3 . 阅读下面材料,在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

In the not-too-distant future, we     1     (live) in smart homes, which will keep us secure, save us energy, and provide a more comfortable environment to live in. For example, the     2     (integrate) sensors will go into an energy-efficient mode all by itself. Your home will learn your     3     (day) routine and preferences. Your lights, favourite music or TV programmes will come on     4     instant you enter the door. All controls will respond to voice commands. Besides, how well you sleep every night will     5    (record) by your bed, and your     6     (weigh) problem will be checked as well. Even the smart toilets can     7     (constant) keep track of your health. Moreover, by providing you with relevant information early on, smart homes can help prevent serious damage     8     accidents, like big fires. Though some of these new     9     (innovation) are readily available and being used in some homes, it will still take some years     10    most new homes begin to use this high technology.

4 . Forecasting the technological future is difficult at best. Back in the 1980s,the thought of carrying around a small, portable phone seemed to belong in the world of science fiction. Then in the 1990s, imagining a phone that would allow you to surf the Internet something that didn't even exist until 1990was unheard-of. Today, smartphones can surf the Web, run applications and play games, and those with a near field communication (NFC) chip can act as away to make purchases. Oh, and they can still make phone calls, too.

So what will phones look like in 2050? Based upon phone customer behavior, I imagine the future phones will rely more on combining our physical lives with our digital lives. They probably won't be similar to the ones we’re reusing now. They’ll be built into other devices and products. Imagine a pair of glasses that can display a digital overlay on top of your physical surroundings.

I don’t think video chat is taking off despite services like Skype and FaceTime. Rather, the trend seems to be toward asynchronous(非同步的）communication. That means the two or more people in a conversation complete а discussion over time.

We might even see the phone part of phones disappear. Recent phone customer behavior suggests that texting is a more popular way to communicate than telephone calls. Future phones will need a way to display messages but don’t necessarily include voice communication.

Since we’re talking about 2050 here, there’s even the possibility that research into brain-computer interfaces(脑机接口) will have reached a point in which we won’t need a physical screen or microphone at all. Electronics could be built into clothing. You’d link the devices to an interface connected to your brain and post messages just through thought. It’d be a form of telepathy(心灵感应).

But what do you think? Will we be wearing devices that let us communicate easily? Or will we be carrying around the iPhone 47 and answering texts between games of Angry Birds? Let us know your predictions.

1. What will future phones be like according to the author?

A．Texting may disappear.

B．NFC chips can be used for purchasing.

C．Phones may be built into other products.

D．Phones will combine our lives with our work.

2. With the development of brain-computer interfaces,_________.

A．telepathy between people may come true

B．we may send messages just through thought

C．clothing may be used as the screen of phones

D．phones can be connected directly to your brain

3. From the text, we know that__________.

A．people started surfing the Internet in the 1980s

B．we will be carrying around the iPhone 47 in 2050

C．the author’ s prediction about phones is based on phone customer behavior

D．the author is positive about the development of brain-computer interfaces

5 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

Over the past 50 years, robots     1     (become) a normal part of our everyday lives. They build cars in factories, clean up dirt in the house and deal with bombs in war zones. However, some     2     (invent) are trying to create a future where robots not only do our boring and dangerous jobs but also become a part of our families.

Japanese Robotics Company introduced LOVOT,     3     robot that weighs as much as a baby and looks like a mix between a penguin and a bear.     4     LOVOT cannot build a car, it can build a relationship with     5     (it) owner and provide love and companionship. In fact, LOVOT is just one of the latest robots meant to help those     6     feel lonely.

Robots like LOVOT are being developed at the perfect time. Many countries have “aging societies” with the populations of old people outweighing young people, resulting     7     more people who not only need assistance with things like getting     8     (dress) and cooking meals but also friendship and love. Additionally, it is predicted that 40 percent of Japanese will be living alone by 2040, meaning loneliness among younger populations may also increase     9     (significant). However, if LOVOT can give us all the affection we get from     10     (pet) without any of the mess or regular care, we might not be so lonely after all.

7 . For years, planet-hunters have been searching for a planet other than Earth that can support life. They may have found one.

The planet is the sixth found orbiting a star called Gliese 581. Steven Vogt, one of the scientists involved, expects the new planet to have water. On Earth, when we find water, we find life.     1    

A planet that can support life has to be just the right size for its system and just the right distance from its star. Some planets orbit so close to their stars that they’re much too hot for liquid water—or for life as we know it.     2    

But a right-sized planet that's neither too close nor too far might be just right for water. Gliese 581 is probably just right. It is about three times as huge as Earth.     3     Because it’s so close, one side of it always faces its star, and the other side is always dark.

The new planet is 20 light years away, which is as far as 250 million trips to the Moon and back.     4     Only light can go that fast. So even at the fastest speed we could manage, it would take a spaceship from Earth more than 200 years to go that far.     5     But that doesn’t mean we can’t study it. Thanks to powerful new telescopes and new techniques for searching the skies, scientists can learn a lot about distant planets without even leaving Earth.

Gliese 581 is an exciting discovery—and astronomers are likely to find more soon, thanks to new, powerful telescopes specifically designed to look for planets.

A．We can’t travel at the speed of light.

B．It’s pretty hard to imagine that water wouldn't be there.

C．Human beings won’t be visiting this planet any time soon.

D．So scientists looking for life on other planets look for water first.

E．It orbits its star so closely that it goes all the way around in only 37 days.

F．Astronomers will probably find more potential life-supporting planets soon.

G．Other planets keep their distance from the stars—where they’re too cold to have water or life.

8 . Dear Audrey,

You are much older now, and hopefully wiser, although sometimes that’s not the case. You have probably forgotten about me.

I’m 12-year-old you struggling with anxiety, hating online learning, in this terrible Coronavirus（冠状病毒）.

I’m writing a letter to you that I hope you read every year on New Year’s Day, or New Year’s Eve.

I’ve come from 2020 to remind you not to forget. I am sitting on my bed right now, tears still on my face from a fight with my mom (I love her more than anything or anyone, but we’ve spent too much time together), and looking at the light blue masks hanging on the hooks next to the door in my kitchen. In a way, it still feels like March, when this whole crazy thing started. I’m sick of it.

I am begging you to remember. I didn’t get to spend Thanksgiving with my beloved grandparents, when I’d been waiting so long to act normally with them. Now, it looks like I won’t be spending Christmas with them normally either. In America (where I live), the Coronavirus numbers are higher than they’ve ever been. I am hoping and am going to pray for a Christmas miracle, but I have my doubts because I hoped for an Easter miracle and that didn’t happen.

I am struggling and would do anything to get out of 2020 and this Coronavirus, to see my friends and family normally. You are able to do that. You have what I want so badly. So please, I urge you to enjoy your life, your friends, your family, your experiences.

Remember — everything is replaceable and unimportant, but people are the only true thing that matters in this modern-day world.

Love your life, and be filled with joy this year.

Sincerely,

You, aged 12, Audrey in 2020, the Pandemic Year.

1. Which of the following is NOT the reason that the writer hates the Coronavirus?

A．She couldn’t go to school.

B．She doesn’t love her mom.

C．She has to stay at home with her mom.

D．She couldn’t spend Thanksgiving with her grandparents.

2. What does the writer want badly?

A．Meeting people normally.

B．Praying for a Christmas miracle.

C．Going to the future.

D．Continuing online learning.

3. What is the writer’s purpose of the letter?

A．To remind her future self to treasure the people and enjoy life.

B．To complain that her present life is terrible.

C．To tell her future self that she is sick of the Coronavirus.

D．To persuade her future self to remember the Coronavirus.

9 . It was just the three of us—my parents and me. My dad is a truck driver, and was gone most of the time, ______ supplies around the Midwest. So my mother was always like a ______ mother. We moved there on my third birthday. My first memory is our next-door ______ Arlene and her husband Bill, to whom I was always talking. I think what drew me to Arlene and Bill is that they never ______ listening to me. I also think Arlene saw a lot of herself in me-we were both lonely, anxious kids. Bill too. And that may be ______ she always took the time to listen to me. It was a wonderful ______.

One day, my parents asked Bill and Arlene whether they’d ______ me while they went out on a date. This worked well, so it became a monthly ______ .When I was about five, I had an idea, “What if Bill and Arlene ______ me as their granddaughter?” The next day, I knocked on their door, sat down in their living room, and asked, “Will you guys be my grandparents?” They started crying and ______ accepted. Soon after they printed an adoption certificate, and ______ it on their living room wall from then on. I was surprised that they took my offer so ______. They could have ______ it off. Thinking of that moment still brings tears to my eyes. There is something truly ______ about a child offering up her love and adults being so excited to accept it.

Over the years, Bill and Arlene ______ me in all my dreams. They encouraged me to apply for college. And when I got accepted to Colorado State University, they presented me with a ______. They told me they’d been putting away money for me.

Since I’ve become an adult, I’ve learned more about my grandparents. Both of them grew up poor. Their lives weren’t as ______ as they appeared to be. But the two of them always seemed genuinely happy in each other’s ______ .

Arlene passed away in 2013. Bill gave me the ring he’d ______ to Arlene on their 25^th wedding anniversary which I wear on my ring finger as a ______ of the kind of love I wish to put into this world.

1.

A．providing

B．carrying

C．producing

D．delivering

2.

A．lonely

B．single

C．desperate

D．young

3.

A．friends

B．neighbors

C．colleagues

D．relatives

4.

A．get tired of

B．get rid of

C．get away with

D．get on with

5.

A．what

B．how

C．why

D．where

6.

A．devotion

B．appreciation

C．connection

D．contribution

7.

A．watch

B．see

C．observe

D．monitor

8.

A．existence

B．occurrence

C．preference

D．consequence

9.

A．treat

B．make

C．appoint

D．adopt

10.

A．gently

B．absolutely

C．eventually

D．enthusiastically

11.

A．painted

B．hung

C．removed

D．held

12.

A．secretly

B．flexibly

C．seriously

D．automatically

13.

A．smiled

B．teased

C．dropped

D．laughed

14.

A．admirable

B．beneficial

C．ambitious

D．satisfactory

15.

A．supported

B．favoured

C．conducted

D．congratulated

16.

A．bank

B．figure

C．fund

D．picture

17.

A．specific

B．casual

C．perfect

D．tough

18.

A．company

B．way

C．commitment

D．appearance

19.

A．sent

B．gifted

C．donated

D．lent

20.

A．warn

B．sign

C．message

D．reminder

10 . 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.

2. What does the underlined word “concede” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Admit.	B．Argue.
C．Remember.	D．Remark.

3. What can we say about Baby Boomers?

A．They like smartphone games.	B．They enjoy guessing callers’ identity.
C．They keep using landline phones.	D．They are attached to their family.

4. What can be inferred about the landline from the last paragraph?

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.