1 . Futurologists are making a lot of predictions about our future life and they are predicting how we will travel, work and live in the future. By 2049, some futurologists foresee that some “talking” buildings will appear in our life.
By the middle of the century, it’s believed that buildings will be able to “talk” to people through various sensors when the heating needs to be turned on. As a result, there will be no switches. Instead, a lot of networks will appear, which can be compared to a human nervous system. In the future, buildings will be made from concrete plastics and shape-changing materials. All of them can heal themselves at that time. As architects are racing to develop the world’s tallest buildings, there will be a need for new kinds of elevators, through which vehicles could even travel into the buildings. German engineers have already started working on such technology called Multi.
By mid-century, scientists believe that buildings will be miles tall. Some of them may be very large and they can function as small cities. By comparison, at present, the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, measures 829.8 metres high. As the future building can rise through the clouds, their windows will be replaced by virtual screens. In this way, people can choose any view as they like.
A London Spaceport is also likely to come into being by 2049 as the space industry develops very quickly. There is a huge cost advantage in going to space from a base as high as possible, so a spaceport is very likely to be over 10 km and even as much as 30 km, using carbon-based materials.
1. How will the heating system be controlled in the future?| A．Through the net. | B．Through mobiles. |
| C．Through sensors. | D．Through switches. |
| A．They can recover by themselves. |
| B．They can seek help automatically. |
| C．They can transport people to space. |
| D．They can protect people against harm. |
| A．Seeing the beautiful scenery. |
| B．Allowing vehicles to enter buildings. |
| C．Connecting the earth with space. |
| D．Making it possible to build high buildings. |
| A．Be the Best Buildings with Carbon-based Materials |
| B．The Higher the Building, the Better |
| C．Smart Buildings in the Future |
| D．More Functions, Less Cost |
When I was a little boy, I see a science fiction film. It was about the future world, in that the way people lived was so astonished. What made I especially surprised was that they could drive cars in the sky! Since now, I have been curious the future world. Just about 100 years ago, flying in the sky seemed impossible, but now we can travel around a world by plane. With the latest achieve in technology, we can deal with most of our problem. Now we can even pay our bills online. I believe that the future world will become a much more nicer place than what it is.
3 . Those who are concerned that robots are taking over the world can rest easy—for now. Though the androids have proved useful at performing ordinary tasks, they are not ready for the greatest time. At least that appears to be the case at Japan’s Henn-na Hotel chain where over half of the robot staff are being replaced by humans.
The first location of the unique hotel opened in July 2015 was at Nagasaki’s Huis Ten Bosch Theme Park. The hotel’s owner, Hideo Sawada, promised the hotel to be managed primarily by robots. Guests were greeted and checked-in by a dinosaur robot, while a cute android called Churi, placed inside each room, provided information about attractions. Not surprisingly, the lodging, recognized in 2016 as the world’s first robot-staffed hotel by Guinness World Records, drew in curious visitors from all around the world.
But as the years have passed, the hotel’s main draw is becoming less novel and more unsatisfactory. Also as the robots are “aging”, they are costing more to repair. Among the 283 androids being replaced are the chain’s two dinosaur receptionists. In addition to scaring young guests, they are also unable to photocopy guests’ passports, forcing human employees to step in each time. Also out are the cute Churi robots, which annoyed guests by interrupting their conversations. For example, one guest told The Wall Street Journal that Churi mistook his snoring for a command and kept asking him to repeat his request all night.
Sawada told The Wall Street Journal, “When you actually use robots you realize there are places where they aren’t needed—or just annoy people.” While Sawada may be cutting back on his use of androids, the recently-opened Smart LYZ Hotel and the Fly Zoo Hotel in China, are run entirely by robots, with not a human in sight. Whether the employees have more competence than those “hired” by the Henn-na Hotel chain remains to be seen.
1. What makes Japan’s Henn-na Hotel unique?| A．Its robot employees. | B．Its advanced equipment. |
| C．Its convenient location. | D．Its successful management. |
| A．To entertain readers. | B．To prove Churi’s drawback. |
| C．To introduce Churi’s functions. | D．To persuade people not to book the hotel. |
| A．Attractive. | B．Costly. |
| C．Pioneering. | D．Disappointing. |
| A．Robots Are Taking Over the World. |
| B．The Boom of Robots-staffed Hotel. |
| C．Robot Staff Are Fired For No Competence. |
| D．The First Robots-staffed Hotel Won Guinness World Record. |
