1 . Queen Bey is now the most-winning female artist, and the most-winning singer, in the 63-year history of the Grammy Awards. She earned 28 trophies including this Sunday's wins for best music video for "Brown Skin Girl" and best rap performance for her "Savage" cooperation with Megan Thee Stallion. She walked into the show with nine nominations, more than anyone else this year.
“As an artist, I believe it's my job, and all of our jobs, to picture the era. It's been such a difficult time,” she said in her acceptance speech “So I wanted to sing high praise for all the beautiful Black queens and kings that continue to inspire me and inspire the whole world. This is so overwhelming.” she continued.
Beyonce's Grammy-grabbing music career has continued more than 20 years. Her new title puts her among the ranks of artists such as classical music conductor Sir Georg Solti, who has won 31 Grammy trophies and producer Quincy Jones, who also has 28 trophies. She behaved better than previous female record-holder bluegrass singer Alison Krauss, who holds 27 awards. While Beyonce doesn't even need two names to be recognized, she has many names and identities taking her to Grammy glory. As a young superstar with girl group Destiny's Child, she scored awards for "Say My Name" and "Survivor." She played the legendary Etta James in the film "Cadillac Records," landing her best traditional R&B performance for "At Last".
She is the activist and historian telling the stories of Black people through her award-winning "Formation" music video and visual album "Lemonade". She, with her husband Mr. Carter, put their love story on display with the album "Everything is Love," and she is the director, producer, star of "Homecoming." The combination of all these things makes her today's Grammy legend.
1. How many trophies did Beyonce win in this year's Grammy Awards?| A．Two. | B．Nine. | C．Twenty-eight. | D．Sixty-three. |
| A．Support for her work. | B．One of her work goals. |
| C．Reasons for her winning. | D．Comments on her music. |
| A．Her influence on others. | B．Her roles in making music. |
| C．The achievements in her career. | D．The comparison with other artists. |
| A．Great and generous. | B．Successful and responsible. |
| C．Energetic and romantic. | D．Humorous and professional. |
2 . In this week's blog, we will explore the traditional festivals in Spain. And with all of these celebrations you can probably see why they love it so much.
Saint John's Eve or Sant Juan
Saint John's Eve or Sant Juan is a midsummer celebration being celebrated at the eve of the Feast day of saint John the Baptist. According to legend, Saint John was born six months before Jesus, so the day of John the Baptist was set to be celebrated six months before Christmas according to old Roman calculation（计算). Nowadays, for most people Sant Juan just marks the start of summer.
San Fermin in Pamplona
The main meaning of this week-long annual celebration in July is to honour the Saint Fermin, the co-patron of Navarre. The festival involves traditions such as running, bullfighting and fireworks. Oh, and did we mention the point that there is loads of wine just thrown at each other in the streets?
Fallas in Valencia
This festival involves statues that have been constructed all year round being placed all around Valencia. That is not all. All of the statues at the end of the festival are just burned right in front of everyone's eyes. It is an annual celebration held in March. During the week of Fallas you will hear a lot of fire crackers exploding and beautiful ladies and girls called falleras being dressed in traditional Spanish dresses which might cost 1,000 € and more.
La Tomatina in Bunol
Have you ever wanted to throw something at someone's face? Well, La Tomatina festival will let you take out all your frustrations! This crazy tradition started more than 70 years ago and is celebrated every last Wednesday of August in Bu nol. In this festival 20,000 people throw tomatoes at each other. For what you might ask? Just for fun!
1. For what do most people celebrate Saint Johns' Eve now?| A．Memorizing Jesus. | B．Promoting religion. |
| C．Marking a season start. | D．Honouring ancient Romans. |
| A．Its time length. | B．Its fireworks. |
| C．Its bullfighting. | D．Its wine-fighting. |
| A．Saint John's Eve. | B．San Fermin in Pamplona. |
| C．Fallas in Valencia. | D．La Tomatina in Bunol. |
3 . Top Music Festivals in 2021
Coachella
Selling out fast every year, the Indio desert becomes a fashionable place where the coolest bands are watched by trendy people and celebrities. Near the top of everyone's bucket list of festivals, Coachella is a constant source of annual expectation and a hotbed for musical discussion.
When &. where: April 9-11 &. 16-18, 2021; Indio
Ultra Music Festival
Seen as the ultimate gathering for electronic music fans across the nation and globe, the streets of Miami turn into a bold and bumping party with popular DJs playing what will be the sounds of summer.
When & where: March 26-28, 2021; Miami
South By South West
Regarded as the ultimate trend-setter and launcher of careers, SXSW is an annual showcase of music, films and interactive highlights enjoyed through performances, showcases, talks, screenings and more. Virtually taking over the city of Austin, everyone in the world of music from fans to media flock here to discover the next big thing.
When &, where: March 16-20, 2021; Austin
The Governors Ball Music Festival
Another event which proves the music loving potential of Randall's Island Park is Governors Ball, an exciting and infectious mix of rock, hip-hop, electronic, pop and folk. Providing a variety of music and food tastes, whether you look to kick back and relax or dance to the beats, Governors Ball has what you want.
When & where: June 11-14, 2021; New York
1. Which music festival lasts the most days?| A．Coachella | B．Ultra Music Festival. |
| C．South By South West | D．The Governors Ball Music Festival. |
| A．It's held in a park. |
| B．It features electronic music |
| C．It's a gathering of popular DJs. |
| D．It's the most popular in the country. |
| A．Indio. | B．Miami. | C．Austin | D．New York. |
4 . Cindy Soule is a teacher in Portland, Maine, an area known to have extremely cold and snowy winters. But cold weather doesn't stop Soule and her students from continuing with outdoor learning during the COVID-19.
Earlier in the school year, students in Soule's fourth-grade class had outdoor lessons. Then, the snow came. Wearing warm clothes, the students took their school supplies outside in buckets. Then, they turned the buckets over, put them down in the snow, took a seat and went to work. The lesson that day centered on snow and the formation of snowflakes.
Schools across the U.S. have pushed for outdoor learning to keep students and teachers safe. Infectious disease experts worldwide have noted that the virus spreads less easily outdoors. Now, with temperatures dropping in much of the country, some schools have made plans to continue outdoor learning during the winter.
Anne Stires is an outdoor learning expert in Maine. She said "the outdoors is the healthiest, safest place for us to be right now. Anything that we can do to get kids outdoors for longer periods of time is vital," Stires added. "This is only where we need to be right now."
In the neighboring state of New Hampshire, fourth- and fifth-grade students are still learning outside at James Faulkner Elementary School in Stoddard. The school created an outdoor classroom by clearing some trees and building an area for warmth by fire. In the western state of Colorado, elementary school students in the Lake County school district study in usual classrooms for half the week. For the other half, they learn outdoors.
For educators, outdoor learning is yet another period of change. Last spring, it was distance learning. Then came mixed learning methods. Now, educators are trying to keep their students warm enough to learn outside.
1. What can we learn according to the second paragraph?| A．Cindy Soule prefers outdoor classes with her students. |
| B．The students had a good time when playing with snow. |
| C．Cindy Soule is creative and flexible in her teaching. |
| D．A bucket has more functions besides being a container. |
| A．It is likely that the virus disappears easily outdoors. |
| B．Dropping temperatures will bring the virus to an end. |
| C．Being outdoors is the perfect choice at present. |
| D．Getting kids in outdoor activities is very important. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Objective. | C．Negative. | D．Optimistic. |
| A．Outdoor education continues in the cold weather. |
| B．Maine has suffered much more due to the COVID-19. |
| C．Cold weather stops the COVID-19 attacking students. |
| D．Teachers are worried about the safety of their students. |
5 . Earthquake rescue robots have experienced their final tests in Beijing. Their designers say with these robots, rescuers will be able to save lives during an earthquake. This robot looking like a helicopter, is called the detector-bot. It’s about 4 meters long, and it took about 4 years to develop the model. Its main functions (作用) are to collect information from the air, and send goods of up to 30 kilos, to people trapped by an earthquake.
This robot has a high definition 360 degree panoramic (全景) camera. It can work day and night and will also be able to send the latest pictures from the quake area.
Dr. Qi Juntong, Chinese Academy of Science, said, “The most important feature of this robot is that it doesn’t need a distant control. We just set the destination (目的地) information on it, and then it takes off, and lands by itself. It flies as high as 3,000 meters, and as fast as 100 kilometers per hour.”
This robot has a different function — it can change as the environment changes. Its main job is to search for any signs of life in places where human rescuers are unable to go.
As well as a detector (探测器) that finds victims and detects poisonous gas, a camera is placed in the 40 centimeter long robot, which can work in the dark.
Another use for the rescuers is the supply part, with its 10 meter long pipe. People who are trapped in the ruins, will be able to get supplies including oxygen and liquids.
Experts have said that the robots will enter production, and serve as part of the national earth-quake rescue team as soon as next year.
1. According to the passage, this robot________.| A．is carried by the helicopter | B．weighs about 30 kilos |
| C．is a machine with a length of 10 meters | D．hasn’t been put into production so far |
| A．a camera | B．a robot | C．a rescuer | D．a detector |
| A．It is designed to prevent the earthquake. | B．It is unable to send goods. |
| C．It can take and send pictures even in the dark. | D．It can be used to take in poisonous gas. |
| A．what the robot looks like | B．an introduction to the robot |
| C．how the robot is made | D．information about earthquakes |
6 . Tourist Guide to the National Gallery
Opening hours: Daily 10: 00 am- -6: 00 pm; Friday 10: 00 am- 9: 00 pm
Closed: 2426 December
Reasons to visit:
With over 2, 300 paintings in the collection, there are hundreds of reasons to visit the Gallery. Here are some to get you started...
Get into great art. From Leonardo da Vinci to Vincent van Gogh: See priceless works of art for free.
Get creative. Brush up your skills, and create your own great works of art...
Learn about art. Discover more about paintings...
Regulations:
Talk in a low voice when you use your cellphone in the gallery
Please do not touch the paintings or other exhibits. Do not take pets in or cross the barriers.
Consume food and drink in designated areas only i.e. not in rooms that contain paintings.
Follow our no smoking policy in any part of the building.
Follow our no photograph policy in exhibitions where a sign is displayed.
Access:
The National Gallery aims to make access to the paintings enjoyable and welcoming to the widest possible public. There are a range of facilities to help you see the collection, visit exhibitions and come to events.
The Gallery offers British Sign Language-interpreted talks on paintings for visitors who are deaf, and special art sessions(展期) for visitors who can't see.
Address: The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square London WC2N 5DN
Click here to find more information.
1. What are visitors allowed to do in the National Gallery?| A．Make a phone call. | B．Take a dog in. |
| C．Smoke a cigarette. | D．Take photos. |
| A．Young visitors. | B．Deaf visitors. |
| C．Blind visitors. | D．Old visitors. |
| A．In a newspaper. | B．On a poster. |
| C．In a magazine. | D．On the Internet. |
7 . When he first rose to stardom in the NBA, Yao Ming could not possibly have known the influence he would have on the American understanding of China.
In the eyes of many Americans, Chinese are short, bookish, and not especially athletic. Yao, 26, has turned that image on its head. A giant at 2.26 metres, he has been the most talked-about player in the league since he topped the NBA draft（选秀）in 2002.
When Yao first joined the Rockets and struggled with an American style of basketball, many were quick to label（标记）Yao “a failure”. But Yao played on. He did not let the criticism affect his performance. Even when former NBA star Charles Barkley bet that Yao could not score more than 19 points in a single game, Yao kept his self-respect. The same cannot be said for Barkley, who was forced to kiss a real donkey’s ass（屁股）when Yao passed the 19-point mark early in his first season.
For Americans, Yao’s polite and friendly personality is a welcome contrast to the rude behaviour of the NBA’s bad boys. Compared with most other NBA players, Yao Ming is a true gentleman. He respects all of his opponents（对手）, even those who are not friendly to him.
“He is so wise and humourous that he seems like a diplomat（外交家）rather than a basketball player sometimes,” said Ron Burke, an NBA TV reporter.
In addition, Yao’s witty answers have changed the opinion that Chinese people are boring. When asked what were his favourite English words, Yao told the press that the five words were “This is the last question.” Yao is winning supporters within the league as well. After a Rockets-Lakers game that Shaquille O’Neal had to sit out with an injury, O’Neal said, “You played pretty good, Yao Ming.” Yao replied, “That’s because you weren’t there.”
1. What attitude do many people take with Yao Ming when he first joined the Rockets?| A．Friendly. | B．Doubtful. | C．Sincere. | D．Angry. |
| A．proved that he was athletic | B．passed the 19-point mark early |
| C．showed his politeness and friendliness | D．beat former NBA star Charles Barkley |
| A．Yao Ming was respectful and smart | B．Yao Ming was boring and proud |
| C．Yao Ming topped the NBA draft | D．Yao Ming wasn’t a failure any more |
| A．Yao Ming’s road to stardom. |
| B．The skills Ming showed in NBA. |
| C．Yao Ming’s competition with other NBA players. |
| D．The impact of Yao Ming on Americans’ attitudes towards Chinese. |
8 . You have probably heard of the Mozart effect. It's the idea that if children or even babies listen to music composed by Mozart, they will become more intelligent. A quick Internet search reveals plenty of products to assist you in the task. Whatever your age is, there are CDs and books to help you taste the power of Mozart's music, but when it comes to scientific evidence that it can make you more clever, the picture is more mixed.
The phrase "the Mozart effect" was made up in 1991, but it was a study described two years later in the journal Nature that sparked real media and public interest about the idea that listening to classical music somehow improves the brain. It is one of those ideas that sound reasonable. Mozart was undoubtedly a genius himself; his music is complex and there is a hope that if we listen to enough of it, we'll become more intelligent.
The idea took off, with thousands of parents playing Mozart to their children, and in 1998 Zell Miller, the Governor of the state of Georgia in the US, even asked for money to be set aside in the state budget so that every newborn baby could be sent a CD of classical music. It was not just babies and children who were exposed to Mozart's music on purpose, even an Italian farmer proudly explained that the cows were played Mozart three times a day to help them produce better milk.
I'll leave the debate on the impact on milk yield (产量) to farmers, but what about the evidence that listening to Mozart makes people more intelligent? More research was carried out but an analysis of sixteen different studies confirmed that listening to music does lead to a temporary improvement in the ability to handle shapes mentally, but the benefits are short-lived and it doesn't make us more intelligent.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?| A．Mozart composed many musical pieces for children. |
| B．There is little scientific evidence to support the Mozart effect. |
| C．There are few products on the Internet about Mozart's music. |
| D．Children listening to Mozart will be more intelligent. |
| A．people were strongly against the idea |
| B．Mozart played an important part in people's life |
| C．the idea was accepted by many people |
| D．the US government helped promote the idea |
| A．Favorable. | B．Objective. | C．Doubtful. | D．Positive. |
| A．What Music Is Beneficial? |
| B．Listening to Mozart, Necessary? |
| C．What Is the Mozart Effect? |
| D．To Be or Not to Be？ |
9 . To Rehan Staton, his childhood was a life of privilege — loving parents, a supportive big brother and a pleasant, private school education. Everything changed when his mother left the country and his father lost his job.
He had to sleep with a heavy jacket on when it was cold. He was always hungry. He said he couldn't concentrate at school and would sleep during class. He went from straight. As to near the bottom of his class. A teacher told him he needed special education, which made him hate school.
Staton spent his high school years as an excellent athlete, raining to become a professional boxer. He had won a lot of martial arts competitions. But a tragedy struck him in his senior year when Staton suffered serious tendonitis (肌腱炎), in both shoulders. He couldn’t lift either arm for months. His dream of becoming a professional player failed. He struggled to apply to colleges but was refused by all of them.
Staton’s body slowly recovered from martial arts and he got a job as a rubbish collector. Many co-workers couldn't help but ask him a simple question, “What are you doing here? You’re smart. You are too young to be here. Go to college.” It was the first time someone outside his family had spoken highly of his intelligence. It was the co-workers that emboldened him to return to school.
Several co-workers put Staton in touch with a professor at Bowie State University. The professor was impressed with their conversation and persuaded the admissions board to change its former decision.
Going to college forced Staton’s older brother, Reggie, to drop out. They both knew someone had to be working full time along with their dad. It was a decision Reggie made on his own.
After receiving a 4.0, Staton succeeded in becoming a student at the University of Maryland. But he still had a long way to go to attend Harvard Law eventually...
1. What finally changed Rehan Staton’s happy childhood?| A．His brother’s losing the job. |
| B．His serious health problem. |
| C．His father’s sudden death. |
| D．His mother’s leaving the country. |
| A．Force. | B．Direct. | C．Encourage. | D．Accompany. |
| A．He wanted his brother to study further. |
| B．His father asked him to leave school. |
| C．He had lost interest in most lessons. |
| D．He had to go out to find his mother. |
| A．What Rehan Staton planned to do after entering Harvard. |
| B．How Rehan Staton managed to be admitted to Harvard. |
| C．Why Rehan Staton decided to choose to go to Harvard. |
| D．When Rehan Staton would be successful in Harvard Law. |
10 . In a study published in Nature Machine Intelligence, researchers at Ohio State University show how artificial intelligence（AI）can follow clinical trials to identify drugs for repurposing, a solution that can help advance innovative treatments.
Repurposing drugs is legal and not unusual. When doctors prescribe(开处方)drugs that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration(FDA)for purposes different from what is printed on the labels, the drugs are being used “off-label” Just because a drug is FDA-approved for a specific type of disease does not prevent it from having possible benefits for other purposes.
For example, Metformin, a drug that is FDA-approved for treating type 2 diabetes, is also used to treat PCOS(a disease of women), and other diseases. Trazodone, an anti-depressant with FDA-approval to treat depression, is also prescribed by doctors to help treat patients with sleep issues.
The Ohio State University research team created an AI deep learning model for predicting treatment probability with patient data including the treatment, outcomes, and potential confounders(干扰因素).
Confounders are related to the exposure and outcome. For example, a connection is identified between music festivals and increases in skin rashes(红疹). Music festivals do not directly cause skin rashes. In this case, one possible confounding factor between the two may be outdoor heat, as music festivals tend to run outdoors when the temperature is high, and heat is a known cause for rashes. When working with real-world data, confounders could number in the thousands. AI deep learning is well-suited to find patterns in the complexity of potentially thousands of confounders.
The researcher team used confounders including population data and co-prescribed drugs. With this proof-of-concept, now clinicians have a powerful AI tool to rapidly discover new treatments by repurposing existing medications.
1. What do we know about a drug used off-label?| A．It is sold without a label. |
| B．It is available at a low price. |
| C．Its uses extend beyond the original ones. |
| D．Its clinical trials are rejected by doctors. |
| A．are used off-label |
| B．treat rare diseases |
| C．result in sleep issues |
| D．are medical breakthroughs |
| A．They are possible treatments. |
| B．They are environmental factors. |
| C．They can be easily recognized in real-world data. |
| D．They should be taken into serious consideration. |
| A．AI examines benefits of existing drugs. |
| B．AI identifies off-label uses for drugs. |
| C．AI finds new drugs for common diseases. |
| D．AI proves the power of drug research. |
