• Here is a sticky business!这事真难办！

10 lower   

adj.较低的；地位较低的，低等的；低年级的；下游的；vt.放下，降下，放低；减低

参考例句：

• Society is divided into upper,middle and lower classes.社会分为上层、中层和下层阶级。
• This price is his minimum;he refuses to lower it any further.这个价格是他开的最低价，他拒绝再作任何降价。

11 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。

12 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

13 miracle   

n.奇迹，令人惊奇的人或事

参考例句：

• The doctors said that his recovery was a miracle. 医生们说他的复原是件奇事。
• It is simply a miracle that rice should grow in such a place.稻子竟能在这样的地方生长，这实在是个奇迹。

14 traditionally   

adv.传说地；传统地

参考例句：

• Traditionally,people clean the house before the Spring Festival.传统上，人们在春节前打扫房子。
• Medicine is traditionally the first of the Nobel prizes awarded each year.根据传统，医学奖是诺贝尔奖每年颁发的第一个奖项。

15 chords   

（数学）弦( chord的名词复数 )； （乐器）弦； （音乐）和弦； 心弦

参考例句：

• These are the opening chords of a sonata. 这些是奏鸣曲的起始和弦。
• I could play a few chords on the guitar and sing a song. 我能弹着一些击他和弦唱一首歌。

16 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

17 cope   

v.(with)竞争，对抗；对付，妥善处理

参考例句：

• He had a lot of work,but he was able to cope.他的活虽多，但还能应付得来。
• They have to cope with a mountain of problems.他们得应付成堆的问题。

18 director   

n.主管，导演；主任；理事；董事；处长

参考例句：

• The director has taken the visitors off to his office.经理把客人带到他办公室去了。
• The new director is easy to get along with.新来的主任很好处。

19 Scotland   

n.苏格兰

参考例句：

• He has been hiking round Scotland for a month.他围着苏格兰徒步旅行了一个月。
• Scotland is to the north of England.苏格兰在英格兰之北。