2 . Do you know what will happen in the future? Life in the twenty-first century will be very ________ , I suppose. Many changes will take place, but ________ will the changes be?

As we all know the population in the earth is growing ________. There will be a great many ________ in the world and most of them will live ________ than people in the twentieth century.

Computers will be much smaller and ________ and there will be at least one in every ________. And ________ studies will be one of the important subjects in school then.

People will work ________ and they will have more free time for taking exercise, reading, watching TV and traveling all over the world. ________ will be much easier and cheaper. And many more people will go to ________ countries for holidays.

There will be changes in our ________, too. May be no one will eat meat every day. Instead, they eat more fruit and vegetables without pollution. Maybe people will be ________. Work in the future will be different, too. ________ and hard work can be done by robots. Because of this, ________ people will not have enough work to do. This will be a problem.

3 . 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.

4 . I log onto a computer at the doctor’s office to say I have arrived and then wait until a voice calls me into the examination room. There, a robotic nurse ______ me onto the scales and then takes my blood pressure. Some time later, in steps the ______, who is also a robot. He notes down my ______ and gives me a prescription (处方). I pay for my visit using a credit card and return home without having met another human being. This is my terrible vision of the future, which hasn’t happened ______ yet.

I should say I really do like many aspects of ______. I am a big fan of air conditioning in summer and heaters in winter. But I am writing this because I don’t want machines to ______.

When I call my dentist’s office and actually get a human being on the line, I am ______. But when I see the introduction of yet more self-service checkout stations at the grocery store, I feel like ______ “When it comes to cashiers (收银员), make mine a(n) ______, please!”

After all, human cashiers sometimes ______ you a store coupon (优惠券) for items you are buying.

Even more than that, real-life cashiers often take an interest in particularly cute children, which can ______ young mothers’ day. A cashier may also show pity on an elderly person ______ to get that last penny out of his purse.

Machines can be ______ and cost-effective and they often got the job done just fine. ______ they lack an element so important to everyday life.

Call it the spirit, the soul or the heart. It is ______ no machine will ever have. It is human being that encourages us to smile at others, which nay be what they need at that moment.

5 . At the doctor’s office, first I log onto a computer to announce my presence. Then I wait until a robotic nurse _______ me into the examination room. Soon, in steps the doctor, who also is a robot. He records my _______, does a few calculations and then _______ out a prescription (处方). Having swiped (刷) the credit card at a machine on the way out, I return home without having come across another human being. This scene is my horrible imagination of the future, which hasn’t come to pass —_______ not yet now.

I really do like many aspects of _______. I’m a big fan of air conditioners in summer and heat in winter. But I don’t want machines to _______. When I call my dentist’s office and on the line actually get a human being, I am pleased. When I call the airport and get the lady-computer who _______ asking me to report myself, I want to scream. When I see the slow occupation of self-service check-out stations at the supermarket, I feel like shouting, “When it _______ cashiers, make mine humans, please!” 

After all, a human cashier might _______ a bag of flour leaking and get you a replacement. Real-life cashiers may have a ________ word for an elderly person struggling to pay the bill. Even more than that, they often take an interest in particularly cute children, which can ________ a young mother’s day. I don’t want to go back to the Stone Age, but I’m also ________ about a completely computerized world, where face-to-face communication is replaced by swiping credit cards and feeding numbers. Self-service check-out stations can be efficient. But they lack a(n) ________ so vital to everyday life. It is something that urges us to offer others a smile, a hug or a prayer, which may be ________ what they need at that moment. Call it the spirit, the soul or the heart. It is something that no ________ will ever have.