📝 Use of English Test – B1

About twenty-five years ago, the results of an exciting new study were reported in the news: If children listen to the music of Mozart, they ____would becomebecamewill becomehad become more intelligent. Immediately, huge numbers of Mozart CDs were purchased by people ____whowhichwhatwhom wanted their children to be smarter. The statement was generally assumed to be true. After all, ____mostmanymoremuch people think Mozart was a genius, and maybe if we listened to his music, his intelligence ____wouldwillcouldshould transfer to us.

However, if you read about the experiment ____thatwhatwhenwhere led to this claim, there is little evidence it’s true. Firstly, children ____were not testedhad not testeddid not testare not testing in the original experiment. University students were. The thirty-six young adults who took part did one of three things for ten minutes. Some sat in silence, ____othersanotherthe otherother listened to some relaxation instructions and a third group listened to Mozart’s piano music. Afterwards, they all completed various tasks, one of which involved paper shapes. This experiment ____was repeatedrepeatedhas repeatedis repeated three times. It was found that the students ____who listenedlisteninglistenedwere listened to Mozart did better in the paper shapes activity than ____the otherotherothersanother students. However, the beneficial effect only lasted for about fifteen minutes.

____SinceAfterForUntil then, a number of similar experiments have been conducted which confirm that listening to Mozart’s music ____canmustshouldwill lead to a temporary improvement in a person’s ability to do spatial puzzles. They don’t however, improve intelligence. Other studies showed that there is ____nothinganythingsomethingeverything special about Mozart’s music. ____ListeningTo listenListenHaving listened to other classical music, pop music and even stories can also wake up the brain. The effect is especially strong if the listener likes the sound.

So, listening to Mozart won’t harm your children. It could even lead to a love of classical music. But if they have an important test ahead, you ____shouldmustcouldwould probably tell them to study instead of listening to some music.