1 . Many libraries around the world are as amazing in their architecture and organization as they are in the huge amount of knowledge they contain. With shelves and shelves of books, various collections and amazing historical and cultural displays, there are plenty of undiscovered wonders.
Beinecke Rare Book Library (New Haven, Connecticut)
Yale University has one of the most beautiful college campuses in America, and one of its most interesting features is the Beinecke Rare Book Library. It is one of the largest buildings in the world devoted to rare books and manuscripts (手稿) of famous people. From 2015-16 the library building was closed for 18 months for major improvement. Inside there is a statue of its main founder that rises up high.
Vennesla Library (Vennesla, Norway)
Located near the southernmost tip of Norway, Vennesla Library is more than a collection of books—it’s a city cultural center and meeting place. The building hosts a coffee shop, open meeting spaces, classrooms for children and adult education courses, and a cinema. It is mainly built out of wood. The long, thin beams (横梁) on the inside were designed to look like the inside of a whale.
Suzzallo Library (Seattle)
Among the many beautiful features of the campus at the University of Washington, such as its cherry flowers and a light rail station, Suzzallo Library was built in the Collegiate Gothic style. Its buttresses (扶壁) are decorated with 18 statues featuring famous academics and writers such as Plato, Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci, Dante, Galileo, Beethoven, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.
Library of Muyinga (Muyinga, Burundi)
A school for deaf children, the Library of Muyinga in Burundi was built with local techniques and traditions. A rope hammock (吊床) that hangs between the first and second floors of the library serves as part of the children’s reading room, a great place for indoor activities.
More information of them is just a click away.
1. Which one is suitable for people who want to appreciate statues?| A．Beinecke Rare Book Library. | B．Vennesla Library. |
| C．Suzzallo Library. | D．Library of Muyinga. |
| A．It is mainly intended for children. | B．It is built in the shape of a whale. |
| C．It is located within the campus. | D．It is a kind of culture complex. |
| A．A culture magazine | B．A travel brochure. |
| C．A website. | D．A historical book. |
2 . Some China Podcasts (播客) to Listen to
Whether you’re an old-timer or a newcomer to China, there’s always more to learn about this awesome country. To help in your never-ending thirst for knowledge, we’ve rounded up some most entertaining China-focused podcasts that hit on everything from history to business.
Tech Buzz China by Pandaily
Tech Buzz China by Pandaily is a technology podcast about China’s innovations. Its co-hosted by Rui Ma and Ying Lu, who are both seasoned China-watchers with years of experience working in the technology space in the country. They share and discuss the most important tech news from China every week.
The China History Podcast
Started in 2010, Laszlo Montgomery presents topics that cover 5, 000 years of Chinese history and culture. The show has a lot of unknown and interesting history lessons that help provide more color as to why China is the way it is. Topics like the history of Tang poetry, or the Hokkien people are analyzed and explored.
China Untold
The China Untold podcast is a program that aims to introduce listeners to lesser-known stories from the Middle Kingdom. From urban tales and extinct religions to China’s role in the exploration of space, this podcast hosted by Matt Bossons, is your essential guide to the unusual and wonderful aspects of the world’s most highly populated nation.
The Wasai Show
The Wasai Show is hosted by Ne to Trevino from Mexico and Alice He who is a local Chinese. In each episode, stories are collected from listeners about a topic and shared in a funny way by both comedians. The first half of the show is presented in English, followed by a Chinese section.
1. Who are the podcasts intended for?| A．Foreigners in China. | B．Chinese historians. |
| C．Technology enthusiasts. | D．Podcast hosts in China. |
| A．Tech Buzz China by Pan daily | B．The China History Podcast |
| C．China Untold | D．The Wasai Show |
| A．It is a talk show about local Chinese life. |
| B．It has a single host discussing various topics. |
| C．It features two hosts sharing stories from listeners. |
| D．It includes interviews with experts on Chinese culture. |
3 . Product placement (植入式广告) is a form of advertising in which a company pays a content creator to place its products on the set of a movie, TV show or music video. The oldest examples of products appearing in films date back to the production of a French motion picture in 1896. Recent years have witnessed the bloom of product placement. With viewers migrating to web videos, this trend makes sense.
When watching web videos, about 90% of consumers either skip or ignore those traditional ads that run before the video. So as advertisers struggle to reach potential consumers, they’re increasingly turning to product placement, spending their advertising budgets to get their ads into media content in ways that the ads can’t be skipped. Studies have shown product placement can increase viewer’s awareness of products and their positive attitudes toward them.
But not all product placement works as intended, and research has shown that advertisers need to engage in delicate dance with viewers to effectively influence them. Viewers tend to be turned off if the product placement is too obvious — as when a character in the show holds the product and talks about it. Most viewers don’t want to be immersed (沉浸) in an intense drama only to be reminded that they’re being targeted by corporations.
In contrast, viewers are most influenced by product placement in which the product or the brand name is spoken by one of the characters but not shown. These pieces of product placement are more likely to be noticed by viewers than those where products are simply shown on the screen. Also, viewers may be more attracted to product placement that appears earlier in a show or movie. Because they become more engaged as a movie or a show progresses. If the placement at the climax — the moment when their attention is fixed on what will happen next — they’re either less likely to notice the placement or more likely to be annoyed by it if they do notice it.
With increasing online viewers and better designed product placement, perhaps advertisers will consider product placement as their first choice. After all, it’s incredibly effective at getting the targeted audience interested without influencing their viewing experience.
1. What can we know about product placement?| A．It’s still popular nowadays. | B．It first appeared in TV shows. |
| C．It was overlooked in the 1890s. | D．It aims to make videos interesting. |
| A．It has a lower price. | B．It’s more interesting. |
| C．It’s less likely to be ignored by viewers. | D．It makes advertisers understand customers well. |
| A．Gain satisfaction. | B．Get confused. | C．Feel funny. | D．Lose interest. |
| A．Product Placement: the Future Trend for Advertising |
| B．Product Placement: a New Driving Force Behind Movies |
| C．Product Placement: a Mirror of the Advertisement History |
| D．Product Placement: the Perfect Companion to Online Videos |
The first regularly published newspaper in the English language was printed in Amsterdam in 1620. In 1621, an English newspaper was started in London and was published once a week. The first daily English newspaper was the Daily Courant (每日新闻). It came out in March 1702.
In 1690, Benjamin Harris printed the first American newspaper in Boston. But not long after it was first published, the government stopped the paper. In 1704, John Campbell started The Boston Newsletter (波士顿新闻通讯), the first newspaper published in the American colonies. By 1760, the colonies had more than thirty daily newspapers. There are now about 1,800 daily papers in the United States.
Today, as a group, English language newspapers have the largest circulation (发行量) in the world. But the largest circulation for a newspaper is that of the Japanese newspaper Asahi Dhimbun (朝日新闻).It sells more than 11 million copies every day.
1. The first daily newspaper came out in _____.
| A．59 BC | B．700’s | C．1609 | D．1620 |
| A．England | B．Germany | C．France | D．Sweden |
| A．Washington | B．New York | C．Boston | D．New Orleans |
| A．1621 | B．1704 | C．1760 | D．1800 |
| A．The first regularly published newspaper in the English language was printed in Amsterdam. |
| B．English language newspaper sells more than 11 million copies every day. |
| C．Europe didn’t have a regularly published newspaper in 1608. |
| D．The first daily English newspaper came out in March 1702. |
