1 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下对话。
1. What would the man like to know about the future?

A．How the environment will be.

B．How fast the technology will develop.

C．How rich he will be.

2. What might the woman want to be if she can choose again?

A．A scientist.

B．A teacher.

C．A doctor.

2 . When was the last time you used a telephone box? I mean to make an actual phone call — not to shelter from the rain. Ages ago, right? The last time I used a phone box for its intended purpose was…2006. I was conducting auditions (试演) for my play in my tiny old shared house in London. Hoping to impress some talented actors to come and work for me for nothing, I spread some throws over the sofas and lit candles to make it seem a bit more ”young professional”.

As I rushed outdoors to empty the wastepaper baskets, the door swung shut behind me. Suddenly I was locked outside. My mobile phone was inside, but luckily there was a telephone box across the street. So, I called Directory Assistance, got put through to our landlady’s managing agent, and had a spare key sent to me with just enough time to get back in before the actors arrived.

As it has been many years since I last used one, I should hardly be surprised that then are no longer any public telephones near my house. The last one standing has just been turn into a “mini community library”: any passer-by can “borrow” a book from its shelves return it later, or replace it with another title from their own collection.

For a few months after the “library” opened, I didn’t bother taking a look, as I had assumed that it would be stuffed full of cheese love stories. Then I noticed fork conducting spring cleans dropping boxes of voluminous books on various subjects there. And these books were free. This unbeatable price-point encouraged me to experiment with dozens of titles that I would never normally consider buying. And I’ve discovered some great books!

If I ever get trapped outside my house again, my local telephone box will, sadly no longer be able to connect me with my keys. But it can certainly keep me entertained while I wait for my wife to rescue me.

1. What does the underlined word “it” in the first paragraph refer to?

A．The play.	B．The shared house.
C．The sofa.	D．The telephone box.

2. Why did the author use the telephone box in 2006?

A．To place an urgent call.	B．To put up a notice.
C．To shelter from the rain.	D．To hold an audition.

3. What do we know about the “mini community library”?

A．It provides phone service for free.	B．Anyone can contribute to its collection.
C．It is popular among young readers.	D．Books must be returned within a month.

4. Why did the author start to use the “library”?

A．He wanted to borrow some love stories.

B．He was encouraged by a close neighbour.

C．He found there were excellent free books.

D．He thought it was an ideal place for reading.

3 . 请根据上下文内容，将文中划线部分译成汉语或者英语。

Do You Think You Will Have Your Own Robot?

When we watch movies about the future, we sometimes see robots. They are usually like human servants. They help with the housework and do jobs like working in dirty or dangerous places.

Today there are already robots working in factories. Some can help to build cars, and they do simple jobs over and over again.     1     Fewer people will do such jobs in the future because they are boring, but robots will never get bored.

Scientists are now trying to make robots look like humans and do the same things as we do. Some robots in Japan can walk and dance. They are fun to watch. However, some scientists believe that although we can make robots move like people,     2     让它们真正像人类一样思考将是很困难的. For example, scientist James White thinks that robots will never be able to wake up and know where they are.     3     但是许多科学家都不同意怀特先生的观点. They think that robots will even be able to talk like humans in 25 to 50 years.

Some scientists believe that there will be more robots in the future.     4     However, they agree it may take hundreds of years. These new robots will have many different shapes. Some will look like humans and others might look like animals. In India, for example, scientists made robots that look like snakes.     5     If buildings fall down with people inside, these snake robots can help look for people under the buildings. This was not possible 20 years ago, but computers and rockets also seemed impossible 100 years ago. We never know what will happen in the future!

4 . Some people believe that humans could live on the planet Mars by the year 2100. Our own planet, the Earth, is becoming more and more crowded and polluted. It is hoped that people could start all over again and build a better world on Mars. Here is what life there could be like.

At present, our spacecraft are too slow to carry large numbers of passengers to Mars — it would take months. With the development of technology, by the year 2100, the journey might only take about 20 minutes in spacecraft that travel at the speed of light! However, the spacecraft would travel really fast, so the journey to Mars might be quite uncomfortable. Many people would feel ill.

Humans can’t live without water, air or food. So far, nobody knows whether there would be enough water or air on Mars for people. Moreover, scientists are not sure whether plants could grow on Mars. Food would most probably be in the form of pills (药片) and would not be so tasty.

Compared with life on the earth, life on Mars would be better in some ways. People would have more space. They might live in houses with huge comfortable rooms. Also, robots would do a lot of their work so that they could have more time to relax. There would probably be no schools on Mars. Every student would study at online schools with “e-teachers”.

Life on Mars would be interesting and challenging. However, it may take hundred or years to make it true. So the most important thing we need to do now is to protect our beautiful blue planet — the Earth!

1. The underlined word “spacecraft” means ________.

A．spaceships

B．hot-air balloons

C．space stations

D．planes

2. What would the flight to Mars be like by the year 2100?

A．Fast and enjoyable.	B．Fast but uncomfortable.
C．Slow and boring.	D．Slow but comfortable.

3. What can we learn from the passage?

A．There would be enough water and air on Mars for people.

B．Food on Mars would be more delicious than that on the earth.

C．People would be busy with work on Mars.

D．The writer thinks living on Mars would be full of challenges.

4. What’s the best title for the passage?

A．Schools on Mars	B．Food on Mars
C．Life on Mars	D．Environment on the Earth

5 . It's March, 2050.

Frank and Mary Smith wake up in their comfortable house in the morning and switch on the bedroom computer to get the latest news. They used to read the Times, but changed to electronic newspapers many years ago.

There is the usual news about space: another space flight has returned from Mars and scientists have discovered a new planet. Then they turn to business news: the Us dollar has risen greatly in Shanghai, one of the world's leading business centres. Mary tells the computer to buy 5,000 dollars, and there is a quick response that it has been done. As they watch the screen, Mary orders one of the household robots to make coffee for them. Frank disappears into the study to join a video conference with his partners around the world. He is a computer engineer, working for several companies. This is his third job: he used to be in marketing and then television. Mary has a quick look at the shopping channels—the usual selection of electric cars, household robots and cheap travel offers-before picking up the video phone to talk to her assistant. She also has a job and she is doing medical research. Both she and Frank used to have an office desk in London, but in 2023 they decided to move to the seaside and work from home.

·Frank and Mary have one daughter, Louise, who also has her own workstation at home. She goes to school only one day a week, mainly to play with other students. Classrooms disappeared in 2030 because there was no longer any need for them: communications systems have made it much easier to learn at home. Louise, now thirteen, is studying Chinese at present, which has become a world language as important as English. Louise has many Chinese friends. They communicate by computer. According to the family doctor, Louise will live to at least 130. Her wish is to work for a few decades（十年）and then spend her time on music and painting.

1. Why do Frank and Mary switch on the bedroom computer in the morning?
________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Who makes coffee for Mary and Frank?
________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. How does Frank work with others from home?
________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. What are the two world languages in 2050?
________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . 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。

What could the school of 2050 look like? Undoubtedly, the biggest development we     1     (see) in recent years is the advancement of technology. On entering the classroom, biological recognition scanning will allow students to check in,     2     (simplify) the busy registration process. Teachers will be able to automatically sort out the attendance data, fill in perfect record, and manage     3     (track) the patterns for being late.

For the school of the future, there will be no need to wrestle with heavy     4     (curtain)or dust- covered blinds; we’ ll have smart glass. Windows can automatically adjust     5     (them) color to make up for external brightness, protecting both our eyes and screens.

As summer temperatures continue to rise, the general trend for 2050 is warmer, drier summers as well as warmer, wetter winters and air-conditioned classrooms,    6     will be-come the norm(常态). But they will be    7     (clean), more flexibly and sustainable(可持续的), with built-in air purifiers to remove toxins and dust from the air.

    8     2050,3D printers will have become a standard appliance, both in the home and at school. As    9     learning aid, they will have become essential, allowing teachers more flexi-bly to explain difficult concepts.

Students will be able to     10     (physical) operate objects for better information process-ing, visual perception, and cognitive(认知的) learning.

7 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. mystery       B. obviously       C. experience       D. former       E. fact       F. critically G. celebrity       H. aged       I. previous       J. present       K. object

In the Journal of Social Psychology, two U. S. researchers published the first serious study of a question that seems to be troubling millions. Almost every     1     from Bill Gates to Kesha, is required to have an answer: What advice would you give to your younger self?

Robin Kowalski and Annie McCord asked more than 400 participants, all     2     over 30. They got some entertaining replies like “Don’t marry her”. But we’re little closer to making clear the     3     that has always bothered me: What, precisely, do people take themselves to be doing when they ask themselves this question?

Pretty     4    , it rests on a paradox(悖论). You only acquired the wisdom on which your advice is based by making the mistakes you’re now advising your     5     self to avoid. For example, many respondents gave some answers “Stop being so afraid” - of failure, of other people’s judgements, of life. Excellent advice, but you’ll never feel its force until you’ve first acted afraid and seen where that got you.     6    , as the saying goes, is a harsh teacher. It makes you sit the test first and only gives you the lesson afterwards.

Of course, if “advising your younger self” were just a happiness - boosting technique to remind you of what you’ve learned in life, nobody could     7    . However, browsing the replies to the study, what you sense, far more frequently, is regret. People truly wish they had not married so young, chosen a career to please their parents, or spent the money instead of saving it. And this only brings into focus on the     8     that regret is a basically self-contradictory(自相矛盾的)emotion. You’re feeling it because you’ve grown into the kind of person who can look back     9     on what you did in the past. This means that, judged by your     10     values, you’ve emerged from your life experience better than before. Therefore you ought to be happy rather than regretful.

The important thing isn’t what you might have done differently in the past, if you had been someone that you couldn’t have been back then. It’s what you’d do now. For many people, I know, this can be a huge challenge. But unlike changing the past, it has the great advantage of not being impossible.

8 . A. Human feet will become just one big toe.

In a lecture at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1911, a surgeon named Richard Clement Lucas made a curious prediction that the “useless outer toes” will become used less and less, so that “man might become a one-toed race” in the next century. Look and check your toes.

B. Our houses will be cleaned by hoses.

In a 1950 article titled “Miracles You’ll See in the Next 50 Years,” the New York Times’ longtime science editor Waldemar Kaempffert predicted that by the 21st century, all you’ll have to do to get your house clean is “simply turn the hose on everything.”

That’s because he imagined furniture would be made of synthetic fabric or waterproof plastic. “After the water has run down a drain in the middle of the floor” all you’d have to do is “turn on a blast of hot air” to dry everything. A mercy for housewife, right?

C. We’ll live in flying houses.

Inventor, science writer, and futurist Arthur C. Clark—who co-wrote the screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey—believed that the boring houses of 1966 would be extremely different by the time we reached the 21st century. Evidently, the houses of the future would have nothing keeping them on the ground and they would be able to move to anywhere on the earth on a whim (异想天开). So easy to travel abroad!

D. We’ll eat candy made of underwear.

In Popular Mechanics, Waldemar Kaempffert predicted that all food would be delivered to our homes in the form of frozen bricks by the 21st century. “Cooking as an art is only a memory in the minds of old people,” he wrote. And, thanks to advances in cooking technology, Kaempffert predicted it would even be possible to take ordinary objects like old table cloth and “silk-like underwear” and bring them to “chemical factories to be made into candy.” No, thanks! Not at all!

1. How many toes would become useless and disappear in his left foot, according to the surgeon?

A．Five.

B．Four.

C．Three.

D．Two.

2. What’s the writer’s attitude towards the candy made of underwear?

A．He likes it very much.	B．He thinks it acceptable.
C．He completely rejects it.	D．He would like to have a try.

3. What do all the articles have in common?

A．They were all put forward by the greatest minds at their time.

B．Although they sounded unbelievable, they were well received.

C．They appeared in the same magazine almost around the same time.

D．They were interesting predictions about the century we are living now.

9 . 课文基本知识运用

Image waking up one morning    1     the option of staying in bed and     2     a button to send a robot to do all the work for you. How cool that would be! It may seem like building    3    in the air, but given the rate at     4     artificial intelligence, or AI, is being developed, in the future such dreams may actually come    5    .

10 . By 2050 we’ll be able to send memories, emotions and feelings across the Internet.     1     Teenagers will love it. Instead of putting an emoticon (表情符号) at the end of every sentence, they will use an emotion: anger, happiness, or excitement.

I’m talking about telepathy (心灵感应), really. We’ll still communicate the traditional way.     2     Our children will wonder, What is a keyboard? We will enter the age of the “brain net”.

Medicine will develop fast, too. We will have cured certain forms of cancer, and we will have begun to treat the disease like the common cold. We’ll live with it. It will no longer be deadly.     3     Technology will help in this respect.     4     Smart toilets will perform liquid biopsies (液体活检) to discover cancer cells. Smart objects like phones will check us over automatically.

    5     By 2050 I think we’ll be able to grow many of the important organs (器官) of the body and, rather than allow the organs we’re born with to become old and weak, we’ll replace them. That’s all coming. And it doesn’t take much imagination to realise it.

A．We will do a few tests.

B．People will live an easy life.

C．We won’t fear it like we used to.

D．Brain science will have changed communication.

E．We can already use human cells to grow skin, noses, ears, etc.

F．But communicating telepathically will avoid misunderstandings between people.

G．Our clothes will discover the beginnings of a heart disease, and advise us to get treatment.