After winning five Grammy trophies(格莱美奖) at this year’ awards ceremony, Finneas O'Connell became a name at the tip of everybody’s tongue - mostly in relation to his younger sister, pop superstar Billie Eilish, but increasingly in his own right too.
The 22-year-old Los Angeles native is most famously known to have produced and co-written his sister Eilish’s album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?.
Along the way, O'Connell has marched to his own beat and presented a sound that is unlike anything else that can be found currently on official music charts or on the airwaves. Weird-pop, Gothic-pop, Avant-pop(先锋派流行音乐), Art-pop. Even by using these definitive terms(称号), critics still can't pin down(解释清楚) O'Connell. And even if they try, be simply rejects the terms.
O'Connell and Eilish were home -schooled by their actor- musician parents. O'Connell entered show business as a child actor. From Bad Teacher and his mother’s Life Inside Out to comedy favorite Modern Family and musical TV series Glee, he knew not to let his personality get in the way of his acting roles.
Talent definitely runs in the family. O'Connell’s fondness for music was instilled(逐渐灌输) in him from a young age. “We have never stressed getting a job and making a living,” his father said, “If we modeled anything, it was being broke and artsy(附庸风雅的).”
Not forgetting his acting roots, O'Connell uses film as a metaphor(隐喻) to describe the current climate of music and has expressed this with singles-only releases. “Music singles are like [blockbuster] movies made by film studios to carry the independent films. There’s Avengers music. Even though I think Avengers is great, my favorite movie is The Social Network, I’d rather make music that feels kind of like that.”
O’Connell is working in music full-time now, preparing Eilish s next album and his own full-length album while experimenting and learning more production ideas and sounds. But Finneas the actor will not turn down acting gigs(临时工作) if an ideal role is offered.
1.What can we say about Finneas O'Connell?
A.He has his own musical style. B.He prefers acting to writing music.
C.He is a hardworking and considerate man. D.He will only focus on music in the future.
2.Which of the following is right?
A.Billie Eilish’s father loves her more.
B.Billie Bilish is an actor and singer now.
C.Finncas O'connell’s parents educated him at home.
D.Finneas O'connell’s mother wanted him to live on music.
3.What can we infer from the article?
A.A good medicine tastes bitter. B.The role of gene is powerful.
C.Music is the mother of all arts. D.School education often ruins a talent.
4.The author writes this article to__________.
A.express his admiration for a famous star B.report entertaining information to readers
C.emphasize the importance of family love D.discuss the secret to success with readers
假定你是李华。你的英国朋友George对中国饮食文化很感兴趣，在来信中想请你就“如何学做中国菜”给出建议。请你用英语回信，要点如下：
1.询问近况；
2.提出建议；
3.表达祝愿。
注意：
1.词数100—120左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
After four silent years, the 27-year-old has finally introduced herself to the world again with Hello, the opening song from her third album 25. The album will ________ on Nov 20. As soon as her comeback single debuted (首发) on Oct 23, Hello ________ became the most downloaded song on the iTunes charts in 85 different countries, and ________ the record for the most views on the video website Vevo in 24 hours.
Although Adele is a very ________ singer now, music wasn’t always ________ she saw herself doing. At age 10, when she saw her grandmother’s ________ over the death of Adele’s grandfather, she ________ herself as a heart surgeon (外科医生). “I wanted to fix people’s hearts,” she said, remembering the childhood ________ she’d had in biology classes ________ she found out that her real talent was for singing.
Adele didn’t go to medical school, but many would ________ that she still has healing powers. Her songs find “the kind of memory every listener holds somewhere in their ________ .This kind of emotion is what people have always liked in Adele”, said The Telegraph. “She writes a pop diary, ________ the simple secrets of her heart.”
________ , Adele keeps her own diaries of her albums. Most successful pop stars make albums at a fast pace, but not Adele. After her second album 21____the 2012 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, she made it ___with her label that she would spend “four or five years” making her next album. “I’m in it for the long run,” she told Vogue magazine. “You’re only as ________ as your next record.”
Instead of chasing ________, Adele moved to the countryside and remained ________ . In her free time, she loved to watch TV ________ Teen Mom, American Horror Story, and The Walking Dead. Living life as normally as possible is ________ to the singer’s art.
1.A.carry on B.come out C.settle down D.turn up
2.A.slightly B.briefly C.approximately D.quickly
3.A.broke B.consulted C.sought D.measured
4.A.familiar B.successful C.modest D.considerate
5.A.that B.which C.what D.when
6.A.attention B.relief C.fault D.pain
7.A.pictured B.spotted C.reminded D.forgave
8.A.devotion B.belief C.interest D.scene
9.A.once B.until C.as though D.now that
10.A.argue B.admire C.appreciate D.agree
11.A.heart B.life C.childhood D.generation
12.A.hiding B.earning C.sharing D.exploring
13.A.In her turn B.In fact C.By chance D.On the contrary
14.A.announced B.respected C.delivered D.won
15.A.obvious B.energetic C.worthwhile D.unexpected
16.A.limited B.violent C.good D.cheerful
17.A.support B.fame C.dream D.independence
18.A.silent B.secure C.powerful D.faithful
19.A.projects B.performances C.quiz D.series
20.A.fundamental B.impressive C.attractive D.unbelievable
Besides being fun, well-managed festivals and events offer a host of economic and social benefits to communities. 1. There are risks and costs related to the effort.
Festivals attract visitors and boost the economy. 2. On-site spending includes admission fees, parking fees, food, beverage and souvenir sales — and more. But off-site spending related to festivals brings income for communities, too. For example, visitors stop at local gas stations, souvenir shops, and restaurants — the list goes on. Festivals also provide free marketing and advertising for local businesses as visitors talk about their fun experiences when they go back home. If visitors post comments and photos about their experiences on Facebook or other social media, so much the better. The economic benefits of successful festivals affect local tourism and non-tourism-related businesses alike.
3. Planning and conducting festivals involves many members of the community, which produces a number of social benefits. “The best thing about being involved with festivals and events is the opportunity to help build a community, develop a sense of pride within a community, and engage a community,” says Chris Romano, a business consultant with Thrivent Financial Services. “Honestly, in my professional career, I’ve never found something outside a community festival that can do that to the same degree.” Experts agree that hometown pride is a critical factor in the development and improvement of any community. People with community pride are more likely to speak positively about their town to others and to volunteer with organizations and activities that support the common good.
Festivals will teach visitors new things. Whatever a festival’s theme, it’s bound to be instructional and visitors are bound to learn from it. Of course, education is another social benefit of festivals. 4. Learning is a big byproduct of the annual Lady Slipper Celebration in the northwestern Minnesota community of Blackduck. The community launched the celebration, named after the Minnesota state flower, to showcase and promote understanding of the area’s natural resources and Native American culture. This educational experience helped visitors connect to the area, who were pleased with their experience and planned to return to the area.
A.But hosting festivals also poses challenges.
B.Festivals may help to improve community pride.
C.Festivals play a significant role in developing relationships.
D.This is hands-on, experiential learning offered in the fun context of celebration.
E.They spend money, which boosts the local economy both on and off the festival site.
F.While a successful event raises a community’s fame, a less-than-successful effort does just the opposite.
An international team of scientists has discovered a stellar black hole in Earth’s “cosmic backyard” containing the mass of 70 suns.
It’s a black hole that forms after stars die, collapse, and explode. Researchers had long believed that the size limit was only 20 times the mass of our sun because as these stars die, they lose most of their mass through explosions that force matter and gas swept away by stellar winds.
This theory has now been toppled by LB-1, the newly discovered black hole. Located about 15,000 light years away, it has a mass 70 times greater than our sun, according to a press release from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
“Black holes of such mass should not even exist in our galaxy (星系), according to most of the present models of stellar evolution,” said Liu Jifeng, head of the team that made the discovery.
“LB-1 is twice as massive as what we thought possible. Now theorists will have to take up the challenge of explaining its formation.”
Scientists are now scratching their heads at how LB-1 got so huge.
The team has proposed some theories. LB-1’s sheer size suggests that it “was not formed from the collapse of only one star,” the study said — instead, it could potentially be two smaller black holes orbiting each other.
Another possibility is that it formed from “fallback supernova (超行星).” This is when a supernova — the last stage of an exploding star — ejects (喷射) material during the explosion, which then falls back into the supernova, creating a black hole. This fallback formation is theoretically possible, but scientists have never been able to prove or observe it.
There are several types of black holes and stellar black holes like LB-1 are on the smaller side, according to NASA. Supermassive black holes are much bigger — they can be billions of times the mass of our sun.
Scientists believe supermassive black holes may have connection with the formation of galaxies, as they often exist at the center of the mass star stems but it is still not clear exactly how, or which form first.
1.According to scientists, what might account for the formation of LB-1?
A.The material ejected in the explosion of a supernova.
B.The smaller black holes moving around each other.
C.The evolution of the solar system.
D.The collapse of a certain star.
2.What does the word “toppled” in paragraph 3 probably mean?
A.Confirmed B.Strengthened. C.Overturned. D.Refused.
3.What is the purpose of writing this article?
A.To inform readers of the basic knowledge about black holes.
B.To share the recent development of the black hole discovery.
C.To show the importance of discovering black holes for science.
D.To report achievements scientists have made in black hole theory.
4.What might be the best title for the passage?
A.The Latest Discovery of Galaxies
B.Proposed Theories of Black Holes
C.The Possible Formation of the Black Holes
D.Biggest Stellar-mass Black Hole Discovered
Thirty-two cases of illegal hunting or trading wild animals have been uncovered involving 33 suspects since a crackdown against illegal wildlife trade was launched on April 10.
Beijing police seized 74 wild animals grouped in China into the first-grade and second-grade state protected animals, including African grey parrots and cockatoos, as well as nearly 50 wild birds and 21 pangolin scales.
On April 16, police in the capital city’s Chaoyang district caught two suspects, who were respectively identified as Liu and Wang, for buying wild animals, and recovered more than 40 wild birds, including one cockatoo and one African grey parrot, at their homes, the statement said, adding the two suspects have been detained (拘留).
In another case, a 35-year-old man surnamed Hu was also sentenced to imprisonment in Daxing district after he was found selling wild animals through QQ, a popular instant messaging tool in the country. He was caught on April 14.
The bureau highlighted the importance of protecting the wildlife, noting Chinese laws and a new decision adopted by the nation’s top legislature (立法机关) have also shown the country’s determination against illegal trade of wild animals.
The Chinese Criminal Law clarifies that those illegally hunting, buying, selling or transporting wild animals on the state protection list, endangered animals or the wildlife-related products will face an imprisonment of more than 10 years and fines if their behaviors are identified as “extremely serious”.
On Feb 24, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislative body, also passed the decision that clearly states all wildlife on the protection list of the existing Wild Animal Protect Law or other laws, and all wild animals, including those artificially bred and farmed, are not permitted to be hunted or traded.
With the strict crackdown campaign against illegal trade of wild animals on the go in Beijing, the whole nation is attaching great importance to wild life protection.
1.The author mentions the cases at the very beginning of the passage to ______ .
A.explain the new laws on wildlife protection
B.show the present situation of wildlife extinction
C.highlight the problem of illegal trade of wild animals
D.introduce Beijing’s campaign against illegal wildlife trade
2.What can we learn from the first three paragraphs?
A.The number of wild animals is decreasing sharply.
B.Hunting and trading wildlife has become a nationwide concern.
C.Effective actions have been taken to prevent wildlife from illegal trade.
D.The strong action to stop trading illegal wild animals has a long way to go.
3.According to the Chinese Criminal Law, ______ .
A.serious actions of trading wild animals will face fierce punishment
B.people risk heavy fines but no imprisonment for trade of wildlife
C.the trade of wildlife-related products will receive no punishment
D.those who hunt illegally may face 10 years of imprisonment
4.Which best describes the author’s tone in the passage?
A.Determined. B.Hopeful. C.Unconcerned. D.Doubtful.
