LEVEL 1 Assessment

UNIT 8

1. Read the passage.

The Power of Music

In 2004, a group of musicians was practicing in front of animals at the Kinshasa Zoo in the Democratic Republic
of the Congo—one of the poorest countries in the world. Six years later, they were playing concerts for
thousands of people around the world.
Extraordinary Performers
These people were not ordinary musicians. Most of them had disabilities. This meant they performed in
wheelchairs or on crutches.
The band was called Staff Benda Bilili. Ricky and Coco, the founders, had the idea for the band. Ricky sang and
Coco wrote the music. Junana, the group’s choreographer, designed the group’s performances on stage.
Coude was the band’s bass player and a singer.
The Message in the Music
Staff Benda Bilili means “look beyond appearances” in Lingala, the local language. It describes the band’s goal.
Their first audiences were poor people who lived on the streets. The band wanted to tell the audience to be
positive, even in difficult situations. “The message of our music is that if you want to do something with your
life, you need to take things in your own hands.”
The band members were examples of their message. In their minds, they were not people with disabilities—
they were rock musicians. Their lively performances showed this.
The band often wrote songs about the life problems they faced. For example, “Polio” is about living with polio
and getting around the city on crutches. It also tells parents the importance of vaccinations for their children.
From the Streets to the World
When two filmmakers saw the musicians performing in Kinshasa in 2004, they decided to make a
documentary. They followed the band for the next five years. The city had been through many wars, which
affected millions of people. The movie shows how the band’s music helped people survive in a very difficult
environment.
After the movie was made, the band became well known and successful. Over the next few years, they gave
more than 400 concerts in many cities and recorded three albums. Band members were able to buy houses
and cars, some for the first time. And what’s more important, they gave hope to people around the world
through their music.

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LEVEL 1 Assessment

Choose the correct answers.

1. Who were Staff Benda Bilili’s first audience?
a. poor homeless people
b. the staff at Kinshasa Zoo
c. disabled people

2. The band includes which members?

a. Coco, Coude, Junana, and Ricky
b. Junana, Ricky, Benda, and Bilili
c. Ricky, Coco, Bilili, and Junana

3. What is one topic the band sing about, according to the passage?
a. dancing on your hands
b. life as rock musicians
c. the need to give children vaccinations

4. How long did the filmmakers film the band?

a. 2 years
b. 3 years
c. 5 years

5. What is one aspect of the band that the documentary shows?

a. their ability to help people
b. how members of the band escaped war
c. how successful they have become

© Cengage Learning, Inc. 2

 LEVEL 1 Assessment

2. Read the passage.

The Secrets of Song Success

A What makes a hit song? Why are some songs successful while others are not? This question may seem
impossible to answer. After all, since the beginnings of modern pop music in the 1950s, thousands of very
different songs have become hits. How can we identify the factors1 that made those songs more popular
than others? Well, recent developments in data analysis2 mean it is possible to study every hit song and
look for similarities. And it seems that many hit songs are surprisingly similar to one another.
B Analysis shows that many hits have a similar sound. In fact, they often use just four musical chords: C, G, A
minor, and F. In hit songs, these four chords are played and repeated in various attractive patterns.
Examples include "Let it Be" by The Beatles, "With or Without You" by U2, and "I Knew You Were Trouble"
by Taylor Swift. Not every hit uses just these four chords, of course, but many do.
C Hit songs share other characteristics3. Generally speaking, successful songs are ones that people can dance
to easily. The energy level of a song is important, too. In simple terms, songs that have more energy are
more popular than those with less energy. Loudness also matters. Since the 1950s and 1960s, hits songs
have become louder and louder. Finally, hit songs average almost 120 beats per minute. Some songs with
a faster or slower rhythm have become hits, but 120bpm seems to be the perfect number.
D The lyrics—or words—of songs matter, too. Analysis from the last six decades shows that certain topics
are common in hit songs. The most popular topics have changed over the years, but there are seven that
have been the most common. These are loss, such as the loss of someone you love; romantic love;
wanting to be better; breaking up with somebody; feeling pain; wanting to get inspiration4; and positive
feelings about the past. In addition, the lyrics of hit songs often contain the same key words; in recent
decades, these include time, love, life, heart, night, dance, and baby.

1
A factor is something that affects the result of something else.
2
Data analysis is the process of studying information, usually with a computer, to learn something.
3
The characteristics of something are the things that you can notice about it.
4
Inspiration is where musicians, writers and artists get their ideas from, or the ideas themselves.

Which paragraph contains this information? Choose the correct answers.

6. The average number of beats per minute that hit songs tend to have.
a. Paragraph A
b. Paragraph B
c. Paragraph C
d. Paragraph D

7. Why it is now possible to find characteristics that many hit songs share.
a. Paragraph A
b. Paragraph B
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LEVEL 1 Assessment
c. Paragraph C
d. Paragraph D

8. How the majority of hit songs are good to move your body to.
a. Paragraph A
b. Paragraph B
c. Paragraph C
d. Paragraph D

9. The fact that the most popular songs share the same or similar topics.
a. Paragraph A
b. Paragraph B
c. Paragraph C
d. Paragraph D

10. The four groups of notes that hit songs often repeat in different order.
a. Paragraph A
b. Paragraph B
c. Paragraph C
d. Paragraph D

© Cengage Learning, Inc. 4

LEVEL 1 Assessment

3. Read the passage

THE ART OF DRAWING
Drawing has always been a very popular pastime among people. As kids, we all used to draw with a
crayon or a pencil as (11) ______ as we could hold one. But then we might have noticed that some
children drew better than us. In fact, drawing is generally seen as a special ability, or (12) ______ innate
talent, and it is true that some people are naturally good at drawing perfect pictures without any effort.
Yet drawing, just like writing, can be (3) ______. Learning to draw, indeed, takes plenty of practice, and
there is no such thing as wasted effort in drawing. (4) ______, you can learn to draw accurately as long
as you have the passion and commitment to work really hard at it.
Drawing first of all boils down to looking carefully at the world around you. It sounds pretty easy to say
that all you (5) ______ to do is to look at things, but it really isn’t that simple at all. The best way to
draw a familiar (6) ______is to imagine that you are looking at it for the very first (7) ______. In doing
so, you may develop the imaginative ability which is important for making your drawings better.
Besides, there are currently (8) ______ courses and materials available than ever before, (9) ______
means that you can experiment to bring your drawing skills to the next level. At the end of the day, the
only (10) ______ is your imagination.

Choose the correct answers.

11. A. fast B. immediately C. soon D. shortly

12. A. Ø B. a C. an D. the

13. A. discovered B. made C. learnt D. reached

14. A. For instance B. In addition C. As a result D. In other words

15. A. should B. need C. must D. could

16. A. topic B. subject C. area D. person

17. A. period B. term C. moment D. time

18. A. more B. many C. plenty D. much

19. A. who B. what C. where D. which

20. A. final B. end C. limit D. finish

© Cengage Learning, Inc. 5

LEVEL 1 Assessment

4. Read the passage

GRAFFITI AND STREET ART

Painting and writing on walls, or Graffiti, is nothing new. In prehistoric times, people in Africa and
Europe painted pictures of animals and people in caves. In the Roman town of Pompeii in Italy,
archaeologists found a lot of graffiti written in Latin, including political and romantic messages,
and even some magic spells!
In the 1970s, young people in New York used pens to write their names, or ‘tags’, on walls around
the city. One of the first ‘taggers’ was Demetrius whose tag was TAKI 183. TAKI was his nickname,
and 183 was the number of the street where he lived. At first, he wrote his tag on walls in his
neighbourhood. Then he started writing it in subway stations on the way to school. Other
teenagers saw Demetrius’s tag and started writing their own tags on walls, buses and subway
trains all over New York: Barbara 62, Joe 182 ...
Then, some teenagers stopped using pens and started using aerosol paints. Their tags were
bigger and more colourful. Aerosol paint graffiti became very popular in the 1970s and 1980s and
appeared on trains, buses and walls around the world. In the 1990s and 2000s, a lot of graffiti
artists started to make pictures too. Some artists were interested in politics and tried to make
people think about social problems and discrimination with their pictures. Other artists wanted to
make cities more beautiful. In South America, street artists started painting in poor areas. They
brought colour and beauty to grey, city walls.
Is graffiti art or vandalism? In many countries, it is a crime to paint on walls and street artists can
have problems with the police. In other countries, street art is allowed in certain places. For
example, in Taiwan, there are ‘graffiti zones’ where artists are free to paint and write on walls. In
São Paulo in Brazil, the city council allows some graffiti artists to paint on the city’s subway trains.
Nowadays, street art is more popular with the public. In some cities, there are street art festivals.
In Bristol in the UK, there is a street art festival in August every year. Artists paint all the buildings
in a street. Lots of people come to watch the artists and take photos. Street art can be seen in
galleries too. There have been exhibitions of street art in galleries in Paris, London and Los
Angeles.
Most street artists are young people who paint in their home city or neighbourhood. Many of
them use the Internet to communicate and share photos of their pictures with other street artists
around the world. Some street artists have become famous and their pictures can be seen in
galleries or on city walls around the world. Although we don’t know what will happen to street
art in the future, we can be sure that it is here to stay!

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LEVEL 1 Assessment

Choose True or False.

21. Paintings of people and animals have been found on the walls of Pompeii.
a. True
b. False
22. Demetrius wrote his tag for the first time in subway stations in New York.
a. True
b. False
23. At the end of the 20th century, social issues and inequality became topics of interest among some
graffiti artists.
a. True
b. False
24. Street artists created lots of colorful artworks in developed areas in South America.
a. True
b. False
25. Whether Graffiti is a form of art or an act of vandalism remains a question.
a. True
b. False
26. In Taiwan, there are ‘graffiti zones’ where you can write and paint on walls.
a. True
b. False
27. At the annual street art festival in Bristol, the artists are supposed to paint a castle.
a. True
b. False
28. Some street arts are displayed in galleries and exhibitions in many big cities around the world.
a. True
b. False

© Cengage Learning, Inc. 7