1 . In the near future, IoT (Internet of Things) will drive huge innovation (革新) in the way our food is grown. Plants will have a “voice”, not a human voice, but a voice based on data that can tell people, computers, and machines when, for example, they are thirsty, or need more sun, medicine, etc.
Take vertical (垂直的) farms, for example. Farming is moving indoors where the growth of plants can be monitored and controlled. The facilities are built vertically, so growing areas can be put in piles. This greatly reduces the amount of land needed for farming.
From an IoT point of view, vertical farms are connected in two ways. First, small sensors (传感器) in the soil or connected to plants tell a control system exactly how much light, water, and nutrients are needed to grow the healthiest crops. Sensors will also tell vertical farmers when crops are nearing their peak for harvesting at just the right time to make sure it’s still fresh when it reaches its final destination.
Second, vertical farms will be connected to other networks and information systems, including databases that track local demand. For example, local restaurants may input when they need fresh food supplies. And vertical farmers could get that information so they know which crops to grow in what quantities. This type of IoT system would have been unimaginable a generation ago.
Today, vertical farms are being experimented. Yet, the numbers point to a bright future for the industry, especially as the world’s population continues to grow. For example, Green Sense Farms in Chicago is able to harvest crops 26 times a year using 85 percent less energy, one-tenth the water, and no pesticides. A side benefit of lower energy use is lower CO2 output of two tons per month, with the added benefit of creating 46 pounds of oxygen every day.
1. What is the main idea of the text?| A．Voice machines help plants speak up. |
| B．Farmers are all turning to vertical farming. |
| C．IoT has brought great innovation to our future life. |
| D．Vertical farms driven by IoT are a future for agriculture. |
| A．By recording farmers harvesting crops. |
| B．By monitoring farmers working their fields. |
| C．By analyzing information to preserve crops. |
| D．By passing information on to a control system. |
| A．expand the output of crops | B．match supply with demand |
| C．determine the needs of farmers | D．move restaurants onto farms |
| A．Negative. | B．Indifferent. | C．Optimistic. | D．Doubtful. |
1.未来规划(城建、交通、旅游等)
2.欢迎考查与投资(invest)
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am Li Hua. Welcome to Chongqing Section at Smart China Expo.
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3 . If you're a fan of smart technology, you may have had some sleepless nights lately. That's because Alexa, the artificial intelligence （Al） behind US company Amazon's Echo smart speakers, has been "letting out an unprompted （自发的）,creepy （令人毛骨悚然的）cackle for no apparent reason, according to BBC News.
Many social media users shared their stories of Alexa scaring them with the seemingly unprompted laugh.
“Every time Alexa laughs, an angel dies," Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk joked on social media.
On March 7, Amazon released an update that fixed the problem, saying that the laugh was caused by Echo devices mistakenly thinking that users had said the command " Alexa, laugh".
However, what should have been a funny story raised the ongoing topic of man versus machine.
With the rise of artificial and robotic technology, " Digital machines started to demonstrate broad abilities in pattern recognition, complex communication, and other area that used to be particularly human," wrote Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee in their book The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies. They believe that AI will "do more and more, and our lives will get better".
However, ever since the earliest days of AI there have been concerns that some day, software will take over the world. leaving the fate of humans unknown.
“With artificial intelligence we are order the demon （魔鬼）Musk told students during a meeting at MIT in 2014. "If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it's probably that. So we need to be very careful
Many scientists have shared the same concern. The late British physicist Stephen Hawking said at a technology conference in Portugal in November that "computers can. in theory, imitate human intelligence, and exceed it ••• AI could be the worst event in the history of our civilization."
If creators are to safely control AL however, Hawking suggested that they " employ best practice and effective management" .
I am an optimist and I believe that we can create AI for the good of the world," he said at the conference. "We simply need to be aware of the dangers, identify them, employ the best possible practice and management, and prepare for its consequences well in advance/*
1. What does the underlined word "cackle" in Paragraph I probably mean?| A．movement | B．laughter | C．scream | D．story |
| A．lead into the discussion about humans and AI |
| B．prove artificial intelligence has its weaknesses |
| C．inform readers of the development of AI |
| D．show how Alexa's problem was fixed |
| A．The development of AI could threaten our survival one day. |
| B．Digital machines have complete ability to recognize something without mistakes. |
| C．Robots will never match humans in complex communication. |
| D．Humans lives will be greatly improved with the help of robots. |
| A．Man VS.Machine | B．Time to Control Rise of AI |
| C．Creepy AI | D．AI: The Biggest Threat |
最近，在一本英文旅游杂志上刊登了国际空间站(TSS-- International Space Station)将在2020年对游客开放的信息（见下表)。如果有可能（具备足够的时间和金钱)，你是否会去争取成为第一批游客。请谈谈你的理由。
Information About the Trip to ISS
Number of visitors 2 every year
Length of stay 30 days (at most)
Cost $ 27000 per night (stay)
$ 40 million (transport)
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5 . Over the next decade, technology will decimate more jobs in many professions.
Some robots already cost less to operate than the salaries of the humans they replace, and they are getting cheaper. Boston Consulting Group predicts that, by 2025, the operating cost of a robot that does welding (焊接) will be less than $2 per hour, for example. That’s more affordable than the $25 per hour that a human welder earns today in America.
Uber and many other companies are working on developing cars and trucks that don’t need a driver in the driver’s seat. According to the American Trucking Associations, approximately 3 million truck drivers were employed in the United States in 2010, and 6. 8 million others were employed in other jobs relating to trucking activity. So roughly one of every 15 workers in the country is employed in the trucking business. We could be talking about millions of jobs disappearing in the early 2020s.
And then there is the “Gig Economy (零工经济)” that has some businesses moving toward part-time, on-demand employment. Uber has already done this to taxi drivers, and other technology companies are doing it to a wide range of jobs. A study by Intuit predicted that, by 2020, 40% of American workers will be self-employed, and that full-time jobs will be harder to find. We are talking about 60 million people in this category. The problem is that not only do such part-time workers lack reliable full-time jobs and sick pay, but they can’t enjoy health insurance and longer-term benefits.
The measures to be taken are to raise trade barriers. But closing the doors to foreign trade won’t bring jobs back. It will only slow the global economy and hurt American exports, shrinking the U. S. economy and accelerating job loss.
1. The underlined word “decimate” in Paragraph 1 can be replaced by “______”.| A．make someone interested in | B．equip someone for |
| C．wipe out | D．bring back |
| A．Robots will become smarter and smarter. |
| B．Uber’s labor cost will be lower and lower. |
| C．More and more truck drivers will be needed. |
| D．Taxi drivers can enjoy more health insurance. |
| A．It may be flexible. |
| B．It may offer sick pay. |
| C．It is full of adventure. |
| D．It is always well-paid. |
| A．Welcoming foreign trade. |
| B．Offering more part-time jobs. |
| C．Using fewer robots to stop job loss. |
| D．Developing more new technologies. |
| A．To show technology advances in our daily life. |
| B．To prove technologies cause low incomes. |
| C．To introduce what the Gig Economy is. |
| D．To warn the Gig Economy is coming. |
The speed of change is becoming increasingly fast.How should we do to keep up with it？Let’s take deep breath and try to sense the good things the future have to offer.The job areas will be most affected by technological changes. Jobs in farming，coal mining and heavy industry are decreasing when the service industry，the media and information technology are booming up. Without doubts，the number of jobs in IT will multiply.There are also many other important changes take place.The job is getting more and more flexible.Similar，companies will change to be more various.Good communication skills will be extremely importance.New technology is the driving force behind these rapid changes，but don’t get left behind.
7 . 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. |
A Capsule Fails the Test of Time
The US state of Oklahoma, the 48th state in the Union, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2007. In a year full of official
The time capsule was a large concrete box. People said it was strong
Before the capsule was buried, officials ran a competition. Entrants had to guess what the population of Tulsa would be in 2007. The organizers recorded all the guesses and saved
The future of the press?
Interesting things are happening in press. Newspaper circulation in Europe is falling and Ireland and the UK have experienced the biggest drop.
The industry in Europe has made a number of changes, such as introducing more colour and moving from the big broadsheets to the much more user-friendly tabloid（娱乐小报）size. The greatest innovation has been the introduction of online newspapers, which have boomed since their introduction a little over ten years ago.
A growing number of people are reading electronic newspapers instead of the print press and with good reason. First of all, they can read the news whenever they want. Secondly, readers are free to explore a subject as much or as little as they want. Thirdly, it is the perfect medium for‘real-time’news.
The general view is that the future‘paper’will be a multimedia mix. Advanced technology and programming software will allow the user to create their own‘news package’. And it will arrive instantaneously, fed by superfast internet connections. The reader will receive up-to-the-minute news about everything from their local traffic problems to updates on news of specific interest to them. Nobody knows for sure what will happen, but as one expert put it,‘we won’t be saying“Here is the news”, we will be saying,“
| A．But are online papers here to stay? |
| B．The news is everywhere. |
| C．Take, for example, the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004. |
| D．But how different are online papers from printed ones? |
| E．Despite this, the news isnt all bad for the industry. |
| F．Here is your news. |
Cards and digital(数字的) technologies
Cash is no longer king. Over recent years fewer and fewer transactions have been made with cash. The most recent figures show coins and notes are used just 34% of
Instead we’re paying with cards and digital technologies. Some of this is down to user choice, with contactless cards and smartphones making spending
But it’s also being forced upon us. Some retailers are refusing physical money as they can avoid the high bank charges levied(征收) at them for
This could be bad news if you still primarily use cash,
As a result this move towards cashless society makes many uneasy.
