1 . 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 |
2 . It’s always exciting to think about the future and what kind of technology might exist in years to come. But what if that future is closer than you think?
The name Magic Leap is starting to spread across the Internet, and for a good reason. The Magic Leap technology company in the US has been working on something new and exciting, keeping it so secret that even the people working on the project have been hidden from the media. But recently they have started to release more information, and it seems that the future of computing is about to change dramatically.
Magic Leap’s preview shows the possibility of a classroom where you can interact with a miniature 3-D man and watch animals floating in front of your eyes. You could come face to face with fierce creatures like tigers and sharks, and more might be possible very soon.
The company hopes to create new technology that mixes reality and virtual reality computing. This means that the way we interact with computers could change completely, and so could the gaming industry.
Imagine a game in which you can not only look after a dragon on a screen, but also see it walking around your home, feed it and play with it. This is a world where movies will make you jump as things come, flying at you. Rio Caraeff, the company’s chief content officer, said that instead of staring at a phone screen, “the world becomes your screen”.
All of this could be the next step for Magic Leap, and their newly-released video suggests so. The video shows a small elephant floating in the hands of its user, a virtual reality pet that the user can interact with. Exciting to think about, no?
It seems that the excitement has inspired other companies who are lining up to join in on this new project. The technology, called Cinematic Reality, is attracting the attention of large companies like Google, who are already investing large sums of money in the project hoping to see it become a reality.
1. Which of the following is TRUE about the Magic Leap technology company?| A．The company is working on new technology that could improve the future of computing. |
| B．The company keeps updating the media on its progress. |
| C．The company has just discovered a way to mix reality and virtual reality computing. |
| D．The company’s newly released video is about the interaction between a dragon pet and its user. |
| A．A miniature 3D man could take the place of teachers. |
| B．Students could be encouraged to raise a virtual reality pet on campus. |
| C．The gaming industry could be invited to help students improve their studies. |
| D．Students could interact with virtual reality animals. |
| A．It could discourage people from playing a lot of computer games. |
| B．It could turn the whole world into an interactive screen for its users. |
| C．It could help people improve their ability to interact with others. |
| D．It could make it hard for people to distinguish between virtual reality and reality.[来 |
| A．Unconcerned. | B．Optimistic. |
| C．Worried. | D．Negative. |
1. 你的心情；
2. 你的人生规划(学业、事业等方面)。
注意:
1. 词数100左右；
2. 请在相应位置作答。
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