Table of Contents
BEST IELTS General Reading Test 35
GENERAL READING TEST 35 – PASSAGE – 2
GENERAL READING TEST 35
READING PASSAGE – 2
Healing power of music
Nagina bains feels that music has phenomenal therapeutic qualities
Music the path to nirvana, the route to bliss, it is the creation of emotionally pleasing effects by means of sound. A medium of expressing thought and feeling through tone and time. That music has some therapeutic value is fairly obvious to anyone driving a car through nerve-jangling traffic jams or dusting the house. Most people take this for granted.
Our ancient sages realized this long before. Now medical doctors have found out that the influence of music makes a person more productive. It has phenomenal therapeutic qualities. Music is now being utilized, consciously and unconsciously, around the world for healing purposes. There are several clinics and hospitals in India which are using music to minimize the trauma of painful treatments, or just to put patients at ease.
At Chandigarh’s Inscol Hospital, for instance, doctors play music in the operation theater. They find the procedure gets demystified, the staff is relaxed, the patient goes into a deeper state of sedation, and the recovery is faster. Similarly, played during childbirth allows the mother to respond to relaxation techniques more easily. The physical pain is a lot less. And the time taken to recover through the post-delivery stage is much faster.
Says Dr. Mohan, a stress management consultant: “During exercises, we have music plays in all the rooms, simply as it helps me to relax, making me receptive to the clients’ problems. Also, while others walt, they get rid of their anxiety burden, and slip into a positive frame of mind. Also, 30 percent of my clients, undergoing various stress-related symptoms, are given dedicational music tapes, which help them relax.”
Says Dr. Mohan: “Music actually gives positives self esteem to individuals who suffer from anciety, depression and schizophrenia. It clears the emotional blocks. In fact, individuals suffering from any one of these disease, who take to creating music, provide themselves with a very effective opportunity for treatment. Word like om, Anantam, Narayanam, Hari are prescribed for alleviating distress and disorders connected with respiration.”
Dr. Palash Sen is an orthopaedic and leading vocalist for the rock group Euphoria. He says: “music has a definite therapeutic value. It is a case of different music for different folks. The young may consider for classical music the perfect cure for insomnia. Elder find it relaxing. There has to be something basically wrong with an individual’s personality if he or she does not respond to music. In today’s stress-infused world, music can go a long way in preventing illness because when you relax, you push that disease much further away.”
Geeta Sharma, a lecturer in psychology, explains it with a simple but convincing logic: “everything around us is made up of atoms and molecules, which are in turn is made up of vibrations. We, too, are made up of vibrations, and when the vibration sent forth by music blend exactly with the vibrations emanating from us, we feel good.”
In a study by Australian physiological psychological Manfried Klien, passage of Bach were played to a group of volunteers, and their hand muscle responses were measured. Regardless of their cultural backgrounds, they all responded in the same way. Thus the effect notes of the Bach had an extremely soothing effect on all the volunteers. The curative power of music emanates from the resonance of certain ragas on hormonal and glandular functions, which produce secretions that keep the body balanced and infection free.
Professor Manas Chatterjee claims that the following rages can cure diseases: Main ka Malhar and Darbari kanada-chronic asthma; Bhairavi – sinusitis; Todi and poorvi – headache and anxiety; kafi and khamaj – sleep disorders.
As William Congreve said: “Music has charms to soothe the savage beast.” Since it has been declared as the food of love. Use it as a perfect substitute for those chemical pills burgeoning in your sideboard.
Questions 15-21
Complete the following statement 1-7 with the best ending A-I below.
Write the appropriate letters A-I in boxes 1 -7 on your answer sheet.
15. Music is the creation of emotionally pleasing effects by………………..
16. Music is now being utilized in all world……………..
17. At Chandigarh’s Inscol Hospital, doctors plays music……………
18. Music paying makes Dr. Mohan receptive……………………
19. The young may consider classical music ……………………….
20. The effects of the notes of Bach had a great soothing effect……………
21. Rages like Main Ka Malhar and Darbari Kanada can cure…………..
List of phrases
A. to the clients’ problems
B. are given dedicational music tapes.
C. for healing purposes
D. chronic asthma
E. the perfect cure for insomnia
F. to sooth the savage beast
G. means of sound
H. on all the volunteers
I. in the operation theatre
Question 22-27
Complete the summary using the list of words A-J below
Write the correct letter, A-J, in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet
Music is rightly called the (22)………..to nirvana. Medical doctors have also admitted the (23)………………value of music. Some doctors play music in the (24)…………… theatre. Similarly, music plays it role during (25)………… and post-delivery. It actually gives positive (26)……………… to individual who suffer anxiety and (27)………………….
List of words
A. self-esteem
B. relaxing
C. operation
D. soothing
E. Path
F. depression
G. stress
H. therapeutic
I. asthma
J. childbirth
Answer key
15. G
16. C
17. J
18. A
19. E
20. H
21. D
22. E
23. H
24. C
25. J
26. A
27. F
