When students and parents are asked to rate subjects according to theirimportance ,the arts are unavoidably at the bottom of the list . Music is nice,people seem to say, but not important. Too often it is viewed as mere entertainment, butcertainly not an education priority (优先) . This view is shortsighted.In fact, music education is beneficial and important for all students. 21 Music tells us who we are. Because music isan expression of the beings who create it, it reflects their thinking andvalues, as well as the social environment it came from. Rock music represents alifestyle. just as surely as does a Schubert song. The jazz influence thatGeorge Gershwin and other musicians introduced into their music is obviouslyAmerican because it came from American musical traditions. Music expresses ourcharacter and values. It gives us identity as a society. 21 Music provides a kind of perception (感知) that cannot be acquired anyother way . Science can explain how the sun rises and sets. The arts exploreemotive (情感的) meaning of the samephenomenon . We need every possible way to discover and respond to our worldfor one simple but powerful reason: Noone way can get it all. 21 The arts are forms of thought as powerful inwhat they communicate as mathematical and scientific symbols. They are ways wehuman beings “talk” to each other. They are the language of civilizationthrough which we express our fears, our curiosities, our hungers, ourdiscoveries, our hopes. The arts are ways we give form. to our ideas andimagination so that they can be shared with others. When we do not givechildren access to an important way of expressing themselves such as music, wetake away from them the meanings that music expresses. 21 Science and technology do not tell us what itmeans to be human. The arts do. Music is an important way we express humansuffering, celebration, the meaning and value of peace and love. 21 So music education is far more necessary thanpeople to realize. 21 68. According to Paragraph 1, students______. 21 A. regard music as a way of entertainment 21 B. disagree with their parents on education 21 C. view music as an overlooked subject 21 D. prefer the arts to science 21 69. In Paragraph 2, the author uses jazz asan example to . 21 A. compare it with rock music 21 B. show music identifies a society 21 C. introduce American musical traditions 21 D. prove music influences people’s lifestyles 21 70. According to the passage. the arts and science . 21 A. approach the world from different angles 21 B. explore different phenomena of the world 21 C. express people’s feelings in differentways 21 D. explain what it means to be humandifferently 21 71. What is the main idea of the passage? 21 A. Music education deserves more attention. 21 B. Music should be of top education priority. 21 C. Music is an effective communication tool. 21 D. Music education makes students moreimaginative. 21