1 . Have you ever seen a rushing car without a driver?    1     Companies like Google and Tesla have been designing and testing these cars.

So how do they work? The cars have sensors all around which can detect other cars and obstacles in the road. Sensors on the wheels also help when parking, so the car knows how far it is from the kerb (马路牙子) or other parked cars. Road signs are read by cameras, and satellite navigation systems are used so the car knows how to get to your destination.     2    .

Sound like your idea of heaven? Sitting back, looking out of the windows and even watching a film or reading a book while “driving” would be possible with this new technology.     3     They would drive more safely than people and they have quicker reaction time in case of an emergency.

    4     For example, computers would have difficulties making ethical (伦理的) decisions: if a child ran into the road, would the computer choose to hit the child or swerve(突然转向) and potentially kill the car’s passengers?

Although being driven around by a machine would perhaps mean that no one needs a driving license, saving money for everyone, many people would be put out of a job by the dawn of driverless cars.     5     I’m not convinced I’d want a driverless car --- but it’s only a matter of time before they’ll become more affordable and commonplace on our roads.

A．All you have to do is type in the address!

B．There would also be many legal decisions to be made.

C．However, there are many drawbacks of driverless cars.

D．Driverless cars have many advantages as well as disadvantages.

E．It sounds crazy, but driverless cars will soon be filling roads near you.

F．In addition, computers are generally more efficient drivers than humans.

G．Bus, taxi, train and tram drivers as well as driving instructors would be made unnecessary.

2 . European researchers say they have created a process that can produce oxygen from moon dust. The process could provide a major source of oxygen for humans taking part in moon exploration activities in the future. Researchers from the European Space Agency，or ESA，carried out the experiments at a laboratory in the Netherlands.

The team says ESA’s experimental“plant”was able to successfully produce oxygen from simulated moon dust. The dust is part of a material known as regolith，a top layer of dirt and rock pieces that sit on the surface of the moon. Samples of regolith returned from the moon have confirmed that the material contains about 45 percent oxygen by weight. However，the oxygen is chemically locked in the form of minerals or glass，so it is not easily available for use. Having real samples of regolith from the moon made it possible for the researchers to create the simulated moon dust material used during testing.

The oxygen extraction(提取)process is carried out using a method called molten salt electrolysis(熔盐电解). This includes first placing the regolith in a metal container. Calcium chloride salt is added to the mixture，which is then heated to 950 degrees Celsius. At this temperature，the regolith remains solid. Next，an electrical current is passed through the material. The researchers say it is this step that results in oxygen being extracted from the regolith. The study reported that up to 96 percent of oxygen in the simulated moon dust was extracted during the experiments.

ESA’s long-term goal is to design an oxygen-producing“pilot plant”to operate full-time on the moon. The first technology demonstration of the system is expected to take place in the middle 2020s. Beth Lomax，a lead researcher on the project，said，“Being able to acquire oxygen from resources found on the moon would obviously be hugely useful for future lunar settlers，both for breathing and the local production of rocket fuel. ”The researchers reported that“as a bonus，”the process also results in the production of usable metallic materials.

ESA and the US space agency NASA are both working on plans to return human beings to the moon. NASA has set a goal for 2024 with the aim to keep humans on the moon for long periods.

1. Why is oxygen from moon dust difficult to use?

A．It is tough for human beings to get moon dust.

B．It is chemically fixed in materials or glass.

C．The conditions of moon dust are terrible.

D．There exits only a little of it.

2. What is the main idea of the third paragraph?

A．What molten salt electrolysis is.

B．Where the value of the study lies.

C．How oxygen is extracted from moon dust.

D．What is necessary in the oxygen extraction process.

3. What is Beth Lomax’s attitude towards the possibility of getting oxygen from moon dust?

A．Positive.	B．Skeptical.
C．Cautious.	D．Indifferent.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．Recent Studies of Moon Dust by Researchers

B．How Researchers Extracted Oxygen from Moon Dust

C．Potential Significance of Oxygen Extracted from Moon Dust

D．Researchers Report Extracting Oxygen from Moon Dust Successfully

3 . Visitors to Henn-na, a restaurant outside Nagasaki, Japan, are greeted by an unusual sight: their food being prepared by a row of humanoid robots. The “head chef”, named Andrew, is using his two long arms; he stirs batter (面糊) in a metal bowl, then pours it onto a hot grill. In a nearby hotel, robots check guests into their rooms and help with their luggage.

CEO Hideo Sawada, who runs the restaurant and the hotel, predicts that 70% of the jobs at Japan’s hotels will be automated (自动化) in the next five years. He said, “Since you can work them 24 hours a day, and they don’t need vacation, eventually it’s more cost-efficient to use the robot.”

This is seemingly worrying. In fact, in America, automation helps the food-service and accommodation sector continue to grow. In the company Panera, because of its new kiosks, an app that allows online ordering, the chain is now processing more orders overall, which means it needs more total workers to meet consumer demand. Starbucks customers who use the chain’s app return more frequently than those who don’t, the company has said, and the greater efficiency that online ordering allows has boosted sales at busy stores during peak hours. Starbucks employed 8% more people in the U.S. in 2016 than it did in 2015, the year it launched the app.

Of course, whether automation is a net benefit for workers in restaurants and hotels, and not just a competitive advantage for one chain over another will depend on whether an improved customer experience makes Americans more likely to dine out and stay at hotels, rather than brown-bagging it or finding an Airbnb to book unique homes.

1. Why does the writer describe the unusual sight in Paragraph 1?

A．To promote robots.	B．To introduce the topic.
C．To voice his opinion.	D．To show the background.

2. What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．Automation may be a challenge to human jobs.

B．Automation may increase business costs.

C．Workers may fail to focus on their tasks.

D．Many companies may fail to survive.

3. What can we learn from the two cases in Paragraph 3?

A．The two companies are trying to take over the market competitively.

B．Automation could open up more job chances for humans.

C．Starbucks employed more people than Panera did in 2016.

D．Automation helps the shops become famous online.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards the future of automation?

A．Critical.

B．Negative.

C．Objective.

D．Indifferent.

4 . When he was a kid, Alex Vardakostas began working in the grill (烧烤店) alongside adult employees. He estimates he has cooked 50,000 burgers (汉堡包).

Now, Vardakostas co-owns a burger joint called Creator, in San Francisco, California. But he doesn’t stand over a grill flipping burgers, and neither do his employees. At Creator, burgers are cooked and assembled entirely by machine. And because it costs less to maintain the machine than to pay a kitchen’s worth of employees, burgers cost less.

Creator is just one example of a growing phenomenon: Automation is taking over more and more jobs. That means work is done by machines or computers instead of people.

According to a report from McKinsey Global Institute, about 800 million people could be forced out of their jobs by 2030, McKinsey predicts that as technology improves, some tasks will be done more quickly or cheaply by machine, so businesses will install robots or computer programs to perform them.

Some jobs are more likely to be automated than others. Machines can do jobs that have three characteristics: They are routine, repetitive, and predictable. Some of these jobs pay low wages and require little education. But others pay well and demand an advanced college degree. Taxi drivers, cashiers, lawyers, and doctors all perform some tasks that can be done by machines.

So what jobs are safe from automation? Answers include coming up with new ideas or work that involves interacting with other people and building relationships, Jobs in engineering, science, the arts,therapy, and nursing are examples.

At Creator, Vardakostas hired people to do just that kind of work. Instead of repetitive burger prepping, workers interact with customers and advise them on flavor pairings, like mushroom sauce with pickles and onion jam. “In our world at Creator, all the work is creative and social,” Vardakostas says. “And I think that is what we’re going to see more of the future.”

1. What’s the difference between Creator and a traditional restaurant?

A．There is neither worker nor waiters at Creator at all.

B．The price of burgers at Creator is higher than that of a traditional one.

C．The number of owners of Creator is larger than that of a traditional one.

D．Some work is done by machines instead of humans at Creator.

2. What does the report from McKinsey Global Institute predict?

A．More working opportunities have to be created.

B．More cheap machines will be invented.

C．A lot of people will lose their jobs.

D．Humans will have difficulty in running business.

3. Why does the author mention Creator?

A．To introduce the topic of the text.

B．To increase the plot of the story.

C．To introduce a modern restaurant.

D．To make an advertisement for Vardakostas.