1 . A Bridge Linking Art and the Audience
According to a 2018 report, people aged between 16 and 24 make up about 15 percent of the population but only 10 percent of museum-goers. Similarly, people aged over 35 go half as much as you would expect from their population size. We have reached the point of recognising the disconnection between art and the audience but haven’t yet determined how to bridge the gap. Two answers to tackling this challenge lie in telling a greater diversity of art histories and communicating these stories in more accessible ways.
In 2018, a radio program called Art Matters was started with the aim of discussing art from a pop-culture viewpoint with topics that would engage younger and more diverse audience. It offers an accessible pathway to art history with conversations on different topics. Art history is about storytelling; art content shines when there is an effort to bring audience along for the discussion.
More traditional institutions are paying attention. Recently the Getty Museum issued a social-media challenge for people to recreate paintings using items they had at home. Users displayed incredible creativity, and the museum was flooded with submissions. This reaction proves that there is a potential desire for the audience to engage with art topics if the format is appealing. Since many people feel intimidated and think that there’s a base level of understanding required to join the conversation, the Getty initiative serves as a reminder that there are many pathways to engaging with it.
Another result of the Getty challenge was the exposure given to a diversity of artworks. The famous opera singer Peter Brathwaite, for example, made scores of attractive recreations highlighting centuries of black paintings. His efforts opposed the idea that there were not many historical paintings of black figures. It is extremely important that we do a better job of showing the complex and diverse stories that are represented in art.
Social media have offered a platform for people who have not traditionally had a seat at the table. Anyone can recognise a gap in the field and address it. Accounts have gathered tens of thousands of followers. They are the proof that there is hunger to hear these art histories, and these themes work brilliantly for museum programming.
But there is only so much that can be done without the museums and galleries changing meaningfully from within. We need to see a better balance of these stories represented in permanent collections. We also need a much wider diversity of people and interests represented on board. Ensuring that art-and writing and talking about art-is able to continue on the rising generation of storytellers, inside and outside of institutions, getting the funding and support they need to paint a brighter picture for the part.
1. What challenge is the author trying to tackle?| A．People doubt a great diversity of artworks. |
| B．Fewer and fewer young people go to museums. |
| C．Art appears too distant from common audience. |
| D．Adult audience has a different understanding of art. |
| A．Tired. | B．Worried. | C．Annoyed. | D．Surprised. |
| A．make the art history stories accessible in a traditional way. |
| B．change meaningfully for activities like the Getty challenge. |
| C．limit the number of storytellers both in and out of institutions. |
| D．improve the permanent collections by adding famous artworks. |
| A．lacks the channels to understand and talk about art history. |
| B．prefers to view artworks and hear art stories on social media. |
| C．feels satisfied with people and interests represented on board. |
| D．refuses to engage with diverse art topics and art history stories. |
2 . My Biggest Challenge
As a writer on an adventure sports magazine, I’d always fought shy of doing the adventurous stuff myself, preferring instead to observe the experts from a safe distance and relay their experiences to readers in the form of written language. Thus, when I was challenged to take part in a mountain climb in aid of raising money for charity — and to write about it afterwards — I was unwilling, to say the least.
I was lucky enough to have a brilliant climbing coach called Keith, who put me through my paces after my daily work. He gave me knowledge about everything from the importance of building muscle groups to how to avoid tiredness through nutrition. It quickly became apparent that the mechanics of climbing were more complex than I had imagined. There was the equipment and techniques I’d never even heard of, all of which would come in handy on the snow-capped peak I’d be climbing.
Aware of the challenge, Keith made a detailed action plan and I forced myself to stick to it, doing a daily workout at the gym and going on hikes with a heavy pack. I perfected my technique on the climbing wall and even went to climb the mountains to get vital experience. My self-belief increased alongside my muscle power and I became confident about finishing the climb.
All too soon I was on a plane to my destination. On that day, when I looked up at the mountain, I thought of abandoning it. But then I remembered all the hard work I’d done and how disappointed Keith would be if I gave up at the last minute-not to mention letting down the charity and the sense of failure I’d experience myself. With a deep breath I gathered my equipment and headed out into the sunshine to meet the rest of the group.
And as I sit here now, tapping away on my laptop, I’m amazed at the details in which I can recall every second of the climb: the burning muscles, the tiredness, the minor problems along the way. Could I have been better prepared? Possibly. Would I be back for another go? Thankfully not. The feeling of being excited when I stood on top of the world is a never-to-be-repeated experience but one I will enjoy forever nevertheless.
1. At the beginning of the activity, the author revealed his ______.| A．disappointment in the coming adventure. |
| B．expectation of writing about his experience. |
| C．lack of enthusiasm for the challenge he’d been offered. |
| D．curiosity about taking part in the mountain climb for charity. |
| A．The knowledge about climbing was really confusing. |
| B．The equipment was the key factor to reach the peak. |
| C．Climbing was much more complicated than expected. |
| D．Hard training was far more important than making plans. |
| A．He was relieved that he wouldn’t have to do it again. |
| B．He was well satisfied that he had done his best for it. |
| C．He was surprised that he had managed to complete it. |
| D．He was regretful that it wasn’t as smooth as imagined. |
3 . An 8-year-old boy I know is small for his age, shorter and slighter than his friends, even smaller than his 5-year-old sister. Concerned about the increasing use and possible risks of growth hormone(生长激素), I asked his mother if she’d considered treating him with it. She replied, “Not really. He’s built like his father, who was short and slight as a boy and didn’t shoot up until college.”
His father, at 41, is now 6 feet tall, though still very slender. He recalls being a reasonably athletic child but without the physical power of his friends, making up for what he lacked in mass with speed and agility. “I enjoyed competitive sports and worked on skills others didn’t have,” he told me, and said he encourages his son to recognize and capitalize on the skills he has.
If only every parent with a short but healthy child approached the matter as sensibly. Experts estimate that 60% to 80% of children who are short for their age do not have a growth hormone deficiency(缺乏) or other medical condition that limits growth. But knowing there’s a therapy available to increase height, some parents seek a medical solution for a perceived problem, even when there is no medical abnormality. They should also know, however, that new research has linked growth hormone treatment to serious unfavorable health effects years later.
Dr. Adda Grimberg, a doctor at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, recalled that “Twenty years ago, families were focused on health. They came in with a child who was not growing right and wanted to know if there was an underlying disease. Now, more and more, they’re focused on height. They want growth hormone, looking for a specific height. But this is not like online shopping; you can’t just place an order and make a child the height you want.”
In 2003, the Food and Drug Administration approved use of recombinant human growth hormone for the condition known as “idiopathic short stature”, or short build of unknown cause, which is not a disease. But it has caused a growing number of parents to consider using the hormone to boost the height of their children.
The resulting rush to therapy reflects concerns about a widespread societal bias(偏见) against shortness, rather than a true medical need. Experts have noted that the practice backs up the belief that short stature is unacceptable, leading to an increasing demand for therapy. It is far better, Dr. Grimberg suggested, to help a short child develop coping skills than to buy inches through medicine.
1. As for the parents’ attitude to their 8-year-old boy’s shortness, the author is ________.| A．critical | B．tolerant | C．supportive | D．worried |
| A．They are eager to get the expected result. |
| B．They spare no effort to sort out the cause. |
| C．They feel disturbed by their children’s health. |
| D．They help develop their children’s coping skills. |
| A．It might be officially recommended. |
| B．It may fuel height discrimination. |
| C．It is pushed by a medical need. |
| D．It is targeted at certain diseases. |
| A．Shower the Short with Growth Hormones |
| B．Find Replacement for Growth Hormones |
| C．Assess the Effects of Growth Hormones |
| D．Weigh the Use of Growth Hormones |
4 . For people who struggle to read text, technology can be a lifeline. Actually, assistive technology (AT) tools for reading can also be useful to students who just need some extra assistance to aid reading fluency or comprehension. These tools are inexpensive and easy to find. They open up the wonderful world of reading, making text accessible to students of all abilities. But with so many tools out there, it’s not always easy to know which ones to use.
To help, here’s a guide to some best ones.
Graphic organizers
They are visual representations, like diagrams and mind maps, of ideas and concepts. You can use graphic organizers to help with comprehension while reading. Graphic organizers can be digital or pen and paper.
Annotation aids
They let you take notes and write comments while reading. This can make it easier to keep information. Annotation aids can be part of software or apps, or they can be traditional pens, markers, and sticky notes.
Display control
It allows you to control how text is displayed. When reading on a screen, you can change the font(字体), font size, and spacing of text. You can also cover parts of the screen to lessen distractions(干扰) while reading.
Text-to-speech (TTS)
It lets you see text and hear it read aloud at the same time. To use this tool, you click on words, and you’ll hear the words read by computer-generated voices. You can even read after it and record your own voice. TTS can also be used to change any digital text files into audio files.
Optical character recognition (OCR)
It can read aloud text from images and pictures. You can use OCR by taking photos of worksheets, paper documents, and even objects like street signs. Like TTS, OCR uses computer-generated voices.
Keep in mind that using AT reading tools won’t prevent people from learning to read. For example, experts say audiobooks can actually help kids become better readers.
1. If a reader prefers taking his feelings down while reading, he’d better use ________.| A．graphic organizers | B．annotation aids |
| C．display control | D．text-to-speech |
| A．Changing file types. | B．Editing photos of documents. |
| C．Reading words in pictures. | D．Using computer-generated voices. |
| A．accessible and beneficial | B．expensive but worthwhile |
| C．helpful and energy-efficient | D．innovative but complicated |
5 . Technological change is everywhere and affects every aspect of life, mostly for the better. However, social changes brought about by new technology are often mistaken for a change in attitudes.
An example at hand is the involvement of parents in the lives of their children who are attending college. Surveys on this topic suggests that parents today continue to be “very” or “somewhat” overly-protective even after their children move into college dormitories. The same surveys also indicate that the rate of parental involvement is greater today than it was a generation ago. This is usually interpreted as a sign that today’s parents are trying to manage their children’s lives past the point where this behavior is appropriate.
However, greater parental involvement does not necessarily indicate that parents are failing to let go of their “adult” children.
In the context (背景) of this discussion, it seems valuable to first find out the cause of change in the case of parents’ involvement with their grown children. If parents of earlier generations had wanted to be in touch with their college-age children frequently, would this have been possible? Probably not. On the other hand, does the possibility of frequent communication today mean that the urge to do so wasn’t present a generation ago? Many studies show that older parents—today’s grandparents—would have called their children more often if the means and cost of doing so had not been a barrier.
Furthermore, studies show that finances are the most frequent subject of communication between parents and their college children. The fact that college students are financially dependent on their parents is nothing new; nor are requests for more money to be sent from home. This phenomenon is neither good nor bad; it is a fact of college life, today and in the past.
Thanks to the advanced technology, we live in an age of bettered communication. This has many implications well beyond the role that parents seem to play in the lives of their children who have left for college. But it is useful to bear in mind that all such changes come from the technology and not some imagined desire by parents to keep their children under their wings.
1. The surveys inform us of ________.| A．the development of technology |
| B．the changes of adult children’s behavior |
| C．the parents’ over-protection of their college children |
| D．the means and expenses of students’ communication |
| A．parents today are more protective than those in the past |
| B．the disadvantages of new technology outweigh its advantages |
| C．technology explains greater involvement with their children |
| D．parents’ changed attitudes lead to college children’s delayed independence |
| A．Technology or Attitude? |
| B．Dependence or Independence? |
| C．Family Influences or Social Changes? |
| D．College Management or Communication Advancement? |
6 . A character in one of Shakespeare's plays once said, "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." Any of these could apply to the modern day sportsmen. Many still argue about the nature of talent. Some claim that people are born to be sportsmen, while others say it is only through devotion and hard work that they achieve their abilities. Arguably though, it is not until their talents are acknowledged by the public that they truly have greatness fallen upon them.
With this acknowledgement of their "greatness" come all the trappings of modern day celebrity：money, power, influence and responsibility. For better or for worse, like it or hate it, modern sportsmen are the role models of children everywhere. These children will grow up admiring their heroes, devoting their lives to copying their every move, and wanting above all to be like them. Due to this fascination，particularly with the massive influence of the media, it is more important than ever for these sportsmen to acknowledge their responsibility.
In the past few months alone, there have been many examples of questionable behaviors from sports icons. Sport stars of the present day are often mirroring the very worst aspects of society, a fact that the self-righteous(自以为是的) anger of the modern press has been quick to point out. It would be wrong for us to expect sportsmen to be saints. It would also be wrong for us to think that their behavior is markedly different from the sportsmen they grew up watching, but with the all-seeing eye of modern media it is a different world，and different standards must be expected.
Of course there is no obligation for sportsmen to be good role models. There are no prison sentences, no fines, no community service—unless their behaviors are illegal. Unless they break the law, it is entirely up to them as to whether or not they think their behavior is appropriate. Furthermore, measuring the true influence their decisions have on their followers is absolutely impossible. Some will rise against their idols, seeing them in a new light and condemning their actions. Others may copy their heroes' actions, using them as a shield when accused of the same crimes.
It is undeniable that the actions of sportsmen will influence the lives of those who worship them. Modern day sportsmen are almost ideals of today's world, and their actions are watched carefully by millions over the world. Some may complain against it, denying their influence on these children's lives. Others may be aware of it but not respect it, while many may both be aware of it and respect it. In a word, you do not choose whether you are a role model. All you can do is to decide how to act when greatness is thrust upon you.
1. In Paragraph 1, the author tries to emphasize________.| A．sportsmen become great when their gifts are recognized by people |
| B．sportsmen achieve greatness through their devotion and efforts |
| C．different ways for sportsmen to achieve success and greatness |
| D．the core characteristic to become great sportsmen nowadays |
| A．role models usually have positive influence on their fans |
| B．sportsmen have the right to behave freely within the law |
| C．all the fans will follow their heroes' actions |
| D．no obligation is given to sportsmen |
| A．palled off | B．removed from | C．related to | D．forced on |
| A．To advise the media to choose proper events to report. |
| B．To inform the public that sportsmen are no role models. |
| C．To remind the sportsmen of their social responsibilities. |
| D．To argue that sportsmen should not be expected as herons. |
7 . Improve Cloud Security
Sensitive customer data has constantly been found exposed on cloud servers without password protection. To ease the problem, database software makers have been trying to make security easier for cloud database managers. At the Enigma Conference in San Francisco, Kenn White, a security manager at database software maker MongoDB, will describe a new technique, called field level encryption, to make data safer on the cloud.
Field level encryption works by scrambling data before it’s sent to a cloud database and rearranging it in order when the data is needed for use. The promise of the product is to protect the contents of a cloud database, even if bad guys access it.
MongoDB’s new feature comes as more and more companies move user data to cloud servers, rather than run their own costly data centers. It was predicted that cloud computing would be a $214 billion industry by the end of 2019. That would be up more than 17% from 2018, when it was $182 billion.
Companies have rushed to the cloud without understanding all of the possible security consequences. Many companies have left countless databases exposed, revealing personal data. A database containing details about who lives in 80 million US households was left unprotected in 2019, just like the data on Facebook users.
Database managers want to store their data in an unreadable form, but they also want to be able to find specific pieces of information in the database with a simple search term. For example, someone might want to look up health care patients by their Social Security numbers, even if those numbers are stored as random characters. To make this possible, field level encryption lets database managers encrypt a search term on their machine and send it to the database as a query. The database matches the encrypted version of the search term with the record it’s storing and then sends it back to you.
This approach only works with specific kinds of data. For example, field level encryption isn’t useful for long text entries, like notes in a patient’s medical chart, because you can’t search for individual words.
Still, for data like account numbers, passwords and government ID numbers, field level encryption protects data and maintains a usable database.
Most importantly, White said, it’s simple to set up. Database managers turn it on with a one-time configuration change when they set up the database. “That’s really powerful,” he said in an interview.
1. The underlined word “scrambling” in paragraph 2 probably means________.| A．mixing | B．collecting | C．hiding | D．storing |
| A．Secure the safety of Internet pages. | B．Protect files with a unique style of storage. |
| C．Stop bad guys from accessing the database. | D．Enable companies to store files on the cloud. |
| A．Companies should move user data to cloud servers. |
| B．Cloud computing achieved a 17% increase in 2019. |
| C．Companies may be unaware of the risks of the cloud. |
| D．No companies were willing to run their own data centers. |
| A．present some facts | B．offer security advice |
| C．introduce a technique | D．recommend a product |
8 . According to statistics published by the BPI (Buying Power Index) a couple of months ago, digital streaming (流媒体) now accounts for 80 percent of the music consumption in the UK. Despite the incredible growth of online streaming platforms like iTunes, Apple Music and Tidal over the past 15 years, a more traditional medium has also seen a return of interest and sales in the music industry. In 2020, almost one in five of all albums purchased in the UK is vinyl (黑胶唱片), and it has once again become the most popular physical musical medium.
With digital streaming so easy and convenient, why are so many people drawn to traditional records? Some experts claim that vinyl is a physical medium for experiencing music, something tangible (有形的) to hold and own. For most people, having something tangible and interacting with it gives depth to the experience of music. Listening to an album and touching it the way the artist intended can make them feel more connected to the music and the artist. Records are physical products that can be not only displayed but also gifted, shared, traded and passed down through generations.
Sound quality is another hot topic. A lot of music lovers feel that the analogue sound (模拟声音) vinyl offers is superior to modern digital audio, particularly with regards to the compressed formats streaming platforms use. There’s a common belief that old-school analogue audio has a warmer, fuller sound than digitised music. For vinyl followers, the very defect traditional recorders often have, such as the familiar crackle (劈啪作响) when the record starts, bring the music to life in a different way.
There’s a ritualistic aspect to vinyl that a lot of people are drawn to, too. The act of putting a record on—carefully removing the record from the sleeve, placing it on the record player and gently dropping the needle on the right groove (凹槽)—is a more assiduous (一丝不苟的), mindful way of engaging with music. When you’re listening to vinyl, you can’t tap a button and go about your day while the streaming service provides hours of music. You need to stay close to the record player to move the needle and flip the record over.
It’s clear that the vinyl interest is well underway, and vinyl records are truly making a comeback. In an increasingly digital society, there’s something to be said for analogue experiences. Perhaps one of the great things about being alive in the 21st century is our ability to have the best of both worlds—the timeless appeal of physical records alongside the easy access to vast music libraries that streaming offers.
1. What are the statistics published by the BPI used to show?| A．An increase in music consumption. |
| B．The recovery of music industry. |
| C．A comeback of a physical medium. |
| D．The acceptance of online streaming. |
| A．It attracts people by its realistic feel. |
| B．It offers simple access to different music. |
| C．It shares a new way to enjoy music. |
| D．It provides people with perfect sound effect. |
| A．Overlooked by society. |
| B．Updated very frequently. |
| C．Performed as part of a ceremony. |
| D．Kept for a long time without changing. |
| A．Traditional records will get underway. |
| B．The analogue experiences may matter more. |
| C．Vinyl sales will boom with technological advance. |
| D．There should be a good mix of old and new. |
9 . Every day, it seems that some new algorithm (算法) enables computers to diagnose a disease with unprecedented accuracy, renewing predictions that computer's will soon replace doctors. What if computers could replace patients as well? If virtual humans could have replaced real people in some stages of a coronavirus vaccine trial, it could have sped development of a preventive tool and slowed down the pandemic. Similarly, potential vaccines that weren't likely to work could have been identified early, reducing trial costs and avoiding testing poor vaccine candidates on living volunteers. These are some of the benefits of “in silico medicine”, or the testing of drugs and treatments on virtual organs or body systems to predict how a real person will respond to the therapies.
The modeling begins by feeding anatomical data drawn from noninvasive (非侵入式) high- resolution imaging of an individual's actual organ into a complex mathematical model of the mechanisms that govern that organ's function. Algorithms running on powerful computers resolve the resulting equations and unknowns, generating a virtual organ that looks and behaves like the real thing.
In silico clinical trials are already underway to an extent. Heart Flow Analysis, for instance, enables clinicians to identify CAD (冠心病) based on CT images of a patient's heart. The Heart Flow system uses these images to construct a fluid dynamic model of the blood running through the coronary blood vessels, thereby identifying abnormal conditions and their severity. Without this technology, doctors would need to perform an invasive operation to decide whether and how to intervene. Experimenting on digital models of individual patients can also help personalize therapy for any number of conditions and is already used in diabetes care.
The philosophy behind in silico medicine is not new. The ability to create and simulate the performance of an object under hundreds of operating conditions has been a cornerstone of engineering for decades, such as for designing electronic circuits, airplanes and buildings. Various obstacles remain to its widespread implementation in medical research and development.
The predictive power and reliability of this technology must be confirmed, and that will require several advances. Those include the generation of high quality medical databases from a large, ethnically diverse patient base that has both women and men; improvement of mathematical models to account for the many interacting processes in the body; and further modification of Al methods that were developed mainly for computer-based speech and image recognition and need to be extended to provide biological insights.
In recent years American and European regulators have approved some commercial uses of computer-based diagnostics, but meeting regulatory demands requires considerable time and money. Creating demand for these computer-based diagnostic tools is challenging as well. In silico medicine must be able to deliver cost-effective value for patients, clinicians and health care organizations to accelerate their adoption of the technology.
1. According to the text, “in silico medicine” might help ________.| A．discover the cause of an illness |
| B．quicken the creation of new medicine |
| C．recognize the symptoms of a disease earlier |
| D．avoid including unhealthy volunteers in trials |
| A．works effectively in CAD treatment |
| B．offers personalized therapies to patients |
| C．reduces the chances of invasive operations |
| D．builds models after identifying abnormal conditions |
| A．money and time from the regulators |
| B．replacement of old mathematical models |
| C．more proof of its effectiveness and dependability |
| D．progress in speech and image recognition technology |
| A．Looking to Al to End Experimental Study |
| B．In Silico Medicine Saved Millions of Lives |
| C．Exploring the Future of Algorithm in Medicine |
| D．Virtual Patients Could Revolutionize Medicine |
10 . For today’s increasingly interconnected food supply chains, “efficient” is what it’s supposed to be: Each country specializes in what it’s best, at and puts it on the global market. Producers and processors within countries specialize, too, as a way to minimize costs. As a result, at least in theory, prices stay low, the world gets fed and everyone wins.
However, the coronavirus crisis demonstrates what is wrong with this approach. When barriers prevent food from reaching its markets, or demand suddenly drops — both of which are happening now — the system falls apart.
Specialization of the food system makes it hard to shift into different markets when disruptions arise. Belgium, a leading exporter of potatoes, lost sales not only to local restaurants but also to other countries because of lockdowns（封锁）. At least the Belgians can try to eat the potatoes at home. That strategy won't work for every crop: Ghana, the world’s top cocoa exporter, lost markets when people stalled focusing on buying essential items instead of chocolate.
The loss in export income in Africa more generally could have a huge impact if the pandemic continues, as many countries there rely heavily on imported wheat and rice. The prices of these grains have soared not only because of rising demand for these grains during the crisis, but also because a few countries — including Russia and Vietnam — imposed export restrictions out of fear that sending food abroad would lead to higher prices at home.
Concentrated markets dominated by just a handful of companies heighten food system fragility. For example, just three meatpacking plants process over 95 percent of Canada’s beef and nearly all of its beef exports. Now, those meat processing plants have had to temporarily shut down because of outbreaks of COVID-19 among workers.
Seeing the spoiled products across the world should force all of us to rethink our “efficient” food supplies. We need to rejuvenate（使恢复活力）local and regional food systems to reduce the vulnerabilities that come with being too reliant on imported and corporate-dominated foods. This doesn’t mean cutting off all trade or abolishing all packaged foods, but it does mean building diversity, and increasing opportunities for small and medium-scale enterprises to flourish in shorter, more sustainable food supply chains that are closer to home.
One place to start is for governments to shift their support from the large-scale, specialized and export-oriented food system to building infrastructure for more diverse local food systems. Around the world, small-scale and organic producers have been overwhelmed with the surge in interest from customers who want to buy directly from farmers during the crisis. But these producers often lack the infrastructure to meet that demand. As governments around the world pass stimulus packages to address the crisis, building more diverse and localized food systems should be an obvious inclusion.
1. In theory, specialization of the food system ________.| A．adapts to changes efficiently | B．balances supply and demand |
| C．focuses on essential items | D．reduces costs of production |
| A．weakness | B．diversity |
| C．unfairness | D．complexity |
| A．A few countries restrict exports to stabilize local food prices. |
| B．Grain prices rise due to Africa’s dependence on importation. |
| C．Ghana might be less affected by lockdowns than Belgium was. |
| D．Packaged-food consumption should be encouraged to address the crisis. |
| A．expose food security issues during the crisis |
| B．advocate establishing diverse local food systems |
| C．discuss the development of a sustainable economy |
| D．prove the importance of sound government policies |
