在英语阅读教学中实现深度学习的探究
中国矿业大学外国语言文化学院 吴迪 袁辉
Extended Reading
Read the magazine article about the great classical musician Ludwig van Beethoven.
Beethoven: A Remarkable Life
On 7 May 1824, a crowd of music lovers streamed into a theatre in Vienna to hear the first-ever performance of the great Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. The crowd immediately recognized that they were listening to something truly special, and they broke into enthusiastic cheers at the end of the symphony. Beethoven, who was almost completely deaf at this point in his life, was unaware of the audience's response until one of the singers turned him around to face the crowd. Before him, he saw a sea of people all standing, clapping, and waving their hats and handkerchiefs to express their appreciation of his masterwork.
Symphony No. 9 was Beethoven's last major piece of music in a vast body of works written throughout his remarkable life. As a gifted child, Beethoven was pushed by his father to study music day and night. Not long after, he began to be appreciated for his piano performances. By the time he was a teenager, he had already enjoyed a reputation as a wonderful young musician. Many important figures in the music world, including the brilliant musician Mozart, started making predictions about Beethoven's extraordinary future. However, life took a sharp turn. In his late twenties, Beethoven suffered one of the worst possible twists for a musician: he started to lose his hearing.
The loss of his hearing deeply depressed Beethoven. He was so upset that, at first, he wanted to keep it a secret. In a letter to his brothers, he wrote, “... how could I possibly admit a weakness in the one sense which should be more perfect in me than in others, a sense which I once possessed in the greatest perfection ...” Even in his darkest moments, however, Beethoven never abandoned hope. Despite his hearing loss, he was determined to find a way to continue living a life full of music. He used a variety of hearing aids to try to increase the amount of sound he could take in. When composing music at the piano, he would put one end of a pencil in his mouth and place the other end against the instrument so that he could feel the notes. Although Beethoven was able to continue composing music, it became increasingly difficult for him to perform in public. When Beethoven presented Symphony No. 9 in Vienna in 1824, it was his first time on stage in over ten years.
Since that day, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 has become one of the most famous and treasured pieces in the history of classical music. The first movement starts quietly, but all of a sudden the whole orchestra breaks into an energetic theme. You can soon feel the determination — a quality Beethoven understood well because of his hearing difficulties — coursing through the music. The next two movements are full of desperate lows and uplifting highs which perhaps reflect both his suffering and his strong will to fight it. The music moves through technically difficult sections with ease, showing his genius as a composer. Finally, in the fourth movement, he connects all of the different variations into a joyful chorus.
As Beethoven's last great work, his Symphony No. 9 was also a grand finale to his life — he died less than three years after the concert in Vienna, aged 56. For his amazing achievements and for his determination even in his darkest days, Beethoven is regarded as one of the most remarkable musicians who ever lived.
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