Art is everywhere. Any public space has been carefully designed by an artistic mind to be both functional and beautiful. Why, then, is art still so widely considered to be “the easy subject” at school, insignificant to wider society, a waste of time and effort?
Art can connect culture with commercial products in a way that not many other things can; art generates money and holds significant emotional and cultural value within communities. When people attend a concert, they are paying for music, sure, maybe even hotel rooms, meals, and transport, but they also gain an incredible experience, a unique atmosphere and a memory that will go through the rest of their lives. People don’t just want material things anymore, they want to experience life—the arts are a perfect crossover between culture and commerce.
Furthermore, the arts can bring communities together, reducing loneliness and making people feel safer. Social bonds are created among individuals when they share their arts experiences through reflection and discussion, and their expression of common values through artworks in honour of events significant to a nation’s experience.
The arts clearly have a pretty positive impact on physical and psychological health. It is found that people who frequent cultural places or participate in artistic events are more likely to gain good health compared to those who do not; more engagement with the arts is linked to a higher level of people’s well-being. The Royal Society of Public Health discovered that music and art, when used in hospitals, help to improve the conditions of patients by reducing stress, anxiety and blood pressure.
Children who are involved with the arts make greater achievements in their education: those engaged with drama have greater literary ability while others taking part in musical practice exhibit greater skills in math and languages. Kids with preference for the arts have a greater chance of finding employment in the future. Participating in the arts is essential for child development; encouraging children to express themselves in constructive ways could help to form healthy emotional responses in later life.
Vital to human life, art is celebrated and used by nations across the world for various purposes. Life without art would be boring and dead still, for art is a part of what makes us human.
1. Art products differ from most other commercial products because ________.| A．most people purchase them for collection | B．they are more expensive and less accessible |
| C．they have both commercial and cultural values | D．their prices may climb up as time passes |
| A．keep the community safe from illnesses | B．develop a stronger tie between them |
| C．learn to appreciate their own works of art | D．offer honourable solutions to their problems |
| A．They enjoy better living conditions. |
| B．They like to compare themselves with others. |
| C．They are particularly good at both music and art. |
| D．They tend to be healthier physically and mentally. |
| A．It promotes their academic performance and emotional growth. |
| B．It gives them more confidence in exhibiting their learning skills. |
| C．It inspires their creativity in designing their future career. |
| D．It helps to make responsible people out of them. |
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【推荐1】Phonetic (语音) information—the smallest sound elements of speech—is considered by researchers to be the basis of language. Babies are thought to learn these small sound element s and add them together to make words. But a new study suggests that phonetic information is learnt too late and slowly for this to be the case. Instead, rhythmic (有韵律的) speech helps babies learn language and is effective even in the first few months of life.
Researchers from the Trinity College Dublin investigated babies’ ability to process phonetic information during their first year. Their study, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that phonetic information wasn’t successfully encoded (编码) until seven months old, and did not occur very often at 11 months old when babies began to say their first words. From then individual speech sounds are still added in very slowly—too slowly to form the basis of language.
The researchers recorded patterns of brain activity in 50 babies at four, seven, and eleven months old as they watched a video of a primary school teacher singing 18 nursery rhymes (童谣) to a baby. They found that phonetic encoding in babies appeared gradually over the first year of life, beginning with labial sounds (e. g. “d” for “daddy”） and nasal sounds (e. g. “m” for “mummy”), with the “read out” progressively looking more like that of adults.
“The reason why we use nursery rhymes is because that is the best way for babies to discover and connect sounds with language, so we are teaching them how to speak,” said Giovanni Di Liberto, lead author of the study at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. “Parents should talk and sing to their babies as much as possible or use baby-directed speech because it will make a difference to language outcome,” she added.
1. What should babies learn in the first few months of life according to the new study?| A．Small sound elements. | B．Rhythmic information. |
| C．Phonetic information. | D．Individual words. |
| A．The poor phonetic encoding in babies. | B．The advantages of phonetic information. |
| C．The babies’ great ability to learn language. | D．The babies’ growing process in the first year. |
| A．Sing nursery rhymes for babies frequently. | B．Play a variety of splendid music for babies. |
| C．Affect the children via their own experience. | D．Pay attention to their children’s speech act. |
| A．When Babies Are Able to Say Their First Words |
| B．How Phonetic Information Changes Over Time |
| C．Why Phonetic Is Better Than Rhythmic for Babies |
| D．Why Babies Need Nursery Rhymes for Language Mastery |
【推荐2】Many of us in China enjoy adding chilies(辣椒) to our food, but did you know that this spicy vegetable could also be dangerous? A 34-year-old US man recently ended up in hospital after eating a Carolina Reaper, the spiciest chili in the world. After taking just a single bite of one, the man suffered from serious headaches in the following few days, reported BBC News.
In fact, reports of stomachache and headache caused by eating spicy food are not something unusual. But if chilies are harmful, why is it that human beings are the only animals to eat this vegetable? According to the website Huanqiu, about 600 million Chinese people — almost half of the national population — are chili eaters. So what makes people love chilies so much? The human body reacts to the burning feeling that comes from eating chilies by releasing natural chemicals that “produce a sense of happiness”, noted BBC News.
And the benefits go even further than just personal enjoyment. A survey conducted by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences found that the death rate of those who eat spicy food once or twice a week is 10 percent lower than those who eat it less than once a week. The number experiences a downturn for those who eat spicy food six to seven times a week. And another study done by the University of Vermont came to a similar conclusion. “The data encourages people to eat more spicy food to improve health and reduce death risk at an early age,” Liu Qi, a nutritionist at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, told BBC News.
Chilies have anti-cancer quality and the ability to increase our metabolism (新陈代谢). So, don't worry if you love spicy food. It seems that chilies are actually good for us — except for the Carolina Reaper, perhaps.
1. The example of a 34-year-old American is mentioned in Paragraph 1 to show _________.| A．chilies can be beneficial | B．chilies are popular in America |
| C．serious headaches can be dangerous | D．chilies can be dangerous |
| A．decreasing death rate | B．curing serious headaches |
| C．releasing natural chemicals | D．providing enough nutrition |
| A．Decrease | B．Increase | C．Match | D．Difference |
| A．warn people of the dangers of chilies | B．tell people the benefits of chilies |
| C．ask people not to eat Carolina Reaper | D．encourage people to eat less chilies |
【推荐3】Stress is common in modern society. When you decide to do something about your stress levels it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to turn your whole life upside down — quit your job, file for divorce, move to another country. Among all the stress management strategies out there we are forgetting one essential treatment — taking time for rest.
For a long time, psychology was based on a clear division between body and mind. Psychologists focused almost only on what went on between our ears. The body was the responsibility of medical doctors and gym instructors. Recently, however, there has been a growing realization within psychology circles that the body and mind are closely connected with each other, far more than anyone ever imagined. You suffer more from stress when you are feeling run down or are suffering from a flu. If you have a bad night’s sleep, everything is more stressful the next day.
While you are more likely to suffer from stress when you are feeling poorly, you can alleviate it by looking after your body. Rest is actually good for both body and mind. We all need at least a little time to think, to reflect on life and even just to be bored. Your free time is meant for relaxation and recovery, and that is impossible when you have too much to do.
We need to relearn the art of rest, especially in these busy times. Getting enough rest is not just something we should do when we are exhausted. It is only when we take a good rest that we will be able to take a stand against stress. I like to imagine that in a few years from now it will be entirely acceptable to say, “Given how hard I worked last week on our project, this week I am going to take a day off.”
1. Which statement will the author probably agree with?| A．Only modern people feel stressed. |
| B．Psychologists don’t have to focus on the body. |
| C．Quitting your job is the best way to reduce stress. |
| D．Body and mind are strongly interacted with each other. |
| A．Develop. | B．Increase. | C．Relieve. | D．Maintain. |
| A．Rest contributes to mental relief. | B．Rest will surely make people bored. |
| C．The idea of rest is well accepted now. | D．Rest is needed only when people are tired. |
| A．Physical Health Affects the Mind | B．Rest is the Secret to Stress Relief |
| C．Brain Processes Psychological Pain | D．Good Life Starts with Stress Management |
【推荐1】A Kickstarter launched Friday will allow interested parties to set up a camera and pet toys in their home for anyone to play with their pets remotely. It’s called the iPet Companion, an Internet-connected camera and device that streams video online and allows basic commands from people watching. They can move the camera, look at their pet and press a button to swing a toy around.
Obviously, demand is strong. The Kickstarter proved so popular that Scott Harris, iPet Companion’s founder, said that thousands of people started asking for it.
The reason why people keep talking about this is the emotional(情感的) connection they have from a thousand miles away. If you want, you can enter a queue to move the camera and play with the pets. Each room has toys that are hooked(钩住) into Internet-connected devices, and you can move them by pressing a button.
But there’s sort of a problem: Pets get bored easily. Young pets will stay more interested than adult pets, but finally even a baby pet will get bored, too. To stop that from happening, you’d better limit the pets’ access(接近) to the toys and change the place where they’re located in the room.
Harris understands this and said you can plug anything into that adaptor(适配器) —toys that you can get on your own. And that’s where the iPet Companion really gets interesting. Harris explained that the device is actually sort of a Trojan horse to bring the “Internet of things” to more homes. You don’t really have to use it for pets. The adapter could be used for any device with an electrical plug — a sprinkler(洒水器), say that you’d be able to water your grass.
“Our whole goal, our whole purpose is to let anyone control any physical object that they want to while they travel anywhere in the world”, Harris said.
1. What does the underlined word “remotely” in Para 1 probably mean?| A．Far away. | B．For free. | C．With pity. | D．Out of control. |
| A．Any of your toys can be used as an adapter. |
| B．The founder is in favor of a Trojan horse. |
| C．The younger the pets are, the more easily they get bored. |
| D．People can only use iPet Companion with the Internet accessible. |
| A．It can be used to kill time. |
| B．It is easy to control online. |
| C．It can meet all of their demands. |
| D．They can show their love for faraway pets by using it. |
| A．Pets are not clever enough to play the toys. |
| B．They don’t receive rewards from the games. |
| C．Toys are played with too often at the same place. |
| D．Adult pets prevent young ones from playing the games. |
| A．Kickstarter is only a kind of toy. |
| B．Kickstarter can be used in many other way. |
| C．iPet Companion can actually be turned into a toy horse. |
| D．iPet Companion can look after pets while their owners are away. |
【推荐2】Pleasanton Partnerships in Education Foundation (PPIE) was started in 1987 to raise money by organizing running events for local schools. Based in Pleasanton, California, a suburb of San Francisco, the non-profit organization recently hosted a family focused fitness event for the community. “Our event helps to bring the community together,” said Mindy Louie, events and outreach manager for PPIE. “We have more than 3,000 participants, hard-working volunteers and viewers.”
This year’s fitness event took place on April 30 at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. It featured races of two miles, five kilometers and ten kilometers. A new Kids Challenge consisted of a quarter-mile run to encourage younger children to participate. When asked to describe the run, 11-year-old Jeremy Louie said, “Fun, exciting and enjoyable.” Jeremy added that he was happy to help support his school.
PPIE supports all 15 schools in the Pleasanton Unified School District, which include more than 14,500 students and 800 teachers and staff. The nonprofit organization tries to fund programs affected by budget cuts, while encouraging fitness and athleticism. To date, the PPIE has raised over $1 million for the school district.
A local runners’ group called the BURN Youth Development (B. Y. D.) participated in the fundraising. The B. Y. D. has since grown to more than 100 youth members, 30 of whom ran in April’s PPIE event. Jerry Wu, the group’s founder and lead coach, explained that the B. Y. D. was born to keep kids running. “Watching them running strongly and happily makes me smile every time,” Jerry said.
Jerry encourages teamwork and teaches the students valuable running techniques. As a B. Y. D. member, Ollie Gu, an eighth grader, was one of the top finishers in the ten-kilometer run. He completed the race in 40 minutes and 46 seconds and won first place in the 12- to 15-year-old age group. “The race was extremely rewarding,” Ollie said. “I’m looking forward to it next year.”
1. Which race was recently created?| A．A ten-kilometer run. | B．A two-mile run. |
| C．A five-kilometer run. | D．A quarter-mile run. |
| A．By listing data. | B．By making a comparison. |
| C．By giving theoretic analysis. | D．By conducting a questionnaire survey. |
| A．Their duties as athletes. | B．Their feelings as coaches. |
| C．Their recognition of the B. Y. D. | D．Their anticipation of the next run. |
| A．Sports volunteers. | B．Racing for education. |
| C．Running with teachers. | D．Young sportsmen. |
【推荐3】It might sound unbelievable, but the mind control television could soon become a reality. This technology could one day replace the remote control.
When testing the prototype, the users were able to operate a headset that allowed them to operate it and choose what they wanted to watch by concentrating. The device can know what you want to watch by reading the changes in brain activity. Cyrus Saihan, head of Business Development at BBC Digital, said the technology was still at an experimental stage.
Writing in a BBC blog, he said an experiment with ten members found they could all use the headset to start watching a program. He continued, “You can imagine a world where instead of having to get up from your sofa or reach for your remote control, you just think ‘put BBC 1 on’ when you want to watch TV. Imagine sitting in your car and thinking ‘I want to listen to Radio 4’ and hearing the radio station come on. Perhaps you would be able to just think ‘give me the latest news’, and then get served with a set of news.”
But Mr. Saihan added, “It’s important to know that it’s very early days, and while the devices are still improving, what they can do is still quite basic. Hopefully, it gives an idea of how audiences of the future might be able to control devices such as TVs just using their brain.” It is hoped that the system could be used to help those with disabilities in the future.
1. What do we know about the mind control television from the text?
| A．It is still at the test stage. | B．It is just in people’s mind. |
| C．It has become a reality already. | D．It has been well received by customers. |
| A．To read the users’ minds. | B．To change the channels by itself. |
| C．To cause changes in people’s brains. | D．To remind the users of the programs. |
| A．The users of the new technology. | B．The market for the new technology. |
| C．The new technology used in the cars. | D．The convenience of the new technology. |
| A．Mr. Saihan shows less interest in the technology. |
| B．The technology can only be applied in TVs. |
| C．The disabled may benefit from the technology in the future. |
| D．The technology will improve the development of brains. |
