【推荐1】Journalists are looking out for news stories that attract a significant audience. By applying a set of guidelines or criteria, they can recognize what material will make the best stories.     1     They are central to this process because they identify the ingredients (因素) of a story that will draw people’ s attention.

Timeliness

News gets out of date quickly; it’s timely if it happened recently. But how recently?     2     On a television news channel events that have happened during the past half hour are timely. By contrast, in the monthly magazine events that have taken place over the past 30 days are timely.

Unexpectedness

    3     For instance, it is not a newsworthy event that boats travel through the Suez Canal daily. However, a boat getting stuck in the canal and blocking the passageway could be so unexpected and surprising that it makes the headlines.

Currency

Topics that are already under the public spotlight are more likely to be newsworthy. Thus, growing public awareness of global warming has generated more stories about companies producing environmentally friendly products.     4     Journalists can capitalize on the current conversations on different social media platforms to find out what is holding people’s interest.

Human interest

People like to know people. Certain events make people feel strong emotions. Both a dying child receiving a donated organ and families reuniting after fifty years are good examples. People’s everyday concerns make them feel interested, for instance, stories about food, health and housing.     5    

A．We call these “news values”.

B．But this is not enough to make a story newsworthy.

C．Strange stories are likely to find their way into the news.

D．It depends on the publication cycle of the news medium.

E．Information about schools and work also catches the public’s eye.

F．An unfolding story has strong news value on 24-hour news channels.

G．Social media has enabled people to share opinions with a far wider audience.

【推荐3】Scientists have been experimenting with playing sounds to plants since at least the 1960s, during which time they have been exposed to everything from Beethoven to Michael Jackson. Over the years, evidence that this sort of thing can have an effect has been growing. One paper, published in 2018, claimed that an Asian shrub known as the telegraph plant grew substantially larger leaves when exposed to 56 days of Buddhist music — but not if it was exposed to Western pop music or silence. Another, published last year, found that marigolds and sage plants exposed to the noise of traffic from a busy motorway suffered growth difficulty.

Plants have been evolving (进化) alongside the insects that eat them for hundreds of millions of years. With that in mind, Heidi Appel, a botanist now at the University of Houston, and Reginald Cocroft, a biologist at the University of Missouri, wondered if plants might be sensitive to the sounds made by the animals with which they most often interact. They recorded the vibrations made by certain species of caterpillars (毛毛虫) as they chewed on leaves. These vibrations are not powerful enough to produce sound waves in the air. But they are able to travel across leaves and branches, and even to neighbouring plants if their leaves touch.

They then exposed tobacco plant — the plant biologist’s version of the laboratory mouse — to the recorded vibrations while no caterpillars were actually present. Later, they put real caterpillars on the plants to see if exposure had led them to prepare for an insect attack. The results were striking. Leaves that had been exposed had significantly higher levels of defensive chemicals, making them much harder for the caterpillars to eat. Leaves that had not been exposed to vibrations showed no such response. Other sorts of vibration — caused by the wind, for instance, or other insects that do not eat leaves — had no effect.

“Now speakers with the right audio files are more often being used to warn crops to act when insects are detected but not yet widespread,” says Dr. Cocroft. “Unlike chemical pesticides, sound waves leave no dangerous chemicals.”

1. What can we learn about plants from the first paragraph?

A．They may enjoy Western music.	B．They can’t stand Buddhist music.
C．They can react to different sounds.	D．They can make different sounds.

2. What’s the basis for Appel and Cocroft’s research?

A．Plants can make a cry for help.	B．Plants evolve alongside insects.
C．Plants are sensitive to the sounds.	D．Plants have been studied for years.

3. What can we infer about plants from Paragraph 3?

A．They can recongnize harmful vibrations.	B．They look like laboratory mice.
C．They can threaten the caterpillars.	D．They can release poisonous chemicals.

4. What does the last paragraph mainly talk about?

A．Disadvantages of chemical pesticides.	B．Application of the experimental results.
C．Interaction between plants and insects.	D．Warning system of widespread insects.

【推荐2】Earthquakes are common natural disaster. No matter where you are, knowing how to protect yourself and your family during an earthquake is necessary.

Some expert propose that when you feel the ground is shaking, drop down, take cover under a desk and hold on. Most earthquake injuries are the result of being hit by something falling on you. You should stay indoors until the shaking stops. If you are outdoors, don’t stay near building, trees or power lines. Many people think that in case of an earthquake, they should “get under something” like a doorway or desk, in order to avoid being hurt by falling objects.

Rescue experts now say this is the wrong thing to do. For example, in the 1985 Mexico City earthquakes, they found hundreds of children in schools, crushed by their desks. However, they could have survived by lying in the aisle (通道，走道) next to their desks.

So find a nice piece of furniture, a chair, a sofa, and lie down, or curl up next to it. A falling roof may compact the furniture, but will still leave a space for you to survive next to it. This also holds true if you are in a hotel room, especially at night. Get of the bed, and lie down next to it.

In San Francisco’s 1989 earthquake, the upper freeway fell on the lower one. People who drove along were crushed in their cars. But they had time to get out and lie down next to their cars. Yes, their cars were cashed bur there was space from top to bottom next to the vehicles for people to survive and await a rescue.

Doorways and stairways are very unsafe Slay away from those.

What can we do to keep ourselves safe? Saying calm is the first and most important rule when facing accidents.

1. What should you do first when accidents happen according to this passage?

A．Get under buildings	B．Stay near trees.
C．Keep calm	D．Drop down

2. What can we learn from the text?

A．“Get under something” can avoid being hurt

B．Right earthquake survival tips can save life.

C．Earthquakes cause great damage.

D．Don’t drive on the upper freeway during an earthquake

3. Which of the following is the closest meaning of the underlined word “crushed” in Paragraph 3?

A．hidden	B．protected
C．killed	D．supported

4. How can we probably get a narrow escape from an earthquake?

A．Lie down next to a strong piece of furniture or a car

B．Lie down under a table or desk

C．Run out of the house and stay under a big tree.

D．Shout out loudly and ask for help