【推荐3】It can be difficult to start a hobby. You may not know where to begin or you may have come across one that requires costly equipment.    1    To find a low-cost hobby, pick something that is interesting to you, doesn't require a lot of materials, and is available to you in your area.

Begin a collection. Many different collections can be started with little or no cost.    2    Look for rocks, plant leaves and flowers, or insects you can preserve and keep. Another way is to begin to collect an object in your house, such as saving bottle-caps.

    3    Youtube contains quantities of music you can listen to for free. Besides, you can discover music you like by using online radio stations or services including Pandora and Spotify. By exposing yourself to new music, you can turn music into a relaxing hobby without having to buy albums.

Learn a game. Games are similar to sports and often benefit from being shared in the community (团体). Game groups will often supply board games at no cost to you. In addition, libraries and schools may have video game groups for children and adults. You can also play a wide variety of free online games with people around you.    4    

If these things fail to attract you, ask experts about how to begin. Find hobbyists and ask those who are experienced in your potential hobby for the minimum cost of materials you need to start.    5    You'll be surprised that you don't need as much equipment as you imagined.

A．Listen to music.

B．One way to do this is to go outside.

C．Ask yourself what your favorite music is.

D．How and where to find one collection is up to you.

E．Use the site meetup.com to see what groups are in your area.

F．The truth is that many hobbies can be started without much money.

G．This will help you judge whether or not a hobby fits into your budget.

【推荐1】In 1947 a group of famous people from the art world headed by an Austrian conductor decided to hold an international festival of music, dance and theatre in Edinburgh. The idea was to reunite Europe after the Second World War.

At the same time, the Fringe appeared as a challenge to the official festival. Eight theatre groups turned up uninvited in 1947, in the belief that everyone should have the right to perform, and they did so in a public house disused for years.

Soon, groups of students firstly from Edinburgh University, and later from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Durham and Birmingham were making the journey to the Scottish capital each summer to perform theatre by little-known writers of plays in small church halls to the people of Edinburgh.

Today the Fringe, once less recognized, has far out grown the festival with around 1,500 performances of theatre, music and dance on every one of the 21 days it lasts. And yet as early as 1959, with only 19theatre groups performing, some said it was getting too big.

A paid administrator was first employed only in 1971, and today there are eight administrators working all year round and the number rises to 150 during August itself. In2004 there were 200 places housing 1,695 shows by over 600 different groups from 50 different countries. More than 1.25 million tickets were sold.

1. What was the purpose of Edinburgh Festival at he beginning?

A．To bring Europe together again.

B．To honor heroes of World War II.

C．To introduce young theatre groups.

D．To attract great artists from Europe.

2. Why did some uninvited theatre groups come to Edinburgh in 1947?

A．They owned a public house there.

B．They came to take up a challenge.

C．They thought they were also famous.

D．They wanted to take part in the festival.

3. Who joined the “Fringe” after it appeared?

A．They owned a public house there

B．University students.

C．Artists from around the world.

D．Performers of music and dance.

4. We may learn from the text that Edinburgh Festival.

A．has become a nonofficial event

B．has gone beyond an art festival

C．gives shows all year round

D．keeps growing rapidly

【推荐3】It’s OK to say you’ve never heard of grime (伦敦地下音乐) - unless you’re from the UK. That’s because this music type was invented in the UK in the early 2000s.

To someone who’s not familiar with underground music culture, ifs easy to get confused between hip-hop and grime since they are both noisy. And many people didn’t bother to tell them apart，until earlier this month when grime stars like Stormzy and J Hus led this year’s Mobo – “music of black origin”, an award in the UK. Just like UK electronic music and hip-hop, from which grime drew influence, it mostly reflects the thoughts of young people. But different from hip-hop, grime singers sing in dialects with strong accents, giving a special flavor to their songs.

Lady Leshurr，known as the “Grime Queen”, said that she once tried to hide her accent, as she didn’t want people to judge her. But one day, she realized that she didn’t need to change herself just to please others. And there’s no doubt that this is the soul of grime music: be yourself.

Grime has challenged modern music in its production beauty and its expressions. Also different from the hip-hop culture, which usually focuses on being rich, grime singers pay more attention to social phenomena like those who suffer from disasters and the gap between the rich and poor.

Although still quite a young music type, grime seems to be getting loved by more and more people. In 2016, the English grime artist Skepta won the Mercury Prize with his album Konnichiwa, beating big names like David Bowie and Radiohead.

However, no matter whether grime is one day accepted widely or not, one thing is for sure: in grime, singers always stay true to themselves.

1. Why is it easy to get confused between hip-hop and grime for some people?

A．They are the same in music form.

B．They both make a lot of noise.

C．They have a great effect on each other.

D．They both developed out of electronic music.

2. What does the underlined word “it” refer to in Paragraph 2?

A．The award.	B．Hip-Hop.
C．Electronic music.	D．Grime.

3. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Grime is widely accepted all over the world now.

B．In grime, singers need to change themselves to please others.

C．More and more people like grime because it has a long history.

D．Grime singers have a strong sense of social responsibility.

4. Why does the author mention the success of Skepta?

A．To show that grime is getting more and more popular.

B．To prove that grime singers stay true to themselves.

C．To explain that underground music is still quite young.

D．To show that Skepta has greater musical talent than David Bowie.

【推荐1】When I was a little girl, I remember that when my dad was repairing something, he would ask me to hold the hammer, so we would have time for a conversation with each other. I never saw my dad drinking or taking a night out. All he did after work was taking care of his family.

I grew up and left home for college and since then, my dad had been calling me every Sunday morning. And when I bought a house several years later, my dad painted it by himself in the fierce summer heat. All he asked was to talk to him, but I was too busy in those days.

Four years ago, my dad visited me. He spent many hours putting together a swing for my daughter. He asked me to have a talk with him, but I had to prepare for a trip that weekend.

One Sunday morning we had a telephone talk as usual. I noticed that my dad had forgotten some things that we discussed lately. I was in a hurry, so our conversation was short. Several hours later that day I received a call. My father was in the hospital. Immediately I bought a plane ticket and on my way I was thinking about all the occasions I missed to have a talk with my dad. By the time I arrived at the hospital, my father had passed away. Now it was he who did not have time for a conversation with me. I realized how little I knew about my dad, his deepest thoughts and his dreams.

After his death I learned much more about him and even more about myself. All he ever wanted was my time. And now he has all my attention every single day.

1. When the author was a little girl, she       .

A．was good at repairing things	B．liked playing with the hammer
C．often talked with her father	D．learned to take care of her family

2. What happened when the author was at college?

A．She phoned her father every Sunday morning.

B．She received a call from her father every Sunday morning.

C．Her father bought her a house.

D．She often asked her father to talk with her.

3. Why did the author fail to have a talk with her father four years ago?

A．Because her father was busy putting up a swing for her daughter.

B．Because she had got tired of talking with him.

C．Because she was busy planning a trip.

D．Because her father often forgot what they had once talked about.

4. What can we learn from the underlined sentence?

A．The author found an excuse to forgive herself.

B．The author and her father were both busy.

C．The author complained about her father’s leave without saying goodbye.

D．The author regretted missing the talks with her father.

【推荐3】Former pro basketball player Kobe Bryant won five NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers while making himself as one of the game’s all-time greats. He died tragically in a helicopter crash on January 26, 2020.

Kobe Bryant was born with basketball already in his blood. His dad was a former NBA star Joe “Jellybean” Bryant. Born on August 23, 1978, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Kobe spent his early years in Italy, because his dad started playing basketball in Europe and his family moved there. The family moved back to the United States when Kobe was 13 and he started playing high school basketball.

Kobe knew he was already good enough to play in the NBA, so he skipped college and was selected right after high school. He played in the NBA All-Star Game for the first time in 1998 and by 2000, Kobe had developed into one of the best basketballs players. Kobe and Shaquille O’Neal teamed up to lead the LA Lakers to three straight NBA Championship (冠军) Titles from 2000 to 2002.

In 2003, Kobe was caught by the police. In 2004, the case against Kobe was dropped, but Kobe still had to live with a damaged reputation. In 2004, Kobe tried to prove that he could lead the LA Lakers without Shaq. After Kobe told the Lakers he wouldn’t be wearing the purple and gold if Shaq was in the team, O’Neal was traded to the Miami Heat before the 2004-2005 season.

In 2008, Bryant was named Most Valuable Player and carried his team to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Boston Celtics. In the 2009 NBA Finals, the Lakers beat the Orlando Magic to win the championship.

Although later seasons were affected by injuries, he surpassed (超越) Michael Jordan for third place on the NBA all-time scoring list in December 2014 and retired in 2016 after scoring 60 points in his final game.

1. Kobe Bryant passed away at the age of _______.

A．37

B．40

C．42

D．45

2. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Kobe’s blood was special when he was born.

B．All of Kobe’s family members are basketball players.

C．Kobe got a basketball when he was born.

D．Kobe was born to be a basketball player.

3. We can infer from the passage that Kobe was _________ about his own ability to play basketball.

A．upset

B．confident

C．doubtful

D．not confident

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A．A Brief Introduction of Kobe	B．How to Become A Basketball Star
C．The NBA All-Star Game	D．The LA Lakers

【推荐1】As a child, I was really afraid of the dark and of getting lost. These fears were very real and caused me some uncomfortable moments. Maybe it was the strange way things looked and sounded in my own room at night that scared me so much. There was never complete darkness, but always a streetlight or passing car lights, which made clothes on the back of a chair take on the shape of a wild animal. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the curtains seem to move when there was no wind. A very low sound in the floor would seem a hundred times louder than in the day. My imagination would run wild, and my heart would beat fast. I would lie very still so that the “enemy” would not discover me.

Another of my childhood fears was that I would get lost, especially on the way home from school. Every morning I got on the school bus right near my home. That was no problem. After school, though, when all the buses were lined up along the street, I was afraid that I would get in the wrong one and be taken to some other strange places. On school or family trips to a park or a museum, I wouldn’t let the leaders out of my sight.

Perhaps one of the worst fears of all I had as a child was that of not being liked or accepted by others. Being popular was so important to me then, and the fear of not being liked was a serious one.

One of the processes growing up is being able to realize and overcome our fears. Understanding the things that scared us as children helps us achieve greater success later in life.

1. The author had _______ kind(s) of fears when she was a child.

A．One

B．two

C．three

D．none

2. _______ would scare the author at night.

A．Streetlight and car lights	B．Wild animals and enemies
C．Moving curtains and wind	D．Clothes and walls

3. When she went to some other places, she would _______.

A．walk away without others	B．take a bus by herself
C．follow others closely	D．make sure not to take a wrong bus

4. Which of the following would be possibly true when she was a child______.

A．She thought being popular among people was important.

B．She was always the leader of the others.

C．She always got poor grades.

D．She was not liked by others at all.

【推荐2】Astronomers have taken the first ever image of a black hole, which is located in a distant galaxy. The black hole is 500 million trillion km away and was photographed by a network of eight telescopes across the world. It was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT).

The announcement was made in Washington, Brussels, Santiago, Shanghai, Taipei and Tokyo. Details have been published today in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Prof Heino Falcke, of Radboud University in the Netherlands, who proposed the experiment, told BBC News that the black hole was found in a galaxy called M87. "What we see is larger than the size of our entire Solar System," he said. "It has a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun. And it is one of the heaviest black holes that we think exists. It is an absolute monster, the heavyweight champion of black holes in the Universe."

The image shows an intensely bright "ring of fire", as Prof Falcke describes it, surrounding a perfectly circular dark hole. The bright halo is caused by very heated gas falling into the hole. The light is brighter than all the billions of other stars in the galaxy combined—which is why it can be seen at such distance from Earth. The edge of the dark circle at the center is the point at which the gas enters the black hole, which is an object that has such a large gravitational pull, not even light can escape.

"It is remarkable that the image we observe is so similar to that which we get from our theoretical calculations. So far, it looks like Einstein is correct once again." said Dr Ziri Younsi, of University College London—who is part of the EHT collaboration.

Chinese scientists were involved in the observation through a telescope in Hawaii. They were also highly involved in follow-up data processing and theoretical analysis, said Shen Zhiqiang, head of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Shanghai Astronomical Observatory and a member of the EHT international team.

Shanghai and Taipei were selected as two of the cities to hold news conferences, together with Washington, Brussels, Santiago and Tokyo, a recognition of China's contribution.

"In the fields of astronomy, radio astronomy, and space astrophysics, China has made a significant contribution to this global project," Falcke said.

1. Which is the best title for the passage?

A．First Image of a Black Hole Taken	B．How Einstein Discovered a Black Hole
C．How a Black Hole Is formed	D．A Book about Black Holes

2. What does the underlined word in Para.4 mean?

A．a circle of light	B．saying hello to somebody
C．not having much distance	D．a hole in something

3. The announcement was NOT made in        .

A．Taipei

B．Hawaii

C．Shanghai

D．Santiago

4. Which is the role played by Chinese scientists in the experiment?

A．Starting the experiment	B．Leading the experiment
C．Just processing the data	D．Playing an important part

5. From Paragraphs 3 and 4 what can we learn about the black hole?

A．The light of its ring is as bright as all the other stars in the galaxy.

B．Its large gravitational pull is so powerful that not even light can escape.

C．It has a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Moon.

D．It is one of the lightest black holes that exists.

【推荐3】Car registration plates (车牌) are just a series of numbers and letters, right? Well, yes… but not for everyone.

Amazingly, number plates existed before cars. The city of Victoria in Canada gave horse-drawn carriages number plates as early as 1884. And France was the first country to introduce plates in 1893. Early number plates were different shapes and sizes, and made of lots of different materials. In fact, it was not until 1957 that car manufacturers and governments agreed on standardized plates, and even today there are three different sizes.

The first car registration number in the UK was A1. This was sold to Earl Russell by the London County Council in 1903. The letter “A” showed the number was from London, while the number “1” showed it was the first number issued. However, since then, the system has changed many times. At the moment, number plates in the UK consist of letters and numbers. Let’s look at the registration number plate “LK51 FTN”. First of all, “LK” shows which registration office has issued the registration number (in this case, it’s London Stanmore). The numbers 51 show the age of the car (51 means the car was licensed in the second half of 2001). And the last three letters are random.

Different EU countries use different arrangements of numbers and letters. For example, Spain uses four numbers and three letters, while Sweden uses three numbers and three letters, and Norway and Denmark use two letters and five digits. The system has changed many times because the letter-number combinations keep running out. UK number plates don’t have to include the European Union symbol although most EU countries use the symbol.

Some number plates have become extremely valuable, particularly those that spell out words. Basically, numbers on the plates can be used to represent words or parts of words. For example, “8” can mean “ate”; “4” can be “four” or “for”; and “2” can symbolize “to”, “two” or “too”. For example, “NVERLA8” means “Never late”.

Plates that represent words or phrases are commonly known as “vanity plates”. And they can be extremely expensive. Russian businessman Roman Abramovich is supposed to have paid over £250,000 for the plate “VIP 1”. Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton has bought the plate “LEW 1S” and the most expensive number plate ever was “M1” which an anonymous buyer has acquired for £331,000.

So, what’s your number plate? It might be worth a fortune.

1. What can we learn from the development of car plates?

A．Canada, France and UK have invented three different plate sizes.

B．In terms of giving car plates, Canada acted much earlier than France.

C．UK has always been consistent in its system for car registration numbers.

D．Car producers and governments cooperated to form standards for plates.

2. Why have EU countries had to change their systems of arranging numbers and letters?

A．No such agreement has been reached among different EU countries.

B．Much confusion has arisen from different digits adopted by EU countries.

C．Old letter-number arrangements were not adequate for increasing needs.

D．The British design of number plates differs from that of most EU countries.

3. “LEW 1S” has fetched a high priced mainly because __________.

A．it can be read out just the way of its master’s name

B．Lewis Hamilton believes that it can bring luck to him

C．the public consider it as a symbol of higher social classes

D．it has a long history and is different from current EU plates