1 . Space exploration has always been the province of ________: The human imagination readily soars where human ingenuity (聪明才智)struggles to follow. A Voyage to the Moon, often cited as the first science fiction story, was written by Cyrano de Bergerac in 1649. Cyrano was dead and buried for a good three centuries ________the first manned rockets started to fly.  

In 1961, when President Kennedy declared that America would send a man to the moon by the________’s end, those words, too, had a dreamlike quality. They resonated with optimism and ambition in much the same way as the most famous ________ speech of all, delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. two years later. By the end of the decade, both visions had yielded concrete results and________American society. And yet in many ways the two dreams ended up ________each other. The fight for racial and economic equality is intensely pragmatic (讲求实用的)and immediate in its impact. The urge to explore space is just the opposite. It is figuratively and literally otherworldly in its ________.  

When the dust settled, the space dreamers lost out. There was no grand follow-up to the Apollo missions. The technologically compromised space shuttle program has just come to an end, with no________. The perpetual argument is that ________ are tight, that we have more pressing problems here on Earth. Amid the current concerns about the federal deficit, reaching toward the stars seems a dispensable luxury—________ saving one-thousandth of a single year’s budget would solve our problems.  

But human ingenuity struggles on. NASA is developing a series of robotic probes that will get the most bang from a buck. They will serve as modern Magellans, ________out the solar system for whatever explorers follow, whether man or machine. On the flip side, companies like Virgin Galactic are plotting a bottom-up assault on the space dream by making it a reality to the public. Private spaceflight could lie within ________ of rich civilians in a few years. Another decade or two and it could go mainstream.  

The space dreamers end up benefiting all of us—not just because of the way they expand human knowledge, or because of the spin-off ________ they produce, but because the two types of dreams feed off each other. Both Martin Luther King and John Kennedy appealed to the idea that humans can ________what were once considered inherent limitations. Today we face seeming challenges in energy, the environment, health care. Tomorrow we will transcend these as well, and the dreamers will deserve a lot of the credit. The more evidence we collect that our species is ________greatness, the more we will actually achieve it.

1.

A．dreamers

B．explorers

C．astronomers

D．novelists

2.

A．after

B．before

C．until

D．while

3.

A．year

B．quarter

C．century

D．decade

4.

A．inspiring

B．public

C．dream

D．freedom

5.

A．attacked

B．industrialized

C．transformed

D．accessed

6.

A．in conflict with

B．in line with

C．in common with

D．keeping pace with

7.

A．aims

B．influences

C．concerns

D．terms

8.

A．ancestor

B．successor

C．forefather

D．advocate

9.

A．situations

B．securities

C．funds

D．schedules

10.

A．just like

B．on condition that

C．as if

D．so that

11.

A．making

B．figuring

C．sweeping

D．mapping

12.

A．reach

B．management

C．control

D．knowledge

13.

A．productions

B．chips

C．technologies

D．substitutes

14.

A．go beyond

B．go through

C．go after

D．go over

15.

A．in ignorance of

B．capable of

C．proud of

D．in favor of

2 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。续写的词数应为150左右。

I have seen amazing things.

My first visit was to a space station considered the most modern in space. Described as an enormous round plate, it spins slowly in space to imitate the pull of the earth’s gravity. Inside was an exhibition of the most up-to-date inventions of the 31^st century. A guide showed us around along a moveable path.

Guide: Good morning to all our visitors from 2008. First we’re going to examine one of the latest forms of communication among our space citizens! Messages can now be sent using a “thoughtpad”. You place the metal band over your head, clear your mind, press the sending button, think your message and the next instant it’s sent. It’s stored on the “thoughtpad” of the receiver. It’s quick, efficient and environmentally friendly. The only limitation is if the user does not think his or her message clearly, an unclear message may be sent. But we cannot blame the tools for the faults of the user, can we?

During the explanation I looked at the pair of small objects called “thoughtpad” on a table. They just looked like metal ribbon. So ordinary but so powerful! While I was observing them, the path moved us on.

Guide: And now ladies and gentlemen, we are in the “environment area”. People used to collect waste in dustbins. Then the rubbish was sent to be buried or burned, am I right?（We nodded.）Well, now there’s a system where the waste is disposed of using the principles of ecology. A giant machine, always greedy for more, swallows all the waste available. The rubbish is turned into several grades of useful material, such as “fertilizer” for the fields and “soil” for deserts. Nothing is wasted, and everything, even plastic bags is recycled. A great idea, isn’t it?

I stared at the moving of the waste machine, absorbed by its efficiency. But again we moved on.

Part 1

Our third stop shows the changes that have happened to work practices. Manufacturing no longer takes place on earth but on space stations like this one.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Part 2

My mind began to wander. What job would I do? My motivation increased as I thought of the wonderful world of the future.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

3D printing and virtual reality are cool, but when are we going to be able to clone ourselves? It'd be fantastic for    1    （we）to send our clone off to school or work and sit back and do    2    we really want to do. There have been important advances in cloning in the last several decades, leading to the    3    （success）cloning of various animals. So far, however, there    4    （be）no human clones.

In large part, cloning has been    5    victim of pop culture to the degree that the general public has grand notions of what it will be like. There is no    6    （possible）of cloning a grown version of ourselves in a matter of hours or days（like you see in the movies）.

    7    （general）, we already have the tools to make cloning happen today; we just have some moral problems     8    （overcome）before the world won't raise major alarms at scientists cloning someone. That leaves the question     9    us then, the general public, do you think cloning is okay? Would you clone a lost loved one to bring them back, or if you found yourself unable to have kids, would you clone yourself? These are the questions we must answer first before we succeed in    10    （create） human clones.

4 . From self-driving cars to carebots for elderly people，the rapid development in technology has long represented a possible threat（威胁）to many jobs normally performed by people. But experts now believe that almost 50 percent of occupations（职业）existing today will be completely unnecessary by 2025 as artificial intelligence（AI）continues to change businesses.

“The next fifteen years will see a change in how we work，and a change will necessarily take place in how we plan and think about workplaces，”said Peter Andrew，director of Workplace Strategy for CBRE Asia Pacific. A growing number of jobs in the future will require creative intelligence，social skills and the ability to use artificial intelligence.

The report is based on interviews with 200 experts，business leaders and young people from Asia Pacific，Europe and North America. It shows that in the US technology already destroys more jobs than it creates. But the report states，“Losing occupations does not necessarily mean losing jobs—just changing what people do.”Growth in new jobs could occur as much，according to the research.“The growth of companies that have the speed and technological knowledge will directly challenge big companies，”it states.

A report by Pew Research Center found 52 percent of experts in artificial intelligence and robotics were optimistic about the future and believed there would still be enough jobs in the next few years.“The optimists pictured a future in which robots do not take the place of more jobs than they create，”according to Aaron Smith，the report’s co-author.

“Technology will continue to affect jobs，but more jobs seem likely to be created. Although there have always been people out of work，when we reach a few billion people there will be billions of jobs. There is no shortage of things that need to be done and that will not change，”Microsoft’s Jonathan Grudin told researchers.

1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?

A．The result of job reduction.

B．The fast development of Al.

C．The future life of elderly people.

D．The influence of technology on jobs.

2. What will people most probably do in the future?

A．Take the place of AI.

B．Work in a traditional way.

C．Take up jobs requiring creativity.

D．Enjoy life without working anymore.

3. What can be known from Grudin’s words in the last paragraph？

A．More people will not have a job.

B．More jobs tend to appear in the future.

C．Job competition is likely to grow sharper.

D．Technology will have less control over jobs.

4. What is the best title for the text？

A．Are People Losing Their Jobs？

B．The Requirements for Future Jobs

C．The Challenging Life in the Future

D．Does Technology Simplify Everything？