Fall down as you come onstage. That"s an odd trick. Not recommended. But it saved the pianist Vladimir Felts man when he was a teenager back in Moscow. The veteran cellist MstislavRostropovich tripped him purposely to cure him of pre-performance panic, ²Mr. Felts man said," All my fright was gone. I already fell. What else could happen?"

    Today, music schools are addressing the problem of anxiety in classes that deal with performance techniques and career preparation. There are a variety of strategies that musicians can learn to fight stage fright and its symptoms : icy fingers, shaky limbs, racing heart, blank mind 3.

    Teachers and psychologists offer wide-ranging advice, from basics like learning pieces, inside out 4, to mental discipline, such as visualizing a performance and taking steps to relax. Don t deny that your"re jittery, they urge; some excitement is natural, even necessary for dynamic playing. And play in public often, simply for the experience.

    Psychotherapist Diane Nichols suggests some strategies for the moments before performance ,Take two deep abdominal breaths, open up your shoulders, then smile," she says. "And not one of “these" please don"t kill me" smiles. Then choose three friendly faces in the audience, people you would communicate with and make music to, and make eye contact with them. " She doesn"t want to think of the audience as a judge.Extreme demands by mentors or parents are often at the root of stage fright, says Dorothy Delay, a well-known violin teacher. She tells other teachers to demand only what their students are able to achieve.

    When Lynn Harrell was 20,he became the principal cellist of the Cleverl and Orchestra, and he suffered extreme stage fright. "There were times when I got so nervous I was sure the audience could see my chest responding to the throbbing. It was just total panic. I came to a point where I thought, If I have to go through this to play music, I think I"m going to look for another job 5. "

    Recovery, he said, involved developing humility-recognizing that whatever his talent, he was fallible, and that an imperfect concert was not a disaster 6.

    It is not only young artists who suffer, of course. The legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz"s nerves were famous. The great tenor Franco Corelli is another example. "They had to push him on stage," Soprano Renata Scotto recalled.

    Actually, success can make things worse. "In the beginning of your career, when you"re scared to death, nobody knows who you are, and they don"t, have any expectations," Soprano June Anderson said. "There" s less to lose. Later on, when you re known, people are coming to see you, and they have certain expectations. You have a lot to lose. "

    Anderson added, "I never stop being nervous until I"ve sung my last note. "

词汇：

veteran/ ˈvetərən / adj．经验丰富的

jittery/ ˈdʒɪtəri / adj．紧张不安的

mentor/ ˈmenˌtɔ: / n．指导者

soprano/ səˈprprɑ:nəʊ / n．女高音；女高音歌手

cellist/ˈtʃelɪst / n．大提琴演奏家

abdominal/ æbˈdɔmənəl / adj．腹部的

fallible/ ˈfæləbəl / adj．易犯错误的

tenor/"tenə/ n．男高音

注释：

1．Stage Fright：舞台恐惧

2．The veteran cellist Mstislav Rostropovich tripped him purposely to cure him of pre-performance panic…资深大提琴家Mstislav Rostropovich故意把Vladimir Feltsman绊倒，因而治愈了他的上台前的恐惧症。cure somebody of something (illness, problem)：医治好病（解决问题）

3．… its symptoms：icy fingers, shaky limbs, racing heart, blank mind：舞台恐惧的症状有手冰凉、身体颤抖、心跳加快和大脑一片空白。

4．Teachers and psychologists offer wide-ranging advice, from basics like learning pieces inside out ：老师和心理学家提出了方方面面的建议，一些基础知识，比如将演奏曲目烂熟于心…… inside out： in great detail详细地，从里到外地

5．I came to a point where I thought，“If I have to go through this to play music, I think I’m going to look for another job. ”我曾经一度认为，如果搞音乐就必须经过克服舞台恐惧这一关的话，这项工作不能做。

6．Recovery, he said, involved developing humility-recognizing that whatever his talent, he was fallible, andthat an imperfect concert was not a disaster.不舞台恐惧意味着提高谦卑感，即认识到不管你多有才，你也会出错，一个有瑕疵的音乐会也绝对不是世界末日。

Falling down onstage was not a good way for Vladimir Feltsman todeal with his stage fright.

A:Right B:Wrong C:Not mentioned

Spacing in Animals ¹ Flight Distance

    Any observant person has noticed that a wild animal will allow a man or other potential enemy to approach only up to a given distance before it flees. “Flight distance ²” is the terms used for this interspecies spacing. As a general rule, there is a positive relationship between the size of an animal and its flight distance ³—the larger the animal, the greater the distance it must keep between itself and the enemy. An antelope ⁴ will flee when the enemy is as much as five hundred yards away. The wall lizard ⁵’s flight distance, on the other hand is about six feet. Flight is the basic means of survival for mobile creatures.

    Critical Distance

    Critical distance apparently is present wherever and whenever there is a flight reaction. “Critical distance” includes the narrow zone separating flight distance from attack distance ⁶. A lion in a zoo will flee from an approaching man until it meets a barrier that it cannot overcome. If the man continues the approach, he soon penetrates the lion"s critical distance, at which point the cornered lion reverses direction ⁷ and begins slowly to stalk the man.

    Social Distance

    Social animals need to stay in touch with each other. Loss of contact with the group can be fatal for a variety of reasons including exposure to enemies. Social distance is not simply the distance at which an animal will lose contact with his group—that is, the distance at which it can no longer see, hear, or smell the group—it is rather a psychological distance, one at which the animal apparently begins to feel anxious when he exceeds its limits. We can think of it as a hidden band that contains the group ⁸.

    Social distance varies from species to species. It is quite short—apparently only a few yards—among some animals, and quite long among others.

    Social distance is not always rigidly fixed but is determined in part by the situation. When the young of apes and humans are mobile but not yet under control of the mother"s voice, social distance may be the length of her reach ⁹. This is readily observed among the baboons in a zoo. When the baby approaches a certain point, the mother reaches out to seize the end of its tail and pull it back to her. When added control is needed because of danger, social distance shrinks. To show this in man, one has only to watch a family with a number of small children holding hands as they cross a busy street.

词汇：

observant[əbˈzɜ:vənt] adj.观察力敏锐的;

barrier["bærɪə(r)] n.障碍物

potential[pəˈtenʃl] adj.潜在的

contact["kɒntækt] n.接触；联系

survival[səˈvaɪvl] n.逃生，幸免;

fatal["feɪtl] adj.致命的

mobile["məʊbaɪl] adj.可动的，活动的;

rigidly["rɪdʒɪdlɪ] adv.刻板的；死板的

approach[ə"prəʊtʃ] v朝……走近

baboon[bəˈbu:n] n.狒狒;

注释:

1.spacing in animals :动物的间隔距离

2．flight distance:逃离距离

3．．，．there is a positive relationship between the size of an animal and its flight distance.……动物体积与其逃离距离之间成正比关系。

4．antelope:羚羊

5．wall lizard:壁虎

6.“Critical distance"  includes the narrow zone separating flight distance from attack distance.关键距离指逃离距离和进攻距离之间的狭窄区域。

7．reverse direction:调转方向。

8．a hidden band that contains the group:-条控制群体的隐形带

Which of the following could best replace the word “band” in “We can think of it as a hidden band that contains the group” (in Paragraph 3)?

A:Strip of land B:Distance C:Society D:Community

The Only Way Is Up

    Think of a modem city and the first image that come to mind is the skyline. It is full of great buildings, pointing like fingers to heaven. It is true that some cities don"t permit buildings to go above a certain height. But these are cities concerned with the past. The first thing any city does when it wants to tell the world that it has arrived is to build skyscrapers.

    When people gather together in cities, they create a demand for land. Since cities are places where money is made, that demand can be met. And the best way to make money out of city land is to put as many people as possible in a space that covers the smallest amount of ground. That means building upwards.

    The technology existed to do this as early as the 19th century. But the height of buildings was limited by one important factor. They had to be small enough for people on the top floors to climb stairs. People could not be expected to climb a mountain at the end of their journey to work, or home.

    Elisha Otis, a USinventor, was the man who brought us the lift-or elevator, as he preferred to call it. However, most of the technology is very old. Lifts work using the same pulley system the Egyptians used to create the Pyramids. What Otis did was attach the system to a steam engine and develop the elevator brake, which stops the lift falling if the cords that hold it up are broken. It was this that did the most to gain public confidence in the new invention ¹. In fact, he spent a number of years exhibiting lifts at fairgrounds, giving people the chance to try them out before selling the idea to architects and builders.

    A lift would not be a very good theme park attraction now. Going in a lift is such an everyday thing that it would just be boring. Yet psychologists and others who study human behavior find lifts fascinating. The reason is simple. Scientists have always studied animals in zoos. The nearest they can get to that with humans is in observing them in lifts ².

    "It breaks all the usual conventions about the bubble of personal space ³ we carry around with us -- and you just can"t choose to move away," says workplace psychologist, Gary Fitzgibbon. Being trapped in this setting can create different types of tensions, he says. Some people are scared of them. Others use them as an opportunity to get close to the boss. Some stand close to the door. Others hide in the comers. Most people try and shrink into the background. But some behave in a way that makes others notice them. There are a few people who just stand in a comer taking notes.

    Don"t worry about them. They are probably from a university.

词汇:

skyline["skaɪlaɪn] n.空中轮廓线  

tension["tenʃ(ə)n] n.紧张

pulley ["pʊlɪ] n.滑轮

bubble["bʌbl] n.幻想,妄想;

fairground [ˈfeəgraʊnd] n.露天市场

注释：

1．It was this that did the most to gain public confidence in the new invention.正是这项技术赢得了人们对新发明的信心。本句使用了强调句型It is... that...被强调的是this，所指代的是上文中所说的Otis发明了电梯刹车的事。

2．The nearest they can get to that with humans is in observing them in lifts.对于研究人类来说，最接近的方式就是在电梯里观察他们。句中的that指的是上一句中提到的科学家一直对动物园里的动物进行观察。

Psychologists find the lift a good place where they can study human behaviour because__．

A:here humans behave the way animals do B:people in a lift are all scared C:here some people take notes D:in a lift the bubble of personal space breaks

The Only Way Is Up

    Think of a modem city and the first image that come to mind is the skyline. It is full of great buildings, pointing like fingers to heaven. It is true that some cities don"t permit buildings to go above a certain height. But these are cities concerned with the past. The first thing any city does when it wants to tell the world that it has arrived is to build skyscrapers.

    When people gather together in cities, they create a demand for land. Since cities are places where money is made, that demand can be met. And the best way to make money out of city land is to put as many people as possible in a space that covers the smallest amount of ground. That means building upwards.

    The technology existed to do this as early as the 19th century. But the height of buildings was limited by one important factor. They had to be small enough for people on the top floors to climb stairs. People could not be expected to climb a mountain at the end of their journey to work, or home.

    Elisha Otis, a USinventor, was the man who brought us the lift-or elevator, as he preferred to call it. However, most of the technology is very old. Lifts work using the same pulley system the Egyptians used to create the Pyramids. What Otis did was attach the system to a steam engine and develop the elevator brake, which stops the lift falling if the cords that hold it up are broken. It was this that did the most to gain public confidence in the new invention ¹. In fact, he spent a number of years exhibiting lifts at fairgrounds, giving people the chance to try them out before selling the idea to architects and builders.

    A lift would not be a very good theme park attraction now. Going in a lift is such an everyday thing that it would just be boring. Yet psychologists and others who study human behavior find lifts fascinating. The reason is simple. Scientists have always studied animals in zoos. The nearest they can get to that with humans is in observing them in lifts ².

    "It breaks all the usual conventions about the bubble of personal space ³ we carry around with us -- and you just can"t choose to move away," says workplace psychologist, Gary Fitzgibbon. Being trapped in this setting can create different types of tensions, he says. Some people are scared of them. Others use them as an opportunity to get close to the boss. Some stand close to the door. Others hide in the comers. Most people try and shrink into the background. But some behave in a way that makes others notice them. There are a few people who just stand in a comer taking notes.

    Don"t worry about them. They are probably from a university.

词汇:

skyline["skaɪlaɪn] n.空中轮廓线  

tension["tenʃ(ə)n] n.紧张

pulley ["pʊlɪ] n.滑轮

bubble["bʌbl] n.幻想,妄想;

fairground [ˈfeəgraʊnd] n.露天市场

注释：

1．It was this that did the most to gain public confidence in the new invention.正是这项技术赢得了人们对新发明的信心。本句使用了强调句型It is... that...被强调的是this，所指代的是上文中所说的Otis发明了电梯刹车的事。

2．The nearest they can get to that with humans is in observing them in lifts.对于研究人类来说，最接近的方式就是在电梯里观察他们。句中的that指的是上一句中提到的科学家一直对动物园里的动物进行观察。

Psychologists find the lift a good place where they can study human behaviour because__．

A:here humans behave the way animals do B:people in a lift are all scared C:here some people take notes D:in a lift the bubble of personal space breaks

It is a terrible illustration of man’s weakness to nature, and the tsunami(海啸)that struck the Japanese coast in March, 2011 has illustrated the difficulty of fighting against natural disasters, even for a prosperous nation.
Totally preventing tsunami-damage is impossible. But there is much that can be done to minimize damage and loss of life. Measures that can be taken include designing solid buildings, and developing early-waming systems, public education programs and evacuation(疏散) strategies. Moreover, the approach of a tsunami is possibly picked up by the sensors of complicated international waming systems.
Countries can use radio and television broadcasts as well as loudspeaker networks to warn the public.
But an early waming system depends on how far the tsunami strikes, if it’s close by, the warning system is not going to be very effective. When people are faced with an unstoppable force like a tsunami the massive waves created by events like underwater earthquakes, the best course of action for them is to get inland and to the higher ground as quickly as possible.

A:man can easily defeat the nature B:tsunamis take place only in Japan C:man’ s ability to cope with natural disasters is limited D:the tsunami-damage in Japan is not so terrible