Listening to new music is hard. Not hard compared to going to space or war, but hard compared to listening to music we already know.
There is a physiological explanation in our desire to seek comfort in the familiar. It can help us understand why listening to new music is so hard, and why it can make us feel uneasy, angry, or even riotous. It has to do with the plasticity of our brains.
When it comes to hearing music, a network of nerves in the auditory cortex called the corticofugal network helps classify the different patterns of music. When a specific sound maps onto a pattern, our brains release an amount of dopamine, the main chemical source of some of our most intense emotions. This is the essential reason why music triggers such powerful emotional reactions.
Take the chorus of a song by Adele or Bruce Springsteen, many of which have very recognizable melody. The majority of our brains have memorized these melodies and know exactly what to expect when each comes around. When the corticofugal network registers that Springsteen chorus, our brains release just the right amount of dopamine.
But when we hear something that hasn't already been mapped onto the brain, the corticofugal network goes a bit out of control, and our brains release too much dopamine as a response. When there is no map or pattern to attach to, music can register as unpleasant or bad.
That’s what happened one night in Paris in 1913. The piece that was shown at the Théatre des Champs- élysées for the first time that night was Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. As described in the daily newspaper Le Figaro, many members of the audience could not understand this new music. After the failure of that evening, however, the ballet continued running at the theater for many months. At the second, there was noise only during the latter part of the ballet; at the third, “thunderous applause” and little protest. At a concert performance of Rite one year later, “excitement and adoration” swept over the crowd, and admirers surrounded Stravinsky in the street afterward, in a riot of delight.
We are built to avoid the uncertainty of newness and our brains actually fight against the unfamiliarity of life. The act of listening to new music is hard, but it's necessary. Our brains change as they recognize new patterns in the world, which is what makes brains useful.
1. According to the passage, why is it hard to listen to new music?| A．Because our brains tell us it’s unpleasant. |
| B．Because new music tend to be unappealing. |
| C．Because new music can trigger emotional reactions. |
| D．Because our brains release dopamine when listening to new music. |
| A．Because it is familiar to us. | B．Because it is easy to memorize. |
| C．Because it has a specific sound map. | D．Because it affects the network of nerves. |
| A．To show that people are changeable. | B．To introduce an event happening in 1913. |
| C．To appeal to people to listen to new music. | D．To prove that people tend to dislike new music. |
| A．Ways of listening to new music. |
| B．Other activities that benefit our brains. |
| C．Benefits we can get from listening to new music. |
| D．Reasons why we are built to avoid the uncertainty. |
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【推荐1】Adele’s new album, “30”, is finally available. Last month, hundreds of millions of us streamed its first single, “Easy On Me.” This song arouses feelings not easily put into words, but we can probably agree it is a sad song.
Let’s start with a biological theory. When we experience real-life loss, or empathize (体会) with another’s pain, certain hormones are released within us.
Psychologically, a key reason we enjoy sad songs is that they profoundly move us. Feeling moved can come from us suddenly feeling closer to other people. Indeed, when we have listened to “30”, we may turn to reaction videos to see how others feel.
Ultimately, we listen to Adele’s songs when we want to recall, reflect, or belong. They let us feel her sadness, share our suffering, and connect with others. To all of us, Adele’s songs say:
| A．You are not alone in your pain. |
| B．Music speaks louder than words. |
| C．These help us to tackle loss and pain. |
| D．We can also think at the spiritual level. |
| E．Few people are aware sad music makes us feel good. |
| F．This lets us share an emotional experience with others. |
| G．This may make us better prepared for when real loss strikes. |
【推荐2】To American ears, hearing the words “Black Grace” used together makes them feel a kind of quiet strength in times of hardship or perhaps a positive cultural stereotype (刻板印象). To choreographer Neil Ieremia, the words represent the joining of two ideas born from personal and cultural conflict.
In New Zealand, where Ieremia grew up in what he describes as “a fairly tough town” northeast of Wellington, black was used to describe brave, daring behavior. In Ieremia’s youth, brave people were called “black”, linking them to the neighborhood’ s heroes, New Zealand’ s great All Blacks, the national rugby (橄榄球) team.
Ieremia was born in New Zealand to Samoan immigrants who arrived in the country during the 1960s. Illnesses kept him from actively participating in the country’s widespread sports culture. This was difficult for a Pacific Island boy living in a neighborhood where boys were expected to be sporty and tough. In this world, he developed a passion for music.
At the age of 19, Ieremia decided to attend dance school. At his first ballet class, the instructor told him he lacked grace. Ieremia wasn’t discouraged. When he started his own dance company in 1995, he looked to his own experiences for a name that would also reflect his ambitions for dance grace and storytelling. Thus Black Grace was born. Since then, he has changed the face of modern dance in New Zealand and turned Black Grace into one of the most recognizable and successful cultural brands.
In the early years of Black Grace, Ieremia struggled with the conflict between Samoan and New Zealand cultures. Questions of how and where one belongs were at the forefront of his work. Ieremia draws inspiration from his Samoan and New Zealand roots to create innovative dance works that reach across social, cultural and generational barriers. The work itself is highly physical, rich in the storytelling traditions of the South Pacific, and expressed with unique beauty and power.
1. What is Neil Ieremia’s occupation?| A．a sports figure | B．a dancer | C．a psychologist | D．a great writer |
| A．Stay calm and positive when facing difficulties |
| B．The quality of being courageous and elegant |
| C．A kind of stereotype from cultural conflict |
| D．The expectation of being sporty and tough |
| A．Ieremia immigrated from New Zealand to Samoan. |
| B．Ieremia played a key role in mainstream sports culture. |
| C．Ieremia had a talent for dance at an early age. |
| D．Ieremia made Black Grace become a successful cultural brand. |
| A．Bridging cultures through dance | B．A conflict between two cultures |
| C．Breaking cultural stereotype | D．Neil Iremia—a successful choreographer |
【推荐3】Walking music is any type of music that a person uses to help him or her walk and maintain a steady pace and rhythm during exercise.
The music chosen as walking music will usually be music that he or she finds especially motivating. This may not be as fast paced as music chosen for running.
This is especially helpful for someone to increase the effectiveness of walking as a form of exercise. In this type of situation，a person might choose walking music that allows him or her to disappear into the music and not focus on the act of walking.
Someone else，however，might choose walking music that motivates him or her to push himself or herself harder and walk faster or for greater distances.
| A．Thus，they will like walking |
| B．This type of music may be more intense |
| C．People will get used to walking music soon |
| D．The choice of walking music is usually a fairly personal one |
| E．This can made him or her not feel any aching muscles or weariness |
| F．This type of music may often be used for other types of exercise and activity as well |
| G．For one person，classical music such as Beethoven or Mozart may be excellent walking music |
【推荐1】The Hope Diamond is one of the world’s most famous jewels. It was in the possession of a series of people: kings, bankers, rich women and thieves, before its arrival 60 years ago at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
As a rare blue diamond, it has a complex social history, to be sure. But, far more so is its geological history, researchers say in a new report. This is the first time anyone has come up with a fact-based study or model for how blue diamonds form.
The group looked at 42 blue diamonds, including one from South Africa that recently sold for $25 million in 2016. Researchers could tell where the stones were formed based on the very small minerals trapped inside.
Diamonds are a hard, clear form of pure carbon called a crystal (结晶). They form under extreme heat and pressure. Blue diamonds crystallize alongside water-bearing minerals that long ago were part of the floor of the sea. But these minerals were pushed deeper underground during the movement of the Earth’s plates.
Scientists already knew these diamonds received their blue color from the element boron (硼). The study says that boron had once been in ocean water but was eventually pushed into the seafloor rock. Over millions of years, the boron continued to move deep underground.
Many diamonds appear colorless. Often, however, they have some yellow color. Still others have a light brown, pink or green color. About 99 percent of all diamonds form somewhere between 150 to 200 kilometers underground, a far shallower birthplace than their blue relations. “These diamonds are among the deepest ever found,” Carnegie Institution for Science geochemist Steven Shirey said of the blue diamonds.
The public can see the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C.
1. By saying the underlined part in Paragraph 2, the researchers mean the blue diamond ________.| A．was formed in extreme weather |
| B．has a very complex forming history |
| C．has a far-reaching influence in society |
| D．used to be very popular among rich people |
| A．By observing their colors. |
| B．By studying their structures. |
| C．By referring to where they were found. |
| D．By examining tiny substances in them. |
| A．The water. | B．Extreme heat and pressure. |
| C．A special matter. | D．The seafloor rock. |
| A．They contain several colors. |
| B．They form in much deeper underground. |
| C．They come into being in a different way. |
| D．They are found near the earth’s surface. |
| A．The social status of the Hope Diamond. |
| B．The discovery of the Hope Diamond. |
| C．The formation of the blue diamond. |
| D．The diversity of diamonds. |
【推荐2】Have you ever tried a cactus (仙人掌) pear? Yes, its prickly surface makes it an unusual-looking fruit but it is widely used in Mexican dishes. This fruit from the cactus is really good for you because it is helpful in fighting against many diseases, and has many health benefits (利益). There are actually over 200 types of cactus fruit and they grow in hot dry places.
Since the world is getting hotter and drier, it is even more difficult for hot dry places to grow major crops (庄稼) that need more water. Therefore, providing food and fuel will go a long way in a world that is heating up. Researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno, set out to see if the cactus pear could become a superfood that could feed people and animals, remove carbon (碳) from the atmosphere and be used as a biofuel.
While the study looked at many types of cactuses, they settled on the nopal cactus or Opuntia. The fruit can be gathered as food and the rest of the cactus can be used for taking in carbon and can be used as biofuels according to biology professor Cushman. The plant keeps water by closing its pores (气孔) during the hottest part of the day to limit water loss and opens them at night. Cushman hopes to use the genes from this plant to add them to other plants.
They are also studying the Opuntia stunting disease, which causes cactuses to grow smaller plants and less fruits, in order to find out how it spreads. They hope to learn how to create tools to recognize and treat it so that they can help Opuntia become a prolific crop.
In a world that is also gaining population, finding a new superfood will go a long way in feeding a planet that will need 50-90 percent more food in 2050. Eating more plant-based foods will also reduce the amount of land needed for more food protection.
1. What can we know about the cactus pear?| A．It is of great benefit to people. |
| B．It is the main food for Mexicans. |
| C．It can’t be seen outside Mexico. |
| D．It grows in hot wet places. |
| A．It is easy to be gathered. |
| B．It has fewer pores 10 save water. |
| C．It is suitable for various conditions. |
| D．It is eatable and good for the environment. |
| A．Helpful. | B．Unusual. | C．Attractive. | D．Fruitful. |
| A．Getting away from increasingly higher temperatures |
| B．Cactus pears may become the new superfood crop |
| C．A cactus is the plant living well in dry areas |
| D．Providing plant-based food for the world |
【推荐3】When a snowstorm blanketed my city one December morning, I awoke, immediately put on my warmest clothes and dashed outside to build a snowman. But as I was halfway to a snow angel, I had an audience—a serious-looking couple. The moment I spotted their expressions, my face flushed with shame as I murmured an answer to their unspoken question: Don’t you have anything better to do?
A middle-aged woman playing by herself in the snow is an undeniably odd sight, but maybe it shouldn’t be. New research suggests we modern adults have controlled or hidden our nature of play, and that’s causing all kinds of problems “The adult play deficit is becoming a public health crisis,” says psychiatrist and play researcher Stuart Brown, “The opposite of play isn’t work; it’s depression.”
Actually, adult play can lead to useful discoveries, which is a theory supported by a study on Bali’s long-tailed monkeys. Researchers left two types of puzzle boxes for the monkeys to solve. To get the food inside, they had to either drop a rock into the container or use it to hit the box. They found the monkeys that previously had been observed dropping rocks for fun were more likely to solve the rock-dropping puzzle, while those who had discovered the joy of clacking rocks together came up with the answer to the percussive (敲击的) puzzle.
This finding also suggests that somewhere, deep in our evolutionary history, a playful primitive human came up with the concept of stone tools. Even today, the urge to play underlies most of humanity’s greatest inventions, artworks and scientific breakthroughs. “When I interviewed Nobel winners, I was struck by how most of them didn’t separate work from play. Their labs were their playgrounds.” Brown says, “Play gives us the ability to cooperate and get along with people who differ from us.”
So next time I’m caught playing, I know exactly what I’ll say, “I am not wasting time, or acting immaturely. I’m playing for the benefit of all humanity.”
1. What can we learn about the couple from Paragraph 1?| A．They may disapprove of the author’s behavior. |
| B．They showed great interest in the author’s act. |
| C．They are more mature and sensible people. |
| D．They had something better to deal with. |
| A．Pressure. | B．Addiction. | C．Shortage. | D．Disadvantage. |
| A．To suggest how people should play. | B．To highlight the value of adult play. |
| C．To evaluate the findings of the study. | D．To introduce the study participants. |
| A．Work comes before play. | B．Work without play is rewarded. |
| C．When the cat’s away, the mice will play. | D．All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. |
【推荐1】Disorders of the brain are a growing worry. Twelve mental-health conditions affect about 970 million people around the world according to the Global Burden of Disease Project: more than one in ten of the population. This figure could well be an underestimate. Neurological (神经学的) problems such as stroke, migraine (偏头痛), Parkinson’s and brain injury are collectively the leading global source of disability. Ageing populations with unhealthy ways of life are likely to make this problem much worse everywhere.
In an ideal world, science would be coming to the rescue. But the brain is a complex organ sometimes described as the most complex structure in the known universe. A private company spent an estimated $ 43 billion on research into therapies for Alzheimer's disease between 1998 and 2017 and came up empty-handed. That big failure is perhaps the biggest reason why, in the 2010s, many drug firms abandoned or cut back on neuroscience research.
Happily, there are signs of a change. In our Technology Quarterly this week we report on a renaissance in neuroscience, with many drug companies, some of them big ones, showing renewed interest in the field. This fresh energy is coming from a variety of techniques and ideas. More precise diagnosis and well-confirmed biomarkers which reveal the course of disease, are improving clinical trials. New kinds of treatment such as gene therapy, are expanding the range of diseases that can be tackled. Other advances are an increasing amount of data, which is proving critical to understanding the biological roots of neurological problems.
As hopes rise for tackling this final frontier of bio-medicine, it is worth remembering that the secrets to a healthy brain are not only going to come from a pill or psychotherapist's treatments. The health of the brain is influenced by what goes on outside it such as nutrition, exercise, the abuse of alcohol, education, social connections and pollution. None of this should be surprising: The health of the brain is tied to the health and the well-being of the body that it sits in. Efforts to ensure better brain health are an investment that will keep bringing advantages to individuals, and to societies, for decades to come.
1. What does the author suggest in both the first and last paragraphs to prevent brain diseases?| A．Less worry. | B．More financial aid. | C．Magic medicine. | D．Healthy lifestyles. |
| A．Profits and fame. | B．Advances in technology. |
| C．Larger range of diseases. | D．More clinical trials. |
| A．A journal editor. | B．A librarian. | C．A medical student. | D．A clinical doctor. |
| A．Complex brain health. | B．A brand-new research topic. |
| C．Renewed neuroscience research. | D．Defeating brain disorders. |
【推荐2】A survey has shown that what you do on a plane can be determined by which nationality is listed on your passport.
According to the results of an international passenger survey, Australians are the biggest drinkers on board with 36 percent choosing to down the hatch, compared to 35 percent of Americans and 33 percent of Brits.
The Airline Passenger Experience Association(APEX) spoke to around 1,500 people, aged 18 and older, who have traveled by plane at least once during the last three months and were living in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, China, Singapore, Australia and Brazil.
The results found Chinese travelers are most likely to nod off once the seat-belt sign switches off. They are also the first to take out their credit card for some in-flight shopping and the biggest fans of gaming. Americans on the other hand like to use their time in the air more productively---- when not drinking---- choosing to work while flying at 35,000 feet.
Meanwhile, Brits and Germans are the best at making chat with random strangers----spending 50 percent more time than any other nationality. Comparatively, Brazilians conduct their conversations online via email, messaging apps or social media.
Despite plane food having a bad reputation, seven out of ten interviewees said they were happy to eat up on the selection of in-flight snacks and meals. In-flight magazines were also popular with four out of five passengers.
The international flyers did however express their desire for better in-flight entertainment. “The industry has greatly improved the comfort, entertainment and onboard service, and passengers are accepting those improvements” said Russell Lemieux, APEX executive director. “At the same time, passengers are demanding more from their air travel experiences which will drive more improvements touching all aspects of the journey.” he added.
1. What can you probably see in the flight according to the passage?| A．Brazilians choose to drink. |
| B．Americans do in-flight shopping. |
| C．Germans chat to kill the time. |
| D．The Chinese switch off the seat-belt sign. |
| A．passengers from one nation have little in common |
| B．most passengers like to read in-flight magazines |
| C．more than half of the passengers don’t enjoy plane food |
| D．most people tend to use in-flight time to have a good sleep. |
| A．Flyers care little about entertainment. |
| B．Flyers are not satisfied with the improvements. |
| C．Flyers are expecting better flight experiences. |
| D．Flyers have more and more demands from airlines. |
| A．To entertain readers with interesting stories. |
| B．To encourage people to behave well in public. |
| C．To criticize impolite behaviors on the plane. |
| D．To inform readers of the results of a survey. |
【推荐3】J.K. Rowling to Release New Children’s Book “The Ickabog”
J.K. Rowling is making her return to children's literature for a good cause. In a blog post published on her website Tuesday, the author announced that she will release a new story called The Ickabog, releasing new chapters weekly to help distract children in lockdown as a result of the novel coronavirus.
The author explained that she formulated(构想出) the idea for her new story while writing Harry Potter, and had the intent of publishing it after releasing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — the new story is not connected to Potter.
“Over time I came to think of it as a story that belonged to my two younger children, because I’d read it to them in the evenings when they were little, which has always been a happy family memory,” she wrote. However, amid the novel coronavirus, the author decided she wanted to publish her story free, “for children in lockdown.”
She will post new chapters every weekday between May 26 and July 10 on the Ickabog website. The Ickabog will be published in November 2020 in English in print, eBook and audio book formats.
Hoping to offer some relief to those affected by the pandemic, Rowling announced that, when the book is published, she will donate all author royalties(版税) to those impacted by the virus crisis.
1. Why does J.K. Rowling release her new book “The Ickabog”?| A．To make kids relax during the coronavirus lockdown. |
| B．To find another outlet to educate her two children. |
| C．To make her return to children's literature. |
| D．To create a new cause after Harry Potter. |
| A．On the audiobook website. | B．On the Ickabog website. |
| C．At original edition store. | D．At eBook online store. |
| A．Creative and determined. | B．Graceful and outgoing. |
| C．Caring and productive. | D．Patient and confident. |
【推荐1】TerraCycle is a company that has recycled and upcycled (升级改造) just about any garbage it can get its hands on. It upcycles things like pens and markers into dust bins and picnic tables and cigarette ends into railroad ties.
Now, TerraCycle wants to help families waste even less with a new book Make Garbage Great: The TerraCycle Family Guide to a Zero-Waste Lifestyle. The book is part wake-up call, part history lesson, part how-to, and part DIY arts and crafts instruction.
In an effort to help people do what they can to curb their contribution to the tons of waste created every day, Make Garbage Great gives the history of various materials, discusses why those various materials are a problem, and gives tips and DIY projects to recycle or upcycle each material.
There is a chapter each on plastics, metals, paper, glass, wood, rubber and organics. Each chapter is filled with tons of tips and ideas for reducing the amount of waste you create and for responsibly handling the waste you end up creating in your home. If you’re a conscious consumer, some of the information you may already know, but there are also tips in this book that will help you recycle more than you thought you were able to. It has information on where you can take old sneakers, pillows, and all that electronic waste that seems to pile up quicker and quicker each year.
Whether the book inspires you to get a little clever at dealing with your waste or simply inspires you to think before you buy or before you throw, anyone who is concerned about the amount of waste our culture creates will find some ideas here. Even the physical book itself is a bit of an inspiration. It’s printed on tree-free paper and is a reminder that there is usually a sustainable (可持续的) alternative to many of the products that we waste.
1. What is the book intended to do?| A．To advertise for the company. |
| B．To help families make money. |
| C．To instruct people to learn arts. |
| D．To help families reduce waste. |
| A．It is intended for housewives. |
| B．It is environmentally friendly. |
| C．It is well received all over the world. |
| D．It is not different from other paper books. |
| A．Positive. | B．Negative. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Objective. |
| A．Live A More Healthy Life? |
| B．Want A Zero-waste Lifestyle? |
| C．TerraCycle — A Responsible Company |
| D．Make Garbage Great — A Key to Success |
【推荐2】Esports (electronic sports) are organized competitions where players — often referred to as “athletes” — face off against each other in video games. They are not just games in a sense. Actually, they are a sport that can improve the players’ thinking ability, hand-eye coordination, willpower and team spirit.
The esports industry has experienced significant growth in recent years around the world, though it’s still in the nascent stage, which means it has huge growth potential going forward.
While the assumption is that esports are only a recent phenomenon, in reality the first esports-like event was held back in 1972, when some Stanford University students competed against one another in the game Spacewar. The prize? A year-long subscription to Rolling Stone magazine.
The ’80s saw the first true videogame tournament, with over 10,000 players gathering for the Space Invaders Championship. However, most of the period saw that players focused on beating each other’s highest scores rather than competing in organized tournaments.
As gaming became more popular, the ’90s became the first decade when esports (a term which wasn’t yet coined) began to really take off, with companies such as Nintendo and Sega holding professional gaming tournaments. This is also when we began to see money becoming a factor in professional gaming. But it is the 1997 Red Annihilation Quake tournament that is considered the world’s first real esports event. Only a few weeks later, the Cyberathlete Professional League was formed — an organization which is considered a pioneer of esports.
Due to the normalization of gaming and the Internet (along with technological advances), the real surge ( 激增 ) of esports came in the recent decade. It was then that we began seeing what we now know to be modern-day esports. As streaming platforms such as YouTube took off, people began to show interest in not only playing videogames but watching them too. Popular tournaments now sell out stadiums and professional players can earn millions from prize money, advertising and salaries.
1. What does the underlined word “nascent” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Beginning. | B．Peak. |
| C．Mature. | D．Final. |
| A．By providing examples. | B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By following the order of time. | D．By following the order of importance. |
| A．They spread worldwide overnight. |
| B．Prize money appeared in the 1990s. |
| C．The first real esports event was held in 1972. |
| D．The athletes in esports are programmers. |
| A．They are getting popular. |
| B．They become too commercialized. |
| C．They boost the normalization of the Internet. |
| D．Their development relies on advertising. |
【推荐3】Four ways the increasingly mobile workforce is transforming office style
More breakout spaces and rest areas
While some people tend to work more productively in a traditional desk-and-chair arrangement, others feel better when they’re working from a sofa or bean-bag chair. That’s why offices are creating a new mixture of furniture zones that offer both laid-back and traditional seating options.
Smaller offices, smaller carbon footprint
There are huge bonuses, both financially and environmentally, to offices employing more remote workers. For employers, less people in the office equals less needed space-meaning they can save huge amounts of money by renting or building smaller office spaces, and by using less energy and water, lowering their utility bills. For employees, smaller offices in turn will reduce air pollution and help create a smaller carbon footprint.
Designated desks are no longer the norm
The days of cubicles(小隔间) and assigned desk stations are finally coming to an end. As more office employees start working from home full-time or only come into work on certain days of the week, it makes no sense for employers to keep individual, assigned desks around for everyone.
Technology that cuts the barrier between office and home
When offices have more employees working from home - or even from other countries -it’s vital to have the proper technology to connect people together easily. To do this, offices are using VoIP phones, which make phone calls through the internet rather than regular landlines, to help employees around the world appear as though they’re calling from the office.
1. What is the advantage of smaller offices?| A．There are huge bonuses to the workers in the office. |
| B．The employers can employ less people, reducing salary. |
| C．They’re environment-friendly and save the office cost. |
| D．More employees are seated working in the smaller space. |
| A．More employees seldom work in the office. | B．Nobody makes the desks any longer. |
| C．The price of the desks is greatly high. | D．The employers come to work in turn. |
| A．More breakout spaces and rest areas. |
| B．Renting or building smaller offices. |
| C．Cubicles and designated desk stations. |
| D．Technology that connects people together easily. |
