1 . Someone has put forward a dream home which is so advanced that its kitchen can suggest what to make with certain things. Also, a Microsoft home doesn’t just warn you when you’re out of milk—it can send you a fresh gallon.
But are these innovations just magic, or are they really coming soon to a neighborhood near you? To find out, US News asked some experts to get their opinions about the home of the not-so-distant future. Here’s a look at the innovations.
The housing boom was marked by mass-produced buildings filled with units which look the same. The coming years, however, will give way to a personalized approach to home construction, with houses as more of an instrument of self-expression. “The successful builders will be the ones that figure out how to change their production model enough to make the buyers feel like they are really getting something that is designed for them, not just a model,” says Kermit Baker, the chief economist at the American Institute of Architects.
Future homes will probably become smaller. “We will be building smaller but smarter houses,” says Ed MeMahon, a senior resident fellow at the Urban Land Institute. “Instead of having a room for just one use, consumers will demand homes that make better use of space,” says Susanka, whose best-selling book, The Not So Big House, has become increasingly influential in home design. Seldom-used quarters, such as dining and living rooms, will be replaced with space that can serve both functions. “The goal of his ‘right-size’ home is to fit its owners like a specially cut suit rather than a jacket you buy in a store,” says Susanka.
1. What is the function of the first paragraph?| A．To present the main idea the passage. | B．To present what the future house is like. |
| C．To lead to the topic of the passage. | D．To show the history the housing. |
| A．Almost all the houses had no their own features. |
| B．The houses were designed according to owners’ idea. |
| C．The houses were smaller but smarter than before. |
| D．The houses could change production model easily. |
| A．Those that are much bigger and brighter. | B．Those that are much smaller but smarter. |
| C．Those that are much bigger and smarter. | D．Those that are environmental and energy saving. |
| A．Smart houses have a room for every use. | B．Smart houses can make better use of space. |
| C．Smart houses have very advanced furniture. | D．Smart houses can warn you when you’re out of milk. |
2 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What is the woman?| A．An interviewer. | B．A professor. | C．A fitness trainer. |
| A．Physics. | B．Education. | C．Chemistry. |
| A．He lost interest in it. | B．He got heart problems. | C．He had no time for training. |
| A．It helps him relax. | B．It’s a new trend. | C．It’s a waste of time. |
In the near future, life is filled with amazing wonders.
Mornings are a delight as the delicious breakfast takes center stage. Helpful robots with advanced AI offer assistance gracefully. Transportation has become super fast with hyper loop trains that travel through tunnels
As twilight sets in, streets come alive with holographic(全息的) displays
Yet among these technological wonders, the core of humanity
As the day draws to
4 . When it came to imaging the future, Arthur C. Clarke stubbornly refused to take credit for any predictions. The Internet, 3-D printers, email: he may have described them all long before they existed. As a science fiction writer, he came up with the idea of a “personal transceiver” that is small enough to be carried about, able to contact with anyone in the world and perform global positioning, making getting lost a thing of the past. Elsewhere, he predicted everything from online banking to reusable spacecraft. His best remembered fictional work of all is 2001: A Space Odyssey. It also happened to forecast the iPad, computer software that is able to read lips, and space stations.
Interestingly, his vision of the future has barely aged. For example, life in Sri Lanka inspired his 1979 novel, featuring a “space elevator”, a planet-to-space transportation system that would do away with the need for rocket travel. Those human settlements on Mars or Venus are decidedly behind schedule(we humans were expected to have set foot on both by 1980), and we’re still looking for the key that should have fully unlocked the languages of whales and dolphins by 1970.
It’s a way of thinking that was likely fuelled by his inability to be anything other than utterly absorbed in all that interested him. At the very start of his career, he shared a flat on London’s Gray’s Inn Road with fellow science fiction writers who nicknamed him “Ego” because of his talent for turning out (关掉) distraction. Once he’d become a big enough name to be interviewed, he’d send journalists home loaded with research papers.
He once said, “Trying to predict the future is a discouraging and risky occupation.” If a prediction sounds at all reasonable, technological progress is sure to leave it seeming “ridiculously conservative”. But if, by a miracle, a person were to be able to describe the future exactly as it will unfold, “His predictions will sound so absurd and far-fetched that everybody would laugh him to scorn (轻蔑).”
1. What can we infer from the first paragraph?| A．Clarke is an imaginative science fiction writer. | B．Clarke is crazy about the future devices. |
| C．Clarke is expert at telling one’s fortune. | D．Clarke is a rarely talented inventor. |
| A．there is no need for rocket travel in future |
| B．unlocking the languages of animals is ahead of time |
| C．humans were expecting to settle on Mars by 1980 |
| D．Clarke’s predictions still seem impossibly distant |
| A．He could focus all his mind on something. | B．He cared more about himself than others. |
| C．He was absorbed in what interested him. | D．He was proud of being a big name. |
| A．The rapid progress of technology. | B．The absurdness of some predictions. |
| C．The difficulty of predicting the future. | D．The miracle of dependable predictions. |
5 . What is the future of AI (人工智能)? Will it be a good thing? We asked four students what they think.
Liu Lei
| I think AI will be more useful in our future lives. It’s now used in many fields, like phones and medicine. No one really knows what will happen if machines become smarter than humans. However, I’m sure AI will help us solve many problems. |
Xu Lu
| I’m worried that people create something that can be better than themselves. In the near future, AI will develop at a high speed. Humans may be replaced (取代) because AI robots will do a lot of work instead of people. |
Zhao Mingming
| I really think that Al will change the way we work, the way we live, and the way we think. Imagine if we could put a CPU into our brains! Soon we’ll be able to improve our math and memory. How exciting! |
Molly
| Think of what’s happening now. Some robots are used to kill animals. So I think AI will be very dangerous for humans, too. We need to be careful about what we ask machines to do. |
| A．Because humans are smarter than AI. |
| B．Because AI robots will do lots of human jobs. |
| C．Because humans will put a CPU into our brains. |
| D．Because we can’t improve our math and memory. |
| A．AI will be more useful for people. | B．AI will be less useful for people. |
| C．AI will be dangerous for people. | D．AI will be important for people. |
| A．Liu Lei and Xu Lu | B．Liu Lei and Zhao Mingming |
| C．Xu Lu and Molly | D．Zhao Mingming and Molly |
6 . What will man be like in the future——in 5000 or even 50,000 years from now? We can only make guesses, of course, but we can be sure that he will be different from what he is today, for man is slowly changing all the time.
Let us take an obvious example, Man, even five hundred years ago, was shorter than he is today. Now, on average, men are about three inches taller. Five hundred years is a relatively short period of time, so we may assume that man will continue to grow taller. Again, in the modern world we use our brains a great deal. Even so, we still make use of only about 20% of the brain’s capacity. As time goes on, however, we shall have to use our brains more and more, and eventually we shall need larger ones! This is likely to bring about a physical change too: the head, in particular the forehead, will grow larger.
Nowadays our eyes are in constant use. In fact, we use them so much that very often they become weaker and we have to wear glasses. But over a very long period of time it is likely that man’s eyes will grow stronger.
On the other hand, we tend to make less use of our arms and legs. These, as a result, are likely to grow weaker. At the same time, however, our fingers will grow more sensitive because they are used a great deal in modern life.
But what about hair? This will probably disappear from the body altogether in course of time because it does not serve a useful purpose any longer. In the future, then, both sexes are likely to be bald(光秃的).
Perhaps all this gives the impression that future man will not be a very attractive creature to look at! This may well be true. But in spite of all these changes, future man will still have a lot in common with us. He will still be a human being, with thoughts and emotions similar to our own.
1. The passage mainly tells us that____| A．humans need’t wear glasses in the future. |
| B．man’s life will be different in the future. |
| C．future man will look quite different from us. |
| D．man is growing taller and uglier as time passes |
| A．guess | B．explain | C．compete | D．know |
| A．future life is always predictable(可预测的) |
| B．human beings will become less attractive in the future |
| C．less use of a bodily organ(器官)may lead to its degeneration(退化) |
| D．human beings hope for a change in the future life |
| A．Colour and height | B．size and appearance |
| C．thought and observation | D．thought and emotion |
7 . Futurologists predict that life will probably be very apparently distinct in 2050 in all the fields of activity, from entertainment to technology.
First of all, it seems that TV channels will have disappeared by 2050. Instead, people will choose a programme from a “menu” and a computer will send the programme directly to the television. Today, we can use the World Wide Web to read newspaper stories and see pictures on a computer thousands of kilometers away. By 2050, music, films, programmes, newspapers and books will come to us by computer. We will also be able to see, smell and touch the things that we see on television.
In transport, cars will run on new, clean “gas” and they will go very fast. Cars will have computers to control the speed of the car 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 where you want to go. Space planes will fly all over the world and people will fly from Los Angeles to Tokyo in just two hours.
In technology, robots will have replaced people in factories. Many factories already use robots. Big companies prefer robots—they do not ask for pay rises or go on strike, and they work 24 hours a day. By 2050, we will see robots everywhere-in factories, schools, offices, hospitals, shops and homes.
Last but not least, medicine technology will have conquered many diseases. By 2050, we will be able to help blind and deaf people see again and hear again. Scientists will be able to produce clones of people and decide how they look, how they behave and how much intelligence they have.
1. What will happen to the media in 2050?| A．Televisions will disappear |
| B．Computers will take the place of televisions. |
| C．Computers will choose the programme for us. |
| D．We can smell the dishes on television. |
| A．They will be less polluted and more safe. |
| B．They will be controlled by robots. |
| C．Planes will fly all over the world in a short time. |
| D．They will go at a very high speed and run on oil. |
| A．Robots will ask for pay rises and go on strike in the future. |
| B．There will be no people working in factories by 2050. |
| C．There will be cloned people coming to power by 2050 |
| D．More and more work will be done by robots by 2050. |
| A．What our future life will be like. | B．TV channels will disappear in 2050. |
| C．What cars will be like in the future. | D．Many diseases will disappear in 2050. |
The Future Life on Mars
Compared with the life we
Firstly, without pollution on Mars, people will be able to drink cleaner water
9 . 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. |
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线( \ )划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2．只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。
With the fast development of science and technology, our studies are sure to change great. As for us, lifelong learning is the must in the future. First, we can study in anywhere in the future, not just at school. For example, we can have various online class from the best teachers without leaving our home, make our learning more convenient. Besides, there will have more tools like Ding-ding and Wechat help us study. We will have no exams at school as all of us students can study easily and do that we have a gift for. Learning will also be delightful for all of us. Every time I look forward to the future, I can’t feel more exciting because many kinds of possibilities were waiting for me.
