2 . What will our life be like in 50 years? No one knows the answer exactly (确切地), but we are sure that it will be very different from the life today. My brother Jim Green makes some predictions. Here are some of his ideas.

First, people will have less work to do, and robots will do most work. People will use robots to make cars, do the housework, look after sick people and teach students. People will spend most of their time playing sports and traveling. So people will become stronger and healthier, and they will live to be about 200 years old.

Second, cars will become very small and computers will control (控制) their speed. So there will be fewer accidents on the road. Planes will be very popular and most people would like to take them to travel.

Third, people will be able to live in the sea, on the moon or on Mars. The earth won’t be crowded or noisy. So there will be more space for people to plant trees. There will be less pollution, and the air will become much fresher.

Finally, water shortage will become one of the most serious problems. If people don’t save water now, there will be water wars in 50 years.

3 . We are now living in the 21st century. Is your classroom living in the 21st century, too? Tony is a student in Grade 8 at an American middle school. He was surprised when he saw his modern ______ on the first day of school.

In Tony’s classroom, there are many new electronics, like iPads. This semester, they will ______ the electronics to take notes, watch videos and do projects and homework. “It’s ______,”said Tony,“ I prefer using an iPad to work on math or other projects ______ my team members.”

The school uses new technology in classrooms to help students see, hear, touch and sometimes experience their tasks, “Technology is pretty common in most of our classroom now,” the head teacher said, “We’re trying to use technology to ______ the world up to kids. It can bring the outside world in. ” Science teacher Mr. Miller agrees. “It is a ______ way for students to know the outside world.” he said.

Mr. Miller now regards himself as a guide of learning ______ as a teacher. “If they have a question for me, I will try to teach them ______ to find the answers rather than tell them what the answers are,” he said. Dale, another student, loves technology. He was not really interested in class before. ______ now he likes the classes very much. “It helps me use what I know about technology at school,” Dale said, “Most importantly, I ______ the classroom. This, of course, will help my studies.”

A

About 70 million Americans are trying to lose weight. That is almost 1 out of 3 people in the United States. This means they eat less of certain food,     1     fat and sugar. Other people exercise, take medicines, or even have     2    .

Losing weight is not easy, and it can cost a lot of money. But why do so many people in the United States want to lose weight? Many people want to look young. Others     3     their health.

Doctors say being overweight is not healthy. Almost 30 million Americans’ weight is     4     20% more than their ideal weight. In fact, the United States is the most overweight country in the world.

B

Nowadays, more and more people are getting glued to the     5     of their mobiles and laptops. Not only youth but the older generation is also getting addicted to the Internet.

Traditions connect people. It’s up to us to what degree we want to save our traditions. For example, human labor has been replaced in factories or industries to     6     traditional clothes. It’s just that with advancement in technology, the production has become easier.

Yes, many traditional skills and many traditions are     7    . But technology and traditions can go hand in hand. Technology has surely erased many traditions but it is impossible to     8     make tradition die out.

On Dec 9, three Chinese astronauts who are working aboard the Tiangong Space Station, gave a lecture above Earth and showed millions of students their life there. They also did some fun s    1     experiments. Let’s take a look at some of them.

The human body grows with the pull of Earth’s gravity (重力). But in space, our bones and muscles don’t need to s    2     our body’s weight. This will cause bone and muscle loss. It is said that astronauts can lose up to 20 percent of their muscles after just a couple of weeks. That is dangerous for astronauts because they will be too w    3     to work.

Astronauts have different ways to prevent this. During the lecture, Zhai introduced a special uniform Ye was wearing. It’s called a “penguin suit”. It can keep their muscles strong.

Wang also showed students how she walked on a treadmill (跑步机) and rode a bicycle. Astronauts usually e    4     with these tools every day to keep their body strong.

During another experiment, Wang made a water film (膜). Then she added more water drops onto the film to make it a water ball. But this can n    5     happen on Earth. Why?

We need to first u    6     the surface tension (表面张力) of water. Surface tension is like a “skin” of water. The “skin” is there because water molecules (分子) are drawn to each other. One example on the Earth is that some bugs (昆虫) can “walk on water”. Most of the time, gravity is too strong and it breaks the “skin”. But with zero gravity in space, the “skin” stays much stronger and the water ball will not b    7    .

Space water is different in many other ways from that on Earth. For example, water will not flow downward if you try to pour it into a cup. If astronauts cry, the tears will not fall down. They have to wipe them away!

6 . China sent two astronauts into space on Monday, October 20th, 2016. Their journey marks (标志着)the beginning of China’s human space flight. A rocket sent a Shenzhou-11 spacecraft with astronauts Chen Dong and Jing Haipeng into space. China sent the rocket at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center(卫星发射中心). Chen is 37 years old. This is his first space flight. But Jing has done this before—it is his third space flight. He will turn 50 years old soon. People all over the world watched a live broadcast happily.

After two days in Earth’s orbit (轨道)the spacecraft will link with China’s lab, called the Tiangong-2. The astronauts will spend 30 days on the Tiangong-2. They plan to do science and spacecraft experiments and tests for a future space station. China also plans to send a special module around 2018. The main task of Tiangong-2 is to practise the technologies. This is China’s first-ever space station. So far, China is making great progress. Until now, China has made five manned space missions. In 2003, it successfully landed on the moon. China hopes to land on Mars by 2020.

9 . Your Internet experience makes you sad when the net speed is too slow. It takes so long to open a web page and the show that you’re watching stops every few minutes. That can be very annoying. But 5G can solve these problems. 5G technology is used widely now. What influence will 5G really have on our lives?

The “G” in “5G” means the generations of mobile network technologies. 1G let us talk to each other. 2G let us send messages. 3G gave us mobile data and the Internet, and 4G made all of these things faster. With 5G you can download an HD movie in seconds, send and receive data almost without stopping.

5G is able to improve many advanced technologies, such as driverless cars. With a 5G network, almost no stopping in information exchange will allow driverless cars to run more safely, as they will be able to communicate in real time and avoid dangers. At the same time VR games will become more popular with 5G because it can make games feel even more real.

Though 5G will make our lives more convenient, it will not be perfect. For one thing, 5G will not “travel” far. 5G will only cover about 300 meters. In order to use a 5G network we will have to buy new and expensive products only for 5G.

10 . Now, artificial intelligence (人工智能) is becoming more and more popular in our life, and it has greatly influenced the way we live, work and play. Can you ________ that you can play table tennis with a robot one day?

Recently, a scientist has ________ a special robot that can be a table tennis teacher. That means people can learn how to play table tennis not only from humans but from a robot.

Named Forpheus, the table tennis robot is quite ________. It can study the movements of human players and the speeds of the ball. In this way, it can judge (判断) the players’ ________.

Then it uses the information to change the ways to play. ________ the players are just beginners, Forpheus will play in a slow and easy way. But if the players are better ones, the robot will play in a(n) ________ and more difficult way. While playing, it encourages players to try their best ________ words like “Good job!”, “Come on!” and so on. At the same time, it gives some good ________ to players on improving their skills. So, it is both a good partner and clever teacher.

Science and technology is ________ quickly these days. Technology products can be seen ________. “In the next 20 years, it will be possible that one robot teaches another to play table tennis or even invents another one!” Takurya, the inventor of the robot, said.