1 . 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. |
2 . Today’s grandparents are joining grandchildren on social media, but the different generation’s online habits couldn’t be more different. The over-55s are joining Facebook in increasing numbers, meaning that they will soon be the site’s second biggest user group, with 3.5 million users aged 55-64 and 2.9 million over-65s.
Sheila, aged 59, says, “I joined to see what my grandchildren are doing, as my daughter posts videos and photos of them. It’s a much better way to see what they’re doing than waiting for letters and photos in the post. I think I’m lucky I get to see so much more of their lives than my grandparents did.”
However, Sheila’s grandchildren are less likely to use Facebook themselves. Children under 17 are leaving the site—only 2.2 million users are under 17---but they’re not going far from their smartphones. Chloe, age 15, even sleeps with her phone. “It’s my alarm clock so I have to,” she says. “I look at it before I go to sleep and as soon as I wake up.”
Teenagers might have their parents to thank for their smartphone and social media addiction as their parents were the early adopters of the smartphone. Peter, 38 and father of two teenagers, reports that he used to be on his phone or laptop constantly. He says, “How could I tell my kids to get off their phones is I was always in front of a screen myself?” So, in the evenings and at weekends, he takes his SIM card out of his smartphone and puts it into an old-style mobile phone that can only make calls and send text messages. “I’m not completely separated from the world if emergent, but the important thing is that I’m setting a better example to my kids and spending more quality time with them.”
Is it only a matter of time until the generation above and below Peter catches up with the new trend (趋势) for a less digital life?
1. How does Sheila feel about social media?| A．Useful. | B．Disappointed. | C．Useless. | D．Addicted. |
| A．To make calls to his boss. |
| B．To stop his work. |
| C．To set a good example to his kids. |
| D．To catch up with the new trend. |
| A．different | B．figured out | C．cut off | D．protected |
| A．Children under 17 don’t use smartphone at all. |
| B．Chloe is one of the early adopters of the smartphone. |
| C．Today’s grandparents enjoy a life without social media. |
| D．People may enjoy a less digital life in the near future. |
3 . Scientists often complain that people are not rational (理性的) in their opposition to technologies such as nuclear power and genetically modified (GM) crops. From a statistical perspective, these are very safe, and so peopled fear can be explained only by emotion, strengthened by ignorance. Electricity from nuclear power has led to far fewer direct deaths than has coalfired power, yet many people are afraid of it, and hardly anyone is afraid of coal plants. Similar arguments can be made about GM crops, which studies have shown are generally safe for most people to eat.
Scientific illiteracy (无知) may be part of the problem. Most of us are afraid of things we don’t understand, and studies have shown that scientists tend to be more accepting of potentially risky technologies than laypeople. This suggests that when people know a lot about such technologies, they are usually reassured.
But there’s more to the issue than meets the eye. It is true that many of us fear the unknown, but it is also true that we don’t care enough about routine risks. Part of the explanation is complacency: we tend not to fear the familiar, and thus familiarity can lead us to underestimate risk. The investigation into the Deepwater Horizon blowout and oil spill (原油泄漏) in 2010 showed that complacency—among executives, among engineers and among government officials-was a major cause of that disaster. So the fact that experts are unworried about a threat is not necessarily reassuring.
Scientists also make a mistake when they assume that public concerns are wholly or even mostly about safety. Some people object to GM crops because these crops facilitate the increased use of chemicals. Others have a problem with the social impacts that switching to GM organisms can have on traditional farming communities or with the political implications of leaving a large share of the food supply in the hands of a few corporations.
Geoengineering (地球工程学) to lessen the impacts of climate change is another example. Laypeople as well as scientists are more concerned about oversight (监管) than safety. Who will decide whether this is a good way to deal with climate change? If we undertake the project of setting the global temperature by controlling how much sunlight reaches Earth’s surface, who will be included in that “we” and by what process will the “right” global temperature be chosen?
Can we say which group’s view is closer to an accurate assessment?
1. The underlined word “complacency” in Paragraph 3 probably means ________.| A．overconfidence | B．prediction |
| C．underestimation | D．carelessness |
| A．safety is not the whole concern of the public |
| B．geoengineering is highly recognized by scientists |
| C．the public are unnecessarily troubled by climate change |
| D．lessening the impacts of climate change is a great challenge |
| A．Scientific illiteracy is a major cause of disasters. |
| B．The safety of technologies can be accurately assessed. |
| C．Scientists misjudge people’s opposition to technologies. |
| D．People are unworried about risks with proper oversight. |
| A．Ignorance or Safety |
| B．Who Is Rational About Risk |
| C．Why Can’t People Trust Technology |
| D．Should Scientists Have a Say in Risk |
4 . Plants do not listen to the radio. But a team of researchers in Greece recently found a way to turn lemons into very small “radio stations” that can broadcast information about their trees’ moisture content to a smartphone—the first step toward creating what the researchers call an “Internet of plants.”
Scientists had previously attached sensors to trees to measure their water use, but “no other team had created a wireless radio network among plants, sending information while consuming only a few microwatts and costing just a few dollars,” says project leader Aggelos Bletsas, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Technical University of Crete.
The network consists of several basic components: an existing FM radio station, an antenna (天线) attached to a lemon growing on a tree, a humidity (湿度) sensor in the lemon, a transistor connected to an antenna and an FM receiver. First, the antenna picks up the signal from the FM station, and then passes the signal to the transistor, which is modulated by the humidity sensor. The sensor switches the transistor on and off at a rate dependent on the plant’s moisture level: if the soil is wet or if the atmosphere is humid, that rate is lower; if it is dry, the rate is higher. Finally, the antenna broadcasts this information to the radio receiver on a mobile phone.
In this way, plants can tell farmers if they are thirsty. “We can literally ‘listen’ to the moisture of the plant, using our mobile FM radio with a $3.4 sensor,” Bletsas says. “Two of these sensors for every acre on any given farm might change the way we conduct agriculture and ‘understand’ plants.” He notes that more sensors may be needed for the best possible results. Such real-time information could enable better control of air and soil moisture.
Why go through all this trouble and not just use already common wireless technology, such as Bluetooth? “Not only is our technique less complex, as we are just borrowing signals in the environment,” Bletsas says, but “a Bluetooth-based sensor costs about $25. Our final aim is to launch sensors onto the market costing less than $1.”
“Bletsas and his team are completely changing the way of environmental sensing using very simple equipment and surprisingly little power,” says Alexandros Dimakis, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, who was not involved in the research. “Their work could be a transformational Internet of Things technology for agriculture and for monitoring the environment.”
Bletsas and his colleagues have already applied for a patent for their innovative technology in America.
1. The radio network created by Greek researchers _________.| A．consumes much energy |
| B．can be put in a smartphone |
| C．uses simple technology at low cost |
| D．broadcasts radio programs to plants |
| A．Monitored. | B．Adjusted. |
| C．Measured. | D．Connected. |
| A．Positive. | B．Critical. |
| C．Neutral. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．To discuss methods of studying plants. |
| B．To assess the efficiency of Internet of plants. |
| C．To stress the importance of keeping soil’s moisture. |
| D．To introduce a new way of measuring plants’ water use. |
﹡After the fire, what now?
Bishop Patrick Chauvet, Notre Dame (巴黎圣母院)’s manager, admitted that the famous building would close for “five to six years” as he spoke with local business owners Wednesday. He added that it was unclear what the church’s 67 employees would be doing in the future. French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that he wanted the church rebuilt in five years.
﹡What are the new rules?
While tourists can’t go inside the site itself, the area still may prove popular to those paying their respects. Visitors are welcome to write messages of support in both the main and local city halls.
The island that houses the church has been closed and the people there have been evacuated since the fire. Paris businessmen who depend on Notre Dame tourism are worried about the church’s future as well as their own.
﹡
It’s known that spring is a busy time for tourists in Paris. The travel company recommends people visit other places, like the Basilique Saint-Denis, the Sacre-Coeur and so on. Those who tend to observe church services during Holy Week are advised to go to Saint-Eustache.
﹡Looking ahead to rebuilding
It seems rebuilding can begin, since firefighters put out the fire early Tuesday, more than 12 hours after nearly 400 firefighters had battled the flames that changed the city’s skyline. Two policemen and one firefighter were not badly injured, according to the Paris Fire Service.
A large campaign to raise money already is underway to rebuild the church. Up to Wednesday, donations came to $1 billion.
1. What does the underlined word “evacuated” mean?| A．removed | B．examined | C．accused | D．ruined |
| A．Saint-Eustache is favored by tourists. |
| B．Tour companies offer other choices. |
| C．Church culture develops fast in Paris. |
| D．The best time to visit Paris is spring. |
| A．The government will arrange work for 67 employees. |
| B．Visitors will be forbidden to leave messages anywhere. |
| C．Churches in Paris will also be examined and repaired. |
| D．More money will be donated for the rebuilding project. |
6 . It is rightly said one can share any secret with a true friend. He may know your deepest fears and weaknesses and yet will never take advantage of you. However, keeping a friend’s secrets to yourself and not telling the world is what makes the bond grow strong and last forever. You need to develop trust and mutual (互相的) understanding before you start sharing secrets with each other. With friends, secret talks never seem to end and it can get really amusing to know what has been going on in your friend’s mind.
There is a certain time in life especially from the teenage years when one starts having a personal periphery (界限) in life and parents are excluded (排斥) from it. It is because there are certain things that they can’t understand and we can’t discuss with them. That is when friends become the best secret sharers. They are the ones to whom one reveals one’s feelings and best kept secrets.
It is a general belief that only girls share secrets. But boys have their own secrets that they discuss with only closest friends. The secret talks can range (变化) from relationships, talks about fights with parents, secret activities and anything that is not supposed to be known to others! If you think secrets are limited to only teenagers, get your facts right! Secrets can be shared at any age and there is no hard and fast rule that secrets are shared only among youngsters.
Sharing secrets with a friend is not just fun, but it also helps to develop a lasting trust in one another. Sometimes, sharing secrets will tell you more about the person. You will come to know whether your friend is reliable and trustworthy and whether it is worth sharing your secrets with them. You can call it a test of friendship.
1. What is an advantage of sharing secrets with a friend?| A．It helps a lot in your study. |
| B．It leads you to a carefree life. |
| C．It makes you popular with other people. |
| D．It contributes to a long-term mutual belief. |
| A．Parents are always the best people to share secrets with. |
| B．Teenagers prefer to share secrets with their friends. |
| C．Parents should build trust with teenagers. |
| D．Teenagers grow to be independent. |
| A．proves | B．tells |
| C．gets | D．holds |
| A．It’s limited to girls. |
| B．It follows strict rules. |
| C．It can happen at any age. |
| D．It does harm to a strong bond. |
7 . Last year, Americans spent over $30 billion at retail(零售) stores in the month of December alone. Aside from purchasing holiday gifts, most people regularly buy presents for other occasions throughout the year, including weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and baby showers. This frequent experience of gift-giving can generate ambivalent feelings in gift-givers. Many believe that gift-giving offers a powerful means to build stronger bonds with one’s closest peers. At the same time, many worry that their purchases will disappoint rather than delight the intended receivers.
Anthropologists describe gift-giving as a positive social process, serving various political, religious, and psychological functions. Economists, however, offer a less favorable view. They think that gift-giving represents an objective waste of resources. People buy gifts that receivers would not choose to buy on their own, or at least not spend as much money to purchase. Givers are likely to spend $100 to purchase a gift that receivers would spend only $80 to buy themselves.
What is surprising is that gift-givers have considerable experience acting as both gift-givers and gift-receivers, but nevertheless tend to overspend each time they set out to purchase a meaningful gift. In the present research, psychologists find a unique explanation for this overspending problem—gift-givers equate how much they spend with how much receivers will appreciate the gift. Although a link between gift price and feelings of appreciation might seem relevant to gift-givers, such an assumption may be unfounded. Indeed, we find that gift-receivers will be less willing to base their feelings of appreciation on the gift price than givers assume.
The thoughts of gift-givers and gift-receivers being unable to account for the other party’s perspective seems puzzling because people slip in and out of these roles every day. Yet, despite the extensive experience that people have as both givers and receivers, they often struggle to transfer information gained from one role and apply it in another.
1. What does the underlined word “ambivalent” in Para.1 probably mean?| A．Concerned | B．Conflicting. |
| C．Negative. | D．Positive |
| A．Gift-receivers link their appreciation closely to the gift cost. |
| B．Personal preferences are the least to be considered. |
| C．The assumption made by gift-givers is incorrect. |
| D．Gift-giving is a process of wasting resources. |
| A．a trend of overspending |
| B．an inability to shift perspective |
| C．a growing opposition to gift-giving |
| D．a misunderstanding of intention |
8 . Vincent Van Gogh
Born in the Netherlands in 1853, van Gogh led a simple life in a small town until the age of 16. He then left school and joined a company of art business in the larger city. During the next seven years, van Gogh bought and sold paintings in the Netherlands, London, and Paris. He eventually realized that dealing with others’ artwork was not his dream. He soon discovered that his dream was to become an artist himself.
He spent much of his time in learning the basic skills of drawing. He believed that to become a great painter, one must first master the ability to draw. It was only after he was comfortable in this area that he began to use oil paints. That is when van Gogh developed a style for color that made him one of the most respected artists of all time.
Van Gogh’s paintings are amazing representations (代表) of his view of the world. He used his brush and oils to make layers that built the painting until it was almost three-dimensional (三维). This quality makes people want to reach out and touch the painting.
Perhaps one of the most memorable examples of van Gogh’s use of color and brush style is his painting The Starry Night. The sky swirls across the canvas (画布), while the stars glow with unearthly brightness. Each brushstroke (笔画) creates the movement and lights. Under the sky rests a village painted with smaller strokes and finer detail, giving the impression of peace. A large tree in the foreground suggests that the view is enjoyed from the top of a hill, which offers a glimpse of the majesty (庄严) of the night sky. The Starry Night displays the gift of van Gogh’s ability to create a powerful image with simple brush and oils.
Van Gogh spent only the last ten years of his life painting. Yet van Gogh today is considered one of the greatest artists of all time. His influence is strong; many painters mimic his style and use of color. His artwork can be found in museums all over the world.
1. Van Gogh learned how to paint by ________.| A．reading books about art |
| B．observing the world around him |
| C．studying the works of great artists |
| D．equipping himself with basic skills |
| A．praise van Gogh’s ability |
| B．present van Gogh’s respect for nature |
| C．show van Gogh’s style of painting |
| D．express van Gogh’s feelings about his art |
| A．image | B．light |
| C．theme | D．brushwork |
| A．copy | B．teach |
| C．change | D．create |
What do former American president Bill Clinton and rock musician Pete Townshend have in common? Both men have hearing damage from exposure to loud music, and both now wear hearing aids as a consequence. As a teenager, Clinton played saxophone in a band. Townshend, who has the more severe hearing loss, was a guitarist for a band called the Who. He is one of the first rock musicians to call the public's attention to the problem of hearing loss from exposure to loud music.
Temporary hearing loss can happen after only 15 minutes of listening to loud music. One early warning sign is when your ears begin to feel warm while you listen to music at a rock concert or through headphones. One later is that an unusual sound or a ringing is sometimes produced in your head after the concert.
"What happens is that the hair cells in the inner ear are damaged, but they're not dead," says a physician and ear specialist Dr. Sam Levine. According to Dr. Levine, if you avoid further exposure to loud noise, it's possible to recondition the cells somewhat. However, he adds, "Eventually, over a long period of time, hair cells are permanently damaged." And this is no small problem.
What sound level is dangerous? According to Dr. Levine, regular exposure to noise above 85 decibels (分贝) is considered dangerous. The chart below offers a comparison of decibel levels to certain sounds. Here's another measurement you can use. If you're at a rock concert and the music is so loud that you have to shout to make yourself heard, you' re at risk for hearing loss. That's when wearing protective devices such as earplugs becomes critical.
The facts are pretty frightening. But are rock bands turning down the volume? Most aren't. "Rock music is supposed to be loud," says drummer Andrew Sather. "I wouldn't have it any other way. And neither would the real fans of rock. "
Continued exposure to loud music and the failure to wear earplugs can lead to deafness, according to Dr. Levine. He states, "There's no cure for hearing loss. Your ears are trying to tell you something. That ringing is the scream of your hair cells dying. Each time that happens, more and more damage is done. "
| Levels of Common Noises Normal conversation 50 — 65 dB Food blender 88 dB Jet plane flying above a person standing outside 103 dB Rock band during a concert 110 — 140 dB |
1. From Paragraph 1, we can learn that .
| A．loud music is a major cause of hearing loss |
| B．famous people tend to have hearing problems |
| C．teenagers should stay away from school bands |
| D．the problem of hearing damage is widely known |
| A．not to be seen | B．to fill with sound |
| C．to become larger in size | D．to make good again |
| A．a list of harmful sounds |
| B．the effect of rock concerts |
| C．the noise levels of familiar sounds |
| D．relationship between daily activities and hearing loss |
| A．When your ears feel warm, your hair cells are dead. |
| B．Drummer Andrew Sather gives good advice. |
| C．Many are taking the risk of losing hearing. |
| D．Doctors know how to cure hearing loss. |
