1 . Modern inventions have speeded up people’s lives amazingly. Motor cars ________ a hundred miles in more than an hour, aircraft cross the world within a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of ________ seems never-ending. Every year motor cars are produced which go even faster and each new computer boasts(吹嘘) of ________ precious seconds in handling tasks.

All these save time, but at a cost. When we lose or ________ half a day in speeding across the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so. We get the uncomfortable feeling known as jet-lag(时差). Our bodies feel that they have been ________ behind in another time zone. Again, spending too long at ________ results in painful wrists(手腕) and fingers. Mobile phones also have their dangers: too much use may transmit harmful ________ into our brains.

However, how do we ________ the time we have saved? Certainly not relax, or so it seems. We are so used to constant activity that we find it ________ to sit down and do nothing or even just one thing at a   ________ . Perhaps the days are long gone when we might listen ________ to a story on the radio, letting imagination take us into another world.

There was a time when some people’s lives were devoted simply to the cultivation(耕作) of the ________ or the care of cattle. No multi-tasking there; their lives went on at a much gentler pace. There is much that we might envy about a ________ of life like this. Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard tasks our ancestors ________ . Modern machines have ________ people from that primitive(原始的) existence.

1.

A．explore

B．get

C．cover

D．fly

2.

A．speed

B．time

C．product

D．distance

3.

A．wasting

B．losing

C．saving

D．spending

4.

A．earn

B．drop

C．miss

D．gain

5.

A．left

B．come

C．forgotten

D．felt

6.

A．ships

B．airplanes

C．computers

D．cars

7.

A．prevention

B．radiation

C．combination

D．damage

8.

A．control

B．handle

C．do

D．deal

9.

A．uncomfortable

B．easy

C．difficult

D．good

10.

A．second

B．day

C．year

D．time

11.

A．actively

B．quietly

C．quickly

D．curiously

12.

A．surface

B．water

C．land

D．island

13.

A．way

B．view

C．pathway

D．point

14.

A．expressed

B．charged

C．inspired

D．faced

15.

A．freed

B．remained

C．kept

D．cleared

2 . Life in the future will be different from the life today. Between then and now many changes will happen. But what will the changes be?

The population is growing fast. And most of them will live longer than people now.

Computers will be much smaller and more useful, and there will be at least one in every room. And computer studies will be one of the important subjects in schools then. People will work fewer hours than they do now and they will have more free time for sports, watching TV and travel. Travelling will be much cheaper and easier. And many more people will go to other countries for holidays.

There will be changes in our food, too. More land will be used for building new towns and houses for all the people. Then there will be less room for cows and sheep, so meat will be more expensive. Maybe no one will eat it every day. Instead, they will eat more fruits and vegetables. Maybe people will be healthier. Work in the future will be different, too. Robots will do dangerous and hard work. Because of this, many people will not have enough work to do. This will be a big problem.

1. In the future there will be________.

A．fewer vegetables

B．much more fruit

C．more people

D．less people

2. In the future people don’t have to________.

A．walk on foot

B．work long hours

C．work fast

D．eat meat

3. People may not eat_________ as much as they do today.

A．fish

B．fruit

C．rice

D．meat

4. One big problem in the future is that________.

A．people will eat more fruits and vegetables

B．many people may not be able to find work

C．room for growing fruits and vegetables will reduce

D．all the work will be done by robots

4 . Since several organisations plan to put the first man on Mars by 2030, new trips to the Moon will take place around 2025. If you go to the Moon, you need a place to stay in. So what will it be like? Maybe the following article can give us some inspiration.

August 23, 2025—Today a new chapter in space travel was written. Rod Markham and his wife-to-be Susan Millster arrived safely on the Moon to spend 5 nights as the first guests at the Starbright Hotel that was set up for this purpose two years ago.

Not only are they the first hotel guests on the Moon, but they also set a new record for expensive accommodation since the price was $3.7 million per night, per person. However, the move from the Earth to the hotel is included in the price.

The hotel itself will probably have a hard time just to try to gain one star in any hotel rating system, because there is no room service. The guests have to do the cleaning of the room themselves and there is no bathroom in it. However. they have more stars than they need just outside their windows.

Rod and Susan will get married by linking their local minister in San Diego, California at 9:00 p.m. EST tonight, and the wedding will be broadcast live by several major TV networks in a 1-hour special report, including the preparations for the trip.

Six astronauts are along with them and during the stay they’ll set up further accommodations for the guests who have made reservations at the Starbright Hotel next year. The hotel has no employees, only some workers when guests stay at it.

1. What does the new chapter in space travel refer to according to paragraph 2?

A．That humans landed on Mars for the first time.

B．That the first hotel on the Moon was set up.

C．That the first hotel guests landed on the Moon.

D．That the hotel on Mars welcomed its first guests.

2. What's the meaning of the underlined sentence “there is no room service”?

A．They can't find much help.

B．They will get five-star service.

C．They have to cook food themselves.

D．They can use the bathroom in their room.

3. What can we learn about the wedding of Rod and Susan?

A．It will last for an hour.

B．It can be watched live on the Earth.

C．A minister on the Moon will host it.

D．Their relatives and friends will be present.

4. What will the six astronauts do during the stay of Rod and Susan?

A．Accept reservations from others.

B．Improve room service for the couple.

C．Look for several employees for the hotel.

D．Prepare accommodations for future guests.

5 . It’s 2035. You have a job, a family and you’re about 40 years old. Welcome to your future life. Getting ready for work, you pause in front of the mirror, “Turn red,” you say. Your shirt changes from sky blue to deep red. Tiny preprogrammed electronics are rearranged (重新设置) in your shirt to change its color. Looking into the mirror, you find it hard to believe that you are 40. You look much younger. With amazing advances in medicine, people in your generation may live to be 150 years old. You’re not even middle-aged.

As you go into the kitchen and prepare to pour your cereal (谷类)breakfast into a bowl, you hear: “To lose weight, you shouldn’t eat that,” from your shoes. They read the tiny electronic code on the cereal box to find out the nutrition details. You decide to listen to your shoes. “Kitchen, what can I have for breakfast?” A list of possible foods appears on the counter as kitchen checks its food supplies.

“Ready for your trip to space? ”You ask your son and daughter. In 2005 only specially trained astronauts went into space, — and very few of them. Today anyone can go to space for day trips or longer vacation. Your best friend even works in space. Handing your children three strawberries each, you add, “The doctor said you need these for space travel.” Thanks to medical advances, vaccination shots (疫苗注射) are a thing of the past. Ordinary foods contain specific vaccines. With the berries in their mouths, the kids head for the front door.

It’s time for you to go to work. Your car checks your fingerprints and unlocks the doors. “My office. Autopilot (自动驾驶).” you command. Your car drives itself down the road and moves smoothly into traffic on the highway. You sit back and unroll your e-newspaper. The latest news downloads and fills the viewer. Looking through the pages, you watch the news as video films rather than read it.

1. What changes the color of your shirt?

A．The mirror.

B．The shirt itself.

C．The counter.

D．The medicine.

2. How do the shoes know that you shouldn’t eat the breakfast cereal?

A．By pouring the breakfast into a bowl.	B．By listening to the doctor’s advice.
C．By testing the food supplies in the kitchen.	D．By checking the nutrition details of the food.

3. The strawberries the children eat serve as_______.

A．breakfast

B．lunch

C．vaccines

D．nutrition

4. How is the text organized?

A．In order of time.	B．In order of character.
C．In order of preference.	D．In order of importance.

6 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize in no more than 60 words the main idea of the passage and how it is illustrated. Use your own words as far as possible.

English in the Third Millennium

Two thousand years ago English did not exist. A thousand years ago it was a language used by less than two million people. Now it is the most influential language in the world spoken by more than a billion people on the planet, as their first second or third language. English currently dominates science, business, the mass media and popular culture. For example, 80% of emails on the Internet are in English. But where will English be at the end of the third millennium?

One view is that English is going to become even more important as a global language dominating the world’s trade and media while most other languages will become localized or just die out. At present over half the world’s 6500 languages are in danger of extinction. Another view is that English is already breaking up, as Latin did into several languages. There are already dictionaries of the 'New Englishes’ such as Australian English full of words that a British English speaker would not recognize.

Hopefully, neither of these things will happen. Although different varieties of English will continue to develop around the world, standard English will survive for international communication. In addition, the frightening prospect of a culturally uniform world totally dominated by one language is impossible. Already, other languages are fighting back against the iron grip of English on the Net. Governments around the world are also starting to protect smaller languages and recognize the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity. English will probably stay in control for a long time, at least while the USA remains the top superpower, but it definitely won’t become the only language in the world

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7 . With the rapid development of science and technology, we don’t know how different our life will be in the future.     1    .

At first we think about human relationships. In the year 2050, we will use computers almost every day. We will be making new friends through the Internet — even our husbands or wives will be met in this way.     2    . On the other hand, our relationship with people won’t be as important as they are today — we will feel a little lonely.

Computers will also help us in many other activities in 2050. For example, they will be used by the children at school to make their learning easier. In addition, there will be much more other machines which will play a similar role as computers, like robots which will do the housework for us.

    3     . Traveling to other planets or to the moon will also be available for everyone. Means of transport will, of course, change, too. We will be using solar-powered cars, which will be much more environmentally friendly.

We could expect that the faster technological progress would lead to a more polluted environment. But it isn’t true.     4    . And, scientists will probably find cures for many dangerous diseases, like cancer or AIDS. Therefore, our surroundings as well as health will be in a better condition.

Although we can’t predict the exact changes which will be made in the world, we often think about them. We worry about our and our children’s future; we have expectations, hopes as well as fears. But I think we should be rather confident about our future.     5    .

A．However, we are convinced of the following

B．We should be happy and believe good things will happen

C．We will pay more attention to protecting the environment

D．We can only imagine it

E．Spending holidays will also be completely different

F．It will be much faster and easier for us

G．Our environment will be more polluted

9 . What will the future be like? Good or bad? A lot of science fiction writing imagines a dark and _______ world. Planet of the Apes shows a miserable future for humankind.

There's a word to _______ the kind of future world which often appears in science fiction: dystopia (非理想化的地方), a(n) _______ unpleasant or bad place. The _______ is utopia. But does tomorrow's world have to be so disappointing?

No. A new project wants to use the power of science fiction to _______ a better future. The _______ of Project Hieroglyph is to bring together writers, scientists, engineers and artists to create optimistic stories about a _______ society in the next 50 years,

It's _______ to create a dystopia than write a feel - good story. There's more conflict in a world full of problems, and stories are interesting when there are a lot of problems to solve. No _______, no story! But the project produced a book with some ________ plots. One of them is about environmentalists who fight to ________ people from building the first hotel in the polar areas.

But will these stories actually change anything or merely keep us entertained? A good science fiction story can be ________. It is plain to see that stories can inspire hundreds thousands millions of people to ________ something that they want to do. The influence of science fiction has already been well ________ in modern research.

Time will tell how far we can go. Let's dream big and think ________ the box.

1.

A．elegant

B．splendid

C．dynamic

D．frightening

2.

A．improve

B．describe

C．comprise

D．develop

3.

A．pictured

B．argued

C．realized

D．recognized

4.

A．original

B．opposite

C．alternative

D．acceptable

5.

A．extend

B．unfold

C．sustain

D．occupy

6.

A．advantage

B．result

C．motive

D．maintenance

7.

A．harmonious

B．permanent

C．messy

D．conventional

8.

A．funnier

B．harder

C．newer

D．easier

9.

A．challenge

B．mission

C．welfare

D．surprise

10.

A．disgusting

B．terrifying

C．demanding

D．promising

11.

A．risk

B．delay

C．prevent

D．bother

12.

A．abnormal

B．artificial

C．constant

D．mighty

13.

A．cast new light on

B．make their way to

C．gather around

D．beat down

14.

A．neglected

B．denied

C．exposed

D．seen

15.

A．inside

B．beside

C．outside

D．beneath