1 . 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. |
2 . 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 |
1. What time will the tourists leave the moon tomorrow?
| A．At 3:30 am. | B．At 7:00 am. | C．At 10:00 am. |
| A．In a tent. | B．In Universal Star. | C．In the Stellar Hotel. |
| A．For two days. | B．For five days. | C．For ten days. |
| A．Watch a film. |
| B．Get a special suit. |
| C．Listen to a weather report. |
4 . According to a report by the United Nations，54 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas and it predicts that by 2050，this figure will have increased to around 70 percent.But as more and more people migrate from the countryside to the city to get better opportunities，they can end up with nowhere to live.
This is true in places such as Rio de Janeiro，where migrants can’t rent or buy a home，and they end up building their own communities and houses on unoccupied land.These are called shanty towns—poor communities where the houses are built out of cheap materials—and often don’t have any electricity or water supply.
These are，of course，not the megacities(大城市)of the future we want to see. Some serious urban planning is needed to make our cities of the future good，safe and modern places to live in. This involves improving the infrastructure(基础设施)，the housing conditions and also the opportunities for education and employment.
Something urban planners are looking at now is the creation of “smart cities”. According to John Rossant，founder and chairman of the non-profit organization New Cities Foundation ，technology is the way forward.He thinks that it’s generally accepted that“cloud computing, ubiquitous internet，robust 5G networks,etc，will transform our cities.” He says technology is really “a game changer” in urbanisation. It would collect large amounts of data about how a city is performing and may improve how a city functions.
This may sound like a utopian(乌托邦似的)view. For now，some big cities around the world are trying out more low—tech schemes to try and make them desirable places to live and work in. Building shared—ownership housing and improving public transport are some ways. And encouraging cycling and building bike lanes can keep the population healthy and cut down on smog. What would make your city a better place to live in?
1. What’s the text mainly about?| A．The city of the future. | B．The increase of the population. |
| C．Urban construction. | D．The function of smart cities. |
| A．To show the growth of the world population. |
| B．To show the problems in urbanization. |
| C．To show poor living conditions of the city. |
| D．To show financial trouble of the city. |
| A．Technology. | B．Urban planning. |
| C．The infrastructure of the city. | D．Opportunities for education. |
| A．High-tech plans can be easily realized. |
| B．Public transport is well developed in cities. |
| C．Shared-ownership houses make no sense. |
| D．Ways of low-tech are available at present. |
5 . Jeff Bezos, the world’s wealthiest person, was just five when American astronauts stepped on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969. However, he’s never forgotten the black-and-white footage from the historic moment. Since then, the moon has always been the center of his space dreams which are channeled through his spaceflight company, Blue Origin.
On May 9, 2019, at a meeting held in Washington, DC, Bezos came one step closer to achieving his dream of sending people there, when he presented a model of a lander, Blue Moon, designed to carry both humans and goods to the satellite.
Though details of how Blue Moon will be sent to space remain unclear, Bezos is confident it’ll be ready for its mission (使命) by 2024. He considers it unavoidable to settle in space given our ever-increasing population and fewer resources. Unlike those seeking a home on another planet, Bezos thinks humans will be living in orbital space settlements, which are similar to the International Space Station, except much bigger, each housing millions of people. Space taxis would make it easy for humans to travel between settlements.
But first we need to develop a cheaper way to travel between space and Earth. Bezos may have solved the problem partly by removing the biggest cost of spaceflights—single use rockets—with Blue Origin’s reusable New Shepard rocket, which has made several trips to space and back since 2015.
To encourage future space dreamers, the company’s recently built a free online club that will keep members informed of its progress and challenge them to find solutions to help humans and save earth. It invites students of all ages to draw or write how they imagine humans living and working in space on a self-addressed, stamped postcard and send it to the “Club for the Future” by July 20, 2019. The first 10,000 postcards will be sent to space aboard the New Shepard rocket later this year. When it returns to Earth, the postcards, stamped “flown to space,” will be returned to their owners.
1. What does Paragraph 1 mainly talk about?| A．An impressive historic moment. |
| B．The beginning of Bezos’ space dream. |
| C．The exciting news of sending man to space. |
| D．Bezos’ secret of becoming the wealthiest person. |
| A．Overpopulated. | B．Solar-powered. |
| C．Energy-hungry. | D．Conveniently accessible. |
| A．Space taxis. | B．Single use rockets. |
| C．New Shepard rocket. | D．Orbital space settlements. |
| A．To help humans and save earth. |
| B．To challenge students of all ages. |
| C．To build a new way of sending postcards. |
| D．To encourage future space dreamers. |
