Are you interested in movie musicals? Here are some best movie musicals you need to watch.
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Debbie Reynolds (the heroine) is ultra-charming in this time-honored classic musical about the coming of the talking pictures in movie history. She plays a winning showgirl with a golden singing voice designed for Hollywood stars. You can also see how Gene Kelly (the hero) made a hit in the timeless "Singin' in the Rain".
The Sound of Music (1965)
It hit the big screen in 1965 and became an early blockbuster. It's one of those movies that everybody watches again and again. Whether you're singing along to "Do-Re-Mi" or "My Favorite Things", you'll still think of the cute Von Trapp children and the beautiful Austrian setting. Christopher Plummer (the hero) is wonderful as the serious captain melts into gentleness when singing "Edelweiss". And Julie Andrews (the heroine) shows her addictive voice in such songs as "I Have Confidence".
Chicago (2002)
Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones sing and dance as criminals in this musical about fame, envy, and murderous love. Famous songs include "Cell Block Tango", where female criminals sing about how they ended up in jail. It won Best Picture, Best Actress in a supporting role, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound in Oscar 2003.
La La Land (2016)
Struggling actress Mia (Emma Stone) and ambitious jazz pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) begin a romance as they both follow their heart in the path of their dreams in Los Angeles. It won Best Performance by an Actress in a leading role, Best achievement in Directing, Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Best achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, and Best Achievement in Production Design in Oscar 2017.
"If music is the medicine of the soul (灵魂) , let it play on," said a famous person. I think he said so because probably he got some help from music. Music has some strange abilities. Medical scientists have found that a person that feels stressed can actually listen to some kind of music and become well.
The researchers said that since stress comes as a result of life events such as starting a new family, starting a new business, and starting a new job, one can actually listen to good music and feel good because good music touches the human mind in a positive way. Music helps you to forget the life events that make you worried and remember the important events that once happened in your life.
Depression (抑郁) is a disease caused by stress, smoking, social problems and so on. Depression is also caused by problems such as failure in business. Depression may bring us weakness, headache, and loss of concentration. Good music makes one remember happy moments or good days. If you play music about love, it makes you feel like falling in love again though you may have had several upset experiences. And such good feelings make you healthy.
Anxiety (焦虑) is another health problem that can be controlled by music. Anxiety is a side effect of some major health problems such as cancer of the liver and cancer of the breast. Good music makes you feel relaxed and removes the pains from these diseases and you feel all right.
Good music can send you to sleep. And you need to know that sleep puts your body in a healthy condition. Sleep takes away the effects of stress, depression and anxiety from a person.
Frankly, I appreciate myself very much. Yes, I admit I'm in many aspects not as good as other people, but I don't think I'm always not good. When I find what I've done or written is okay, I'll remain pleased with myself for quite a few days, and if I receive praise for it, I'll even become so excited as to add a few words to reward myself.
True, I'm not modest at all. People may call me conceited (自负的). But I think otherwise.
I appreciate other people. I appreciate anything good. Isn't it unfair to forget appreciating myself while appreciating others?
We Chinese generally tend to be modest, and we take pride in being so. For example, a Chinese man will call his own wife zhuojing, meaning "my humble wife", and his own writings zhuozuo, meaning "my poor writings". But if you call his wife a "rustic (乡村的) woman" or his writings "trash", he would, I'm sure, declare he would make a clean break with you angrily. As a matter of fact, there is probably no difference at all between what is said by him and you.
I don't think it's wrong of you to freely praise yourself if you're really worthy of praise. As we know, there is an old Chinese saying disparaging (蔑视) a melon seller, named Lao Wang, who keeps praising his own goods. Well, why can't he praise his melons if they are really sweet and juicy?
Lao Wang sells melons for a living. How could he carry on business if he, by imitating the affectations (装模作样) of us intellectuals, were to show false modesty about his melons? He would sure enough die of starvation.
Self-appreciation is therefore a key to professional dedication and enjoyment of work. Needless to say, the same is true of those who make a living with their pen. One will lose confidence in writing when he stops admiring his own essays.
People are being lured (引诱) onto Facebook with the promise of a fun and free service without realizing they're paying for it by giving up large amounts of personal information. Facebook then attempts to make money by selling their data to advertisers that want to send targeted messages.
Most Facebook users don't realize this is happening. Even if they know what the company is up to, they still have no idea what they're paying for Facebook, because people don't really know what their personal details are worth.
The biggest problem, however, is that the company keeps changing the rules. Early on, you could keep everything private. That was the great thing about Facebook—you could create your own little private network. Last year, the company changed its privacy rules so that many things—your city, your photo, your friends' names—were set, by default (默认) , to be shared with everyone on the Internet.
According to Facebook's vice-president Elliot Schrage, the company is simply making changes to improve its service, and if people don't share information, they have a "less satisfying experience."
Some critics think this is more about Facebook looking to make more money. Its original business model, which involved selling ads and putting them at the side of the page, totally failed. Who wants to look at ads when they're online connecting with their friends?
The privacy issue has already landed Facebook in hot water in Washington. In April, Senator (议员) Charles Schumer called on Facebook to change its privacy policy. He also urged the Federal Trade Commission to set guidelines for social-networking sites. "I think the senators rightly communicated that we had not been clear about what the new products were and how people could choose to use them or not to use them," Schrage admits.
I suspect that whatever Facebook has done so far to invade our privacy, it's only the beginning, which is why I'm considering deactivating (撤销) my account. Facebook is a handy site, but I'm upset by the idea that my information is in the hands of people I don't know. That is too high a price to pay.
Helen Keller once wrote, "The unselfish effort to bring cheer to others will be the beginning of a happier life for ourselves." The UN has set December 5 as International Volunteers Day to give recognition to these people.
Nineteen-year-old Andrew Makhoul was a communications major at the University of Pennsylvania. It was coming up to spring break, but unlike his classmates, Makhoul wasn't planning on spending the break relaxing.
He traveled to Guatemala. He went to an orphanage (孤儿院) in one of the most violent and poor parts of Guatemala city. Although he didn't speak much Spanish, he found communication wasn't a problem: "You communicated with love." And what he gave out, he got back: "You could see love when you looked in their eyes."
Makhoul's first time as a volunteer only lasted a week, but by the end of that week, he knew he'd be back in the future.
The UN highlighted the case of Palestinian women who are survivors of breast cancer. As part of the UN's Aid and Hope Program for Patient Care, the women have been volunteering their time to create low-cost breast prosthetics (假体) to be distributed to women for free, among whom Shalhd El-Swerki is a brilliant example. By the end of her time there, she admired these women who are "not only survivors but also volunteers".
About 2, 400 years ago, Greek philosopher Aristotle said, "The essence (本质) of life is to serve others and do good." Volunteers all around the world are making these words come true, each and every day.
A. It depends upon volunteers to stay open.
B. She worked with the women as part of the program.
C. Here, we tell two volunteering stories from around the globe.
D. Sometimes, volunteers themselves live with huge challenges.
E. He decided to spend his time doing something useful for people.
F. Volunteers want to do their best to make the world warmer and more beautiful.
G. These words certainly prove true for the millions of volunteers all over the world.
My niece (侄女) Kate is 9. Being fat and not doing well at school, she is often made fun of at home, and 1 she has developed some distrust in adults, who in turn usually don't put high 2 on her.
Yesterday Kate and I went to an art exhibition, where paintings from kids with disabilities were being 3. Kate has 4 eyes, for the paintings she liked most were also the best of the show. She also volunteered to help 5 the chairs and tables for a sharing meeting, and cheerfully helped me fetch my bag from another room, something that 6 happens at home as she's usually glued to her iPad.
Then we went to a bookshop, where I bought a book written by a mom 7 her journey with her autistic (孤独症的) son. On the bus back home, I briefly introduced the book to Kate. It surprised me that she was truly interested. She kept asking me to tell more stories about the friend in the book who 8 with small things in life. Even when I was off the topic, she made 9 for more about this boy. This is the first time I've seen her so 10 a single topic. Usually when she talks to me, she tells about events at school and at home 11 a clear focus (中心). I'm touched that the life of an unknown stranger has found its way into this little girl's 12.
I'm thankful for the power of the book, for the beauty that my niece 13 to me, and for the time we had together. I hope that I can keep seeing clearly the 14 things in her, so that whenever the not-so-kind world puts her down, I can 15 her how truly wonderful she has always been.
Learning new language is not easy, but a Chinese in Washington D. C. says he knows how to make it less (difficulty). Li Lei, teaching Chinese to children, says, "The magic key to (teach) a language is culture."
Li came to Washington D. C. through the State Department's Teachers of Critical Language Program, which brings teachers from China and Egypt to America. One of the goals of the program is (help) American students learn Chinese and Arabic.
The program helps the teachers and students learn about the cultures of other
(country). Li says learning languages helps students learn (much) about the world.
Spanish is the native language of many of Li's students at Cooke Elementary School, so many of (they) are learning English and Chinese at the same time.
Li (explore) the local Chinese community and many other cultures in Washington D. C. so far. He says the children at the school, some of are as young as five years old, might not remember all of the Chinese characters he teaches them, and that they might even forget his name. But he hopes that they will always remember him a teacher they like and respect.
内容要点:
1）为欢迎来访的美国朋友举办晚会;
2）由学生会组织;
3）于8月15日, 星期六, 晚7: 30举行;
4）跳舞、唱歌、听音乐、做游戏;
5）交换小礼品;
6）欢迎大家都参加。
可能用到的词汇：学生会 Student Union; 通知 announcement; 交换 exchange
注意：1）词数80个左右 (开头已经给出, 不计入总词数) ;
2）可以适当增加细节, 以使行文连贯。
Notice
May I have your attention, please? I have an announcement to make.
Caleb's fingers slowly moved over the piano keys (钢琴键) as he searched for the next note. He'd only been taking lessons for a few weeks, and playing the piano was harder than it looked. This one, he thought as he pressed (按) a white key. Wrong! He tried again. Oh, this one, he thought, pressing another key. Right!
"That song is challenging," said Mrs Lee, his piano teacher, when he finished playing. "But it sounds much better than it did last week! I can tell you've been practicing really hard. I think you can take a trip to the treasure chest (百宝箱) . "
The treasure chest! Caleb's eyes turned to the big golden box in the corner of the room. It was filled with candy and other fun prizes. This would be Caleb's first trip to the treasure chest.
As Mrs Lee started to teach her next student, Caleb searched through the treasure chest. Should he take the dog stickers, or the orange gum? Then he saw it — a green folder (文件夹) . It was his favorite color, and he could use it to carry his drawings. He reached for it. But then he saw the fruit snacks. They were strawberry, his favorite flavor. That would be a great prize, too.
Folder or fruit snacks? He could not decide which choice was better. Caleb knew his mom would be there soon to pick him up, but he still couldn't decide what to pick. The folder would be perfect for his drawings, but he could almost taste the fruit snacks.
His hand moved between the two prizes as he tried to make up his mind. Then Caleb had another thought. Maybe he could take both. Mrs Lee had so many prizes in the treasure chest that she would never notice. It wouldn't even be stealing only if he wouldn't take anything next time. That would be OK, wouldn't it?
Caleb looked at Mrs Lee. She was busy helping her student. Quietly Caleb put the fruit snacks and the folder into his bag and went out of the room.
注意：续写的词数应为150左右。
But Caleb felt he did something wrong after a while.
……
Then he saw a car coming to him.
