Life on Mars

Some people believe humans could live on the planet Mars by the year 2100. Our own planet, the Earth, is becoming more and more crowded and polluted because of the rapid increase in population.     1    (hopeful), people could start all over again and build     2     better world on Mars. Here is what life there could be like. At present, our spacecraft are very slow—it would take     3    (month). With the development of technology, the journey might only take about 20 minutes by 2100 in spacecraft     4     travel at the speed of light!     5    , the spacecraft would travel so fast that the journey might be quite     6     (comfort). Many people would feel ill. Humans cannot survive     7     water, oxygen or food. Nobody knows     8     there would be enough water or oxygen on Mars for people there. Gravity could be another problem. The gravity on Mars     9    (be) only about three-eighths of that on the Earth. People would have to wear boots that are specially designed to prevent     10     from floating off into space. Life on Mars would be interesting as well as challenging.

A Capsule Fails the Test of Time

The US state of Oklahoma, the 48th state in the Union, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2007. In a year full of official     1    (celebrate), one event in June attracted spectators and media from all around the world. On 15 June 2007, thousands of people gathered in Tulsa to watch the unearthing of a time capsule that had been buried half a century earlier. There was a feeling of     2    (excite) in the air. As well as     3    (wait) to see the time capsule, the crowd was also waiting to find out who had won a competition which     4    (launch) when the capsule was buried 50 years earlier.

The time capsule was a large concrete box. People said it was strong     5     to survive a nuclear strike. It had to be large and strong, because it contained a car: a brand new 1957 Plymouth Belvedere. Inside the car     6    (be) lots of everyday items from the 1950s. For example, there was a can of petrol and a case of beer in the boot. In the glove box was a handbag     7    (contain) a lipstick and other small items considered     8    (essence) for a ‘typical’ woman in the 1950s.

Before the capsule was buried, officials ran a competition. Entrants had to guess what the population of Tulsa would be in 2007. The organizers recorded all the guesses and saved     9     on a roll of microfilm. The microfilm was placed in the Plymouth Belvedere. The organizers’ idea was that     10     the time capsule was opened in 2007, the winner would be announced – and he or she (or his or her hers) would win the entire contents of the time capsule, plus the contents of the savings account.

What will cars be like in the future? Maybe we can sit in a car that can drive all by     1     （it） in a few years’ time. In fact, with the rapid development of modern science and technology, the self-driving car is becoming a     2    （real） on busy streets.

According to a report by Google, the world-famous search engine, its self-driving cars     3    （travel） more than 700,000 miles on roads in California so far. The first self-driving car     4    （make） by Google came out in 2009. There are cameras on the top of the car,     5     allow the computer in the car to draw a 3-D map of the surroundings. In addition, Google says that its self-driving cars can discover hundreds of separate     6    （object）at the same time, which might be an improvement on the human driver experience. As     7     result, there will be far     8    （few） traffic accidents caused by careless driving.

However, self-driving cars are much too     9    （expense） right now. Scientists across the world are doing their best to bring down the costs,     10     hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost that most people can afford.