1 . I'd never heard of the yangqin - an 18^th century Chinese stringed instrument — until this past Sunday, when I had the pleasure of hearing Eastman graduate and music performer Zhang Wenzhuo perform on it in a virtual concert.

Wenzhuo, a Chinese native, began her training on the yangqin at age five. When she was only 13, Wenzhuo was awarded a scholarship to the Arts School of Hebei Province; the highly competitive program only accepted a single yangqin student every two years. After graduation, she placed first in nationwide competitions and was admitted into the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts in Beijing, where she was awarded her bachelor's in yangqin performance in 2005. She obtained her doctorate from Boston University in music education in 2015 and studied ethnomusicology at Eastman from 2017 to 2019. Wenzhuo has performed with countless orchestras and groups of musicians and won countless awards for her performances.

Before Wenzhuo performed on her yangqin, she presented a brief historical background of the instrument's origin, and discussed its continued usage up to the present day. Determined by musicologists to be based on the similarly-structured English hammered dulcimer (大扬琴), the yangqin was first used in Chinese folk music performance and operas. As time went on, performances began to be sponsored by the country, and yangqin performers were given a path to higher levels of social mobility.

Wenzhuo performed four pieces, three tracing their origins to centuries' old Chinese composers, and one from the modern era. Needless to say, Wenzhuo's performances sounded fantastic. The yangqin is a unique and beautiful instrument and its sound, coupled with Wenzhuo's musical ability, allowed the four greatly differing pieces to stand together as a wonderful introduction to the instrument.

It was fascinating to learn about the yangqin and a joy to watch Wenzhuo perform on it.

1. What can we learn about Zhang Wenzhuo?

A．She has been trained for 13 years.	B．She topped many competitions.
C．She studied ethnomusicology in Boston.	D．She became a bachelor at Eastman.

2. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?

A．Wenzhuo's personalities.

B．Wenzhuo's nationality.

C．Wenzhuo's contributions.

D．Wenzhuo's schooling.

3. What made Wenzhuo's performances fantastic?

A．Her high level of social mobility.	B．Her knowledge of the instrument.
C．Her gift and the charm of the yangqin.	D．Her understanding of different cultures.

4. How does the author sound toward the yangqin?

A．Favorable.

B．Curious.

C．Strange.

D．Cold.

2 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

The Nobel Prize is the most famous honor in the world. The prizes were first awarded on December 10, 1901. That was five years after the death of Alfred Nobel, the     1     (create) of the prizes. For many years, prizes were awarded in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. A     2     (six) award for economics was created in 1968.

Marie Curie was the first woman     3     (receive) the award, in 1903 in physics. She     4     (share) the award with her husband and another scientist. In 1911, she was awarded the prize in chemistry. Curie is one of the only two people ever to win Nobel Prizes in different areas.     5     (surprising), her daughter Irene also won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. They were the only mother-daughter pair to have won the prize.

The prize committees are made up     6     famous scholars and scientists. Nobel prize winners     7     (choose) very carefully. The voting is top secret. Prizes are presented to the winners every year on December 10. The prize winners are some of the most important people in the world.     8     (win) the award helps them continue their work. The Nobel Foundation awards cash, a diploma     9     a gold medal to each prize winner. The cash amount changes based on     10     it is given to one individual or shared among a group of people.

3 . The winners of The Cultural City of East Asia in 2021 have been chosen, with four cities in China, Japan and South Korea winning the title, the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced on Sunday.

Shaoxing of East China’s Zhejiang Province, Dunhuang in Northwest China’s Gansu Province, Suncheon in South Korea and Kitakyushu in Japan were selected through votes held in their respective countries in 2020. Choosing Dunhuang and Shaoxing at the same time marks the first time that one country has selected two cities in the program.

These four cities are major cultural landmarks in their respective countries. Dunhuang was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road and is best known for its nearby Mogao Grottoes, which contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art from a period extending 1, 000 years. Suncheon is an eco－city in South Korea that is a major agricultural and industrial center and also known for Suncheon Bay. Kitakyushu city was formed in 1963 through a combination of five big cities centered around the ancient city of Kokura. It is also where the already delayed 12th meeting of the three countries’ culture ministers will be held in 2021. Suncheon and Kitakyushu also won The Cultural City of East Asia in 2020.

These four cities are active centers for art and cultural communication. According to the announcement, the four cities will work closely together to promote cultural development and prosperity in East Asia through sustained cultural cooperation and close exchanges, and will jointly support the preparation and hosting of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 2021 and the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing in 2022.

The “The Cultural City of East Asia” program was created based on an agreement reached at a meeting of ministers of culture from Japan, China, and South Korea in 2013. Every year one or two cities in each country are selected with the aim to develop their ties through culture and arts; those cities host a variety of cultural and artistic events to introduce traditional and modern arts and culture as well as different lifestyles to visitors.

1. What’s special about the selection of The Cultural City of East Asia in 2021?

A．All the cities were on the list for the first time.

B．All the cities are well－known all over the world.

C．Two cities of one country were selected in a year.

D．Three countries work together to make the selection.

2. In which city will the 12th meeting of the culture ministers be held?

A．Shaoxing.

B．Dunhuang.

C．Suncheon.

D．Kitakyushu.

3. What’ s paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．The culture of the four cities.	B．The mission of the four cities.
C．The history of the four cities.	D．The comparison of the four cities.

4. What’s the initial purpose of the “The Cultural City of East Asia” program?

A．To preserve local traditional arts, culture and lifestyles.

B．To support the preparation and hosting of the Olympics.

C．To strengthen the city relationship through culture and arts.

D．To host various cultural and artistic events to attract visitors.

4 . Children's average daily time spent watching television or using mobile device increased from 53 minutes at 12 months old to more than 150 minutes at 3 years old, according to an analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. Children aged 7 were more likely to spend the highest amount of screen time if they had been in bad home-based childcare or were born to first-time mothers.

“Our results indicate that screen habits begin early,” said Edwina Yeung, an investigator in National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), “This finding suggests that interventions to reduce screen time could have a better chance of success if introduced early.”

In the research, mothers of 4,000 children responded to questions on their kids' media habits when they were 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36 months of age.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends avoiding digital media exposure for children under 18 months of age, introducing children 18 to 24 months of age to screen media slowly, and limiting screen time to an hour a day for children from 2 to 5 years of age. In the current study, researchers found that 87% of the children had screen time exceeding these recommendations. However, while screen time increased throughout infancy, after 8 years of age, screen time fell to under 1. 5 hours per day. The researchers believe this decrease relates to time consumed by school-related activities.

The study authors classified the children into two groups based on how much their aver- age daily screen time increased from age 1 to age 3. The first group, 73% of the total, had the lower increase, from an average of nearly 51 minutes a day to nearly an hour and 47 minutes a day. The second group, 27% of the total, had the higher increase, from nearly 37 minutes of screen time a day to about 4 hours a day. Higher levels of parental education were associated with the lower odds of inclusion in the second group.

1. Which of the following is a reason for children's addiction to the media?

A．Low economic level.	B．Poor family education
C．The media's attraction.	D．The shortage of parents' love.

2. What's Edwina's advice?

A．To stop children using the media.	B．To help parents care for children well
C．To reduce children's screen time earlier	D．To increase intervention to children

3. How did the author develop the main body of the text?

A．By giving some examples.	B．By showing some data.
C．By analyzing some reasons.	D．By concluding some results.

4. What does the underlined word "odds" in the last paragraph mean?

A．Probability.

B．Price.

C．Cost.

D．Income.

5 . Happiness is not a warm phone, according to a new study exploring the link between young life satisfaction and screen time. The study was led by professor of psychology Jean M. Twenge at San Diego State University (SDSU).

To research this link, Twenge, along with colleagues Gabrielle Martin at SDSU and W. Keith Campbell at the University of Georgia, dealt with data from the Monitoring the Future (MtF) study, a nationally representative survey of more than a million U. S. 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-graders. The survey asked students questions about how often they spent time on their Phones, tablets and computers, as well as questions about their face-to-face social interactions and their overall happiness.

On average found that teens who spent more time in front of screen devices — playing computer games, using social media, texting and video chatting — were less happy than those who invested more time in non-screen activities like sports, reading newspapers and magazines, and face-to-face social interactions.

"The key to digital media use and happiness is limited use," Twenge said. "Aim to spend no more than two hours a day on digital media, and try to increase the amount of time you spend seeing friends face-to-face and exercising — two activities reliably linked to greater happiness."

Looking at historical trends from the same age groups since the 1990s, it's easy to find that the increase of screen devices over time happened at the same time as a general drop-off in reported happiness in U. S. teens. Specifically, young peopled life satisfaction and happiness declined sharply after 2012. That's the year when the percentage of Americans who owned a smartphone rose above 50 percent. By far the largest change in teens' lives between 2012 and 2016 was the increase in the amount of time they spent on digital media, and the following decline in in-person social activities and sleep.

1. Which method did Twenge's team use for the study?

A．Calculating students' happiness.

B．Asking students certain questions.

C．Analyzing data from a survey.

D．Doing experiments on screen time.

2. How does the author develop the finding of the study in paragraph 3?

A．By making a comparison.

B．By giving an example.

C．By making an argument.

D．By introducing a concept.

3. What is the purpose of the last paragraph?

A．To draw a conclusion from the study.

B．To offer some advice to the readers.

C．To prove social activities' importance.

D．To support the researchers' finding.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Quitting Phones Equals Happiness

B．Screen Time Should Be Banned

C．Teens' Lives Have Changed Sharply

D．Screen-addicted Teens Are Unhappier

6 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

In 2020, the Nobel Peace Prize     1     (award) to the World Food Programme (WFP) for its efforts to fight hunger, for its contributions to improving conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas, and for its efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.

The WFP,     2     (found) in 1961, is the largest food-assistance branch of the United Nations. In emergencies, it is often the first on the scene, delivering food assistance to the victims of wars, civil conflicts, earthquakes, and crop     3     (fail) due to natural disasters. In 2019, the UN organization helped 97 million people in 88 countries    4    are victims of serious food insecurity and hunger, the    5     (high) number since 2012.

In 2015, ending hunger was adopted    6    one of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Primarily, the WFP works to realize this goal. It works hard     7     (help) people who cannot produce or obtain enough food for    8     (they) and their families.

The WFP plays    9    important role in fighting hunger for world peace. The Nobel Committee wishes to emphasize that providing aid to increase food security not just     10     (effective) prevents hunger, but also helps to promote stability and peace.

7 . Over the past two weeks, I've lost my passport, barked at a neighbor and published a picture of myself wearing a kid's superhero costume. Forgetfulness, anger and poor decision-making are all signs of sleep shortage.

And I'm not alone.

“I average around six hours a night,” admits Paul, who's lived in Shanghai for three years. “But how much of that is deep sleep, I don't know.”

Lisa works in a hotel. “I struggle to switch off,” she says, “a glass of red wine with dinner helps.”

March 21 is the World Sleep Day, an annual event in celebration of slumber, or sleep. When sleep problems become a global epidemic, it's time to ask: “Am I getting enough?”

The lack of sleep throughout industrialized nations is damaging our health, wellness and safety. We're dog-tired, the impact of which is enough to keep anyone up at night.

A global experiment is performed on 1.6 billion people across 70 countries twice a year: daylight savings. When one hour of sleep is lost in spring, there's a 24 percent increase in heart attacks, and in autumn, when the hour is regained, a 21 percent reduction.

Good sleep increases concentration, attention and decision-making. Creativity goes up, and our ability to find novel solutions to complex problems is hugely improved. Sleep reduces mood swings and stress levels. We drink less alcohol and make better food choices when rested.

Take sleep seriously. It's not a luxury, but a biological necessity. It's our life-support system and let it be our superpower.

1. Why does the author mention his own experiences in Paragraph 1?

A．To draw attention to his situation.	B．To complain about lacking sleep.
C．To introduce the topic of the text.	D．To raise a question about deep sleep.

2. What does the underlined phrase “switch off” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Turn off.

B．Disinterest someone.

C．Stop talking.

D．Fall asleep.

3. What is the finding of the global experiment?

A．The loss of sleep increases the risk of heart attacks.

B．Short sleep is linked to mental health problems.

C．Good sleep leads to better work performances.

D．Red wine is effective in treating sleeplessness.

4. What does the author suggest about sleep?

A．Celebrating the World Sleep Day.	B．Paying attention to sleep problems.
C．Getting six hours' sleep every day.	D．Taking sleeping pills when necessary.

8 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Most of us already know that attending a universal college means getting advantages and opportunities    1    a better future. In this Buzzle post, we will    2    (discuss) some important points all the time on why we all should attend a college.

Many parents and high school    3    ( student) often want to know why college is important, and what can be gained from it. After all, a college education is not something    4    comes cheap and it    5    (do) take a few years before an individual can start to earn his/her own income. However, this is thinking about the future career education that becomes important. We know the purpose of a college education is to live     6    better life.

Education is, after all, an    7    (invest) and the more time invested in it, you will    8    (eventual) translate it into a greater return. It is said that a person with a degree has the ability    9    (earn) more than twice the amount that a person with a high school diploma will earn, in their lifetimes. Moreover, a degree gives one the option of    10    (enjoy) greater health benefits, tax benefits, and also garner respect in the society.

9 . More young Chinese are making preparations for their future by buying life and medical insurance, Chen Meiling reports. Jessie Dong, 30, sent her life insurance policy to her mother, which says, if she dies before 50, family members will get a compensation (补偿)of 3 million yuan (S458,820).

Recently, the only child of her mother's colleague died at the age of 35, and all that was left to his lonely, old parents was sorrow. Dong, a researcher of social science in Beijing, says she doesn't want such a tragedy (悲剧) to happen, and hopes to be able to support her family even if she is gone. Buying insurance became one of her wisest choices.

She pays about 350 yuan every month for the life insurance, and about 300 yuan annually for critical illness insurance with coverage of 4 million yuan, in case she runs out of money for “having to treat a serious disease someday” "It's a good way to face the unpredictable risks of life with a small amount of money. Of course hopefully I won't use it," she says, adding she purchased insurance on Alipay, as she is too busy to visit insurance companies in-person, and she plans to continue investing (投资)in it.

The younger generation, those born in the 1990s, in China is showing a higher interest in buying insurance, driven by the increased awareness of crisis and a willingness to improve risk resistance ability, experts say. The fact that   more people   get severe diseases at a younger age or feel their worse health condition, as well as uncertainties brought about by     the COVID-19 pandemic(流行病) to both their personal lives and on a Socio-economic level, also strengthens anxiety and is contributing   to the trend.

1. What does the first paragraph mainly tell us?

A．The young are afraid of dying.

B．Jessie Dong’s mother has passes away.

C．Jessie gain a large sum.

D．Buying life   insurance’s popular with the young.

2. How does Dong get the life insurance?

A．By WeChat.	B．By Alipay.
C．In cash.	D．By Taobao.

3. What are the young uncertain about due to the COVID-19 pandemic?

A．Their serious diseases and poor health.

B．Their higher interest and awareness of crises.

C．Their life of high quality and living standard.

D．Their personal lives and socio-economic level.

4. What's the best title of the passage?

A．A Future Plan	B．A Good Choice
C．A Health Investment	D．A Large Company

10 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

The spreading COVID-19 has canceled several touring performances from top music artists. But recently, some of these musicians     1     （find）a new place to sing: their living rooms. John Legend, Bono, Pink and Keith Urban are among those who have all live-streamed（直播的）performances from their homes. On Tuesday, Legend sang for nearly an hour in a show     2     was live-streamed on Facebook and Instagram. "This is     3     cool way to connect with people and make them feel some kind of love," he said. Legend's performance was in support     4     the World Health Organization's（WHO）newly-launched（新发布的）online concert series "Together at Hone".

Others have came up with     5     （create）ways to communicate with people. Miley Cyrus started a daily Instagram live talk show, called "Bright Minded: Live with Miley", in order     6     （lift）people's spirits. Brandon Flowers posted a video of     7     （he）washing his hands while     8     （sing）his song "Mr. Brightside". Kevin O'Donnell said, "It's     9     （extreme）unbelievable to see artists coming together to come up with ways to bring    10     （happy）to their fans given this crazy time that we're living in at the moment.