1 . Welcome to your future life!
You get up in the morning and look into the mirror. Your face is firm and young-looking. In 2035, medical technology is better than ever. Many people could live to be 150, so at 40, you’re not old at all. And your parents just had an anti-aging (抗衰老的) treatment. Now, all three of you look the same age!
You say to your shirt, “Turn red.” It changes from blue to red. In 2035, “smart clothes” contain particles (粒子) much smaller than the cells in your body. The particles can be programmed to change clothes’ color or pattern.
You walk into the kitchen. You pick up the milk, but a voice says, “You shouldn’t drink that!” Your fridge has read the chip (芯片) that contains information about the milk, and it knows the milk is old. In 2035, every article of food in the grocery store has such a chip.
It’s time to go to work. In 2035, cars drive themselves. Just tell your “smart car” where to go. On the way, you can call a friend using your jacket sleeve. Such “smart technology” is all around you.
So will all these things come true? “For new technology to succeed,” says scientist Andrew Zolli, “it has to be so much better that it replaces what we have already.” The Internet is one example. What will be the next?
1. We can learn from the text that in the future ________.| A．people will never get old |
| B．everyone will look the same |
| C．red will be the most popular color |
| D．clothes will be able to change their pattern |
| A．Milk will be harmful to health. |
| B．More drinks will be available for sale. |
| C．Food in the grocery store will carry electronic information. |
| D．Milk in the grocery store will stay fresh much longer. |
| A．Nothing can replace the Internet. |
| B．Fridges will know what people need. |
| C．Jacket sleeves can be used as a guide. |
| D．Cars will be able to drive automatically. |
| A．Food and clothing in 2035. |
| B．Future technology in everyday life. |
| C．Medical treatments of the future |
| D．The reason for the success of new technology. |
2 . 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? |
3 . When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr. Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy, I couldn’t take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.
Of course, he delivered more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would pen a note — “Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery” — and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then, the buttermilk would magically (魔术般) appear.
All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basille even had a key to our house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors, so that the milk wouldn’t freeze. And I remember Mr. Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.
There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk, thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete. Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practical to have a delivery service.
Recently, an old milk box in the countryside I saw brought back my childhood memories. I took it home and planted it on the back porch (门廊) . Every so often my son’s friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk.
1. Mr. Basille gave the boy a quarter out of his coin changer to __________.| A．show his magical power | B．pay for the delivery |
| C．satisfy his curiosity | D．please his mother |
| A．He wanted to have tea there. | B．He was a respectable person. |
| C．He was treated as a family member. | D．He was fully trusted by the family. |
| A．Nobody wants to be a milkman now. | B．It has been driven out of the market. |
| C．Its service is getting poor. | D．It is not allowed by law. |
| A．He missed the good old days. | B．He wanted to tell interesting stories. |
| C．He needed it for his milk bottles. | D．He planted flowers in it. |
4 . Is there anybody out there? For centuries humans have wondered although the ways in which we have gone about this have varied. As we have gained a greater understanding of the universe, our searches have taken on more concrete(具体的) forms. Questions about aliens(外星人) have become a subject for science rather than science fiction.
Now new cooperation between the Very Large Array (VLA) observatory in New Mexico and the SETI Institute in California means that our curiosity about whether aliens exist can be closer than ever before to being satisfied. Data from the VLA’S 28 radio telescopes, used to scan a vast area of sky, will be fed through a special supercomputer that will search for distant signals.
How likely it is that a signal will be found, and what this might mean, are hard questions to answer. SETI’s existing projects have not discovered any signals from other planets so far. But recent discoveries in space and Earth sciences have provided some encouragement for those who are enthusiastic about the possibility, however remote, of detecting other civilizations.
Once it was thought that our solar system could be unique. Since the discovery of the first exoplanet (a planet beyond the solar system) in the 1990s, thousands more have been located. Around one in five stars is now thought to have a planet in their orbit(运行轨道) in a so-called “habitable(适合居住的) zone”—that is, at a distance from the star where the temperature means that life is theoretically possible.
Are Earth’s 7.5 billion humans, along with billions of other animals and plants they share their home with, on their own in the universe? If there is another life form somewhere, could it be as intelligent as humans? Or could it threaten them? I think all of these need further exploration. As explorations of Mars continue, and a new set of observations from the James Webb Space Telescope are set to begin, our interest in the possibility of alien life appears as much as before.
1. Why does the VLA work with SETI?| A．To develop new radio telescopes | B．To find evidence of aliens’ existence |
| C．To build a special supercomputer | D．To search for distant signals |
| A．Life does indeed exist on exoplanets |
| B．New technologies are employed to find aliens |
| C．Some exoplanets may have habitable zones |
| D．Signals have been discovered from other planets |
| A．Uncertain | B．Positive | C．Unacceptable | D．Worried |
| A．Space: the unknown place | B．Finding aliens: possible or not? |
| C．Receiving signals: aliens appear again? | D．Exoplanets: home of aliens |
5 . You’ve heard the predictions from some of the brightest minds about AI’s influence. Tesla and SpaceX’s chief Elon Musk worries that AI is far more dangerous than nuclear weapons. The late scientist Stephen Hawking warned that AI could serve as the “worst event in the history of our civilization” unless humanity is prepared for its possible risks.
But many experts, even those who are aware of such risks, have a more positive attitude, especially in health-care and possibly in education. That is one of the results from a new AI study released Monday by the Pew Research Centre.
Pew canvassed the opinions of 979 experts over the summer, a group that included famous technologists, developers, innovators, business and policy leaders. The interviewed experts, some of whom chose to remain anonymous, were asked to join in the discussion of a serious and important question: “By 2030, do you think it is most likely that advancing AI and related technology systems will improve human capacities and control them?”
Nearly two-thirds of experts predicted most of us will be mostly better off. But a third thought otherwise, and a majority of the experts expressed at least some concerns over the long-term impact of AI on the “essential elements of being human”. Among those concerns were data abuse, loss of jobs and loss of control brought by autonomous weapons and cybercrime. Above all, by taking data in and spitting answers out, those “black box” tools make decisions in digital systems. It is an erosion in our ability to think for ourselves.
1. Why is Stephen Hawking mentioned in the first paragraph?| A．To warn humans to give up AI as soon as possible. |
| B．To remind readers that a new AI age has come into view. |
| C．To prove great scientists care much about the future of AI. |
| D．To introduce the main idea of the text that AI benefits the future. |
| A．Most experts are certain that AI will be out of control. |
| B．Pew asked experts from different fields for opinions. |
| C．Pew concludes that humans will suffer from AI. |
| D．33% of experts think AI will have little impact on humans. |
| A．Because they make decisions in digital systems. |
| B．Because they can take data in and spit answers out. |
| C．Because they may weaken our ability to think independently. |
| D．Because they may decrease humans’ welfare in the long term. |
| A．Experts’ concern about AI. | B．Humans’ being controlled by AI. |
| C．Experts’ Expectation of AI. | D．AI’s influence on society. |
6 . What will the future school look like is difficult to make clear, but most experts agree that the school will be electronic in the future .
" Present-day schools will no longer exist in the next century," says a report in The Age. "At that time, future schools will become community-style centers, which run seven days a week,24 hours a day. ” At the same time, computers will surely become a central part of the school in the future.
According to The Age, the distant learning will be popular and students will listen to teachers on computers. Going into classrooms on their computers, students will study at any time, which is very easy for them. However, it is necessary for students to go to the actual school in order to develop some social skills.
The Seashore Primary School is an imaginary school in the future created by the Education Department of Australia. At this school, all the teachers and students have laptop computers . Teachers check messages and call students back on a special telephone system and students use telephones to search for information or speak to their experts who teach their lessons. Besides, all the lessons are related to all sorts of subjects and all the students have their own learning plans created by teachers .
As one headmaster says, a laptop computer is students5 library, data storage （数据存储）as well as the bridge to a wider world. Technology has changed the emphasis of future learning. Thus, well pay more attention to the learning of kids rather than the teaching.
1. According to the report in The Age, students in future schools will _______.| A．have no teachers | B．study at a set time |
| C．mainly study online | D．never go to actual school |
| A．telephones are important in Australia |
| B．how future schools will work |
| C．every student needs a learning plan |
| D．students enjoy getting in touch with teachers |
| A．The Schools in the Future |
| B．Great Changes in Technology |
| C．The Seashore Primary School |
| D．Actual Schools to Be Replaced |
7 . You get up in the morning and look into the mirror. Your face is firm and young-looking. In 2035, medical technology is better than ever. Many people could live to be 150, so at 40, you’re not old at all. And your parents just had an anti-aging medicine. Now, all three of you look the same age!
You say to your shirt, “Turn red.” It changes from blue to red. In 2035, “smart clothes” contain particles(粒子) much smaller than the cells in your body. The particles can be programmed to change your clothes’ color.
You walk into the kitchen. You pick up the milk, but a voice says, “You shouldn’t drink that!” Your fridge has read the chip that contains information about the milk, and it knows the milk is out of date. In 2035, every article of food in the store has such a chip.
It’s time to go to work. In 2035, cars drive themselves. Just tell your “smart car” where to go. On the way, you can call a friend using your jacket sleeve. Such “smart technology” is all around you.
So will all these things come true? “For new technology to succeed” says scientist Andrew Zoll, “it has to be so much better than it replaces what we have already.” The Internet is one example—what will be the next?
1. In 2035, many people could live to be 150 because of ________.| A．the magical mirror |
| B．the magical food |
| C．the good scientists |
| D．the better medical technology |
| A．mirror | B．clothes |
| C．food | D．cars |
| A．everyone will look the same |
| B．people will never get old |
| C．clothes can change the color by themselves |
| D．people can get fresh milk anytime from the fridge |
| A．Food and Clothing in 2035 |
| B．Welcome to Your Future Life! |
| C．Medical Technology of the Future |
| D．What Will Be the Next? |
8 . Some pessimistic experts feel that the automobile (机动车) is bound to fall into disuse. They see a day in the not-too-distant future when all autos will be abandoned (放弃) and allowed to rust. Other authorities, however, think the auto is here to stay. They hold that the car will remain a leading means of urban travel in the foreseeable future.
The car will undoubtedly change significantly over the next 30 years. It should become smaller, safer, and more economical, and should not be powered by the gasoline engine. The car of the future should be far more pollution-free than present types.
Regardless of its power source, the auto in the future will still be the main problem in urban traffic jams. One proposed solution to this problem is the automated (自动化的) highway system. When the auto enters the highway system, a retractable (可伸缩的) arm will drop from the auto and make contact with a rail, which is similar to those powering subway trains electrically.
Once attached to the rail, the car will become electrically powered from the system, and control of the vehicle will pass to a central computer. The computer will then monitor all of the car’s movements.
The driver will use a telephone to dial instructions about his destination (目的地) into the system. The computer will calculate the best route, and reserve space for the car all the way to the correct exit from the highway. The driver will then be free to relax and wait for the buzzer that will warn him of his coming exit. It is estimated (估计) that an automated highway will be able to handle 10,000 vehicles per hour, compared with the 1,500 to 2,000 vehicles that can be carried by a present-day highway.
1. One significant improvement in the future car will probably be _______.| A．its power source | B．its driving system |
| C．its monitoring system | D．its seating space |
| A．How to make automobiles pollution-free. |
| B．How to make smaller and safer automobiles. |
| C．How to solve the problem of traffic jams. |
| D．How to develop an automated subway system. |
| A．A rail. | B．An engine. |
| C．A retractable arm. | D．A computer controller. |
| A．keep in the right route |
| B．wait to arrive at his destination |
| C．inform the system of his destination by phone |
| D．keep in constant touch with the computer center |
9 . What will man be like in the future--in 5000 or even 50,000 years from now? We can only make guesses, of course, but we can be sure that he will be different from what he is today, for man is slowly changing all the time.
Let us take an obvious example, Man, even five hundred years ago, was shorter than he is today. Now, on average, men are about three inches taller. Five hundred years is a relatively short period of time, so we may assume that man will continue to grow taller. Again, in the modern world we use our brains a great deal. Even so, we still make use of only about 20% of the brain’s capacity. As time goes on, however, we shall have to use our brains more and more, and eventually we shall need larger ones! This is likely to bring about a physical change too: the head, in particular the forehead, will grow larger.
Nowadays our eyes are in constant use. In fact, we use them so much that very often they become weaker and we have to wear glasses. But over a very long period of time it is likely that man's eyes will grow stronger.
On the other hand, we tend to make less use of our arms and legs. These, as a result, are likely to grow weaker. At the same time, however, our fingers will grow more sensitive because they are used a great deal in modern life.
But what about hair? This will probably disappear from the body altogether in course of time because it does not serve a useful purpose any longer. In the future, then, both sexes are likely to be bald (光秃的).
Perhaps all this gives the impression that future man will not be a very attractive creature to look at! This may well be true. But in spite of all these changes, future man will still have a lot in common with us. He will still be a human being, with thoughts and emotions similar to our own.
1. The passage mainly tells us that ________.| A．humans needn't wear glasses in the future. |
| B．man's life will be different in the future. |
| C．future man will look quite different from us. |
| D．man is growing taller and uglier as time passes. |
| A．future life is always predictable (可预测的) |
| B．human beings will become less attractive in the future |
| C．less use of a bodily organ (器官) may lead to its degeneration (退化) |
| D．human beings hope for a change in the future life |
| A．Colour and height | B．size and appearance |
| C．thought and observation | D．thought and emotion |
10 . Welcome to your future life!
You get up in the morning and look into the mirror. Your face is firm and young-looking. In 2035, medical technology is better than ever. Many people at your age could live to be 150, so at 40, you’re not old at all. And your parents just had an anti-aging(抗衰老的) treatment. Now, all three of you look the same age!
You say to your shirt, “Turn red.” It changes from blue to red. In 2035, “smart clothes” contain particles(粒子) much smaller than the cells(细胞) in your body. The particles can be programmed to change your clothes’ color or pattern(样式).
You walk into the kitchen. You pick up the milk, but a voice says,“ You shouldn’t drink that!” Your fridge has read the chip (芯片) that contains information about the milk , and it knows the milk is old . In 2035, every article of food in the grocery store has such a chip.
It’s time to go to work. In 2035, cars drive themselves. Just tell your “smart car” where to go. On the way, you can call a friend using your jacket sleeve. Such “smart technology” is all around you.
So will all these things come true? “For new technology to succeed,” says scientist
Andrew Zolli ,“it has to be so much better that it replaces what we have already.” The Internet is one example—what will be the next?
1. We can learn from the text that in the future__________.| A．people will never get old |
| B．everyone will look the same |
| C．red will be the most popular color |
| D．clothes will be able to change their pattern |
| A．Food in the grocery store will carry electronic information. |
| B．More drinks will be given for sale. |
| C．Milk in the grocery store will stay fresh much longer. |
| D．Milk will be harmful to health. |
| A．Cars will be able to drive automatically(自动地). |
| B．Fridges will know what people need. |
| C．Jacket sleeves can be used as a guide. |
| D．Nothing can replace the Internet. |
| A．Food and clothing in 2035 |
| B．The reason for the success of new technology. |
| C．Medical treatments of the future. |
| D．Future technology in everyday life. |
