1 . Life will probably be very different in 2050. First of all, it seems that TV channels will have vanished by 2050. Instead, people will choose a programme from a “menu” and a computer will send the programme directly to the television. By 2050, music, films, programmes, newspapers and books will come to us in the similar way.
In many places, agriculture is developing quickly and people are growing fruit and vegetables for export. This uses a lot of water. Therefore, there could be serious shortages of water. Some scientist predict that water could be the cause of wars if we don’t act now.
In the future, cars will run on new, clean fuels (燃料) and they will go very fast. Cars will have computers to control the speed 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 your destination. Also, by 2050, space planes will fly people from Los Angeles to Tokyo in just two hours.
Some big companies now prefer to use robots that do not ask for pay rises or go on strike, and work 24 hours a day. They are also easy to control. And they never argue with people. They can be easily used in a variety of places — factories, schools, offices, hospitals, shops and homes.
Scientists will have discovered how to control genes (基因). Scientists have already produced clones (克隆) of animals. By 2050, scientists will be able to produce clones of people and decide how they look and how they behave. Scientists will be able to do these things, but should they?
1. Which of the following best explains “vanished” underlined in paragraph 1?| A．Settled. | B．Spread. | C．Disappeared. | D．Decreased. |
| A．Robots can work in different places. |
| B．Robots have much to be improved. |
| C．Robots work for humans for free. |
| D．Robots have many advantages. |
| A．He probably disagrees with the idea of human cloning. |
| B．He is looking forward to using of cloning technology. |
| C．The scientists have already discovered how to control genes. |
| D．The scientists will face many difficulties of controlling genes. |
| A．High-tech Cars | B．Life in the Future |
| C．Is Cloning Really Good? | D．Are You Ready for the Future? |
| A．The making of a robot. |
| B．Their home in the future. |
| C．Technology’s impact on their lives. |
1. 物品的独特设计；
2. 物品的用途。
注意：1. 写作词数应为80左右。
2. 可适当增加细节，使行文连贯。
My Future Invention
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Have you ever wondered what life is like in a smart city? Well, when you go to a certain shopping mall now, you can enjoy
The idea of a smart city
In 2009, Dubuque became the first smart city in the US.
Santander in Spain also gives us
1. What is the main topic of the talk?
| A．Man-made meat. | B．Methods of farming. | C．The price of animal meat. |
| A．Useful. | B．Wasteful. | C．Powerful. |
| A．Twice. | B．Five times. | C．Ten times. |
6 . When drones (无人机) first became widely available around 15 years ago, it wasn’t uncommon to find tech people painting dramatic pictures of how they were soon going to change the world. However, if you look up into the largely empty sky, you can see that hasn’t happened yet.
Sure, drones are useful for taking aerial (空中的) photos, but we’re a long way away from aerial superhighways, packed with autonomous drones carrying parcels at speeds that are near-impossible on the ground.
In 2016, Amazon announced it had completed its first ever aerial delivery. In a video, we saw an Amazon “Prime Air” drone pick up a parcel and fly it across the countryside landing in the buyer’s garden, dropping the parcel, and then returning to its home base. But Amazon still hasn’t completed its second drone delivery. In fact, it has reportedly downsized the drone program.
So, will drone delivery ever be a thing? There are some indications of a possible drone delivery future not in Britain, but in Africa. Because also since 2016, rural hospitals in Rwanda have been receiving regular shipments of medical supplies by drone thanks to a company called Zipline. It surely has saved lives, thanks to the speed at which blood can be delivered in a country with a poorly developed road network. So could we ever expect such a system here?
Unfortunately, there’s a big difference between rural Africa and thickly populated Britain. British homes don’t have large gardens where to land and nobody wants loud large drones constantly landing around the neighbourhood. Another reality is that British cities may still have security and safety concerns about routinely having drones carrying stuff over our heads.
That’s why I wonder if the real drone future could be crawling (爬) along the ground. For a few years, “autonomous delivery robots” with wheels have been walking on the pavements. So perhaps we’re not so far away from a drone delivery future, but the reality might be a little bit more down to earth.
1. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?
| A．Drones are widely used in daily life. |
| B．Drones have made delivery efficient. |
| C．Drones are designed to take aerial photos. |
| D．Drones haven’t changed the world as expected. |
| A．To explain the process of drone delivery. |
| B．To stress the profits brought by drone delivery. |
| C．To discuss the possibility of a drone delivery future. |
| D．To show its advantages over Amazon’s drone delivery. |
| A．The security and safety concerns about drones. |
| B．The ways that British people react to drone delivery. |
| C．The differences between African countries and Britain. |
| D．The reasons why drone delivery isn’t suitable for Britain. |
| A．Drone Delivery Future: Pie in the Sky | B．A Bright Future for Drone Delivery |
| C．Change the World with Drones | D．Drone Applications at Risk Worldwide |
7 . 2050 seems a long way away, but it is not impossible to predict the future though. With the speed we are moving now so many amazing things are going to happen in the future. So where is technology going in the future?
◇The Internet will be free for everyone.
The Internet is really a key driver these days. But it is not free for everyone yet. There have already been attempts like Facebook’s Free Basics.
◇Personal airplanes will be used widely for short journeys.
With the increasing population, it is not very hard to predict that common methods of transportation will not be enough.
◇Most cancers will be treated successfully.
◇
There will be great achievements in space research. In the year 2050, humans will be able to live on Mars. We will receive more intelligent signals from space. Chances are we will be able to find the next Earth — like planet.
| A．Though it hasn’t happened yet |
| B．Let’s start our predictions |
| C．The world’s population will cross 9. 6 billion |
| D．What do you think of my predictions of 2050 |
| E．Humans will live on other planets |
| F．There will be much heavier traffic on the road |
| G．The number of deaths caused by cancers will be greatly reduced |
8 . Your options for an ego - friendly home may seem somewhat limited now—solar panels, rain barrels, and maybe a small garden—but as the world of green technology advanced, there is a rise in the number of smart, ego-friendly home improvements. Some of them are available now.
A home thermos tat (恒温器) can automatically adjust the temperature for you, making sure your house is warm when you get home and reducing energy waste during the day. For example, a thermos tat called Nest Learning Thermos tat learns your heating and cooling preference and automatically adjusts itself.
Years ago, recycling paper and plastic was the most you could do to save resource.
In 2009, The Wall Street Journal asked four architectural firms to imagine the future of green homes.
| A．There are quite a lot of benefits of green homes. |
| B．Others, like walls made of gardens, are a bit more futuristic |
| C．Traditional energy sources are still the norm in most houses |
| D．Nest users have saved 29 million in energy in less than two years |
| E．It will depend on the type of heating and cooling system in your home |
| F．Now, recycling factories have gone way beyond the traditional materials |
| G．And one of the groups, Rios Clementi Hale Studios, undertook the project |
9 . What makes a human being? Is it our thoughts? Our emotions? Our behavior?
All of these things make us who we are, but at the center of the matter is the genome (基因组) — the genes inside our bodies that may determine everything from our hair colour to our intelligence. But if we could change our genome, what would it mean to us?
In an online video posted on Nov 26, He Jiankui, a biological researcher from Southern University of Science and Technology in China, said that he had helped to make the world’s first genetically edited babies.
These are twin girls, born in November, with genes edited in an attempt to help them fight against possible future infection (感染) with the AIDS virus.
He said that he chose to do this because HIV infections are a big problem in China. “I feel such a strong responsibility that it’s not just to make a first, but also to set an example,” He told the Associated Press(AP).
The announcement has caused an international storm. Some believe that success will benefit the families of HIV patients. Considering that HIV is “a major and growing public health threat,” attempted gene editing for HIV is justifiable, Harvard Medical School genetics professor George Church told AP.
However, others think that gene editing technology is still unsafe to attempt.
“Gene editing itself is experimental and is still associated with unexpected mutations (突变), causing genetic problems early and later in life, including the development of cancer,” Julian Savulescu, a specialist in ethics at the University of Oxford, told BBC News.
Others fear that this could open the door to using gene editing technology to make designer babies. It might give the parents the choices to choose everything from their baby’s eye color to intelligence.
“You could find wealthy parents buying the latest ‘upgrades’ for their children, leading to even greater inequality than we already live with,” Marcy Darnovsky, director of the San Francisco Center for Genetics, told BBC News.
However, Merlin Crossley, a biologist at the University of New South Wales, Australia, believes that’s a long way off. According to him, many genes produce qualities like height and intelligence — not to mention environmental influences.
And he believes the technology will be better controlled in the future.
“It’s hard to get genies (妖怪) back into bottles — but I’m optimistic that this technology, which I think of as ‘genetic surgery’, could be controlled quite effectively in the future,” Crossley told ABC News.
1. Why did He Jiankui make the genetically edited babies?| A．Because he wanted to be a leader in gene editing technology. |
| B．Because he tried to do his part in fighting against HIV infection. |
| C．Because he attempted to help the twin girls who were infected with AIDS. |
| D．Because he wanted to became the first to make the genetically edited babies in the world. |
| A．Gene editing can cause genetic problems sooner or later in life |
| B．Gene editing may widen the gap between the rich and the poor |
| C．Gene editing may enable wealthy parents to design their babies |
| D．Gene editing can determine everything inside a person’s body |
| A．Absurd. | B．Hopeless. | C．Acceptable. | D．Skilful. |
| A．Gene editing: the genie in the bottle |
| B．Gene editing: the way we should go |
| C．Gene editing: hope or fear for human beings |
| D．Gene editing: a great success in human history |
1. What has made working at home possible?
| A．Living far from workplaces. |
| B．Communication industry. |
| C．More job opportunities. |
| A．Saving more time. |
| B．Having a lot of freedom. |
| C．Taking care of the family easily. |
| A．A British company will move overseas. |
| B．All companies will employ homeworkers. |
| C．People will work at home for a foreign company. |
