1 . When almost everyone has a mobile phone, why are more than half of Australian homes still paying for a landline (座机)?
These days you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in Australia over the age of 15 who doesn’t own a mobile phone. In fact plenty of younger kids have one in their pocket. Practically everyone can make and receive calls anywhere, anytime.
Still, 55 percent of Australians have a landline phone at home and only just over a quarter (29%) rely only on their smartphones according to a survey (调查). Of those Australians who still have a landline, a third concede that it’s not really necessary and they’re keeping it as a security blanket — 19 percent say they never use it while a further 13 percent keep it in case of emergencies. I think my home falls into that category.
More than half of Australian homes are still choosing to stick with their home phone. Age is naturally a factor (因素)— only 58 percent of Generation Ys still use landlines now and then, compared to 84 percent of Baby Boomers who’ve perhaps had the same home number for 50 years. Age isn’t the only factor; I’d say it’s also to do with the makeup of your household.
Generation Xers with young families, like my wife and I, can still find it convenient to have a home phone rather than providing a mobile phone for every family member. That said, to be honest the only people who ever ring our home phone are our Baby Boomers parents, to the point where we play a game and guess who is calling before we pick up the phone (using Caller ID would take the fun out of it).
How attached are you to your landline? How long until they go the way of gas street lamps and morning milk deliveries?
1. What does paragraph 2 mainly tell us about mobile phones?| A．Their target users. | B．Their wide popularity. |
| C．Their major functions. | D．Their complex design. |
| A．Admit. | B．Argue. |
| C．Remember. | D．Remark. |
| A．They like smartphone games. | B．They enjoy guessing callers’ identity. |
| C．They keep using landline phones. | D．They are attached to their family. |
| A．It remains a family necessity. |
| B．It will fall out of use some day. |
| C．It may increase daily expenses. |
| D．It is as important as the gas light. |
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. |
| A．To place an urgent call. | B．To put up a notice. |
| C．To shelter from the rain. | D．To hold an audition. |
| 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. |
| 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 . Preparing Cities for Robot Cars
The possibility of self-driving robot cars has often seemed like a futurist’s dream, years away from materializing in the real world. Well, the future is apparently now. The California Department of Motor Vehicles began giving permits in April for companies to test truly self-driving cars on public roads. The state also cleared the way for companies to sell or rent out self-driving cars, and for companies to operate driverless taxi services. California, it should be noted, isn’t leading the way here. Companies have been testing their vehicles in cities across the country. It’s hard to predict when driverless cars will be everywhere on our roads. But however long it takes, the technology has the potential to change our transportation systems and our cities, for better or for worse, depending on how the transformation is regulated.
While much of the debate so far has been focused on the safety of driverless cars(and rightfully so), policymakers also should be talking about how self-driving vehicles can help reduce traffic jams, cut emissions(排放) and offer more convenient, affordable mobility options. The arrival of driverless vehicles is a chance to make sure that those vehicles are environmentally friendly and more shared.
Do we want to copy — or even worsen — the traffic of today with driverless cars? Imagine a future where most adults own individual self-driving vehicles. They tolerate long, slow journeys to and from work on packed highways because they can work, entertain themselves or sleep on the ride, which encourages urban spread. They take their driverless car to an appointment and set the empty vehicle to circle the building to avoid paying for parking. Instead of walking a few blocks to pick up a child or the dry cleaning, they send the self-driving minibus. The convenience even leads fewer people to take public transport — an unwelcome side effect researchers have already found in ride-hailing(叫车) services.
A study from the University of California at Davis suggested that replacing petrol-powered private cars worldwide with electric, self-driving and shared systems could reduce carbon emissions from transportation 80% and cut the cost of transportation infrastructure(基础设施) and operations 40% by 2050. Fewer emissions and cheaper travel sound pretty appealing. The first commercially available driverless cars will almost certainly be fielded by ride-hailing services, considering the cost of self-driving technology as well as liability and maintenance issues(责任与维护问题). But driverless car ownership could increase as the prices drop and more people become comfortable with the technology.
Policymakers should start thinking now about how to make sure the appearance of driverless vehicles doesn’t extend the worst aspects of the car-controlled transportation system we have today. The coming technological advancement presents a chance for cities and states to develop transportation systems designed to move more people, and more affordably. The car of the future is coming. We just have to plan for it.
1. According to the author, attention should be paid to how driverless cars can __________.| A．help deal with transportation-related problems |
| B．provide better services to customers |
| C．cause damage to our environment |
| D．make some people lose jobs |
| A．Safety. | B．Side effects. |
| C．Affordability. | D．Management. |
| A．Employed. | B．Replaced. |
| C．Shared. | D．Reduced. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Positive. |
| C．Disapproving. | D．Sympathetic. |
4 . A robot with a sense of touch may one day feel “pain”, both its own physical pain and sympathy for the pain of its human companions. Such touchy-feely robots are still far off, but advances in robotic touch-sensing are bringing that possibility closer to reality.
Sensors set in soft, artificial skin that can detect both a gentle touch and a painful strike have been hooked up to a robot that can then signal emotions, Asada reported February 15 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This artificial “pain nervous system,” as Asada calls it, may be a small building block for a machine that could ultimately experience pain. Such a feeling might also allow a robot to “sympathize” with a human companion’s suffering.
Asada, an engineer at Osaka University, and his colleagues have designed touch sensors that reliably pick up a range of touches. In a robot system named Affetto, a realistic looking child’s head, these touch and pain signals can be converted to emotional facial expressions.
A touch-sensitive, soft material, as opposed to a rigid metal surface, allows richer interactions between a machine and the world, says neuroscientist Kingson Man of the University of Southern California. Artificial skin “allows the possibility of engagement in truly intelligent ways”.
Such a system, Asada says, might ultimately lead to robots that can recognize the pain of others, a valuable skill for robots designed to help care for people in need, the elderly, for instance.
But there is an important distinction between a robot that responds in a predictable way to a painful strike and a robot that’s able to compute an internal feeling accurately, says Damasio, a neuroscientist also at the University of Southern California. A robot with sensors that can detect touch and pain is “along the lines of having a robot, for example, that smiles when you talk to it,” Damasio says. ‘It’s a device for communication of the machine to a human.” While that’s an interesting development, “it’s not the same thing” as a robot designed to compute some sort of internal experience, he says.
1. What do we know about the “pain nervous system”?| A．It is named Affetto by scientists. | B．It is a set of complicated sensors. |
| C．It is able to signal different emotions. | D．It combines sensors and artificial skin. |
| A．Delivered. | B．Translated. | C．Attached. | D．Adapted. |
| A．Robots can smile when talked to. |
| B．Robots can talk to human beings. |
| C．Robots can compute internal feelings |
| D．Robots can detect pains and respond accordingly. |
| A．Machines Become Emotional | B．Robots Inch to Feeling Pain |
| C．Human Feelings Can Be Felt | D．New Devices Touch Your Heart |
5 . With the rapid development of science and technology, we don’t know how different our life will be in the future.
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.
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.
We could expect that the faster technological progress would lead to a more polluted environment. But it isn’t true.
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.
| 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 |
6 . The future home is something that people have talked about for decades. Because the future home idea inspires our imagination, scientists and engineers have been working hard to develop different systems to make houses “smarter”.
The video camera at the entrance recognize visitors using facial recognition. The facial recognition software of the future home will not only recognize friends, but strangers as well. And the software in the future home will run the strangers faces against a database of criminals.
The future home will also have smart application appliances (家电) as well. There will be a vast networking system connecting them. Ovens, microwaves and refrigerators will be controlled automatically, so remote cooking will be a possibility and meals are prepared for your arrival.
There will also be a green systems in place such as saving and reusing washing water and bathwater. Plants and people may receive pure or mineralized (含矿的) drinking water.
If you think this future home idea is pie in the sky or science fiction, then think again. Most of the systems described here are either in development or already out in the market. Future homes may not be standard yet for the middle class but this is not as far ahead as many people would think.
1. What can the facial recognition software be used for in the future houses?| A．Greeting friends. | B．Collecting criminals information. |
| C．Recognizing visitors. | D．Following dangerous criminals. |
| A．Facial recognition software. | B．Remote cooking. |
| C．Smart refrigerators. | D．Saving and reusing water. |
| A．Attractive. | B．Common. | C．Special. | D．Excellent. |
| A．Smart future home |
| B．A smart networking system |
| C．Software in future home |
| D．Various household appliances |
7 . What picture do you have of the future? Will life in the future be better, worse or the same as now? What do you hope about the future?
Futurologists(未来学家) predict that life will probably be very different in 2050 in all the fields of activity, from entertainment to technology. First of all, it seems that TV channels will have disappeared by 2050. Instead, people will choose a program from a “menu” and a computer will send the program directly to the television. By 2050, music, films, programs, newspapers and books will come to us by computer.
In what concerns the environment, water will have become one of our most serious problems. Demand for water will increase ten times between now and 2050 and there could be serious shortages. Some futurologists predict that water could be the cause of war if we don’t act now.
In transport, cars will run on new, clean fuels and they will go very fast. Cars will have computers to control the speed of the car 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.
In the domain(领域)of technology，robots will have replaced people in factories. Many factories already use robots. Big companies prefer robots-they do not ask for pay rises or go on strike, and they work 24 hours a day. By 2050, we will see robots everywhere-in factories, schools, offices, hospitals, shops and homes.
Last but not least, medicine technology will have conquered many diseases. Today scientists have discovered how to control genes. They have already produced clones of animals. By 2050, scientists will be able to produce clones of people and decide how they look, how they behave and how much intelligence they have. Scientists will be able to do these things, but should they?
1. What’s the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To arouse the interest of the reader. |
| B．To tell the background of the passage. |
| C．To show the author’s doubts about the future. |
| D．To describe the pictures of the future. |
| A．Computer will finally take the place of the media nowadays. |
| B．Robots will completely have replaced people in factories. |
| C．Not all diseases will be conquered by scientists. |
| D．The clones of animals have a long way to go. |
| A．Excited but pessimistic. |
| B．Optimistic but worried. |
| C．Eager but afraid. |
| D．Enthusiastic but cautious. |
| A．Travel. |
| B．Sports. |
| C．Education. |
| D．Life. |
8 . Bournemouth in Dorset has always been my favourite seaside town. When I was growing up, Mum and Dad didn’t have much money, but they’d saved enough for a few days in Bournemouth. I was four years old at the time. I don’t actually remember much about the trip, apart from being devastated when we had to leave. Mum said I fell in love with the place and insisted on waving goodbye to the sea when it was time to go. So I grew up believing Bournemouth was a wonderful place.
Forty years on, my wife and I returned for a week’s break. I was nervous, wondering if I’d be able to bring back that delight I’d felt as a child. I needn’t have worried. We had a fantastic time. It helped that the British weather had decided to provide us with high temperatures and plenty of sun. But it was Bournemouth that kept me spellbound, making me feel like a child again.
Bournemouth and its neighbour, Boscombe, are always busy, alive with chatter, music and other lively sounds. But as we stepped into Boscombe Chine Gardens, all the noise faded away. A sense of peace spread through us as we meandered along the paths, delighting in the squirrels climbing up and down the trees and the bright colours of the pretty plants.
One morning, we made a short trip to Poole Quay and took the ferry to Brownsea Island. Owned by the National Trust, it’s a feast for the eyes, from its mock Tudor entrance, to the many peacocks walking around, to the magnificent views of the sun sparkling on the shining waters and boats bobbing up and down, seen from the island’s highest point.
Before we knew it, it was time to return home—but not before waving goodbye to the sea.
1. Which of the following best explains “devastated” underlined in Paragraph 1?| A．Sorrowful. | B．Surprised. |
| C．Thrilled. | D．Desperate. |
| A．The fear of losing childhood memories. |
| B．The adjustment to the new circumstances. |
| C．The uncertainty of recalling childhood delight. |
| D．The exposure to high temperatures and sunshine. |
| A．It boasts seaside views. | B．It belongs to wild animals. |
| C．It is free of the town’s noise. | D．It reminds him of his childhood. |
| A．Farewell to Bournemouth. | B．Working in a wonderful place. |
| C．A childhood unforgettable story. | D．Revisiting a childhood favourite. |
9 . 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 |
10 . By 2050 we’ll be able to send memories, emotions and feelings across the Internet.
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.
Medicine will develop fast, too.
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 will have cured certain forms of cancer |
| 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 |
