【推荐1】Directions: Read the following passage. Fill in each blank with a proper sentence given in the box. Each sentence can be used only once. Note that there are two more sentences than you need.

The Podcast (播客) Boom

Do you prefer to watch TV or listen to the radio? There was a time when some people thought moving pictures would spell the end of tuning in to the radio for entertainment and information. But radio survived and boomed.     1    

Perhaps the growth in podcasting is not surprising-it offers a digital audio file that can be downloaded and stored for listening at any time. It can also be streamed from the internet and played on a computer or MP3 player. And it’s not just broadcasters, like the BBC, who are producing podcasts: now commercial broadcasters, individuals and companies with no connection to broadcasting are making them. In fact, anyone with something to say, and a few pounds to spend on the equipment, can get involved.

The digital audio files are cheap to produce and, thanks to the internet, easy to distribute.     2     Journalist Ben Hammersley told the BBC that “two changes transformed the market-one cultural and one technical.” A technical breakthrough came in 2012 when Apple produced the iPhone podcast app, which proved a popular library system for listeners. This was followed by a dramatic improvement in inexpensive recording production and editing equipment. Finally, the development of 4G mobile phone connections and widespread wi-fi meant listeners could browse, download or stream shows whenever they wanted.

    3     It was a piece of investigative journalism hosted by Sarah Koenig, telling a non-fiction story over multiple episodes (集). To date, the first and second seasons of the show have had more than 340 million downloads. Advertisers soon realized the money-making potential of this and other successful podcasts. And where the audience goes, the money follows. From 2017 to 2018 advertising spending on podcasts in the UK went from $10.6m(£8.5m) to $19.7m, an 85% increase, according to Ovum.

    4     In fact, as Ben Hammersley explains, podcasting has brought people into broadcasting who would normally never have seen the inside of a recording studio. “There are of course professional podcasters, but there are many more people who create quality content and do it for nothing,” he says. “And that is changing not just the way we listen to audio but the way the broadcasting industry works.”

A．The cultural breakthrough came in 2014 with a very specific podcast-Serial.

B．But if you are a celebrity, podcasts can provide a new branch of business.

C．And now, despite the growth in smartphones offering high-definition pictures, the popularity of podcasts is booming.

D．Now the boom in podcasting embraces a huge range of talent, from professional broadcasters to enthusiasts offering insights on anything and everything.

E．Podcasts offer a chance to speak to a very precise selection of people.

F．But where did this trend for making portable audio programmes begin?

【推荐2】For most of us, work is the central, dominating fact of life. We spend more than half our conscious hours at work, preparing for work, traveling to and from work. What we do there largely determines our standard of living and our status to a considerable extent. It is sometimes said that because leisure has become more important, the injustices of work can be pushed into a corner, and that because most work is pretty intolerable, the people who do it should compensate for its boredom, frustrations and humiliations by concentrating their hopes on the other parts of their lives. For the foreseeable future, however, the material and psychological rewards which work can provide will continue to play a vital part in determining the satisfaction that life can offer.

Yet only a small minority can control the pace at which they work or the conditions where their work is done; only for a small minority does work offer scope for creativity, imagination or initiative.

Inequality at work is still one of the most glaring (明显的) forms of inequality in our society. We cannot hope to solve the more obvious problems of industrial life, many of which arise from the frustrations created by inequality at work, unless we handle it determinedly.

The most glaring inequality is that between managers and the rest. For most managers, work is an opportunity and a challenge. Their jobs engage their interest and allow them to develop their abilities. They are constantly learning. They are able to exercise responsibility. They have a considerable degree of control over their own and others’ working lives. Most important of all, they have opportunities to initiate. By contrast, for most manual workers, work is a boring, dull, even painful experience. They spend all their working lives in intolerable conditions. The majority have little control over their work. It provides them with no opportunity for personal development. Many jobs are so routine that workers feel themselves to be mere cogs (齿轮) in the bureaucratic machine. As a direct consequence of their work experience, many workers feel alienated (疏远) from their work and their firm.

1. In the writer’s opinion, people judge others mainly by ________.

A．the type of work they do	B．the place where they work
C．the time they spend at work	D．the amount of money they earn

2. According to the writer, to solve problems in an industrial society, we ________.

A．should create more working opportunities for the poor

B．have to get rid of the unequal aspects in work

C．had better cancel all managing positions in a company

D．should encourage the manual workers to promote efficiency

3. What advantage does the writer say managers have over workers?

A．They won’t be out of work.

B．They get time off to learn constantly.

C．They can work at what interests them.

D．They have complete control over themselves.

【推荐2】Triple Olympic and world sprint（短跑） champion Usain Bolt of Jamaica said on Monday he expects years of fast feats to ease doping doubts in athletics and has no plans to play American football.

Appearing on ESPN programs and in light-hearted races outside the television sport network's studios, Bolt said he feels he must prove himself to a skeptical sports world in the wake of past doping scandals（诽谤）.

"I have to prove myself to the world that you can run fast without it," Bolt said.

Bolt cited the speeds he and countryman Asafa Powell and American Tyson Gay have achieved without positive doping tests.

"We just （have to） continue to run fast," Bolt said．"In a couple of years everyone will continue to watch again and have less doubts."

Bolt won gold in the 100m, 200 and 4x100 relay in world record times at last year's Beijing Olympics and last month in Berlin set world records of 9.58 seconds in the 100 and 19.19 in the 200 and helped a relay title in a World Championships treble.

"I want to be a legend in the sport．For me it's all a focus on winning championships after championships," Bolt said.

"I don't consider myself a legend．When I defend my titles I will consider myself a legend."

Bolt's defending of World and Olympic gold should be the feature attraction of the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, and the 2012 London Olympics.

1. Why does Usain Bolt say that he has no plans to play American football?

A．Because he wants to ease doping doubts in athletics.

B．Because he wants to show his fast feats.

C．Because he is doubted by some people.

D．Because he runs fastest in the world．

2. How many times did Usain Bolt break the world records?

A．three times．	B．four times．
C．five times．	D．eight times．

3. What does the passage mainly tell us?

A．Usain Bolt plans years of fast feats to ease doping doubts.

B．Usain Bolt is doubted for his athletics.

C．Usain Bolt set world records again in Berlin last month.

D．Usain Bolt wants to a legend in the sport.

4. The passage can be read ___________.

A．on TV	B．on the Internet
C．in a book	D．in a newspaper.

【推荐3】Building on the success of the digital series of One World: Together at Home, Global Citizen and the World Health Organisation (WHO) are partnering for a special one-night event of the same name, which will screen across BET/Comedy Central/MTV/MTV base on Sunday, April 19. On MTV Base, DStv channel 322 and GOtv channel 72, it would air by 1am. (WAT), with a repeat broadcast same day by 8pm. (WAT).

Launched with Chris Martin of Coldplay on March 16, 2020, Together at Home has become an outlet for artistes to share music with their fans for a purpose to educate and inform millions around WHO’s critical effort to prevent, detect and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, One World: Together at Home is not a charity event, but a broad global entertainment special to support the World Health Organisation and the global fight to end COVID-19. The show will feature A-list superstars such as Lady Gaga, John Legend, Billie Eilish, and more.

The two-hour program will be hosted by marquee personalities from each of the major networks. It will include both live and pre-taped performances from the world’s most prominent artists with multimillion-naira pledges to the WHO’s Solidarity Response Fund.

The show will lift viewer’s spirits in these trying times with exclusive and unique cameos from the worlds of music and arts, sports superstars, and comedic sketches, while always drawing back to its core purpose to educate and inform on COVID-19 risks, prevention and response. The broadcast will also feature interviews with experts from WHO as well as stories of frontline healthcare workers from around the world.

With the confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States rising each day, the rich and famous aren’t staying quiet about their diagnoses. Instead, celebrities are speaking out on social media not only to keep fans informed but in some cases, to urge followers to stay home in order to help reduce the risk of transmission.

1. What will you see at this concert?

A．Covid-19 treatment method	B．Marquee production method
C．Anti-epidemic stories of medical staff	D．Music interview

2. What is the purpose of this event?

A．Let the audience understand the music

B．Show the charm of superstars

C．Call on the public to raise awareness of health protection

D．Introducing Covid-19

3. What can we infer from the text?

A．The stars participating in this activity have a sense of social responsibility

B．The performances are all live

C．World Health Organization donates to this event

D．American people are unaware of Covid-19

4. Where is the text most likely from?

A．The Medical Magazine	B．The Music Magazine
C．The Adevertisment	D．The Newspaper

【推荐1】Young children whose mothers talk with them more frequently and in more detail about people’s thoughts and feelings tend to be better at taking another person’s perspective（观点）than other children of the same age.
That’s what researchers from the University of Western Australia found in a new study published in the journal Child Development.
“Parents who frequently put themselves in someone else’s shoes in conversations with their children make it more likely their children will be able to do the same,” said lead author Brad Farrant.
Researchers of the UWA’s Telethon Institute for Child Health Research looked at the influence of how parents interact with their children to learn more about how people develop the ability to take another’s perspective.
The two-year study involved more than 120 Australian children aged between four and six, including children with typically developing language and others delayed in language acquisition（习得）.
The children completed tasks which were designed to assess their language skills, ability to infer others’ beliefs and use these to predict others’ behavior, and their ability to shift flexibly between different perspectives.
Among children with typically developing language, the researchers found that mothers who talked more often and in greater detail about people’s thoughts and feelings — commenting on how another person might react to a particular situation as well as their own feelings about the topic — had children with better language skills and better perspective-taking skills.
Children with delayed language acquisition were also delayed in their development of perspective-taking skills. This displays the role played by language as children develop the ability to take another’s perspective.
“Solving the many challenges that the world faces today requires us all to get better at taking the perspective of other people,” said Brad Farrant.
1. According to the text, to help children gain better perspective-taking skills, parents should __________.

A．give their children more chances to express themselves

B．talk more with their children about people’s feelings

C．encourage their children to guess other people’s thoughts

D．spend more time playing with their children

2. Which of the following is TRUE about the study?

A．Over one hundred American children took part in it.

B．All the children had delayed in language acquisition.

C．The children in the study were around five years old.

D．Mothers helped their children to complete the tasks.

3. Which have an effect on the development of children’s perspective-taking skills?

A．The surrounding environments.	B．Mother’s perspectives.
C．Personal characters.	D．Language skills.

4. In the last paragraph, Brad Farrant __________.

A．stressed the importance of perspective-taking skills

B．expressed his concern about the world’s challenges

C．showed how to take the perspective of other people

D．explained why other people’s opinions are important

5. According to the text, we can learn __________.

A．parents should talk to their children frequently no matter how old their children are

B．it was Brad Farrant who wrote the study in Child Development herself

C．the only way to improve language skill is talking to children more often

D．parents who are always thinking about others will help their children do the same way

【推荐2】America's top education official says many schools are spending too much time teaching the “basics”—reading, math and writing. It might seem opposite to what educators have been promoting. But U.S. Education Secretary John King says children really deserve access to a well-rounded education that includes music and arts because it will help them go into being well-rounded, well-educated persons．

King spoke about his own education when explaining why schools need to teach more than math， reading and writing．

King grew up in New York. Both his parents died when he was quite young. In his house, things were often crazy and frightening. It was his teacher, Mr. Osterwei, who helped him escape his difficult life. Quite often, the teacher took him and his classmates to the theater, the zoo, the ballet and famous Museum of Natural History. “Those were powerful, life-changing experiences, ”King says. King graduated from Harvard University. He received his law degree from Yale University. He took charge of New York State public schools from 2011-2015. The U.S. Senate approved him as Education secretary last month．

Many schools spend almost all funding on the “basics” because they lack money for other subjects, King says. Or they want students to do better on tests used to compare student performance．

Students need to connect their studies and things that matter to them personally, such as music if they are to become “sophisticated(水平高的) thinkers”. A 2013 report by UNESCO says today's world needs people able to solve new and unusual problems. It says arts can help students find those answers. In the report, UNESCO said teaching the arts in China, South Korea and Japan is different．

From that in many Western countries, the emphasis(重点) in those three countries is “on joyful experiences and children's interests. ” In the West, educators are more likely to connect the arts to reading, writing and math. A 2014 report tried to compare how well countries teach children how to solve problems. It found Singapore, South Korea, Japan, China, Canada, Australia and Finland with the highest scores for 15-year-olds. Singapore led the way with a score of 562 out of a possible 1，000. The average score was 500. The United States had a score of 508．

1. According to paragraph 1, what have educators been encouraging?

A．Teaching arts should never be put second to teaching the “basic”．

B．More money and time ought to be set aside for teaching arts．

C．Research should be done to ensure a well-rounded education．

D．Enough time is supposed to be spent in teaching the “basics”．

2. King spoke about his own education experience to ________.

A．share with us his extraordinary education background

B．tell us his teacher attached great importance to teaching

C．confirm access to arts contributes to good academic performances

D．call on schools to give arts lessons as much attention as the "basics" ones

3. The author convinces us of the importance of teaching arts by different means except ________.

A．by giving examples	B．by making comparisons
C．by analyzing figures	D．by performing experiments

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Schools are supposed to be far-sighted

B．Kids should be well-rounded persons

C．Kids need more than “the basics” to learn

D．Teachers must have advanced teaching methods