“Hello Mother, Dad, and Blanche,” a quiet voice, has clearly been played many times over. “How’s everything at home? I’m recording this from Dallas…” The disc is small, seven inches across, dated October 1954. The old label shows that the speaker’s name is “Gene”. Gene suggests in his minute-long message that he is traveling and tells his family not to worry about him.
This forgotten sound is one of the world’s early “voice mails”. During the first half of the 20th century, these “voice mails” and other messages were recorded largely, pressed onto metal discs and vinyl records (黑胶唱片) and mailed in places all over the world. When Thomas Edison invented the phonograph (留声机) in 1877, he expected a device that could reproduce music and even store languages.
The gramophone, a later form of the phonograph developed by Emile Berliner in 1887, provided a first possibility for recorded sound being used for long distance communication. The practice of sending “voice mails” really got going across the world in the 1930s and 1940s. Back then, families could listen to the messages on repeat — gathering together around the record player whenever one arrived. They could play it proudly again anytime there were guests, but with each play, the needle would scrape away at the grooves (凹槽) until the message could hardly be heard any longer.
Today at Princeton University, professor Thomas Levin is trying to store these sounds of the past. Linguists (语言学家) are particularly interested in “voice mails” because it provides some of the earliest-ever recorded samples of how regular people spoke — their conversational vocabulary, their pronunciation and accents, their sentence structure and their intonation (语调).
1. Why did Gene record his voice in the disc?| A．To let his family know he was OK. | B．To prepare for his experiment. |
| C．To test an old vinyl record. | D．To keep a memory. |
| A．People couldn’t listen to the music in it. |
| B．It couldn’t keep voice in the records very clear. |
| C．The recorded sound would be damaged by the needle. |
| D．The needle of the gramophone must be changed often. |
| A．To research the earliest-ever recorded voice. |
| B．To prove recorded samples are true. |
| C．To learn from famous historical linguists. |
| D．To reproduce the sound of the past. |
| A．The Early Days of Recorded Sound | B．The Importance of “Voice Mails” |
| C．The Development of Our Language | D．The History of “Voice Mails” |
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【推荐1】How did the sea horse get its name? It’s not hard to guess. The top half of this fish looks like a small horse. But looking at the sea horse’s tail, you might think “sea monkey” is a better name. Then there’s the sea horse’s pouch (口袋). “Sea kangaroo” might also be a good name for this fish.
Sea horse live in warm ocean waters all over the world. They keep safe from other fish by hiding in plants and grasses that grow under the sea. They can also change colors to match their surroundings (环境). A sea horse in one place for hours at a time by winding its tail around a plant. It feeds on live food, such as small shrimp (虾). For a fish that doesn’t move around much, the sea horse eats a lot—in just one day, a sea horse can eat 3,000 shrimp!
A sea horse keeps the same mate for its whole life, and it’s the male (雄性的) sea horse that gives birth to baby sea horses. How does this happen? Baby sea horse start out as eggs, which come from the female’s (雌性的) body. The male carries the eggs in its pouch for about three weeks until they hatch (孵化). Soon after the babies are born, the female gives her mate a new set of eggs.
Sadly, the number of sea horses is becoming smaller. Why is this happening? Some places where sea horses once lived have been filled in to make new land. Also, many sea horses are caught and sold as aquarium (水族馆) fish. This really is not a good idea because most sea horses don’t live long in aquarium. The best place for a sea horse is the ocean.
1. The sea horse got its name because of its_______.| A．pouch | B．head |
| C．skin | D．tail |
| A．It rolls up. | B．It runs away quickly. |
| C．It remains still. | D．It hides in plants and grasses. |
| A．like to move around | B．feed on small sea animals |
| C．live in cold ocean waters | D．change color with the temperature |
| A．She carries them around. | B．She hides them in sea grasses. |
| C．She puts them in the male’s pouch. | D．She hatches them. |
| A．They grow at a very low speed. |
| B．Their food is becoming less and less. |
| C．They are killed by people for food. |
| D．Their homes are being destroyed. |
【推荐2】Children who spend more time playing adventurously have lower symptoms of anxiety and depression, and were happier, according to a new research.
A study led by the University of Exeter asked parents how often their children engaged in play that was “thrilling and exciting”, where they might experience some fear and uncertainty.
The study comes at a time when today’s children have fewer opportunities for adventurous play out of sight of adults, such as climbing trees, riding bikes or jumping from high surfaces. The study sought to test theories that adventurous play offers learning opportunities that help build resilience in children, thereby helping to prevent mental health problems.
The research team surveyed nearly 2,500 parents of children aged 5 — 11 years. Parents completed questions about their child’s play, their general mental health and their mood. The research was carried out with two groups of parents: a group of 427 parents living in Northern Ireland and a nationally representative group of 1,919 parents living in Great Britain.
Researchers found that children who spend more time playing outside had fewer “internalizing problems” — characterized as anxiety and depression. The study in the Great Britain group also found that the effect was more pronounced in children from lower-income families than those growing up in higher-income households.
Helen Dodd, a professor of Child Psychology at the University of Exeter, who led the study, said, “We now urgently need to invest in and protect natural spaces, well-designed parks and adventure playgrounds, to support the mental health of our children.”
Welcoming the findings, Jacqueline O’Loughlin, Chief Executive of PlayBoard NI, said, “It is clear from the research findings that playing, taking risks and experiencing excitement outdoors make positive contributions to children’s mental health and emotional well-being. The rewards of allowing children to self-regulate and manage challenge in their play are widespread and far-reaching. Adventurous play helps children to build the resilience needed to cope with and manage stress in challenging circumstances.”
1. What may be discovered in the study about adventurous play?| A．It can improve children’s learning ability. | B．It can influence children’s mental health. |
| C．It may be fascinated by some children. | D．It may not be accepted by some parents. |
| A．By listing reasons. | B．By conducting experiments. |
| C．By making questionnaires. | D．By analyzing related studies. |
| A．Children need to manage stess properly. |
| B．Public avenues should be invested in urgently. |
| C．Adventurous play benefits children significantly. |
| D．Children should be rewarded for their self-regulation. |
| A．More challenges, less anxieties | B．Be adventurous, you can make it |
| C．Be self-regulated, you can’t get sick | D．The more outdoor plays, the happier |
【推荐3】It’s an age-old question: How can we extend our lives and make the years we have as disease and pain-free as possible? If you look on social media, any number of so-called experts are providing quick-fix tips for extending longevity. One suggestion, according to experts is that if you want to extend your life, you need to start today.
LeBrasseur is the co-director of the Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research. He says that without question the research shows that exercise is the most effective and healthy means to extend healthy aging. The goal, he says, is to decrease disease rate until the very end of life and exercise is a great tool for this. According to LeBrasseur, exercise seems particularly effective at prevent aging. Extensive evidence has shown that exercise like running, swimming, biking and lifting weights extends heart and cognitive health.
But while structured exercise is important, daily nonstructural movement is also key to living a long and healthy life. Online shopping, screen time and virtual everything have engineered movement right out of our day, which works against healthy aging, says LeBrasseur. From grocery shopping to walking to the mailbox to parking further away from your destination, expanding daily movement is best if you want to prosper in later years. “Physical inactivity is one of the biggest challenges to healthy aging,” he says.
Beyond movement, LeBrasseur says those with positive attitude in their life also tend to be happier and healthier. This is hard to quantify compared to exercise and we don’t know the working system, but it could be related to the fact that positivity contributed to health.
The third leg to our healthy aging stool is, not surprisingly, diet. Three times a day, every day, your diet is your daily medicine if you choose the right foods. And according to an abundance of evidence, the Mediterranean diet — a way of eating inspired by those living near the Mediterranean Sea — is the healthiest way to live a long life.
In the end, longevity is about the long game. Exercise, movement, a positive outlook and a Mediterranean diet are simple enough, but it takes efforts to make them happen. Still, being able to move, love, eat and enjoy yourself later in life, now that’s a worthwhile devotion.
1. What is LeBrasseur’s opinion on exercise?| A．It is the only way to prevent aging. | B．It contributes significantly to a long life. |
| C．It can surely cure all kinds of heart diseases. | D．It is the biggest challenge to healthy aging. |
| A．Work out. | B．Pick up. | C．Take in. | D．Relate to. |
| A．Entertainment. | B．Health. | C．Education. | D．Travel. |
【推荐1】April will bring a new product — the Apple Watch — into the market. Last week, the watch was firstly introduced by Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. The price of the watch will differ from $349 to $1,099, depending on its size, strap and whether it is a sports or regular style.
Apple engineers and designers have put in a lot of thought and hard work into creating this “small screen” on your wrist. The “sensor” on the screen not only detects your finger, but knows the difference between when you are tapping, and when you are pressing harder.
The watch also has “haptic feedback”. You can send personal messages to your friend - such as drawing a star or a special sign with your fingers, or tapping the watch, say 3 times, and your friend will receive those taps on their wrist.
Besides telling the time, the watch will use Bluetooth to connect with your iPhone and show calls or text messages that come in.
According to Tim Cook, the watch may open up a whole new area of applications that we had never thought of. Some car factories like BMW have developed an app that allows its car owners to open their cars with the watch. A Hotels’ app may allow you to open the door to your hotel room without worrying about losing the smart-card. And finally, even airlines are jumping in - passengers may be able to simply wave their wrist to check into their flight.
The biggest use of the watch, however, is as your personal fitness coach. The watch can measure your pulse (heartbeat) using a sensor at the bottom of the watch. It also has the same “accelerometer” as your iPhone, so it knows when you are moving, and also how much you are walking or running. It will remind you if you have been sitting for too long without much activity.
Many stores are planning to stop selling FitBit devices(设备) to welcome the Apple Watch. Will Apple Watch really replace these devices and make fitness much more fun?
1. What product will Apple the company bring into the market?| A．The apple. | B．The new mobile phone. |
| C．The apple watch. | D．The computer. |
| A．is designed by Tim Cook | B．was brought into the market last year |
| C．sells at different prices for different colors | D．will come into the market soon |
| A．develop your own personal app |
| B．connect your iphone with your ipad |
| C．receive personal messages from your friends’ iphone |
| D．send personal messages to your friends’ apple watches |
| A．all of the devices are sold out | B．they cannot make fitness fun |
| C．they want to welcome the Apple Watch | D．Apple Watch can replace FitBit devices completely |
【推荐2】Every morning my father buys a newspaper on his way to work. Every evening my mother looks through magazines at home. And every night, I look at the posters with photos of David Beckham and Yao Ming on my bedroom wall before I go to sleep. Can we imagine life without paper or print?
Paper was first created about 2,000 years ago, and has been made from silk, cotton, bamboo, and, since the 19th century, from wood. People learned to write words on paper to make a book. But in those days, books could only be produced one at a time by hand. As a result, they were expensive and rare. And because there weren’t many books, few people learned to read.
Then printing was invented in China. When printing was developed greatly at the beginning of the 11th century, books could be produced more quickly and cheaply. As a result, more people learned to read. After that, knowledge and ideas spread quickly.
Today information can be received online, downloaded from the Internet rather than found in books, and information can be kept on CD-ROMs or machines such as MP3 players.
Computers are already used in classrooms, and newspapers and magazines can already be read online. So will books be replaced by computers one day? No, I don’t think the Yao Ming poster on my bedroom wall will ever be replaced by a computer two metres high!
1. What does the writer do before he goes to sleep’?| A．He reads books. | B．He reads newspapers |
| C．He looks at the posters on the wall. | D．He looks through magazines |
| A．People didn’t want to buy books. | B．Printing was invented in China. |
| C．The Internet was introduced to people soon | D．Knowledge and ideas spread quickly. |
| A．Books won’t be replaced by computers. |
| B．People won’t need books any more |
| C．People prefer to find information in books. |
| D．Computers have already replaced books. |
【推荐3】Stephen Wamukato, a nine year-old from Mukwa village in western Kenya, is making headlines worldwide for his smarthand washing machine. The young boy came up with the idea after watching village residents, who do not have easy access to running water, struggling to find an effective way to wash their hands to avoid spreading and getting COVID-19.
Using the few resources available for him to use — wooden pieces, nails, and a bucket — Stephen designed and built a simple but effective cleansing station. The clever creation consists of two pedals (踏板) — one to release soap and the other to release water — enabling villagers to wash their hands without physical contact, therefore reducing the likelihood of getting the awful infectious disease.
"I had bought some pieces of wood to make a window, but when I came back home after work one day, I found that Stephen had made the machine," his father, James, told the BBC. "The concept was his, and I helped tighten the machine. I'm very proud. Janies credits Stephen's building heroism to the village school's integrated (综合的) courses that teaches children to put together and construct items from a very young age.
The invention, which drew Widespread attention after James posted a photo on Facebook, has made Stephen an instant celebrity (名人) in Kenya In early June 2020, the country's leader. President Uhuru Kenyatta, presented the nine-year-old with the Uzalendo Award. The newly-created presidential honor is designed to acknowledge civilians who are making significant contributions towards the nation's fight against COVID-19.
Stephen has also been promised a full scholarship to a school that can match his creative talent, by Bungoma County Governor. Though thrilled at the unexpected fame and success, Stephen is not resting on his honors. The young boy has already built another hand washing machine and plans on adding several more, so that the village which has no reported cases of the infectious disease, can remain COVID-19 free!
1. On what basis did Stephen- design the cleansing station?| A．How he could fully use natural resources. |
| B．How villagers found his family. |
| C．How villagers could clean hands contact-free. |
| D．low his father inspired him. |
| A．the newly-set presidential honor in Kenya. |
| B．the photo of the invention uploaded online. |
| C．his solid and harmonious family background. |
| D．Stephen's hands-on learning from his village school. |
| A．A Magical Way to Stop the Spread of COVID-19. |
| B．A Nine-year-old Boy Receives the Uzalendo Award. |
| C．The Dream of Stephen Wamakuto: Create a New World. |
| D．Kenyan Boy Builds Hands Washing Machine to Fight COVID-19. |
【推荐1】Living with your parents comes with its perks – meals ready, laundry done, pills and hot water at your bedside when you’re feeling unwell. But your parents can still drive you crazy – talking about your habits without a stop and trying to get involved in your relationships.
This partly explains why the idea of “living alone” is spreading rapidly across the world with more young adults preferring to go solo.
According to statistics gathered by the market research firm Euro-monitor International, the number of people living alone globally has almost doubled in the last decade and a half.
This rush to solitude (独居) is not only limited to the US and Europe, where social security is well developed. In fact, over recent years, it has grown most quickly in countries with booming economies, like China for example.
Census (人口普查) data released by the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China in May showed that today over 58 million Chinese people live alone. That’s a number bigger than that of US, UK and France combined”, the Economist reported.
In the past, adulthood in China used to mean getting married and having children. Not following this route was seen as a taboo (禁忌). This is still the mainstream standard, but things are starting to change. Living alone is shifting from being a transitional stage after graduation and before marriage to a long-time state for many.
The marriage age in China is rising, especially in urban areas. In Beijing, the average age of men getting married is 27.8, while that of women is 26.2, according to iFeng News.
Better employment opportunities allow women to have greater equality with men. That might make women more inclined to stay single and free from the burden of starting a new family.
1. What does the underlined word “perks” in para 1 mean?| A．advantages | B．disadvantages | C．preference | D．tradition |
| A．the number of people living alone has almost doubled in China |
| B．people are more likely to live alone in developed countries |
| C．many Chinese think it unacceptable for young people to live alone |
| D．the average age of men getting married is 27.8 while that of women is 26.2 |
| A．they want to be independent of their parents |
| B．the marriage age in China is rising. |
| C．they have the same chance to earn their living as men |
| D．they dislike their parents being involved in their relationships |
| A．China’s youth break free | B．Living with your parents or living alone |
| C．A new life style | D．China’s new youth |
【推荐2】Exercising regularly not only helps you keep slim, but also improves your overall health and well-being. Different exercises produce different results, as they focus on alternate parts of the body. There are four broad exercise categories: endurance, strength, flexibility, and balance. Many people often only focus on one exercise type, but including all four in your workout will produce better results and reduce your risk of injury.
Endurance
Endurance exercises increase your breathing and heart rate. By doing endurance exercises, you are working to keep your heart, lungs, and blood-flow system healthy while improving your total fitness. Over time these activities will make everyday activities seem easier.
Strength
If you want to build up your muscles, then strength exercises, which are also known as “resistance training”, are right for you. Even the slightest increase in strength can make a huge difference in your ability to carry out daily tasks. Developing strong muscles also reduce your risk of weak bones.
Flexibility
Flexibility exercises help stretch your body’s muscles. This allows for more freedom of movement for other exercises and can also improve your range of motion, posture, ability to breathe deeply, and blood flow. Also, it reduces the muscle tension caused by stress.
Balance
Balance exercises help prevent falls and are especially important to older adults, helping them stay independent. Most good balance exercises are ones that keep you constantly moving with your feet on the ground. Heel-to-toe walking and standing on one foot are simple ways to improve balance.
1. How can a person benefit most from their exercise routine?| A．By combining different exercise types together. |
| B．By having enough rest between their workouts. |
| C．By concentrating on one training aspect at a time. |
| D．By increasing the frequency of their training gradually. |
| A．Strength and Balance. | B．Flexibility and Balance. |
| C．Endurance and Strength. | D．Endurance and Flexibility. |
| A．Arms. | B．Legs. | C．Waist. | D．Neck. |
【推荐3】Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, is a lively city that is home to many different types of tourist attractions. In its early stages, the city grew as the agricultural and mining(采矿) industries grew, until it developed into the cultural city that it is today. It is also the third largest city in Australia.
Brisbane is a river city, although close to the coast, with the Brisbane River running through it. It is surrounded by hills and full of bridges. It is also very easy to get to a number of attractions such as the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast from Brisbane.
Brisbane has a number of theatres including the Lyric Theatre, Cremorne Theatre and the Playhouse Theatre which are part of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in South Bank.
The area of South Bank is popular with visitors and locals especially for its relaxed parkland and manmade beach area which is popular with all ages. During the evening this area is very popular for romantic walks and the many shows.
Another place that is very popular with visitors especially young people is the suburb(郊区) of Fortitude Valley. It is home to the amazing Chinatown, great restaurants, popular nightclubs and bars and so on. It's not a suburb for those who like peace and quiet.
Brisbane is a great place to cycle, with wonderful cycle tracks(自行车道) near and along the river. If you get tired along the way, you can always get on a bus or the City Cat (central area transport service). You can take a bus with your bike. But you'd better avoid the time of day when most people are traveling to or from work, because you won't be allowed on with a bike at that time.
Brisbane offers plenty of things to do with activities and tours such as hot air ballooning, rock climbing, and even climbing the Brisbane Story Bridge. For more information about Brisbane tours, please click here.
1. We know from the first two paragraphs that Brisbane is ________.| A．a city far from the sea |
| B．the capital of New South Wales |
| C．the third largest city in Australia |
| D．a city whose economy mainly depends on mining |
| A．The area of South Bank. |
| B．The suburb of Fortitude Valley. |
| C．The district close to the Lyric Theatre |
| D．The place near the Brisbane Story Bridge. |
| A．the zoo | B．the forest |
| C．the park | D．the river |
| A．To attract people to visit Brisbane. |
| B．To tell us some popular sports in Brisbane. |
| C．To inform us the traffic conditions in Brisbane. |
| D．To introduce some natural resources in Brisbane. |
