【推荐1】Since NASA’s Voyager I Spacecraft became the first humanmade object to cross into interstellar (星际的) space, scientists have studied decades of its data sent back to Earth from billions of miles away gaining insight into the mysteries of our universe. Now, a physicist and a flutist (长笛手) have transformed such waveform data of interstellar space into music fit more for a classical concert. The new piece of music was first played on 9 March, 2023.

The musical work charts (记录，跟踪) how Voyager I left the bubble around our sun and entered busy interstellar space. The melody (曲调), played by a solo flute, begins with smooth, connected notes at a lower register (声区) to illustrate the data from inside our solar system. A gradual increase in loudness follows to indicate the spacecraft crossing the heliopause, or the boundary that leads into interstellar space. Then the melody becomes very high and changes shape, with more jumps to describe the busy interstellar space environment.

“Understanding that is connected to what Voyager I was measuring, I think, adds another dimension (方面，维度) to what people are perceiving (理解).” said Domenico Vicinanza, a music composer and physicist, who created the piece. “It is different because the physics is different…something very, very dramatic changed.”

Alyssa Schwartz, an award-winning concert flutist, performed the piece from Voyager I data together with Vicinanza. But, sometimes, turning data into sound can lead to unreasonable musical tasks for a human to perform. For instance, the Voyager I piece has 37 measures (小节), and there is no place to rest or breathe until Measure 32. “I have learned that nature doesn’t care about my need to breathe,” joked Schwartz.

Schwartz said the music has pushed her technical development with complex cross fingerings and broad, difficult jump—patterns she hasn’t encountered anywhere else. “What’s interesting in this kind of music is that the composer that I’ m trying to relate is nature” Schwartz said. “I can’t rely on my knowledge of music theory or music history to try to inform the decision.”

1. What makes the creation of the new piece of music possible?

A．Musical instruments taken aboard the space shuttle.

B．A physicist’s great curiosity about the flute.

C．A flutist’s proper understanding of physics.

D．Data collected by a NASA spacecraft.

2. What does the new piece of music describe?

A．Voyager I journey into deep space.

B．The changes in the shape of the solar system.

C．A bubble’s gradual formation around the sun.

D．The sound of busy interstellar space environment.

3. What does the author want to show by mentioning “Measure 32”?

A．The musical work’s overall structure.	B．The performance’s challenging nature.
C．Alyssa Schwartz’s remarkable musical skills.	D．Domenico Vicnanza’s unreasonable demand.

4. What does Alysse Schwartz think of the new music piece?

A．It has some room to improve.	B．It has educational significance.
C．It is hard for her to understand.	D．It is a brand-new experience for her.

【推荐2】Researchers at Baylor University were curious about whether there was a way to improve student performance. In particular, they wondered whether a technique called “targeted memory reactivation (激活，重启)” (TMR) could be useful for studying. In TMR, certain signals reactivate memories formed during the day while a person is asleep. The researchers focused on music.

A few university students took part in the experiment. They were asked to take a class on microeconomics (微观经济学), which they would be tested on the following day. During the lesson, all participants listened to three pieces of classical music. Then they spent the night in the sleep lab and while they were fast asleep, sounds were played in the background. For half of the participants, the sound was white noise, but the other half were played the three pieces they had listened to while studying. The next day they took the test and the test scores showed that the students who had been exposed to the “study music” while sleeping performed better on the test.

There were a few reasons the research group selected three classical music pieces as study music. Such music is much less distracting than music with lyrics (歌词). And the researchers also wanted to make sure that the music they played had obvious melodies (旋律), so that the brain could more easily form connections between the music and the study material. The three pieces they chose fit the bill perfectly.

Unfortunately, music could improve test scores the next day, but after a few months the music listeners were back to the same level as the students who slept with white noise in the background. Besides, the effect seemed to be more noticeable for female students than it was for men. Either way, listening to music at night is a study trick that could just make the difference between a passing or failing test for some people.

1. What did the Baylor researchers try to find out?

A．The benefits of classical music.	B．Why TMR is helpful for studying.
C．Whether music can improve study.	D．Ways to ensure a good night’s sleep.

2. What did the participants do during the experiment?

A．They played different music in class.

B．They listened to study music while taking the test.

C．They put on the music of their choice while sleeping.

D．They listened to either white noise or study music at night.

3. Why were these pieces of classical music selected as study music?

A．They are related to the study material.	B．They have distinct melodies.
C．They have memorable lyrics.	D．They are familiar to students.

4. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．The effect of music wore off over time.

B．The study trick made no difference to tests.

C．White noise has the same effect as classical music.

D．Male students benefited greatly from the study trick.

【推荐2】We all may know someone we consider to be a picky eater, who tends to dislike some common food regularly and causes social embarrassment when ordering at restaurants. But for some people picky eating can actually become a serious disorder, and clinical definitions of picky eating behaviors often include people who only consume around 20 different kinds of foods for a long period of time.

“Having restricted diets can lead to nutritional deficiencies (缺陷) as well as health problems like heart disease, poor bone health and dental issues,” explained Lorenzo Stafford, one of the authors on the latest study. “There is also a social cost because normally enjoyable moments between family members can easily turn into stressful, anxious, and conflict-causing situations when picky eaters feel ashamed or pressured to eat certain food.”

A new research homed in on the effect of plate color on food desirability for picky eaters. The experiment was based on a foundational study from 2018 which looked at the way different colored food bowls affected a person’s sense of taste.

Using a design similar to the 2018 research, the new experiments had participants rate the sweetness, saltiness and overall desirability of a snack food eaten from different colored bowls. In this instance the snack was salt and vinegar potato crisps consumed from either a red, blue or white bowl. Around 50 participants were recruited (招募) and classified as either picky or non-picky eaters based on a standard questionnaire.

The results revealed picky eaters considered the snack to be saltier when it was eaten from a red or blue bowl compared to the white bowl. And overall, picky eaters found the snack generally less desirable when eaten from a red bowl.

It is worth mentioning that a recent survey estimated nearly one in five American adults could be clinically classified as picky eaters. So exploring ways to help these people better engage with more types of food could result in valuable health outcomes.

1. Which of the following may be a picky eater?

A．Tom who ate only some bread this morning.	B．Lisa who only has vegetables for losing weight.
C．Peter who often orders little at restaurants.	D．Alex who likes only a small range of dishes.

2. What’s paragraph 2 mainly about?

A．Health problems caused by picky eating.

B．Moments that are ruined by picky eaters.

C．Potential consequences of picky eating.

D．Quotes of Lorenzo to support the research findings.

3. What is the finding of the new research?

A．Bowls of different colors directly affect appetite of eaters.

B．Blue color bowls can make the food in them saltier for eaters.

C．Food in red bowls seems less attractive to picky eaters.

D．The color of the bowl can change the taste of the dishes.

4. What’s the purpose of the last paragraph?

A．To show ways of enhancing people’s appetite effectively.

B．To stress the importance of reducing picky eaters’ anxiety and stress.

C．To encourage us to raise picky eaters’ awareness of healthy eating.

D．To call on researchers to help picky eaters try a wider variety of foods.