1 . I believe my life was saved because of Beethoven's moonlight sonata (鸣奏曲) being put in a video game. To be clearer, I was a terrible kid, living in the mean streets of Philadelphia, where I frequently got involved with street gangs (一帮年轻人) and did horrible things I regret today. I was failing out of high-school and had no future prospects. The only music type I listened to at the time was rap and R&B, but classical music never crossed my ear.
I remember playing a game called Resident Evil one day, and in order to get to the next part of the game, the lead character, "Jill", has to discover a page or two of sheet music for the piano in order to open a secret passage to progress through the game. Once obtained, the game fades out and pops out a new scene where Jill plays the piano. Being in complete awe, I had no idea what these feelings were and admittedly didn't want it to stop. 20 seconds or so later, the short clip of music halted and my face was moist from tears that dripped from my eyes. I didn't know what was going on and was severely confused. All I knew was that I had to replay that scene over and over again, not knowing who Beethoven was or that it was much longer and satisfying piece.
My last year of high school, I wasn't expected to graduate but I had the opportunity to select a music elective. It was then that I realized that classical music chose me and that I had the gift of transferring emotion through classical composition. Everything became so much clearer and for some reason higher learning other subjects, including physics, chemistry, became interesting and easy. It was as if my brain turned on and I began to appreciate everything and everyone around me. Without classical music, I would be like 90% of my friends back in Philadelphia, or a non-productive member of society. Classical music saved my life.
1. Which word can best describe the author's childhood?| A．Awful. | B．Common. | C．Badly-off. | D．Uncomfortable. |
| A．Exiting the game secretly. | B．Finding one or two sheet music. |
| C．Listening to the music for 20 seconds. | D．Setting up a new scene for the next player. |
| A．His strong brain power. | B．His last year in high school. |
| C．His appreciation to Beethoven. | D．His encounter with classical music. |
| A．Where There is Love, There is Music |
| B．Music, the Second Language of Human Being |
| C．Happy, You Listen to Music; Sad, You Understand It |
| D．Music, a Medicine Curing the Disease of Thought |
2 . The skull(颅骨)of a tiny bird preserved in a 100-million-year-old Myanmar amber has been discovered by an international team of scientists, according to a paper newly published in the scientific journal Nature.
The 14-millimeter-long skull is smaller than that of a bee hummingbird, the smallest living bird, making the new species the smallest bird and dinosaur ever found.
When Xing Lida, a paleontologist(古生物家)at the China University of Geosciences, who led the research, first saw the amber in 2016, he was amazed. "It's like a tiny arrow with a long beak(鸟喙)and big eyes. . . Only birds have such characteristics," he said.
The well-preserved fossil skull has rows of nearly 100 teeth that extend all the way under its big eyes that are supported by eye bones of a unique structure. The unusually high number of teeth and the unique shape of the eye make it difficult to classify the specimen(标本).
Scientists think that about 100 million years ago this bird-like animal lived in the tropical Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar, where the amber was mined.
Despite its small size, the specimen, named Oculudentavis khaungraae(宽娅眼齿鸟), has more teeth than any other fossilized bird. The large number of teeth indicates that it was a predator(捕食者), the paper said.
"Judging from its size, it might prey mainly on insects," Xing said. "In fact, it has some characteristics that do not belong to birds or even dinosaurs. At present we think of it as a bird or a dinosaur, which is the most likely conclusion based on the characteristics of the skull.”
One of the biggest advantages of amber lies in its high-quality preservation of the fine details in the skull and soft tissue features. "Amber gives us almost the only opportunity, to learn about tiny vertebrates(脊椎动物)from the dinosaur age," Xing said. "Oculudentavis is by far the smallest and most important specimen."
1. What has the international team of scientists found recently?| A．The smallest fossil ever found. | B．The oldest amber ever discovered. |
| C．The smallest bee hummingbird fossil | D．The skull of the smallest known bird. |
| A．Its teeth and eyes were different from any other animal. |
| B．Its eve structure shows that it might have good eyesight. |
| C．It was classified in 2016 when first seen by Xing Lida. |
| D．Its small size suggests that it might feed on plants. |
| A．Small size. | B．Tropical habitat. |
| C．High number of teeth. | D．Unique shape of the eye. |
| A．The way that the fossil was well preserved. |
| B．The reason why Oculudentavis was stuck in amber t |
| C．The contribution of the fossil to scientific research. |
| D．The importance of amber research in scientific research. |
3 . Kitchen Products That Will Make Your Life Easier
Food Chopper（切碎机）with Storage Container
Using a food chopper to save time and effort when preparing dinners is always a smart idea. But using a food chopper that doubles as a storage container is more convenient. This one is made of BPA-free plastics and comes with three interchangeable blades（刀片）so you can chop your vegetables in various sizes.
Available on Amazon. $ 18. 99
Mixing Bowl Set with No-skid（防滑的）Bottoms and Pour Spouts
This clever set of mixing bowls solves a few problems we didn't realize we had. For one thing, it has no-skid bottoms, so you can more easily have control over the bowl while using a hand mixer or other tools. And for another, the specially designed part makes it easy to pour liquid from the bowl into a pan or baking dish with hardly any effort. Plus, they're pretty cute.
Available on Amazon. $ 21. 97
Rubbermaid Fresh Works Produce Saver
Do you feel like you're constantly throwing away fresh vegetables you just bought? Rubbermaid's Fresh Works containers come in a variety of sizes, and are made to help food and vegetables remain fresh for as long as possible-saving your time and money in the long run.
Available on Amazon, $ 6. 99
Heat-Resistant Gloves
These aren't your grandma's potholders. These heat-resistant gloves are made with high-quality silicone, making them effective against high temperatures and non-slip. They're also multi-purpose, since you can use them inside when removing plates from the oven or outside while barbecuing.
Available on Amazon, $ 14. 99
1. How much should you pay for the product used to keep food fresh?| A．$ 18. 99. | B．$ 21. 97. | C．$ 6. 99. | D．$ 14. 99. |
| A．It protects people from getting burnt. | B．It is used to contain liquid. |
| C．It is made of BPA plastics. | D．It has two main functions. |
| A．It is convenient to clean. | B．It keeps steady when used. |
| C．It helps you save a lot of money. | D．It saves you time for cooking. |
4 . Oxford English Dictionary（OED） announced on November 23 for the first time that it has chosen not to name one single word of the year, but many words for the “special” year 2020. Describing 2020 as “a year which cannot be neatly summarized in one single word”. OED said on Monday that there were too many words to sum up the events of 2020. From more than 11 billion words found in web-based news, blogs and other text sources, its lexicographers(词典编纂者)revealed what the dictionary described as “great shifts in language data and frequency rises in new words” over the past 12 months.
Most words of the year are coronavirus-related, including coronavirus, lockdown, circuit-breaker, keyworkers and face masks. The report said the word "coronavirus" dates back to the 1960s and was previously "mainly used by scientific and medical specialists". But by April this year it had become one of the most frequently used nouns in the English language, beyond even the usage of the word "time". It said use of the word “pandemic” has increased by more than 57,000 percent this year.
The revolution in working habits during the pandemic has also affected language, with both “remote” and “remotely” seeing more than 300 percent growth in use since March. “On mute(静音)”and “unmute” have seen 500 percent rises since March, while the words “workation” and “staycation” also increased drastically.
Casper Grathwohl, the president of Oxford Dictionaries, said. “I've never witnessed a year in language like the one we've just had. The Oxford team was identifying hundreds of significant new words and usages as the year unfolded.” “2020 has been filled with new words unlike any other,” Grathwohl added.
The OED's announcement mirrored the huge influence of the COVID-19 on the people from all walks of life. To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States are racing against time to develop coronavirus vaccines.
1. How did the lexicographers find words to summarize the events of 2020?| A．By consulting some experts, scholars and authors. |
| B．By consulting some reporters and hosts of news programs. |
| C．By referring to web-based news, blogs and other text sources. |
| D．By referring to magazines, newspapers and other printed materials. |
| A．They are precise. | B．They are subjective. |
| C．They are reasonable. | D．They are unique. |
| A．Sharply. | B．Steadily. | C．Similarly. | D．Slightly. |
| A．It is a word created in 2020. |
| B．It might first appear in the 1960s. |
| C．It is the only named word of 2020. |
| D．It has been frequently used since the 1960s. |
5 . We probably still remember as a child being discouraged from allowing our handwriting to slope backwards — We were warned the relaxed letters would be taken as a sign of an idle(懒散的) personality.
According to research from the National Pen Company in the U.S., your handwriting can give away clues about 5,000 different personality traits based on the way you space your letters and how you sign your name. A closer look at someone’s handwriting style can provide you surprising insights about their character and personality, enabling you to come off like a proper Sherlock.
According to the results, the size of someone’s handwriting can determine the type of personality they have. People with small handwriting tend to be shy, bookish and very careful. Tiny letters indicate the writer has somewhat low self esteem but is intelligent, whereas outgoing people who love attention will have larger handwriting. Moving onto the spacing of words, people who leave large gaps between words enjoy their freedom, while people who write words close together can’t stand to be alone.
If handwriting leans to the right, the person is open to new experiences and enjoy meeting new people. If it is to the left, that person tends to keep themselves to themselves. People whose handwriting doesn’t lean in either direction are logical and practical.
The results also claim that a person’s health can be identified from their handwriting, for example, people with high blood pressure tend to have writing that is sometimes heavy and dark, and at other times light.
The process of analyzing handwriting is called graphology( 笔迹学). It is classed as a pseudoscience (伪科学) because there are debates about how accurate it can be at determining psychological and even physical features.
1. Why does the author mention our child experience in Paragraph 1?| A．To arouse readers’ interest in the topic. |
| B．To waken one of our old memories. |
| C．To imply his love in handwriting. |
| D．To put forward an argument. |
| A．Become a handwriting master. |
| B．Act like a detective. |
| C．Work in a proper way. |
| D．Feel like a psychologist. |
| A．How to leave gaps between words. |
| B．How important the handwriting is. |
| C．What the size and space of words suggest. |
| D．Why we have different sizes of handwriting. |
| A．Graphology has been highly recognized. |
| B．Graphology can be helpful in mental healing. |
| C．People hold different ideas to graphology. |
| D．Physical conditions can be determined by handwriting. |
6 . In the aftermath of the deadliest fire California history last fall, it was difficult for anyone in the town of Paradise to find hope.
Shane Grammer paid close attention to the news of the fire’s deadly path. He felt quite powerless to help when seeing the picture shared by his childhood friend Shane Edwards in the town, in which Edwards photographed a white chimney, the only part of his house left after the fire.
“I’ve got to paint that chimney,” he said. “I’m not trying to say anything. It’s just that I’m an artist. And it was an opportunity for me to express myself and be an artist, wasn’t it?”
Grammer spent three hours spray-painting the image of a woman on the chimney in black and white, which was strikingly mysterious. Perhaps it served as a reminder of the hope of life or just life itself.
Then Grammer put its picture on social media. On seeing it, the victims of the fire could not contain themselves. “Beautiful and impressive,” one of them remarked. And another said, “You bring wonder and hope.”
At this time, Grammer became aware that something deeper had been transformed by a purely artistic expression. “When the first mural (壁画) moved so many people, I knew I had to come back,” he told the journalist. Grammer returned to Paradise eight times in three months, during which he completed 17 murals of victims and other figures, including the original one, on walls, pickups, and shards of buildings.
Today, Grammer’s efforts have developed into a movement. He has also painted murals in dark places around the world that seriously need some light.
Ironically, the first painting, on the chimney in Paradise, existed for just several months, since the bulldozer (推土机) was a merciless art critic. But Grammer couldn’t be more pleased about it, which means the spirit of Paradise is rising again.
1. Why did Grammer say he wasn’t trying to say anything?| A．Because he felt quite helpless. |
| B．Because he didn’t want to show his feelings. |
| C．Because he had his way to express himself. |
| D．Because he felt it difficult to say something. |
| A．People’s inner feelings. |
| B．People’s remarks. |
| C．The meaning of the murals. |
| D．The artistic expression. |
| A．The bulldozer was so cruel that it destroyed Grammer’s mural. |
| B．The people in Paradise are in high spirits now. |
| C．Grammer is not happy with the destruction of his mural. |
| D．Paradise is recovering from the disaster in a short time. |
| A．Painting: A Way of Bringing Light |
| B．Artistic Murals Brought Victims Hope |
| C．Creativity: A Chimney Left after the Wildfire |
| D．Achievements May Come after A Disaster |
7 . Junior golf competition calendar full of new events, changes
New to the schedule
Mack Champ Invitational
Champ is using junior golf to honor his late grandfather Mack Champ with the first Mack Champ Invitational. The Cameron Champ Foundation will put on the event, to be played March 20-22 at Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston. The goal of the tournament is to focus on identifying talented players from diverse backgrounds as a way to honor the legacy left by Mack, who passed away in October 2019.
Notah Begay Junior Invitational
One goal of junior golf? Get noticed, preferably by a college coach. The Notah Begay Junior Invitational will offer something quite unusual to its participants: an event broadcast by Golf Channel. Players, ages 8 to 18, must qualify into this event, to be played at a yet-to-be-announced location on a yet-to-be-announced date.
Different dates and format changes
U.S. Junior Amateur
The major men’s amateur events on the USGA schedule–think the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Mid-Amateur–require a companion course for the extremely large field. For the first time in the 73-year history of the U.S. Junior Amateur, the USGA will require one more course. The tournament will start with 264 players playing both Hazeltine National Golf Club and Chaska Town Course in the expanded field.
AJGA Thunderbird International Junior
When the NCAA Championships move to Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, for the next three years. The Thunderbird, which has divisions for girls and boys, typically has been played at the end of May, but this year, for the first time, it will be played April 9-12, which means, of course, that it finishes on Masters Sunday.
1. Which event is available on TV?| A．Mack Champ Invitational. |
| B．Notah Begay Junior Invitational. |
| C．U.S. Junior Amateur. |
| D．AJGA Thunderbird International Junior. |
| A．The origin of its history. |
| B．The time of the event. |
| C．The number of courses. |
| D．The location of Golf Club. |
| A．April 29. | B．May 10. |
| C．April 10. | D．May 29. |
8 . According to related new research, tropical cyclones(热带气旋), ranging from hurricanes to typhoons, are moving more slowly across the planet than they did decades ago, meaning that they get more destructive power and last longer.
It may seem like a good thing that cyclones crawl at a slower speed, but in fact it’s quite the opposite. Although the cyclones are moving slower across the ground, they still get high wind speeds inside, which on the contrary makes hard rains stay longer over communities.
“Nothing good comes out of a slowing storm,” says James Kossin, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Center for Weather and Climate in Madison, Wisconsin. “It can increase storm surge. It can increase the amount of time that structures are subjected to strong wind. And it increases rainfall.”
According to Kossin’s findings, changing storm patterns are causing greater destruction in another way. He noted that the speed of global tropical cyclones slowed by an average of 10 percent from 1949 to 2016. The pace of the storms slowed even more as they made landfall in some regions. In the western North Pacific, it declined by nearly a third. That means there will be more time for a storm that may already contain much moisture (水汽) to release more of it in each spot.
Basing his research on the details of nearly 70 years’ worth of storms, Kossin did not try to determine the cause of the slowdown. Even so, the shift is, exactly as he and other cyclone experts said, the expected result of climate change.
Kossin’s work was considered to be “pretty convincing” by Christina Patricola, a scientist with the Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division of California’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
It is Kossin’s hope that a model demonstrating which communities are likely to be at the highest risk could be developed by scientists. Given that in some regions, the storms are moving poleward and gaining in strength as well, places not normally passed by could be affected by unusually heavy rainfall as a result. “These are not good things to be combining,” he says.
1. Why are cyclones more destructive when they crawl more slowly?| A．They get higher wind speeds inside. |
| B．They cause more serious climate change. |
| C．They move poleward and affect more regions. |
| D．They make rains and winds stay longer over a place. |
| A．The speed of the storms there slows more. |
| B．It has much wetter air. |
| C．It has higher risk of being hit by storms. |
| D．The storms there cause less damage. |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Cautious. | C．Critical. | D．Approving. |
| A．Entertainment. | B．Science. | C．Health. | D．Education. |
9 . One of the most recognizable symbols of Scotland is the kilt (百褶裙). Resembling knee-length skirts, kilts originated in the 16th century as a common form of clothing for men and boys living in an area of northern Scotland known as the Scottish Highlands. A special feature of kilts, even to this day, is the plaid (格子呢) patterns. These patterns were historically related to specific clans, which are family groups that share a relationship through ancestry or some other connections. Known as tartans (方格花纹), the plaid patterns are of various colors. Because of their popularity in the Scottish Highlands, the wearing of kilts and any tartan pattern in general was banned from 1746 to 1782 to try to control clans from that region that were opposed to the king at the time. After clans were no longer considered a threat to the king, the clothing ban was removed.
Although the removal of the ban meant people could once again wear kilts with their clan’s tartan, they did not become the regular dress of males there. Instead, they came to represent a traditional form of clothing, and be symbolic of national pride. Tartans of all types can be seen on show all over the world on April 6, Tartan Day, when people of Scottish ancestry celebrate their cultural treasure. Tartan Day originated in Canada in the mid-1980s. It spread to other communities of the Scottish diaspora in the 1990s.
Nowadays, tartans have been specifically created for individuals, families, institutions, and companies. Perhaps the best-known example of a tartan used by a company is that of the British company Burberry. Burberry has used tartans on a variety of products, including scarves, handbags, clothing, and other accessories. Although in 2019, Burberry announced it would reduce the number of products it produced to focus more on handbags as a way to increase profits, their iconic tartan continues to be a symbol of high fashion.
1. In which aspect are kilts special?| A．People show respect for the king by wearing them. | B．They are of the same color in Scotland. |
| C．Plaid patterns are used in the kilts. | D．They are designed for adult men. |
| A．To celebrate a tradition. | B．To spread this culture to the world. |
| C．To honor the end of the ban on tartans. | D．To express tartans shouldn’t be ignored. |
| A．To prove the popularity of tartans. |
| B．To stress tartans’ wide range of daily uses. |
| C．To show the reduced number of tartan products. |
| D．To explain reasons for Burberry’s favoring tartans. |
| A．Popularity of Scottish Kilts | B．Special Scottish Clothing |
| C．History of Scottish Kilts | D．The Kilt and the Tartan |
10 . Welcome to the Cherry Blossom Gift Shop in Washington, D.C. Live Yoshino Cherry Blossom Trees
$ 24.00
PRODUCT ID: 9813108
The Japanese Yoshino Cherry tree is a hybrid cherry of unknown origin. It occurs as a natural hybrid in Japan and is now one of the most popular flowering cherries worldwide.
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2019 Festival Holiday Ornament
$25.00
PRODUCT ID: 2271405
The National Cherry Blossom Festival, the nation’s greatest springtime celebration, entertains more than one million people each year, commemorating the gift of trees and the enduring friendship between the people of the United States and Japan.
2019 National Cherry Blossom Festival Glass Ornament design was created by famous Hawaiian artist, Jing Jing Tsong. Hand painted, comes in a very pretty box.
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Cherry Blossom Glass Balls
$30,00
PRODUCT ID: 9813020
The hand-made ornament is simply beautiful and no two balls are alike. It comes in a set of three. These ornamental glass balls are suitable for any occasion as a gift, and can be displayed indoors or outdoors, on a desk or shelf.
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2019 National Cherry Blossom Festival Lapel Pin
$10.00
PRODUCT ID: 1218138
The 2019 Cherry Blossom Festival Lapel Pin showcases the beautiful budding of these magnificent trees and celebrates the 107th year since these trees were given to our country. The pin is presented on a card which reads: Celebrating 107 Years of the Gift of Trees.
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1. If a customer is interested in gardening, which product ID will he choose?| A．9813108 | B．2271405 |
| C．1218138 | D．9813020 |
| A．Each glass ball is unique. |
| B．They are presented on a car. |
| C．They come in a set of four. |
| D．They are simply designed. |
| A．In a newspaper. | B．Over the radio. |
| C．On the television. | D．On the Internet. |
