1 . When was the last time you used a telephone box? I mean to make an actual phone call — not to shelter from the rain. Ages ago, right? The last time I used a phone box for its intended purpose was…2006. I was conducting auditions (试演) for my play in my tiny old shared house in London. Hoping to impress some talented actors to come and work for me for nothing, I spread some throws over the sofas and lit candles to make it seem a bit more ”young professional”.
As I rushed outdoors to empty the wastepaper baskets, the door swung shut behind me. Suddenly I was locked outside. My mobile phone was inside, but luckily there was a telephone box across the street. So, I called Directory Assistance, got put through to our landlady’s managing agent, and had a spare key sent to me with just enough time to get back in before the actors arrived.
As it has been many years since I last used one, I should hardly be surprised that then are no longer any public telephones near my house. The last one standing has just been turn into a “mini community library”: any passer-by can “borrow” a book from its shelves return it later, or replace it with another title from their own collection.
For a few months after the “library” opened, I didn’t bother taking a look, as I had assumed that it would be stuffed full of cheese love stories. Then I noticed fork conducting spring cleans dropping boxes of voluminous books on various subjects there. And these books were free. This unbeatable price-point encouraged me to experiment with dozens of titles that I would never normally consider buying. And I’ve discovered some great books!
If I ever get trapped outside my house again, my local telephone box will, sadly no longer be able to connect me with my keys. But it can certainly keep me entertained while I wait for my wife to rescue me.
1. What does the underlined word “it” in the first paragraph refer to?A.The play. | B.The shared house. |
C.The sofa. | D.The telephone box. |
A.To place an urgent call. | B.To put up a notice. |
C.To shelter from the rain. | D.To hold an audition. |
A.It provides phone service for free. | B.Anyone can contribute to its collection. |
C.It is popular among young readers. | D.Books must be returned within a month. |
A.He wanted to borrow some love stories. |
B.He was encouraged by a close neighbour. |
C.He found there were excellent free books. |
D.He thought it was an ideal place for reading. |
2 . What the future school will look like is difficult to make clear, but most experts agree that the school will be electronic in the future.
“Present-day schools will no longer exist in the next century,” says a report in The Age. “At that time, schools will become community-style centers, which run seven days a week, and 24 hours a day.” At the same time, computers will surely become a central part of the school in the future.
According to The Age, the distance learning will be popular and students will listen to teachers on computers. Going into classrooms on their computers, students will study at any time, which is very easy for them. However, it is necessary for students to go to the actual school in order to develop some social skills.
Seashore Primary School is an imaginary school in the future created by the Education Department of Australia. At this school, all the teachers and students have laptop computers. Teachers check messages and call students back with a special telephone system and students use telephones to search for information or speak to their teachers who give their lessons. Besides, all the lessons are related to all sorts of subjects and all the students have their own learning plans created by teachers.
As one headmaster says, a laptop computer is a student’s library, data storage(数据存储) device as well as the bridge to a wider world. Technology has changed the emphasis of future learning. Thus, we’ll pay more attention to the learning of kids rather than the teaching.
1. According to the report in The Age, students in future schools will ________.A.mainly study online | B.study at set times |
C.have no teachers | D.never go to actual schools |
A.telephones are important in Australia |
B.how future schools will work |
C.every student needs a learning plan |
D.students enjoy getting in touch with teachers |
A.Lesson. | B.Score. | C.Attitude. | D.Focus. |
A.The Schools in the Future | B.Great Changes in Technology |
C.Seashore Primary School | D.Actual Schools to Be Replaced |
3 . When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr. Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy, I couldn’t take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.
Of course, he delivered more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would pen a note — “Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery” — and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then, the buttermilk would magically (魔术般) appear.
All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basille even had a key to our house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors, so that the milk wouldn’t freeze. And I remember Mr. Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.
There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk, thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete. Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practical to have a delivery service.
Recently, an old milk box in the countryside I saw brought back my childhood memories. I took it home and planted it on the back porch (门廊) . Every so often my son’s friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk.
1. Mr. Basille gave the boy a quarter out of his coin changer to __________.A.show his magical power | B.pay for the delivery |
C.satisfy his curiosity | D.please his mother |
A.He wanted to have tea there. | B.He was a respectable person. |
C.He was treated as a family member. | D.He was fully trusted by the family. |
A.Nobody wants to be a milkman now. | B.It has been driven out of the market. |
C.Its service is getting poor. | D.It is not allowed by law. |
A.He missed the good old days. | B.He wanted to tell interesting stories. |
C.He needed it for his milk bottles. | D.He planted flowers in it. |
4 . The sea could be the food bowl of the future. In Jervis Bay, south of Sydney, seaweed, which is rich in fibre and omega 3, is grown and harvested.
Pia Winberg is a marine scientist who runs Australia's first food-grade fanned seaweed company. Her crop is grown alongside mussels (贻贝)and is used as an additive in pasta (意大利面)and other products.
Seaweed is also raised in large tanks, where it absorbs carbon dioxide waste from a wheat processing factory. The business is small, but could help to reduce the ecological footprint of traditional farming.
“We used ten percent of seaweed instead of wheat in breads and pastas, we've eliminated a million hectares of land, we've eliminated all of the carbon dioxide emissions associated with that, and we've also reduced the pressures on very precious fresh water.” said Pia Winberg.
Spiny sea urchins (多刺海胆虫)are another blue economy resource. They can destroy marine habitats, but a recent competition for environmental start-ups in Australia, saw them not as a pest but a delicacy (美味).
Martina Doblin, CEO of Sydney Institute of Marine Science, said, “By 2050 we will have some ten billion people on the planet, and about half the food they eat will come from the ocean. So, we really do need to pay attention to the way that we manage the blue economy-generating wealth from the ocean but in a sustainable (可持续的)way.”
Farming at sea has its challenges. Infrastructure (基础设施)has to be sound, as do supply chains and biosecurity. But get these things right, and the ocean might just be the next great economic frontier.
1. What is the function of the first paragraph?A.To lead to the main topic. |
B.To describe a new kind of seaweed. |
C.Tell how important the food safety is. |
D.To explain the meaning of blue economy. |
A.Ocean exploration has made little progress so far. |
B.More and more people will die of hunger in the future. |
C.More work is needed for a better use of the natural resources. |
D.Sea farming will be a good way to solve the coming world food problem. |
A.Skeptical. | B.Objective. | C.Tolerant. | D.Negative. |
A.How to Protect the Marine Animals |
B.Measures to Develop Blue Economy |
C.Farming the Sea for the Future of Food |
D.Traditional Farming is Gradually Disappearing |
5 . With over 4.1 billion people, or around 55 percent of the world’s population, living in urban areas, cities and towns worldwide are getting increasingly jammed. In addition to spending hours stuck in traffic, residents are also exposed to high air pollution levels caused by transportation emissions(排放). Now, Saudi Arabia hopes to overturn urban living with “The Line”—a futuristic city designed around nature, without cars, roads and crowded places!
The totally different city, announced on January 10, 2021, is the brainchild of Saudi Crown Prince(王储)Mohammed bin Salman(MBS).Located in Neom, a 10, 000-square-mile high-tech planned development on the Red Sea coast. The Line will be the base of MBS’s Saudi Vision 2030. The strategic plan aims to diversify Saudi Arabia’s oil-dependent economy into other fields, like tourism, and create exciting job opportunities for its citizens.
The 105-mile-long city, expected to cost between $100 billion and $200 billion, will be built along a straight line and comprise several self-sustaining communities. To ensure all services are within a short, five-minute walk, each community will feature a three-layer infrastructure(基础设施).
There will be no cars or roads on the top “pedestrian layer”, so residents can freely walk and bike in the surrounding green spaces. The second “service layer”, will include all essential daily services, such as schools, medical clinics, leisure facilities, and grocery stores. The third “spine layer” will house ultra-high-speed transportation and autonomous vehicles transporting residents across communities in less than 20 minutes. The entire city will be powered with renewable clean energy sources such as solar and wind, and possibly even hydrogen.
If all goes according to the plan, construction of this groundbreaking, complex infrastructure project will start before the end of 2021. In addition to providing up to a million residents with a clean and stress-free living environment, the Line is expected to create 380, 000 new jobs, promote economic diversification, and contribute a shocking $48 billion to Saudi Arabia’s Gross Domestic Product(GDP)by 2030. More importantly, MBS believes it will provide governments worldwide a blueprint for how people and planet can co-exist in harmony.
1. Where can you purchase a bike if living in The Line?A.Pedestrian layer. | B.Service layer. |
C.Spine layer. | D.The green spaces. |
A.Widely-accepted. | B.Ill-considered. |
C.Risk-taking. | D.Mind-blowing. |
A.To facilitate Saudi economic diversification. |
B.To offer a model for nature-man integration. |
C.To boost the government’s finances. |
D.To create more job opportunities. |
A.Saudi Vision for Environmental Protection |
B.The Construction of The Line Is Underway |
C.MBS:An Influential Leader of Saudi Arabia |
D.MBS’ Vision of a Futuristic Zero Carbon City |
6 . If you could travel in time, where would you go? Perhaps you would watch an original performance of a Shakespeare’s play in Elizabethan England? What about hanging out with Laozi in the Spring and Autumn Period? Or maybe you’d voyage far ahead of the present day to see what the future holds.
The possibility of time travel is indeed appealing. Stories exploring the subject have been around for hundreds of years. Perhaps the best known example is the science fiction novel The Time Machine, which was written by H. G. Wells and published in 1895 for the first time. It was adapted into at least two feature films of the same name, as well as two television versions, and a large number of comic book adaptations. It is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel using a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposefully and selectively. The term “time machine”, coined by Wells, is now universally used to refer to a vehicle transporting people into the far future.
But could time travel actually be possible? Some scientists say yes, in theory. They propose using cracks in time and space called “wormholes”, which could be used as shortcuts to other periods. Einstein’s theory of relativity allows time travel in extreme circumstances. And British physicist Stephen Hawking said you could travel into the future with a really fast spaceship—going at nearly the speed of light. Though building such a spaceship would of course be no simple task.
Even if you could travel into the past, there is something called the “grandfather paradox”. It asks what would happen if a time traveller were to go back in time and have his own grandfather killed for some reason, and therefore prevent himself from being born. If the time traveller wasn’t born, how would he travel back in time?
And would you really like to visit the future? In H. G. Wells’ book, the main character travels into distant time where he arrives at a beach and is attacked by giant crabs. He then voyages 30 million years into the future where the only living thing is a black object with tentacles (触角). If that’s what’s in store, maybe we are better just living in the present day after all.
1. The novel The Time Machine mentioned in Paragraph 2 aims to show .A.people’s interest in time travel |
B.the special features of the book |
C.the long history of time travel |
D.the contribution of H. G. Wells |
A.have similarities in many ways |
B.push the invention of the first spaceship |
C.have proved wrong by some time travellers |
D.suggest the possibility to invent the time machine |
A.the traveller is prevented from meeting his grandfather |
B.the traveller goes back in time to seek for his grandfather |
C.the grandfather’s death makes the traveller’s birth impossible |
D.The reunion of the traveller and his grandfather brings happiness |
A.Unclear. | B.Skeptical. |
C.Supportive. | D.Unconcerned. |
1.简要介绍AI(应用、影响等);
2.你认为未来人们该如何与AI共存。
注意:
1.词数80左右;
2.可适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
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Thanks for your listening!
8 . Recently, the magazine Big Think asked top minds from a variety of fields to comment on what the future holds 40 years from now. The result is as follows.
It’s likely that by 2050 the majority of the people in the world will live in urban (城市的) areas, and will have a much higher average age than people today. Cities theorist Richard Florida thinks urbanization will reinvent the education system of the United States, making our economy less real estate (房地产) driven and erasing(消除) the divisions between home and work.
And rapidly advancing technology will continue ever more rapidly. Cities of the future won’t look like “some sort of science-fiction fantasy”, but it’s likely that technological advances and information overlays (VR and AR) will greatly change how we live. Self-driving cars will make the roads safer and provide faster transports. A larger version of driverless cars-driverless trucks - may make long-distance drivers out of date.
Some long view predictions are completely dire. Environmentalist Bill McKibben says that if we don’t make great progress in fighting global warming, it’s likely we could see out-of-control rises in sea levels, huge crop shortfalls, and wars over limited freshwater resources.
In terms of how we will eat, green markets founder and “real food” supporter Nina Planck believes that there will be more small milk processing plants, and more regional food operations and we’ll be healthier as a result. New York Times feature writer Mark Bittman thinks that people will eat fewer processed foods, and eat foods grown closer to where they live. And Anson Mills farmer Glenn Roberts thinks that more people will be aware of the “ethical(道德的) responsibility” to grow and preserve land-raised farm systems.
1. What may happen by 2050?A.Most people will live in cities. | B.The aging population will drop. |
C.Home education will become a trend. | D.The economy will be driven by real estate. |
A.It will give cities a science-fiction appearance. |
B.It will greatly change the way people live. |
C.It will lead to an increase in the number of cars. |
D.It will ensure faster transports with fast cars. |
A.Interesting. | B.Daring. | C.Terrible. | D.Creative. |
A.People will eat healthier and fresher foods. |
B.Land-raised farm systems will be improved. |
C.There will be more regional food operations. |
D.Food supplies will become more limited than before. |
9 . Welcome to your future life!
You get up in the morning and look into the mirror. Your face is firm and young-looking. In 2035, medical technology is better than ever. Many people at your age could live to be 150, so at 40, you’re not old at all. And your parents just had an anti-aging(抗衰老的) treatment. Now, all three of you look the same age!
You say to your shirt, “Turn red.” It changes from blue to red. In 2035, “smart clothes” contain particles(粒子) much smaller than the cells(细胞) in your body. The particles can be programmed to change your clothes’ color or pattern(样式).
You walk into the kitchen. You pick up the milk, but a voice says,“ You shouldn’t drink that!” Your fridge has read the chip (芯片) that contains information about the milk , and it knows the milk is old . In 2035, every article of food in the grocery store has such a chip.
It’s time to go to work. In 2035, cars drive themselves. Just tell your “smart car” where to go. On the way, you can call a friend using your jacket sleeve. Such “smart technology” is all around you.
So will all these things come true? “For new technology to succeed,” says scientist
Andrew Zolli ,“it has to be so much better that it replaces what we have already.” The Internet is one example—what will be the next?
1. We can learn from the text that in the future__________.A.people will never get old |
B.everyone will look the same |
C.red will be the most popular color |
D.clothes will be able to change their pattern |
A.Food in the grocery store will carry electronic information. |
B.More drinks will be given for sale. |
C.Milk in the grocery store will stay fresh much longer. |
D.Milk will be harmful to health. |
A.Cars will be able to drive automatically(自动地). |
B.Fridges will know what people need. |
C.Jacket sleeves can be used as a guide. |
D.Nothing can replace the Internet. |
A.Food and clothing in 2035 |
B.The reason for the success of new technology. |
C.Medical treatments of the future. |
D.Future technology in everyday life. |
1.将来自己的生活;
2.将来自己的事业;
3.要做的准备。
注意:1.词数100左右。
2.可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。