3 . Swimming in an ocean of stars

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It’s my great honor to receive the Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society. Thank you.

I started writing sci-fi because I looked for a way to escape the dull life, and to reach out, with imagination, to the mysterious time and space that I could never truly reach. But then I realized that the world around me became more and more like science fiction, and this process is speeding up. Future is like pouring rain. It reaches us even before we have time to open the umbrella. Meanwhile, when sci-fi becomes reality, it loses all its magic, and that frustrates me. Sci-fi will soon become part of our lives. The only thing I can do, is to push my imagination further to even more distant time and space to hunt for the mysteries of sci-fi. As a sci-fi author, I think my job is to write things down before they get really boring.

This being said, the world is moving in the direction opposite to Clarke’s predictions. In 2001, A Space Odyssey, in the year of 2001, which has already passed, human beings have built magnificent cities in space, and established permanent colonies on the moon, and huge nuclear-powered spacecraft have sailed to Saturn. However, today, in 2018, the walk on the moon has become a distant memory. And the furthest reach of our manned space flights is just as long as the two-hour mileage of a high-speed train passing through my city.

As a sci-fi writer, I have been striving to continue Arthur Clarke’s imagination. I believe that the boundless space is still the best direction and destination for human imagination. I have always written about the magnitude and mysteries of the universe, interstellar expeditions, and the lives and civilizations happening in distant worlds. This remains today, although this may seem childish or even outdated. It says on Arthur Clarke’s epitaph,“He never grew up, but he never stopped growing.”

Many people misunderstand sci-fi as trying to predict the future, but this is not true. It just makes a list of possibilities of what may happen in the future, like displaying a pile of cobblestones for people to see and play with. Science fiction can never tell which scenario of the future will actually become the real future. This is not its job. It’s also beyond its capabilities. But one thing is certain: in the long run, for all these countless possible futures, any future without space travel is gloomy, no matter how prosperous our own planet becomes.

Sci-fi was writing about the age of digital information and it eventually became true. I now look forward to the time when space travel finally becomes the ordinary. By then, Mars and the asteroid belts will be boring places and countless people are building a home over there. Jupiter and its many satellites will be tourist attractions. The only obstacle preventing people from going there for good, will be the crazy price.

But even at that time, the universe is still unimaginably big that even our wildest imagination fails to catch its edge. And even the closest star remains out of reach. The vast ocean of stars can always carry our infinite imagination.

Thank you all.

1. What does the writer mean by the underlined sentence in the second paragraph?

A．Science technology has been developing fast before we realize it.

B．What happened in our life was mysterious and beyond our imagination.

C．We had a good outlook for the future and were desperate to realize our dream.

D．We managed to escape from the boring life and looked forward to the prosperous future.

2. What can we learn from the third paragraph?

A．What Clarke foresaw is childish and out of date, going against scientific theories.

B．It is feasible for human beings to fulfill challenging space missions that Clarke forecast.

C．Human beings have deserted imaging and exploring the attractive and boundless space.

D．Clarke’s predictions haven’t happened in real life and the reality won’t change very soon.

3. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?

A．What is written in science fiction can never become a reality.

B．The writer considers it his duty to create sci-fi with author Clarke.

C．Science fiction provides readers with possibilities that future will bring about.

D．High price will likely stop humans from dreaming of living on other planets.

4. What’s the writer’s attitude towards sci-fi creation?

A．Curious	B．Passionate
C．Concerned	D．Suspicious

4 .

A Christmas Carol was written by Charles Dickens. The first 6,000 copies of the book were sold out in a week. And the book has inspired many plays and movies. The first play was put on in 1844. The first two movies were silent films made in 1901 and 1908. Since then, the story has been remade more than 60 times for television and cinema. What makes such a tale so attractive? Audiences have always loved a good plot, a villain(反面人物) who harms other people or breaks the law, and the ending of right over wrong. The book offers all three.

The book tells the story of a man named Ebenezer Scrooge. He is mean and cruel(残忍的) to his clerk and turns away his only living relative. One night, Scrooge is visited by three spirits. The first shows scenes from Scrooge’s youth that led to this present state. The second takes him to the homes of his clerk and his nephew. Here Scrooge sees that people can be happy without lots of money. The spirit also shows him the desperate poor people of London. The third spirit shows Scrooge will die alone, and no one will care if he continues to live as he has. At last the message is understood, and Scrooge repents. He becomes generous and caring to all around him, especially to his clerk’s sick son, Tiny Tim.

Every year, thousands of people watch A Christmas Carol. Why? They may be touched by its lessons on the true meanings of wealth and happiness. They may enjoy the special effects and feelings or watching every year may be just a habit. Viewers never seem to grow tired of the old miser(守财奴), Scrooge, and his dramatic message of hope and change.

1. What do we know about the book A Christmas Carol?

A．It was written in the early 19th century.

B．Dickens completed the book in a week.

C．It has been adapted for cinema and television.

D．It didn’t attract readers when published for the first time.

2. The third spirit shows Scrooge         .

A．where he will die and who will care about him	B．how others care about his present life
C．when and how he will die alone	D．what his future life will be like

3. The underlined part “Scrooge repents” probably means          .

A．Scrooge feels sorry for what he has done	B．Scrooge does things as he did before
C．Scrooge is angry with the three spirits	D．Scrooge gives the three spirits a hand

5 . Whatever you've got planned this summer — time at the beach, traveling to exotic destinations,or barbecuing in your backyard — you need a good book to keep you company. Luckily, our “GMA” book editor has picked an exciting list of must-reads to keep the pages turning through the summer.

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

What if your version of the story is the wrong one? That's what "Trust Exercise" asks. What starts as a love story between two teens at an arts school with a charming teacher becomes an investigation into the ways teenagers protect themselves. As the perspective of the book shifts, the truth breaks. Susan Choi keeps you on your toes until the very last sentence.

Rules for Visiting by Jessica Francis Kane

This beautiful novel tackles loneliness in the digital age and the lost art of visiting. Shy May is given some unexpected time off as a university gardener and is inspired to reconnect with four once-close friends. She chooses to bypass her friends' online lives to instead meet them IRL( in real life) . Gives a whole new meaning to Instagram vs.   reality.

Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner

Get a box of tissues and get ready to meet Jo and Bethie Kaufman — two very different sisters — whose lives, twists and turns we follow over 70 years. New York Times best-selling author Jennifer Weiner tackles what it means to be a woman over various generations in this exciting novel.

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

From the No. 1 New York Times best-selling author of “Eat Pray Love” comes a delicious love story about showgirls in 1940s New York City. Gilbert brings charm, adventure and the idea that you don't have to be a good girt to be a good person.

1. What does Trust Exercise focus on?

A．Teen love.	B．Arts school education.
C．Truth and lies.	D．Teenagers' self-protection.

2. Which book is relevant to social networking?

A．Trust Exercise,	B．Rules for Visiting.
C．City of Girls.	D．Mrs, Everything.

3. What do Mrs. Everything and City of Girls have in common?

A．They feature history stories.

B．The two stories happened in the 1940s.

C．They are by New York Times best-selling authors.

D．The characters have influenced various generations.

4. What is the purpose of the text?

A．To recommend.	B．To review.
C．To compare.	D．To advertize.