1 . Guanmei, a 65-year-old woman of the Dong ethnic group, is the inheritor of the Grand Song of Dong (侗族大歌), a national intangible cultural heritage in China. Her hometown Zaidai Village in Guizhou, southwestern China, is home to the Grand Song of the Dong ethnic group.
The Grand Song of Dong dates from more than 2,500 years ago. The way Dong singers use their vocal cords (声带) is different from how formally trained singers do. It is a folk chorus with multi-parts, no conductor, and no accompaniment. Organically growing from their natural surroundings, it is recognized internationally as “the sound of Nature.”
Before the Dong people had a writing system in 1958, the Dong culture, their history and stories were all recorded by means of songs. As a Dong saying goes, “Rice feeds the body and songs enrich the soul”. The Dong people sing right from their childhood. While not singing, they all work in their rice field.
Guanmei has been singing the Grand Song of Dong all her life, making her a famous singing teacher in her hometown and nearby areas. “The songs are our means of passing on wisdom, knowledge and life experiences to others. I will not exist in this world 100 years later, but Grand songs will. I’m honored to do this job, ” Guanmei said.
Kind-hearted, Guanmei has been volunteering to teach the Grand Song of Dong to the Dong children for over 30 years. Now she has more than 300 students. Guanmei is pleased to see the village children come to her house willingly when they have free time.
“Nowadays, more and more young people leave the village and settle in cities. Decades later, the Dong children out of the village might know nothing about Grand songs. We should do something just now. It’s our mission. What is once lost might be lost forever,” added Guanmei.
1. What makes the Grand Song of Dong known as “the sound of Nature”?| A．The outstanding conductor. |
| B．The special musical instrument. |
| C．The attractive natural environment. |
| D．The inspiration from nature. |
| A．The Dong singers are professionals. |
| B．The Dong culture before 1958 has been largely lost. |
| C．Singing is of vital importance to the Dong people. |
| D．They have a written language with a history of over 2,500 years. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Sympathetic. |
| C．Optimistic. | D．Satisfied. |
| A．To call on young people to return to the Dong village. |
| B．To guide the Dong children to learn the Grand Song of Dong. |
| C．To show a woman’s efforts to keep the Dong culture alive. |
| D．To instruct people to appreciate the Grand Song of Dong. |
2 . Here are four famous museums for family visits in Washington DC.
Dinosaur Museum
The museum features evidence, facts and tons of amazing sculptures of some of the most powerful and sometimes scary animals that ever controlled the Earth. The artists used real dinosaur bones to form the reproductions so they are extremely life-like.
Witte Museum
Originally established in 1926, this museum offers guests a comprehensive look at a more than 3-century span （跨度）of history. Called the center where nature, science and culture meet, the museum prides itself on providing guests with immersive （沉浸的）experiences, such as being taken back to cowboy days in the Heritage Center or digging through sand to find dinosaur bones.
The best part? The museum is constantly switching out some exhibits to better suit the season and provide guests with a different experience each time they visit.
Museum of Illusions
Step inside a completely new world at Orlando's newest exhibit the Museum of Illusions! This unique educational attraction is the perfect combination of fun and art, allowing visitors of all ages to test the limits of their mind. Focused on planting the seeds of curiosity, the astonishing images at the exhibitions remind guests that everything is not always as it seems.
World's Largest Toy Museum
Release your inner kid and visit the World's Largest l oy Museum, which will take you back in time with one million toys from the 1800's to today. You'll surely be excited to check out your "hero" toys from your childhood. The tours are self-guided and guests are allowed to leave and return during the same day.
1. Which of the museums is best at stimulating children's imagination?| A．Dinosaur Museum. | B．Witte Museum. |
| C．Museum of Illusions. | D．World's Largest Toy Museum. |
| A．Visit some seasonal exhibits. |
| B．Watch the dinosaur reproductions. |
| C．Enjoy interacting with true cowboys. |
| D．Learn about the museum's 300-year history. |
| A．It displays the oldest toys in the world. |
| B．It provides visitors with immersive experiences. |
| C．It is meant for children with the theme of heroes. |
| D．It allows tourists to come unlimited times in a day. |
3 . It might seem strange to be making predictions about 2021, but one thing is clear: technology has been affected just as much as every other part of our lives. Another clear thing is that today’s most important technology trends will play a big part in helping us deal with and adapt to the many challenges facing us. From the shift to working from home to new rules about how we meet and interact in public spaces, technology trends will be the driving force in managing the change.
One of the major technology trends that are likely to play out this year is 5G and enhanced connectivity. Each successive advance in mobile connectivity from 3G onwards has unlocked new use cases for the Internet. 3G made web browsing and data-driven services useful on mobile devices, 4G led to the growth of streaming video and music platforms as bandwidths (宽带) increased, and 5G, similarly, will open more doors in terms of what is possible.
5G means that services relying on advanced technologies such as augmented (增强的) reality and virtual reality, as well as cloud-based gaming platforms like Google’s Stadia, become a practical thing, anywhere at any time. They also threaten to make cable and fiber-based (光纤) networks redundant, with their need for us to be tied to a particular location.
In short, 5G and other advanced, high-speed networks make other new technologies available anywhere, any time. A great example is Norwegian fishery operator Salmar that uses a 5G network to automate the care and feeding of its fish. Image recognition algorithms (算法) are used to detect which fish are over or under-feeding, and automatically distribute food and medicine needed to keep them healthy. Initiatives like this will become increasingly important during 2021, where businesses look to increase automation across their workforces.
1. Which of the following is highly influenced by 5G technology?| A．Data-driven services. | B．Streaming video. |
| C．Music platforms. | D．Google’s Stadia. |
| A．Useful. | B．Unnecessary. | C．Expensive. | D．Special. |
| A．To show the development of Norwegian fishery. |
| B．To explain how to keep fish healthy. |
| C．To present the application of 5G technology. |
| D．To propose new initiatives for businesses. |
| A．Different predictions of technology trends. |
| B．Successive advances in mobile technology. |
| C．One of the technological highlights of the year. |
| D．The driving force in managing changes. |
4 . When you hear the beginning of your favorite song from the radio, suddenly your neck is covered in goose bumps.
It's such a thing that a group of scientists call “skin excitement”—a feeling of cold caused not by a drop in temperature or sudden scare, but by the sense of beauty. “Skin excitement” can come from a song, a painting, a moving movie scene, or even a beloved memory-pretty much anything that causes the giving out of pleasure-soaked dopamine in your brain. But it does not come for all of us.
Your favorite music uncovers a lot about your personality，and so does how you respond to that music. Studies suppose that as few as 55 percent of people experience “skin excitement” when listening to music. And if you count yourself among this group, the goose bumps on your skin aren't the only giveaway—scientists can read it in your brain, too. In a new study published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, Harvard researchers performed brain scans on 10 students who said they reliably got cold when listening to music, and 10 students who didn't. They found that the cold-prone brains may really be excited by stronger emotions.
Cold-prone brains are generally more likely to show stronger emotional intelligence than no-cold brains. Cold-prone minds tend to have unusual active imagination, reflect more deeply on their emotions, and appreciate nature and the beauty of music and art to a stronger degree than no-cold brains.
So, what type of music causes the chills? It seems that the type is not so important; participants in the new study reported getting cold from songs of every kind. And any song connected with a strong emotional memory of the listener can produce the most reliable results. For me, that's the song Sailing to Philadelphia by Mark Knopfler, which I listened to as a kid in the car with my dad, on the way to the summer camp.
1. What can we learn about “skin excitement” in the text?| A．It helps to produce doparmine. | B．It is caused by the pain in the skin. |
| C．It can be experienced by every music listener. | D．It is the human body's reaction to something nice. |
| A．The percentage of music lovers in students. |
| B．The solutions to the goose bumps on one's skin. |
| C．The differences between cold-prone and no-cold brains. |
| D．The relationship between one's music preference and personality. |
| A．Beautiful and intelligent. | B．Emotional and dishonest. |
| C．Imaginative and sensitive. | D．Brave and strong-minded. |
| A．Responses to Music Vary among People | B．A Feeling of Cold Is Caused by Horrible Music |
| C．Your Favorite Music Reveals Your Personality | D．Favorite Music May Bring Forth Goose Bumps |
5 . If all goes well, a balloonwill soon rise from Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden. It will float highinto the upper atmosphere and then return to Earth. However, environmentalists have arrived to stop this from happening.
The campaigners are against the balloon because of what occurs in flight. The balloon will shoot dust into the Earths upper atmosphere, causing more sunlight to reflect back into space. The dust, known as stratospheric aerosolinjection(SAI), is part of a solar geoengineering (地球工程) program named SCoPex which is being conducted by Harvard University. The aim of the program is to purposely change the Earth's atmosphere to fight climate change.
Those who oppose worry about two things. Firstly, the moral risk-if solar geoengineering works, talks on reducing greenhouse gases will be challenged. The second concern is the amount of SAI in the atmosphere. To keep temperatures low, the need of the reflective dust tobel released high above Earth will be endless, and a sudden stop could result in rapid warming. Raymond Pierrehumbert, a physicist at Oxford University, says solar geoengineering is even tool risky to research beyond computer models.
Not all environmentalists are opposed to it. Since the world is unlikely to achieve the 1. 5 ℃ global warming target set in the Paris Agreement, some green organizations favour small-sized geoengineering research.
Regardless of the criticism, the research continues. Geoengineering is increasingly gaining international attention. A recent report about climate change suggested that SAI could help keep warming below 1. 5℃. The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in the USA has developed a research plan for solar geoengineering and received governmental funding totaling $9 million. Both China and India have also launched research programmes of their own. Activists may oppose the experiments, but balloons will likely fly anyway.
1. What is the function of SAI?| A．To attract dust. | B．To throw sunlight back. |
| C．To absorb heat. | D．To fight against pollution. |
| A．It may change computer models. |
| B．It may produce too much dust. |
| C．It may release greenhouse gases. |
| D．It may worsen global warming. |
| A．To a limited degree. |
| B．At a lower temperature. |
| C．By green organizations. |
| D．Without international attention. |
| A．Voices of environmentalists are ignored. |
| B．More support is going to geoengineering. |
| C．Global warming is getting worse in Sweden. |
| D．Geoengineering has proved effective in India. |
6 . There are around 100 tribes(部落)that live in global isolation, mostly in South America and India. The Sentinelese have lived on one of the Andaman Islands in Eastern India for 60, 000 years. They protect their island by fighting against people from outside. Their language is different from any other known language. Another Andaman tribe is the Jarawa. In the past, they were independent and fought against anybody trying to make contact with them. But in 1998, the Indian government built a road across their land, and since then, they’ve had more contact with the outside world.
Some Amazon tribes avoid contact because of unhappy memories. The Mashco-Piro left their vegetable gardens after rubber companies killed most of their tribe at the beginning of the 20th century. Those who survived became nomadic(游牧的)and started hunting animals in the forest.
The Awa live in the Amazon forests ofBrazil. Out of 350 members, 100 have no contact with the outside world. They left their villages and adopted a nomadic lifestyle around 1850 to escape attacks by Europeans. In the following years, farmers in nearby communities started cutting the trees to expand their farmland. The Awa lost most of their hunting land. The few Amazon tribes that still exist are fighting to keep their traditional way of life.
Survival, an organization that fights for the rights of tribal people, says that uncontacted tribes are the most vulnerable(弱势的)humans on the planet and that’s why their environment should be unavailable to the rest of us. After years of pressure, the organization got Brazil’s government to clear non-natives from the Awa land. All non-Awa people are leaving so the tribe can get their forest back.
But some think it's impossible for tribes to stay isolated forever in a connected world. Contact will be made one day. So the question is：Whose choice should it be, ours or theirs?
1. What can we learn about the Sentinelese from the first paragraph?| A．They resist contact from the outside world. |
| B．They speakthe same language as the Jarawa. |
| C．They are wild about fighting with other tribes. |
| D．They have got help from the Indian govemment. |
| A．To protect their hunting land. | B．To search for food sources. |
| C．To avoid threats from Europeans. | D．To maintain their original way of life. |
| A．The tribes should be left undisturbed. |
| B．The tribes should fight for more living space. |
| C．The cribes should live in harmony with nature. |
| D．The tribes should adapt to the connected world. |
| A．The Nomadic Tribes in the World | B．Seeking Survival of Tribes |
| C．The Unavailable Tribal Environment | D．Protecting the Tribal Forests |
7 . When I was seven, my parents explained to me that my sister would be different.
Throughout our lives, my sister has often got stared at because she has Down syndrome (唐氏综合征), which makes her appear abnormal. There were times when I had to struggle with her.
I had this in mind when I was traveling alone recently and saw a mother and a son with special needs at the airport gate.
Some people gave the son and mother strange looks, the same kind of looks my sister and I would sometimes get.
To be honest. I didn’t even really regard what I did as something different or good.
| A．They had got off another plane. |
| B．People would stare at us even more. |
| C．I don’t know what I should do to help. |
| D．But I went up and asked if I could lend a hand. |
| E．I just consider it as the only choice in that situation. |
| F．I was so angry that I shouted loudly at the strangers. |
| G．I had no idea what impact she would have on my daily life. |
8 . Nashville offers many after-school tutoring centers to help kids develop their skills and creativity.
Spotlite Dance Studio
4075 Luke Ct, Murfreesboro, TN 37128, USA
Tel：(615)4594200
Set up in 2006, Spotlite Dance Studio is offering full day, half day and evening dance camps to kids aged 2-18. We have fun, new themes each week. We will work on dancing techniques and play fun games, activities, and more.
STEM Bllilders
504 Autumn Springs Ct, Franklin, TN 37067, USA
Tel：(615)366—9196
Along with education, to be successful in life, reasonable thinking, problem solving and teamwork are necessary skills in today’s competitive society. STEM Builders provides a unique combination of science, technology, engineering, math and fun. Both founders of the center beginning in 2016 have more than 15 years of IT experience.
Smile Doctors
152 Heritage Park, Murfreesboro, TN 37128, USA
Tel：(615)848—0011
Created in 2015, Smile Doctors provides excellence in orthodontic(牙齿矫正的)care resulting in beautiful, confident smiles and unforgettable experiences. Every interaction strengthens the idea that each person has value as a human being. We hope our positiveinteractions will motivate kids to improve themselves.
Tap Root Farm
905 Hickory Hills Dr, Franklin, TN 37067, USA
Tel：(615)594—3210
We have been“caretakers”of the farmland for over 50 years. Come and join us in the joy of keeping our family farming!Activities of our 2019 Tap Root Farm Summer Farm Camp (June 24—29)include horseback riding and gardening(planting and harvesting vegetables, herbs and flowers).
1. Where should you go to grow vegetables?| A．905 Hickory Hills Dr, Franklin, TN 37067. |
| B．4075 Luke Ct, Murfreesboro, TN 37128. |
| C．152 Heritage Park, Murfreesboro, TN 37128. |
| D．504 Autumn Springs Ct, Franklin, TN 37067. |
| A．Teamwork. | B．Problem solving. |
| C．IT experience. | D．Reasonable thinking. |
| A．Smile Doctors. | B．Tap Root Farm. |
| C．STEM Builders. | D．Spotlite Dance Studio. |
9 . Smart glasses could be the next leap in technology
First there was the keyboard, then the touch screen. Some tech companies say a wearable pair of glasses could be the next leap in technology, even if it didn't work out for Google glass. In the future we won't be only limited to our smartphones, when it comes to understanding the world around us.
The US-based company Snap's investment is this, the Spectacles 3 sunglasses. This third version is smarter than the previous ones. It has two cameras. The comer of the glasses lights up when recording video, and allows the wearer to put 3D objects in the video. Here are some flowers.
In a very different application, the AM glass by Hong Kong-based Pacific Future allows theme park visitors to have a different kind of experience through Augmented Reality. During the launch of the smart glasses during Halloween, this park became extra scary.
| A．So this is our early investment in that future. |
| B．Smart glasses are helpful in many other fields. |
| C．Thus the wearer can take a clearer picture of the flowers. |
| D．Users can capture up to a minute of video with smart glasses. |
| E．That's one of the reasons why consumers rejected Google glass. |
| F．So there's a ghost everywhere mixed with the real-life buildings. |
| G．Augmented Reality security glasses made by Beijing-based Goolton can be used by police to identify suspects. |
10 . Earth Hour is organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature. It's a big event usually at the end of March every year. On this evening, people “go dark”.
It's true that turning off lights for just one hour saves only a small amount of power.
But on another level, a large number of people’s acting together sends a powerful message to governments and companies.
The logo(标识) of Earth Hour is “60+” .The number 60 is for the 60 minutes of Earth Hour.
| A．But this is only the beginning. |
| B．Earth Hour represents every hour of every day. |
| C．After all, everyone has to answer for what they have done. |
| D．Besides turning off the lights, people get involved in other events. |
| E．It pushes them to take urgent measures by making changes to policies. |
| F．That is, they switch off all unnecessary lights at the same time for one hour. |
| G．The plus invites people to continue their action even after Earth Hour is finished. |
