1 . A baby born today will be thirty-something in 2050.If all goes well, that baby will still be around in 2100, and might even be an active citizen of the 22ⁿᵈ century. What should we teach that baby to help them survive and flourish in the world of 2050 and beyond? What kind of skills will they need in order to get a job, understand what is happening around them, and navigate their tough life?
At present, too many schools across the world focus on providing pupils with a set of predetermined skills, such as writing computer code in C++ and conversing in Chinese. Yet since we have no idea how the world and the job market will look in 2050, we don’t really know what particular skills people will need. We might invest a lot of effort in teaching kids how to write in C++ or to speak Chinese, only to discover sooner or later that AI will have been able to code software far better than humans, and that a new translation app will have enabled you to conduct a conversation in almost flawless Mandarin, Cantonese or Hakka, even though you only know how to say ni hao.
So what should we be teaching? Many experts argue that schools should downplay technical skills and emphasize general-purpose life skills: the ability to deal with change, to learn new things, and to preserve your mental balance in unfamiliar situations. In order to keep up with the world of 2050, you will above all need to reinvent yourself again and again.
To succeed in such a demanding task, you will need to work very hard on getting to know your operating system better-to know what you are and what you want from life. This is, of course, the oldest advice in the book: know thyself. This advice was never more urgent than in the mid-21st century, because unlike in the days of Laozi or Socrates, now you have serious competition. Coca-Cola, Amazon and Facebook are all racing to hack you.
Right now, the algorithms are watching where you go, what you buy, and who you meet. Soon they will monitor all your steps, breaths and heartbeats. They are relying on big data and machine learning to get to know you better and better. And once these algorithms know you better than you know yourself, they could control and manipulate you. In the end, authority will shift to them.
Of course, you might be perfectly happy giving up all authority to the algorithms and trusting them to make decisions for you and for the rest of the world. If, however, you want to maintain some control over your personal existence and over the future of life in general, you have to run faster than the algorithms. To run fast, don’t take much luggage with you. Leave all your illusions behind. They are very heavy.
1. According to the article, ______ plays a vital role in children’s bright future.| A．imagination | B．adaptability |
| C．self-discipline | D．a good sense of balance |
| A．algorithms will hack all our devices if we do not know it. |
| B．it is an essential skill for us to succeed in the world of 2050. |
| C．we need to learn how algorithms work and make full use of them. |
| D．we need to outrun algorithms to keep some control over our life. |
| A．the importance of knowing yourself | B．the threats and dangers of technology |
| C．what skills we might need in the future | D．benefits of algorithms to humankind |
2 . Below are several things that will have happened by the mid-point of this century both for the good and bad.
Right now, people are focused on AI potentially causing job losses but the reality could be far worse. George Stakhov said, “By 2050, AI will have profoundly(深刻地) reshaped the world. There is a dark AI future where those who control AI will gain huge power, while 99 percent of the population will be disenfranchised(剥夺权利) .The AI lords will control the world’s data and turn the rest of us into their serfs. The alternative is a bright AI scenario, where everyone benefits from AI through better healthcare, faster transport and less pollution.”
Futurist and former Google engineer Ray Kurzweil says that people will merge with machines by 2025. In an event he describes as the “Singularity”, Kurzweil predicts that by 2045, people will connect their brains to machines. “I have set a date for the Singularity in 2045, which is when we will increase our effective intelligence a billionfold by merging with the intelligence we have created.”
Alien-hunting astronomer Seth Shostak bet fellow astronomers that we should find aliens within two dozen years. That means we could be in contact with ET by 2036. Shostak has since doubled down on his prediction, saying that newer measurements suggest there could be billions of Earth-like worlds. That means if the Earth is the only place with life, it’s like a winner in a lottery where the odds are a billion to one. That may be the strongest argument for life in space.
Soaring humidity (湿度) and heat will lead to heatwaves where it is almost impossible for humans to survive outdoors in areas including South Asia, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea. By 2070, this will also be true in areas of Brazil and China. “Wet bulb” temperatures refer to conditions where temperature and humidity are high, making it hard to survive outdoors. Humans can survive temperatures of up to 50℃ when humidity is low, but in high humidity, humans cannot survive because there is no way to cool down by sweating. Even extremely strong and fit people die within hours. Large areas of the Earth might be uninhabitable.
1. What is the dark AI future according to George Stakhov?| A．AI will hold power over humans. |
| B．Humans will earn a basic low wage. |
| C．Humans will have to serve as AI’s masters. |
| D．AI will become the owner of the Earth. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Approving. | C．Cautious. | D．Negative. |
| A．Heatwaves occur in most areas in the world. |
| B．High humidity causes people to sweat a lot. |
| C．Huge areas of the Earth might be uninhabitable. |
| D．People can’t live in low humidity for a long time. |
Today, we have to use
4 . It's March, 2050.
Frank and Mary Smith wake up in their comfortable house in the morning and switch on the bedroom computer to get the latest news. They used to read the Times, but changed to electronic newspapers many years ago.
There is the usual news about space: another space flight has returned from Mars and scientists have discovered a new planet. Then they turn to business news: the Us dollar has risen greatly in Shanghai, one of the world's leading business centres. Mary tells the computer to buy 5,000 dollars, and there is a quick response that it has been done. As they watch the screen, Mary orders one of the household robots to make coffee for them. Frank disappears into the study to join a video conference with his partners around the world. He is a computer engineer, working for several companies. This is his third job: he used to be in marketing and then television. Mary has a quick look at the shopping channels—the usual selection of electric cars, household robots and cheap travel offers-before picking up the video phone to talk to her assistant. She also has a job and she is doing medical research. Both she and Frank used to have an office desk in London, but in 2023 they decided to move to the seaside and work from home.
·Frank and Mary have one daughter, Louise, who also has her own workstation at home. She goes to school only one day a week, mainly to play with other students. Classrooms disappeared in 2030 because there was no longer any need for them: communications systems have made it much easier to learn at home. Louise, now thirteen, is studying Chinese at present, which has become a world language as important as English. Louise has many Chinese friends. They communicate by computer. According to the family doctor, Louise will live to at least 130. Her wish is to work for a few decades（十年）and then spend her time on music and painting.
1. Why do Frank and Mary switch on the bedroom computer in the morning?2. Who makes coffee for Mary and Frank?
3. How does Frank work with others from home?
4. What are the two world languages in 2050?
Cash is king, or so they say. In one form or another, human beings have been carrying around money for hundreds of years. Metal was first coined into cash between 700 and 600 BC by the Lydians, and banknotes have been in circulation since
What will the home of the future look like? A team of architects in Hong Kong say that city homes will be tiny(极小的), as populations continue to grow and space becomes more expensive.
They have designed ‘spaceflats’ with just 30 square meters in size as the houses in the following years. These flats have several small rooms: a living room, a bathroom and a bedroom, as well as a balcony. But everything is carefully planned to make good use of the limited(有限的)space.
The living room is the main room of the flat. It can be used as an office, a kitchen or even a second bedroom. There is a sofa that can be changed into a bed. The dining table can be changed into a computer desk. And if not needed, both the sofa-bed and the table can be folded(折叠) and put away. There is a flat-screen TV which can also serve as a computer monitor. In one corner of the room, a small cooker, a microwave oven and a mini-refrigerator are hidden out of sight. The other rooms are small but practical(实用的). The bathroom contains a toilet and a shower. The double bed in the bedroom can also be a sofa, if necessary. The balcony has enough room for two people to sit and enjoy the view from the block of flats. All the rooms have high ceiling(天花板)to provide as much storage(贮藏) space as possible, while the flat has large windows to let in plenty of sunlight.
“Spaceflats” are wonderful and now being tested in a building in Hong Kong. It is believed that “spaceflats” will be improved to be our future homes.
1. Hlow many rooms does a “spaceflats” have?(不多于2个单词)2. List 2 kinds of kitchen equipment(设备)in the flat.(不多于6个单词)
3. How can we deal with the sofa-bed and table if we don’t need them? (不多于8个单词)
4. What will be the title for the passage?(不多于5个单词)
5. What do you think can be added to the spaceflat to make it more perfect? (大约40 词)
The term “nostalgia” was first coined in 1688 and was defined as a mental illness of soldiers continually thinking about their homeland and longing for return. However, today we have a much more positive attitude to nostalgia. It’s a great example of the benefits of a strong memory.
In numerous scientific experiments, researchers have found that subjects are much more likely to report positive feelings from a given piece of music if they’ve heard it before. But there’s also a growing body of research into time travel “the other way”, because memory skills can take people into the future, too. Decades of studies have shown that time travel into the future can bring a whole new set of rewards. For example, athletes who practice by mentally visualizing and imagining successful performances in the future do perform better.
All these findings are inspiring and attractive. How could you become a confident time traveler to the past or into the future? Here are some tips for you:
·To take pleasure in helpful memories, maybe to reawaken happy feelings, use all your senses—not just sight. Smell, taste, touch and sound will also help you to recreate the past in rich clarity.
·If you find a memory that’s particularly helpful—for reassurance, say—keep using it!
You’ll get faster at finding it, and add extra layers of detail each time.
·When you’re procrastinating (拖延), visualize an end result. Flash forward to see the floor swept or the essay finished, and use that positive image to drive you into action.
·Ahead of major challenges, imagine the full impact of success. Don’t just picture yourself getting that great job: fill your mind with the really big ways it’s going to change your life.
There’ll still be times when old thoughts remind you of sadness, or you’re anxious about what’s next. But the more you learn to control your memory, the better you’ll be at mining your past, and shaping your future, to be your best self now.
1. What did nostalgia originally mean?2. What have the researchers found about time travel?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
➢Memory skills can bring us into the future, so we should imagine a negative end result to drive us into action when procrastinating.
4. Describe one of the helpful time-travel experiences in your life. (In about 40 words)
Smart homes are marketed as the future: making life easier,
9 . Up until a few decades ago, our visions of the future were largely—though by no means uniformly—glowingly positive. Science and technology would cure all the ills of humanity, leading to lives of fulfillment and opportunity for all.
Now utopia has grown unfashionable, as we have gained a deeper appreciation of the range of threats facing us, from asteroid strike to epidemic flu and to climate change. You might even be tempted to assume that humanity has little future to look forward to.
But such gloominess is misplaced. The fossil record shows that many species have endured for millions of years—so why shouldn’t we? Take a broader look at our species’ place in the universe, and it becomes clear that we have an excellent chance of surviving for tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of years. Look up homo sapiens (智人) in the “Red List” of threatened species of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and you will read: “Listed as Least Concern as the species is very widely distributed, currently increasing, and there are no major threats resulting in an overall population decline.”
So what does our deep future hold? A growing number of researchers and institutions are now thinking seriously about that question. For example, the Long Now Foundation has its flagship project a mechanical clock that is designed to still be marking time thousands of years hence.
Perhaps willfully, it may be easier to think about such lengthy timescales than about the more immediate future. The potential evolution of today’s technology, and its social consequences, is dazzlingly complicated, and it’s perhaps best left to science fiction writers and futurologists to explore the many possibilities we can conceive (构想). That’s one reason why we have launched Arc, a new publication dedicated to the near future.
But take a longer view and there is a surprising amount that we can say with considerable assurance. As so often, the past holds the key to the future: we have now identified enough of the long-term patterns shaping the history of the planet, and our species, to make evidence-based forecasts about the situations in which our descendants (后代) will find themselves.
This long perspective makes the pessimistic view of our prospects seem more likely to be a passing fad (狂热). To be sure, the future is not all rosy. But we are now knowledgeable enough to reduce many of the risks that threatened the existence of earlier humans, and to improve the lot of those to come.
1. Our vision of the future used to be influenced by ________.| A．our desire for lives of fulfillment | B．our faith in science and technology |
| C．our awareness of potential risks | D．our belief in equal opportunity |
| A．a sustained species | B．a misplaced race |
| C．a threat to the environment | D．the world’s dominant power |
| A．Arc helps limit the scope of futurological studies. |
| B．Technology offers solutions to social problem. |
| C．The interest in science fiction is on the rise. |
| D．Our immediate future is hard to imagine. |
| A．explore our planet’s abundant resources | B．adopt an optimistic view of the world |
| C．draw on our experience from the past | D．control our ambition to reshape history |
10 . Bournemouth in Dorset has always been my favourite seaside town. When I was growing up, Mum and Dad didn’t have much money, but they’d saved enough for a few days in Bournemouth. I was four years old at the time. I don’t actually remember much about the trip, apart from being devastated when we had to leave. Mum said I fell in love with the place and insisted on waving goodbye to the sea when it was time to go. So I grew up believing Bournemouth was a wonderful place.
Forty years on, my wife and I returned for a week’s break. I was nervous, wondering if I’d be able to bring back that delight I’d felt as a child. I needn’t have worried. We had a fantastic time. It helped that the British weather had decided to provide us with high temperatures and plenty of sun. But it was Bournemouth that kept me spellbound, making me feel like a child again.
Bournemouth and its neighbour, Boscombe, are always busy, alive with chatter, music and other lively sounds. But as we stepped into Boscombe Chine Gardens, all the noise faded away. A sense of peace spread through us as we meandered along the paths, delighting in the squirrels climbing up and down the trees and the bright colours of the pretty plants.
One morning, we made a short trip to Poole Quay and took the ferry to Brownsea Island. Owned by the National Trust, it’s a feast for the eyes, from its mock Tudor entrance, to the many peacocks walking around, to the magnificent views of the sun sparkling on the shining waters and boats bobbing up and down, seen from the island’s highest point.
Before we knew it, it was time to return home—but not before waving goodbye to the sea.
1. Which of the following best explains “devastated” underlined in Paragraph 1?| A．Sorrowful. | B．Surprised. |
| C．Thrilled. | D．Desperate. |
| A．The fear of losing childhood memories. |
| B．The adjustment to the new circumstances. |
| C．The uncertainty of recalling childhood delight. |
| D．The exposure to high temperatures and sunshine. |
| A．It boasts seaside views. | B．It belongs to wild animals. |
| C．It is free of the town’s noise. | D．It reminds him of his childhood. |
| A．Farewell to Bournemouth. | B．Working in a wonderful place. |
| C．A childhood unforgettable story. | D．Revisiting a childhood favourite. |
