【推荐1】George Gershwin, born in 1898, was one of America’s greatest composers. He published his first song when he was eighteen years old. During the next twenty years he wrote more than five hundred songs.

Many of Gershwin’s songs were first written for musical plays performed in theatres in New York City. These plays were a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s and 1930s. Many of his songs have remained popular as ever. Over the years they have been sung and played in every possible way—from jazz to country.

In the 1920s there was a debate in the United States about jazz music. Could jazz, some people asked, be considered serious music? In 1924 jazz musician and orchestra leader Paul Whiteman decided to organize a special concert to show that jazz was serious music. Gershwin agreed to compose something for the concert before he realized he had just a few weeks to do it. And in that short time, he composed a piece for piano and orchestra which he called Rhapsody in Blue. Gershwin himself played the piano at the concert. The audience were thrilled when they heard his music. It made him world-famous and showed that jazz music could be both serious and popular.

In 1928, Gershwin went to Paris. He applied to study composition(作曲)with the well-known musician Nadia Boulanger, but she rejected him. She was afraid that classical study would ruin his jazz-influenced style. While there, Gershwin wrote An American in Paris. When it was first performed, critics(评论家)were divided over the music. Some called it happy and full of life, to others it was silly and boring. But it quickly became popular in Europe and the United States. It still remains one of his most famous works.

George Gershwin died in 1937, just days after doctors learned he had brain cancer. He was only thirty-nine years old. Newspapers all over the world reported his death on their front pages. People mourned the loss of the man and all the music he might have still written.

1. Many of Gershwin’s musical works were ．

A．written about New Yorkers

B．composed for Paul Whiteman

C．played mainly in the countryside

D．performed in various ways

2. What did Gershwin do during his stay in Paris?

A．He created one of his best works．

B．He studied with Nadia Boulanger．

C．He argued with French critics．

D．He changed his music style．

3. What do we learn from the last paragraph?

A．Many of Gershwin’s works were lost．

B．The death of Gershwin was widely reported．

C．A concert was held in memory of Gershwin．

D．Brain cancer research started after Gershwin’s death．

4. Which of the following best describes Gershwin?

A．Talented and productive．

B．Serious and boring．

C．Popular and unhappy．

D．Friendly and honest．

【推荐2】With so many new songs coming out every month, it can be difficult to find the good ones. Luckily, Time magazine announced its Top 10 songs of 2019. Here we have picked out four for you. Perhaps it’s time to tune in.

Old Town Road

Holding Billboard’s No. 1 spot for 19 weeks, the song Old Town Road by US rapper Lil Nas X was a hit in 2019. It’s a country music. But the song has qualities of many music types, including rap and pop. “Creatively, I think it’s always a good idea when there’s a mixture of many types, with cross-cultural conversations going on,” said US musician Tom Willett.

Don’t Start now

Since releasing her first album in 2017, UK singer Dua Lipa is famous for her honey-smooth voice. But she wants to try more. In her latest song, Don’t Start Now, she adds an infectious disco sensibility. With lively and energetic vocal twists, “it’s a tune that celebrates independence and promises joy in the process,” noted The Times.

Juice

If you feel blue and want to lift up your spirits, Juice may be one of the best choices. Sung by US rapper Lizzo, Juice is full of self-love and confident lyrics. She sings, “If I’m shiny, everybody goanna shine. I was born like this, don’t even gotten try.” Lollie King of Bustle wrote that the song “is sure to give you that much-needed confidence increase when you’re feeling low”.

Happier

Marshmello can toast to being the No. 1 Hot Dance/Electronic Songs Artist as Happier with Bastille. Happier held the No. 1 spot on the weekly Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for the entire year, shattering the record, for the most weeks at No. 1 since the chart’s January 26, 2013 inception （开始）. By the end of the 2019 chart year, Happier became only the third song in Billboard chart history, across all formats, to hit at least 60 weeks at No. 1.

1. Which song can cheer you up easily?

A．Old Town Road.	B．Juice.
C．Don’t Start Now.	D．Happier.

2. What can we learn about Old Town Road?

A．It held Billboard’s No. 1 spot more than 19 weeks.

B．It describes the beautiful scenery of an old town.

C．It contains different music types.

D．It is sung by US musician Tom Willett.

3. From which is the text probably taken?

A．A textbook on music.	B．A research paper.
C．A travel brochure.	D．A musical magazine.

【推荐2】Hannah Huxford met the fry-stealing gull in Bridlington, a coastal town on the Yorkshire coast. Huxford posted the well-timed photo on her iPhone; it went viral (走红) soon after. A decade later, the fry-stealing gull is appearing on billboards, as part of an advertising campaign for Google.

Researchers recently discovered that food may actually become more attractive to gulls when the birds observe humans handling it first, according to a 2020 study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

Because the birds seem to be attracted to food items that they’ve watched humans touch, another of the study’s authors, says that it’s even more important to properly throw food waste and snack wrappers in the trash. “Our findings suggest that gulls are more likely to approach food that they have seen people drop or put down, so they may associate areas where people are eating with an easy meal,” Dr. Laura Kelley said.

The scientists approached 74 herring gulls in coastal towns in Cornwall, attracting them with weighted bags of fried potatoes. Only 19 gulls were curious or hungry enough to linger (逗留), allowing the scientists to place the bag on the ground and move back a short distance away, waiting to see if a gull would approach.

Their experiments showed that gulls were more cautious about approaching a tempting treat (诱饵) if there was a person nearby who was watching them closely. However, the scientists also found that far fewer of the birds than expected showed interest in investigating the food at all when being stared at.

In fact, people may be able to protect their lunches from gulls by avoiding areas where the birds tend to gather and keeping a closer eye on their meals, she added. “Gulls have a bad reputation but, like all animals, they are just trying to survive,” Goumas said. “We can try to soften the conflict we have with them by making changes in our own behavior.”

1. Why does the author mention “the fry-stealing gull photo” in Paragraph 1?

A．To open up the topic.	B．To kid about the gull.
C．To tell us a TV series.	D．To introduce the background.

2. What did gulls prefer according to the study?

A．Photos taken by people.	B．Areas full of food waste.
C．Food that visitors are eating.	D．Snack wrappers in the trash.

3. What can we know about gulls from the scientists’ experiments?

A．They don’t like the food left over by humans.

B．They approach the treat when they are hungry.

C．They are interested in eating food with humans.

D．They probably won’t eat the treat when being watched.

4. What’s Goumas’s attitude to the action of the fry-stealing gull?

A．Optimistic.	B．Sympathetic.
C．Skeptical.	D．Indifferent.