1 . What the future school will 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, schools will become community-style centers, which run seven days a week, and 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 distance 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.
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 with a special telephone system and students use telephones to search for information or speak to their teachers who give 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 a student’s library, data storage (数据存储) device as well as the bridge to a wider world. Technology has changed the emphasis of future learning. Thus, we’ll 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．mainly study online | B．study at set times |
| C．have no teachers | D．never go to actual schools |
| 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．Lesson. | B．Score. | C．Attitude. | D．Focus. |
2 . What the future school will 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, schools will become community-style centers, which run seven days a week, and 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 distance 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.
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 with a special telephone system and students use telephones to search for information or speak to their teachers who give 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 a student’s library, data storage(数据存储) device as well as the bridge to a wider world. Technology has changed the emphasis of future learning. Thus, we’ll 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．mainly study online | B．study at set times |
| C．have no teachers | D．never go to actual schools |
| 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．Lesson. | B．Score. | C．Attitude. | D．Focus. |
| A．The Schools in the Future | B．Great Changes in Technology |
| C．Seashore Primary School | D．Actual Schools to Be Replaced |
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 . 2050 seems a long way away, but it is not impossible to predict the future though. With the speed we are moving now so many amazing things are going to happen in the future.
◆The Internet will be free for everyone.
The Internet is really a key driver these days. But it is not free for everyone yet. There have already been attempts like Facebook’s Free Basics.
◆
With the increasing population, it is not very hard to predict that common methods of transportation will not be enough. There will be much heavier traffic on the road. So in this case personal airplanes will be a handy method of transportation for common people.
Of course, there will be proper air traffic control for these personal airplanes.
◆Most cancers will be treated successfully.
◆Humans will live on other planets.
There will be great achievements in space research. In the year 2050, humans will be able to live on Mars. We will receive more intelligent signals from space.
| A．Though it hasn’t happened yet |
| B．So where is technology going in the future |
| C．The world’s population will cross 9.6 billion |
| D．What do you think of my predictions of 2050 |
| E．Chances are we will be able to find the next Earth-like planet |
| F．Personal airplanes will be used widely for short journeys |
| G．The number of deaths caused by cancers will be greatly reduced |
5 . You’ve probably heard that brick-and-mortar retail(实体零售) is in trouble. Even industry giants are closing hundreds of stores. Given retail’s gradual change from physical stores to mobile and e-commerce(电子商务), you may be wondering, “What will retail look like in the future?” Nobody knows. But here are a few things you can expect to see based on current technology.
Super-fast delivery is coming. Today, the normal practice is two-day delivery. But if you’ve been paying attention, you know that’s changing. In fact, up to 25% of consumers said that they would abandon their orders if one-day delivery wasn’t available. Of course, that’s just the beginning. Two-hour delivery is coming in the foreseeable future, and Amazon has already been trying 30-minute delivery.
Your kitchen will resupply itself. You won’t have to worry about running out of essentials like coffee, pet food or snacks because your containers will sense stocks(库存) and replace those items without you having to lift a finger. No more waking up to find your coffee store is empty or last-minute rush to the grocery store because you forget to buy pet food.
Know exactly what’s in stock and where to get it. Have you ever gone to a store hoping to buy something, only to learn that it was out of stock? A new feature from Google Home allows people to ask the Google Assistant to find in-stock products at the closest store. For example: “Google, where can I find the Nintendo Switch console?” The assistant will tell you how many stores have it right away and how close they are. Of course, it isn’t currently available for all stores in all locations, but you can already see the future when it has become standard.
Convenience, experience, and options-retail will take on a new look.
1. How does the author develop the passage?| A．By analyzing and commenting. |
| B．By clarifying and describing. |
| C．By asking and answering. |
| D．By comparing and concluding. |
| A．It is possible to deliver goods within two hours in the future. |
| B．Consumers can’t get their orders in one day now. |
| C．The delivery will be in two days in the future. |
| D．Super-fast delivery has widely been used now. |
| A．Retail will disappear gradually. |
| B．Industrial giants will rule the whole retail trade. |
| C．People will ask the Google Assistant to purchase goods. |
| D．Shopping will be more convenient and effective. |
| A．How Will New Technology Change the World? |
| B．What Will Retail Be Like in the Future? |
| C．How Will We Run the Retail Trade in the Future? |
| D．What Benefits Will High-tech Bring in the Future? |
6 . These days, it seems like everyone wants to go out into space and live on new planets.Rather than depend on another pre-existing planet, could we make a new, proper planet ourselves?
To start with, if we do want to be living on it, we should find a good place in space to put the new planet. We’d want it to be in a habitable zone, meaning the planet should be at the right distance from its star to make sure there would be perfect temperatures and most importantly, liquid(液态的) water.
We’d also need the right materials to make the planet. Our Earth is made up of many different elements(元素). If we made our own new planet we’d probably want it to have similar elements and a similar structure(结构) We’ d also want enough water to form some oceans.
But even if we get all of the materials creating a new planet like Earth could have many troubles. It might be something more like a huge space station. It would be pretty expensive if we wanted it to be super big.
We would probably also need a lot of food since there s going to be many scientists and astronauts out in space working on this project!
According to NASA, each astronaut uses about 0. 83 kilograms of food per meal, including 0.12 kilograms of packaging(包装) material. Without the weight of the packaging material, we’d need about 780 kilograms of food just to feed one astronaut for a year.
Putting all these together could make it possible to make our own planet one day! In reality, creating a new planet would probably require a very modern technology and there would be tons of other things to think about. And if this is even possible, it likely won’t happen for a very long time.
1. What's the first thing we should do if we want to create a new planet?| A．To prepare enough food. |
| B．To design its inner structure. |
| C．To find a proper place to set the planet. |
| D．To collect materials similar to our Earth. |
| A．Our Earth. | B．Outer space. |
| C．The new planet. | D．The ocean water. |
| A．About 0. 12 kilograms. | B．About 0. 71 kilograms. |
| C．About 0. 83 kilograms. | D．About 0.95 kilograms. |
| A．It is a waste of money and time. | B．It should be one of NASA’S next plans. |
| C．It is not a good idea for humans. | D．It won’t come true in the near future |
7 . As I enter my 40s, I’ve noticed many of my parents’ generation think social networking is something they are simply unable to understand. They fear that, should they try, they will somehow get it wrong; they will say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing or behave in a way that causes embarrassment. But there are some secrets of social media for them to consider.
Here’s the first secret: everyone feels this way. I recently met a young actor who was complaining that her work demands that she join Microblog, but she always feels like she doesn’t have anything smart to say. It’s the same resistance (抵制). I hear from the older generation, who, however, have somehow believed that age is the barrier (障碍), rather than the differences of personal taste.
Here’s the second secret: everybody uses it for more or less the same reasons. Older generations often sign up to stay in touch with children and relatives. We talk about this kind of communication like it’s some old-fashioned activity, but it is exactly why younger people use social media. The truth is that most people use social media to gently keep an eye on one another, to see how those they care about are doing without needing to ring them up on the phone every night.
And this is the last secret: everyone gets to use them in their own way. Newcomers—younger and older—who worry about “getting it right” are thinking that there’s a right way to get them. But actually there isn’t. Personally, I talk a lot on Microblog. And some people post nothing and they use social media every day as readers. Social media companies would rather see people decorating their networks with pictures and posts, but there’s no rule against being a fly on the wall. It’s also a fine way to get involved.
Were quick to forget that the web wasn’t invented by 13-year-olds; it was created by today’s seniors. I’d never try forcing those with no interest in social networks to use Microblog. But don’t let the talk of age divides put you off. There’s nothing to stop the older generation from joining in the network their own generation created.
1. What’s the author’s purpose of writing this passage?| A．To share with us his personal experience using social media. |
| B．To explain why the old generation don’t use social media. |
| C．To free the old generation from fearing using social media. |
| D．To tell us a few secrets of social media that he discovered. |
| A．people who prefer reading online books |
| B．people who cause trouble to others |
| C．people who post many fancy pictures |
| D．people who simply observe others’ posts |
| A．They believe they may be trapped in embarrassing situations. |
| B．They have no particular interest in social networking. |
| C．They prefer staying in touch with relatives in real life. |
| D．They have no idea which contents to post online. |
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
8 . What can you imagine the life 100 years from now? In fact, no one can know it from now, but scientists studying the evolution of the society, human life and the world in general make such kind of predictions based on scientific data. According to their publications in scientific journals, let’s see how the world might look like in 100 years from now.
Embedded computers
According to predictions by Ian Pearson and Patrick Tucker, by 2050 the human body will be embedded2 with computers, at least in a big part of the population, and by 2075 most of the citizens of the developed world will have some kind of chips built in their brains to make them work faster and share thoughts in the form of computer data.
Superhuman geniuses
Developments in genetic engineering will create human geniuses who will live forever. Does it sound unbelievable? It is sure that there will be a way to influence the brain to increase the intelligence level and with the help of genetics it will be possible to maintain human body for many years.
Global currency
According to futurists, it is very likely that a global electronic currency will be created. They say that the local and national currencies will be few until mid-century and will gradually disappear, let alone metal currencies.
Three world languages
There will be only three world languages: English, Spanish and Chinese. Other languages will have no chance to survive through time. Futurists say that many minority languages are already extinct and the fac t that all educated people in the world speak at least one of these languages will help in this way.
Oceans as a food source
It is one of the most “confident” future devel opments, according to scientists, because if the world population continues growing at the same rate, it will reach ten billion. So the food will not be enough. Thus the oceans will be used to raise fish and to provide populations with fresh water taken from the sea plants.
Journeys into space
Most futurists agree on this and believe that some kind of tourist attractions will be created in space, although they will be affordable only for wealthy people.
1. Why will there be only English, Spanish and Chinese according to the passage?| A．Because other languages won’t be important. |
B．Because people who speak minority languages won’t be willing to speak th eir native languages. |
| C．Because more and more educated people speak English, Spanish and Chinese, which will cause many minority languages extinct |
| D．Because in the whole world all the people must not speak other languages. |
| A．local currency | B．metal currency |
| C．national currency | D．global electronic currency |
| A．what the people look like 100 years from now . |
| B．what the life of people is like 100 years from now. |
| C．what the environment is like 100 years from now. |
| D．what the culture is like100 years from now. |
