1 . “The past is a different country; they do things differently there," L.P. Hartley wrote in one of his best-known novels, The Go-Between. To the British novelist, the past was irrelevant. And one of my Chinese students once told me "I have no interest in the past. I'm only interested in the present and the future." I have to disagree. The "past" is a very interesting country, and the more we know about it, the more we will be able to understand the present and thus, prepare ourselves for the future.
An ideal place, as I see it, that can allow us to look back on the past is the museum. I prefer to visit museums as if you are sitting in the same room with some of the greatest men in history. While no museums can claim to offer a complete picture of human history, the lessons we can learn from the events and wonders of the past are of great value.
Thanks to modern technology, museums are being transformed from places of looking and learning to spaces of participation and interaction. A large number of immersive (沉浸式) multi-media displays, which allow visitors to engage with its exhibits during their visit, play a big part at the Shanghai Natural History Museum.
The rise in technology has also made museums more accessible than ever. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, traditional museums have started to think outside of the box in order to create new ways for visitors to experience their collections online. It is definitely good news for those who are fascinated by museums but are struggling to actually go there. However, you shouldn't expect to get the same experience that an in-person visit would provide, at least, that is, for now.
International Museum Day is observed on May 18 every year. This is a quick reminder that you should always spare some time to visit museums and appreciate the "must-see 'em" things that are an important part of the cultural heritage of humankind.
1. What does the writer think of “the past”?| A．Different. | B．Significant. | C．Unrelated. | D．Understandable. |
| A．It’s where to learn and reflect. |
| B．It’s where to learn about previous events. |
| C．It’s where to meet with great minds. |
| D．It’s where to appreciate ancient wonders. |
| A．Offering online exhibits. | B．Allowing more in-person visits. |
| C．Adding multi-media displays. | D．Showing a complete picture of history. |
| A．Technology Revives Museums | B．Observe International Museum Day |
| C．Museums Are “Must-see 'ems” | D．Visit Museums In-person or Online |
2 . By mid-century there will likely be 9 billion people on the planet, using ever more resources and leading ever more technologically complex lives. What will our cities be like? How much will artificial intelligence (AI) advance? Will global warming cause disastrous changes, or will we be able to engineer our way out of the climate change issues? Recently, the magazine Big Think asked top minds from a variety of fields to weigh in on what the future holds 40 years from now. The result is as follows.
It's likely that by 2050 the majority of the people in the world will live in urban areas and will have a much higher average age than people today. Cities theorist Richard thinks urbanization will transform the education system of, making our economy less houses driven and removing the divisions between home and work.
And rapidly advancing technology will continue ever more rapidly. Cities of the future won't look like “some sort of science-fiction fantasy”, but it's likely that technological advances and information overlays (VR and AR) will greatly change how we live. Self- driving cars will make the roads safer and provide faster transports. A larger version of driverless cars-driverless trucks — may make long-distance drivers out of date.
Some long view predictions are completely dire. Environmentalist Bill says that if we don't make great progress in fighting global warming, it's likely we could see out-of- control rises in sea levels, huge crop shortfalls and wars over limited freshwater resources.
In terms of how we will eat, green markets founder and “real food" supporter Nina believes that there will be more small milk processing plants and more regional food operations and we'll be healthier as a result. New York Times writer Mark thinks that people will eat fewer processed foods and eat foods grown closer to where they live. And more people will be aware of the ethical responsibility" to grow foods.
1. What may happen by 2050 based on the magazine Big Think ?| A．Education will be driven by economy. | B．The majority of people will be taller. |
| C．AI will cause disastrous changes. | D．Most people will live in big cities. |
| A．It will make people live in science-fiction fantasy. |
| B．It will ensure safer transports due to faster cars. |
| C．It will greatly change the way in which people live. |
| D．It will increase the number of long-distance drivers. |
| A．Magical. | B．Terrible. | C．Ridiculous. | D．Meaningful. |
| A．People will eat healthier and fresher foods. |
| B．Land-raised farm systems will be improved. |
| C．There will be smaller regional food operations, |
| D．Food supplies will become much more limited. |
3 . After astronaut Rusty Schweickart looked down at the Earth from space for the first time, he described a sense of awe that has become common to almost every space traveler since. “You realize that on that little blue and white thing there is everything that means anything to you, all history and music and poetry and art and death and birth and love, all of it on that little spot out there you can cover with your thumb.” No matter what country you’re from, you return from space with a feeling that our home is tiny, fragile, and something we need to protect.
Anyone who reads the new book Growth by one of my favorite thinkers will come with similar urgency. The author, Czech-Canadian profe Vaclav Smil, approaches things from a scientist’s point of view, but he reaches the same conclusion: The Earth is fragile and “before it is too late, we should launch the most fundamental task of making any future growth consistent with the long-term preservation of our planet.”
Before I get into how Smil came to this conclusion, I should warn you. Although Growth is a brilliant combination of everything we can learn from patterns of growth in the natural and human-made world, it’s not for everyone. Long sections read like a textbook or an engineering guidebook. And it has 99 pages of references!
The book covers everything from agriculture to steel production to smartphone use. Smil’s goal is to show that no matter what field you’re talking about, eventually you hit growth limits. As Smil writes, “My aim is to explain varieties of growth in evolutionary and historical perspectives and to appreciate both the accomplishments and the limits of growth in modern ivilization…”
I don’t agree with all of his analysis. In particular, I'm more optimistic than he is about the degree to which today’s renewable energy technologies carl be used, and the pace at which scientists and engineers will develop new clean sources. In my view, Smil underestimates our accelerating ability to model the physical world using digital technologies equipped with artificial intelligence.
But I've always felt that Smil’s great strength isn’t predicting the future, but documenting the past. There’s great value in that—you can’t see what’s coming next if you don’t understand what’s come before. Nobody sees the big picture with as wide an aperture(光圈孔径) as Vaclav Smil.
1. What does the underlined phrase “similar urgency” refer to in paragraph 2?| A．To protect our home is difficult. |
| B．It’s too late to protect the Earth. |
| C．The Earth means everything to us. |
| D．We need to protect the fragile Earth. |
| A．Causal. | B．Academic. |
| C．Humorous. | D．Straightforward. |
| A．Anxious. | B．Objective. |
| C．Optimistic. | D．Pessimistic. |
| A．Smil intends to document the history. |
| B．Smil sees the world from a great angle. |
| C．Smil shows great concern for the future. |
| D．Smil describes a promising future for us. |
4 . Jeff Bezos, the world’s wealthiest person, was just five when American astronauts stepped on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969. However, he’s never forgotten the black-and-white footage from the historic moment. Since then, the moon has always been the center of his space dreams which are channeled through his spaceflight company, Blue Origin.
On May 9, 2019, at a meeting held in Washington, DC, Bezos came one step closer to achieving his dream of sending people there, when he presented a model of a lander, Blue Moon, designed to carry both humans and goods to the satellite.
Though details of how Blue Moon will be sent to space remain unclear, Bezos is confident it’ll be ready for its mission (使命) by 2024. He considers it unavoidable to settle in space given our ever-increasing population and fewer resources. Unlike those seeking a home on another planet, Bezos thinks humans will be living in orbital space settlements, which are similar to the International Space Station, except much bigger, each housing millions of people. Space taxis would make it easy for humans to travel between settlements.
But first we need to develop a cheaper way to travel between space and Earth. Bezos may have solved the problem partly by removing the biggest cost of spaceflights—single use rockets—with Blue Origin’s reusable New Shepard rocket, which has made several trips to space and back since 2015.
To encourage future space dreamers, the company’s recently built a free online club that will keep members informed of its progress and challenge them to find solutions to help humans and save earth. It invites students of all ages to draw or write how they imagine humans living and working in space on a self-addressed, stamped postcard and send it to the “Club for the Future” by July 20, 2019. The first 10,000 postcards will be sent to space aboard the New Shepard rocket later this year. When it returns to Earth, the postcards, stamped “flown to space,” will be returned to their owners.
1. What does Paragraph 1 mainly talk about?| A．An impressive historic moment. |
| B．The beginning of Bezos’ space dream. |
| C．The exciting news of sending man to space. |
| D．Bezos’ secret of becoming the wealthiest person. |
| A．Overpopulated. | B．Solar-powered. |
| C．Energy-hungry. | D．Conveniently accessible. |
| A．Space taxis. | B．Single use rockets. |
| C．New Shepard rocket. | D．Orbital space settlements. |
| A．To help humans and save earth. |
| B．To challenge students of all ages. |
| C．To build a new way of sending postcards. |
| D．To encourage future space dreamers. |
