1 . Life will probably be very different in 2050. First of all, it seems that TV channels will have vanished by 2050. Instead, people will choose a programme from a “menu” and a computer will send the programme directly to the television. By 2050, music, films, programmes, newspapers and books will come to us in the similar way.
In many places, agriculture is developing quickly and people are growing fruit and vegetables for export. This uses a lot of water. Therefore, there could be serious shortages of water. Some scientist predict that water could be the cause of wars if we don’t act now.
In the future, cars will run on new, clean fuels (燃料) and they will go very fast. Cars will have computers to control the speed and there won’t be any accidents. Today, many cars have computers that tell drivers exactly where they are. By 2050, the computer will control the car and drive it to your destination. Also, by 2050, space planes will fly people from Los Angeles to Tokyo in just two hours.
Some big companies now prefer to use robots that do not ask for pay rises or go on strike, and work 24 hours a day. They are also easy to control. And they never argue with people. They can be easily used in a variety of places — factories, schools, offices, hospitals, shops and homes.
Scientists will have discovered how to control genes (基因). Scientists have already produced clones (克隆) of animals. By 2050, scientists will be able to produce clones of people and decide how they look and how they behave. Scientists will be able to do these things, but should they?
1. Which of the following best explains “vanished” underlined in paragraph 1?A.Settled. | B.Spread. | C.Disappeared. | D.Decreased. |
A.Robots can work in different places. |
B.Robots have much to be improved. |
C.Robots work for humans for free. |
D.Robots have many advantages. |
A.He probably disagrees with the idea of human cloning. |
B.He is looking forward to using of cloning technology. |
C.The scientists have already discovered how to control genes. |
D.The scientists will face many difficulties of controlling genes. |
A.High-tech Cars | B.Life in the Future |
C.Is Cloning Really Good? | D.Are You Ready for the Future? |
2 . Travel is predicted to look extremely different in 2070.
Take airports for example, paperwork will be a thing of the past. Instead of paper passports,your information will be stored in the cloud. This type of technology won’t just include what we are familiar with today——like fingerprints or face scans—but also your heartbeat, as everyone’s heartbeat is unique.
There will be no need to check in. The facial recognition programme will instead be able to recognise you, match you with your booked flight and send messages to your phone as you walk through the airport without stopping.
Your bags, especially the heavy ones, will be sent directly from your train or taxi to the right plane. And that taxi will not be like the ones we know today. People will be expected to travel to the airport--and around their holiday destinations-in eVTOLs, which refers to électric air taxis that can take off and land without a runway.
As for the trouble of packing, 3D printers will provide perfect solutions. Simply provide your destination with your size using a body scan before you fly and, upon arrival, you will find a wardrobe(衣橱) filled with 3D-printed clothes. When you leave, these clothes will be recycled and. reprinted for the next tourist. Not only will this solve the problem of packing, but also make holiday fashion more environment-friendly.
While the predictions might seem unbelievable now, you only have to look back 50 years to realize it’s all possible. Think back to 1973 when smartphones were just a wild dream. “Google” seemed like a made-up word then, and notebook computers were still almost years away from being invented. Similarly, when we look forward to the next 50 years, the possibilities for development in technology for travel are endless.
1. What can we learn about the check-in at the airport in 2070?A.You’ll have to carry your paper passports. |
B.It won’t need your heartbeat information. |
C.You must stop to check the phone for boarding. |
D.It is no longer needed because of the facial recognition programme. |
A.your bag will be sent to you by taxi |
B.a body scan will work out your size |
C.the clothes of your size will be ready for you |
D.your packing may do harm to the environment |
A.To prove the predictions are possible. |
B.To show the inventions are necessary. |
C.To list the achievements of the year. |
D.To express the confidence for travel. |
A.A new type of air taxi.。 | B.Prediction for future of travel. |
C.The advantage of 3D prints. | D.The solution to future packing. |
3 . The future home is something that people have talked about for decades. Because the future home idea inspires our imagination, scientists and engineers have been working hard to develop different systems to make houses “smarter”.
The video camera at the entrance recognize visitors using facial recognition. The facial recognition software of the future home will not only recognize friends, but strangers as well. And the software in the future home will run the strangers faces against a database of criminals.
The future home will also have smart application appliances (家电) as well. There will be a vast networking system connecting them. Ovens, microwaves and refrigerators will be controlled automatically, so remote cooking will be a possibility and meals are prepared for your arrival.
There will also be a green systems in place such as saving and reusing washing water and bathwater. Plants and people may receive pure or mineralized (含矿的) drinking water.
If you think this future home idea is pie in the sky or science fiction, then think again. Most of the systems described here are either in development or already out in the market. Future homes may not be standard yet for the middle class but this is not as far ahead as many people would think.
1. What can the facial recognition software be used for in the future houses?A.Greeting friends. | B.Collecting criminals information. |
C.Recognizing visitors. | D.Following dangerous criminals. |
A.Facial recognition software. | B.Remote cooking. |
C.Smart refrigerators. | D.Saving and reusing water. |
A.Attractive. | B.Common. | C.Special. | D.Excellent. |
A.Smart future home |
B.A smart networking system |
C.Software in future home |
D.Various household appliances |
The Magic Birthday Candles in Space
(An excerpt from a science fiction)
My birthday was going to be extra special for two reasons. For one thing, like Commander Park said, “Nobody’s ever turned nine in space before, David.” Mom, my sister Rebekah, and I were moving to Mars for a year. We’d spent almost two weeks in the spaceship so far.
I was trying to keep the other reason secret. But the day before my birthday, Rebekah caught me with my cheeks puffed (膨胀) way out. “What are you doing? Practicing to blow out all the candles this year?” She laughed. “This time I will,” I said. “Everybody on the ship will be watching, so...”
“Oh, David,” my sister interrupted.
“Your cake can’t have candles. Fire on a spaceship is too dangerous.”
When I turned away, she patted my shoulder. “At least you don’t have to worry about blowing them all out.”
Our mother has an important job, maintaining the ship’s electrical systems. Besides, I wanted to act mature about this. If I couldn’t blow out the candles like I wanted, at least I was old enough not to complain about it.
After dinner on my birthday, Mom floated into the cafeteria, carrying my birthday cake. I was amazed. “Candles!” I shouted, staring at the nine shining on top of the cake. “I thought fire wasn’t allowed on a spaceship.” “Look closer,” my mother said. The candles were really electrical lights, with tiny flame-shaped bulbs.
“Awesome,” I said. “But I wish I could blow them out.”
She laughed, then made a blow, and all nine went out. Another puff, and they lit up again.
“Everybody, sing!” ordered Commander Park. Once the passengers and crew were done, I took my deepest ever breath. I’m nine now. I can do this! I thought. Everyone watched the candles. Whoosh! I blew as hard as I could. All the ship’s lights went out! Everyone gasped (倒抽一口气).
“You didn’t have to blow that hard, David,” said Rebekah. I laughed, and so did Commander Park. Someone asked, “What’s wrong? When is the backup power coming on?”
“I’ll take a look. Does anyone have a flashlight on them?” said Mom.
No one would ever think of taking a flashlight to a birthday party.
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5 . It’s 2035. You have a job, a family and you’re about 40 years old! Welcome to your future life.
Getting ready for work, you pause in front of the mirror. “Turn red,” you say. Your shirt changes from sky blue to deep red. Tiny preprogrammed electronics (电子器件) are rearranged in your shirt to change its color. Looking into the mirror, you find it hard to believe you’re 40. You look much younger. With amazing advances in medicine, people in your generation may live to be 150 years old. You’re not even middleaged!
As you go into the kitchen and prepare to pour your breakfast cereal into a bowl, you hear, “To lose weight, you shouldn’t eat that,” from your shoes. They read the tiny electronic code (电子源码) on the cereal box to find out the nutrition details. You decide to listen to your shoes. “Kitchen, what can I have for breakfast?” A list of possible foods appears on the counter as the kitchen checks its food supplies.
“Ready for your trip to space?” you ask your son and daughter. In 2005 only specially trained astronauts went into space—and very few of them. Today anyone can go to space for day trips or longer vacations. Your best friend even works in space. Handing your children three strawberries each, you add, “The doctor said you need these for space travel.” Thanks to medical advances, vaccination shots (防疫针) are a thing of the past. Ordinary foods contain specific vaccines. With the berries in their mouths, the kids head for the front door.
It’s time for you to go to work. Your car checks your fingerprints and unlocks the doors. “My office. Autopilot,” you command. Your car drives itself down the road and moves smoothly into traffic on the highway. You sit back and unroll your enewspaper. The latest news downloads and fills the viewer. Looking through the pages, you watch the news as video film rather than read it.
1. What changes the color of your shirt?A.The mirror. | B.The shirt itself. |
C.The counter. | D.The medicine. |
A.By pouring the breakfast into a bowl. |
B.By listening to the doctor’s advice. |
C.By testing the food supplies in the kitchen. |
D.By checking the nutrition details of the food. |
A.breakfast | B.lunch |
C.vaccines | D.nutrition |
A.In order of time. | B.In order of frequency. |
C.In order of preference. | D.In order of importance. |
6 . What will life in the future be like? Will it be much better than it is now? And what will we be able to do in 10, 20 or 30 years’ time?
Genetic engineering (基因工程) may help us make the perfect human. Babies may grow up to play basketball like Yao Ming or look like Cecilia Cheung. Also, we may be able to bring the dead back to life. Maybe people will be able to meet and talk with their dead family members.
Over the next 20 to 50 years, it will become harder to tell the difference between humans and machines. Perhaps we will be able to make copies of ourselves, so we will appear to be alive long after we are dead. People may be able to find ways of putting the life of a person into a new body.
Nanobots (纳米机器人) will be important. We will use them when we are sick. For example, when we have a stomachache, we will swallow (吞下) a nanobot and it will travel through our stomach, taking a video of what’s happening there. The video will help the doctor cure us.
In the future, computers may have their feelings. They may be able to think better than us. We may be more and more interested in computers and the internet, spending all our time in front of computers. Perhaps we will forget our real needs. Perhaps we will become super couch potatoes weighing 250 kg!
1. What is the main idea of the second paragraph?A.What genetic engineering is. | B.Why we use genetic engineering. |
C.How to bring the dead back to life. | D.How genetic engineering can help humans. |
A.a computer | B.a camera |
C.medicine | D.water |
A.talk like human beings | B.have feelings |
C.talk with dead people | D.cure sick people |
A.We will no longer be interested in our own lives in the future. |
B.Computers and robots will take the place of humans. |
C.Humans may get fatter in the future. |
D.We will no longer need doctors and teachers. |
7 . Modern inventions have speeded up people’s lives amazingly. Motor cars
All these save time, but at a cost. When we lose or
However, how do we
There was a time when some people’s lives were devoted simply to the cultivation(耕作) of the
A.explore | B.get | C.cover | D.fly |
A.speed | B.time | C.product | D.distance |
A.wasting | B.losing | C.saving | D.spending |
A.earn | B.drop | C.miss | D.gain |
A.left | B.come | C.forgotten | D.felt |
A.ships | B.airplanes | C.computers | D.cars |
A.prevention | B.radiation | C.combination | D.damage |
A.control | B.handle | C.do | D.deal |
A.uncomfortable | B.easy | C.difficult | D.good |
A.second | B.day | C.year | D.time |
A.actively | B.quietly | C.quickly | D.curiously |
A.surface | B.water | C.land | D.island |
A.way | B.view | C.pathway | D.point |
A.expressed | B.charged | C.inspired | D.faced |
A.freed | B.remained | C.kept | D.cleared |
8 . With the rapid development of science and technology, we don’t know how different our life will be in the future.
At first we think about human relationships. In the year 2050, we will use computers almost every day. We will be making new friends through the Internet — even our husbands or wives will be met in this way.
Computers will also help us in many other activities in 2050. For example, they will be used by the children at school to make their learning easier. In addition, there will be much more other machines which will play a similar role as computers, like robots which will do the housework for us.
We could expect that the faster technological progress would lead to a more polluted environment. But it isn’t true.
Although we can’t predict the exact changes which will be made in the world, we often think about them. We worry about our and our children’s future; we have expectations, hopes as well as fears. But I think we should be rather confident about our future.
A.However, we are convinced of the following |
B.We should be happy and believe good things will happen |
C.We will pay more attention to protecting the environment |
D.We can only imagine it |
E.Spending holidays will also be completely different |
F.It will be much faster and easier for us |
G.Our environment will be more polluted |
9 . “The past is a different country; they do things differently there," L.P. Hartley wrote in one of his best-known novels, The Go-Between. To the British novelist, the past was irrelevant. And one of my Chinese students once told me "I have no interest in the past. I'm only interested in the present and the future." I have to disagree. The "past" is a very interesting country, and the more we know about it, the more we will be able to understand the present and thus, prepare ourselves for the future.
An ideal place, as I see it, that can allow us to look back on the past is the museum. I prefer to visit museums as if you are sitting in the same room with some of the greatest men in history. While no museums can claim to offer a complete picture of human history, the lessons we can learn from the events and wonders of the past are of great value.
Thanks to modern technology, museums are being transformed from places of looking and learning to spaces of participation and interaction. A large number of immersive (沉浸式) multi-media displays, which allow visitors to engage with its exhibits during their visit, play a big part at the Shanghai Natural History Museum.
The rise in technology has also made museums more accessible than ever. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, traditional museums have started to think outside of the box in order to create new ways for visitors to experience their collections online. It is definitely good news for those who are fascinated by museums but are struggling to actually go there. However, you shouldn't expect to get the same experience that an in-person visit would provide, at least, that is, for now.
International Museum Day is observed on May 18 every year. This is a quick reminder that you should always spare some time to visit museums and appreciate the "must-see 'em" things that are an important part of the cultural heritage of humankind.
1. What does the writer think of “the past”?A.Different. | B.Significant. | C.Unrelated. | D.Understandable. |
A.It’s where to learn and reflect. |
B.It’s where to learn about previous events. |
C.It’s where to meet with great minds. |
D.It’s where to appreciate ancient wonders. |
A.Offering online exhibits. | B.Allowing more in-person visits. |
C.Adding multi-media displays. | D.Showing a complete picture of history. |
A.Technology Revives Museums | B.Observe International Museum Day |
C.Museums Are “Must-see 'ems” | D.Visit Museums In-person or Online |
10 . By mid-century there will likely be 9 billion people on the planet, using ever more resources and leading ever more technologically complex lives. What will our cities be like? How much will artificial intelligence (AI) advance? Will global warming cause disastrous changes, or will we be able to engineer our way out of the climate change issues? Recently, the magazine Big Think asked top minds from a variety of fields to weigh in 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 areas and will have a much higher average age than people today. Cities theorist Richard thinks urbanization will transform the education system of, making our economy less houses driven and removing 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 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 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 writer Mark thinks that people will eat fewer processed foods and eat foods grown closer to where they live. And more people will be aware of the ethical responsibility" to grow foods.
1. What may happen by 2050 based on the magazine Big Think ?A.Education will be driven by economy. | B.The majority of people will be taller. |
C.AI will cause disastrous changes. | D.Most people will live in big cities. |
A.It will make people live in science-fiction fantasy. |
B.It will ensure safer transports due to faster cars. |
C.It will greatly change the way in which people live. |
D.It will increase the number of long-distance drivers. |
A.Magical. | B.Terrible. | C.Ridiculous. | D.Meaningful. |
A.People will eat healthier and fresher foods. |
B.Land-raised farm systems will be improved. |
C.There will be smaller regional food operations, |
D.Food supplies will become much more limited. |