1 . 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. |
2 . Farms of the Future
Skyscrapers(摩天大楼) are the ultimate symbol of urban life. By 2050, almost 80 percent of the earth’s population could live in cities. The human population could increase to 9.1 billion people yet the amount of land available for farming will be the same.
Vertical farms, where farmers could grow crops in environmentally friendly skyscrapers, could be the solution. In spite of concerns over high costs, experts want to make these urban farms a reality and use these skyscrapers to grow crops.
Vertical farms would have many advantages, experts say. The food would be grown with minimal effects on the environment. Unlike traditional farming, vertical farming would not force animals out of their habitats by taking over large areas of land, nor would it pollute the air with the use of heavy farming equipment.
Growing prosperity has led to many people demanding that all foods are available all year round. Indoor farming could produce crops constantly and crops would not suffer from weather-related problems like drought or flooding. In addition, the use of agricultural chemicals for controlling insects would be minimal.
Experts agree that the new farming practices are needed to support the planet’s need for more and more food at affordable costs, both to the farmer and to the consumer. Vertical farms may be a small-scale answer, but the best ideas could be yet to come.
| A．Still, there are some people who are critical of vertical farms. |
| B．That is where vertical farms are often needed for year-round crops. |
| C．So how to meet the increasing food needs of our planet could be a big problem. |
| D．For these reasons, natural light cannot be a workable solution for vertical farms. |
| E．Vertically grown food is grown in environmentally controlled conditions in big cities. |
| F．Those farms would also reduce the cost and negative effects of transporting food over distances. |
| G．They believe that we can increase the food production by changing our thinking from out to up. |
1.家庭：
2．工作：
3.业余生活。
注意：1.词数100左右：
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯：
3.开头语已为你写好。
I often imagine what my life will be like in the future._______________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
4 . The sea could be the food bowl of the future. In Jervis Bay, south of Sydney, seaweed, which is rich in fibre and omega 3, is grown and harvested.
Pia Winberg is a marine scientist who runs Australia's first food-grade fanned seaweed company. Her crop is grown alongside mussels (贻贝)and is used as an additive in pasta (意大利面)and other products.
Seaweed is also raised in large tanks, where it absorbs carbon dioxide waste from a wheat processing factory. The business is small, but could help to reduce the ecological footprint of traditional farming.
“We used ten percent of seaweed instead of wheat in breads and pastas, we've eliminated a million hectares of land, we've eliminated all of the carbon dioxide emissions associated with that, and we've also reduced the pressures on very precious fresh water.” said Pia Winberg.
Spiny sea urchins (多刺海胆虫)are another blue economy resource. They can destroy marine habitats, but a recent competition for environmental start-ups in Australia, saw them not as a pest but a delicacy (美味).
Martina Doblin, CEO of Sydney Institute of Marine Science, said, “By 2050 we will have some ten billion people on the planet, and about half the food they eat will come from the ocean. So, we really do need to pay attention to the way that we manage the blue economy-generating wealth from the ocean but in a sustainable (可持续的)way.”
Farming at sea has its challenges. Infrastructure (基础设施)has to be sound, as do supply chains and biosecurity. But get these things right, and the ocean might just be the next great economic frontier.
1. What is the function of the first paragraph?| A．To lead to the main topic. |
| B．To describe a new kind of seaweed. |
| C．Tell how important the food safety is. |
| D．To explain the meaning of blue economy. |
| A．Ocean exploration has made little progress so far. |
| B．More and more people will die of hunger in the future. |
| C．More work is needed for a better use of the natural resources. |
| D．Sea farming will be a good way to solve the coming world food problem. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Objective. | C．Tolerant. | D．Negative. |
| A．How to Protect the Marine Animals |
| B．Measures to Develop Blue Economy |
| C．Farming the Sea for the Future of Food |
| D．Traditional Farming is Gradually Disappearing |
5 . Modern inventions have speeded up people’s lives amazingly. Motor cars
All these save time, but at a cost. When we lose or
However, how do we
There was a time when some people’s lives were devoted simply to the cultivation(耕作) of the
| A．explore | B．get | C．cover | D．fly |
| A．speed | B．time | C．product | D．distance |
| A．wasting | B．losing | C．saving | D．spending |
| A．earn | B．drop | C．miss | D．gain |
| A．left | B．come | C．forgotten | D．felt |
| A．ships | B．airplanes | C．computers | D．cars |
| A．prevention | B．radiation | C．combination | D．damage |
| A．control | B．handle | C．do | D．deal |
| A．uncomfortable | B．easy | C．difficult | D．good |
| A．second | B．day | C．year | D．time |
| A．actively | B．quietly | C．quickly | D．curiously |
| A．surface | B．water | C．land | D．island |
| A．way | B．view | C．pathway | D．point |
| A．expressed | B．charged | C．inspired | D．faced |
| A．freed | B．remained | C．kept | D．cleared |
6 . Your options for an ego - friendly home may seem somewhat limited now—solar panels, rain barrels, and maybe a small garden—but as the world of green technology advanced, there is a rise in the number of smart, ego-friendly home improvements. Some of them are available now.
A home thermos tat (恒温器) can automatically adjust the temperature for you, making sure your house is warm when you get home and reducing energy waste during the day. For example, a thermos tat called Nest Learning Thermos tat learns your heating and cooling preference and automatically adjusts itself.
Years ago, recycling paper and plastic was the most you could do to save resource.
In 2009, The Wall Street Journal asked four architectural firms to imagine the future of green homes.
| A．There are quite a lot of benefits of green homes. |
| B．Others, like walls made of gardens, are a bit more futuristic |
| C．Traditional energy sources are still the norm in most houses |
| D．Nest users have saved 29 million in energy in less than two years |
| E．It will depend on the type of heating and cooling system in your home |
| F．Now, recycling factories have gone way beyond the traditional materials |
| G．And one of the groups, Rios Clementi Hale Studios, undertook the project |
7 . 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. So where is technology going 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.
◇Personal airplanes will be used widely for short journeys.
With the increasing population, it is not very hard to predict that common methods of transportation will not be enough.
◇Most cancers will be treated successfully.
◇
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. Chances are we will be able to find the next Earth — like planet.
| A．Though it hasn’t happened yet |
| B．Let’s start our predictions |
| C．The world’s population will cross 9. 6 billion |
| D．What do you think of my predictions of 2050 |
| E．Humans will live on other planets |
| F．There will be much heavier traffic on the road |
| G．The number of deaths caused by cancers will be greatly reduced |
8 . Do you want to live another 100 years or more? Some experts say that scientific advances will one day enable humans to last tens of years beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life span.
“I think we are knocking at the door of immortality(永生),” said Michael Zey, a Montclair State University business professor and author of two books on the future. “I think by 2075 we will see it and that’s a conservative estimate(保守的估计).”
At the conference in San Francisco, Donald Louria, a professor at New Jersey Medical School in Newark said advances in using genes as well as nanotechnology(纳米技术) make it likely that humans will live in the future beyond what was possible in the past. “There is a great effort so that people can live from 120 to 180 years,” he said. “Some have suggested that there is no limit and that people could live to 200 or 300 or 500 years.”
However, many scientists who specialize in aging are doubtful about it and say the human body is just not designed to last past about 120 years. Even with healthier lifestyles and less disease, they say failure of the brain and organs will finally lead all humans to death.
Scientists also differ on what kind of life the super aged might live. “It remains to be seen if you pass 120, you know; could you be healthy enough to have good quality of life?” said Leonard Poon, director of the University of Georgia Gerontology Centre. “At present people who could get to that point are not in good health at all.”
1. By saying“we are knocking at the door of immortality”,Michael Zey means_________.| A．they have got some ideas about living forever |
| B．they believe that there is no limit of living |
| C．they are able to make people live past the present life span |
| D．they are sure to find the truth about long living |
| A．the human body is designed to last past about 120 years |
| B．it is possible for humans to live longer in the future |
| C．it is still doubtful how long humans can live |
| D．people can live from 120 to 180 |
| A．a great effort |
| B．the conservative estimate |
| C．the idea of living from 200 to 300 years |
| D．the idea of living beyond the present life span |
| A．No Limit for Human Life |
| B．Living Longer or not |
| C．Science,Technology and Long Living |
| D．Healthy Lifestyle and Long Living |
9 . If you could travel in time, where would you go? Perhaps you would watch an original performance of a Shakespeare’s play in Elizabethan England? What about hanging out with Laozi in the Spring and Autumn Period? Or maybe you’d voyage far ahead of the present day to see what the future holds.
The possibility of time travel is indeed appealing. Stories exploring the subject have been around for hundreds of years. Perhaps the best known example is the science fiction novel The Time Machine, which was written by H. G. Wells and published in 1895 for the first time. It was adapted into at least two feature films of the same name, as well as two television versions, and a large number of comic book adaptations. It is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel using a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposefully and selectively. The term “time machine”, coined by Wells, is now universally used to refer to a vehicle transporting people into the far future.
But could time travel actually be possible? Some scientists say yes, in theory. They propose using cracks in time and space called “wormholes”, which could be used as shortcuts to other periods. Einstein’s theory of relativity allows time travel in extreme circumstances. And British physicist Stephen Hawking said you could travel into the future with a really fast spaceship—going at nearly the speed of light. Though building such a spaceship would of course be no simple task.
Even if you could travel into the past, there is something called the “grandfather paradox”. It asks what would happen if a time traveller were to go back in time and have his own grandfather killed for some reason, and therefore prevent himself from being born. If the time traveller wasn’t born, how would he travel back in time?
And would you really like to visit the future? In H. G. Wells’ book, the main character travels into distant time where he arrives at a beach and is attacked by giant crabs. He then voyages 30 million years into the future where the only living thing is a black object with tentacles (触角). If that’s what’s in store, maybe we are better just living in the present day after all.
1. The novel The Time Machine mentioned in Paragraph 2 aims to show .| A．people’s interest in time travel |
| B．the special features of the book |
| C．the long history of time travel |
| D．the contribution of H. G. Wells |
| A．have similarities in many ways |
| B．push the invention of the first spaceship |
| C．have proved wrong by some time travellers |
| D．suggest the possibility to invent the time machine |
| A．the traveller is prevented from meeting his grandfather |
| B．the traveller goes back in time to seek for his grandfather |
| C．the grandfather’s death makes the traveller’s birth impossible |
| D．The reunion of the traveller and his grandfather brings happiness |
| A．Unclear. | B．Skeptical. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Unconcerned. |
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Gene editing has a wide
One of the most convenient methods of gene editing is called CRISPR/Cas9,
In simple words, CRISPR/Cas9 is the “scissors” of genes. The greatness of CRISPR/Cas9 lies in extreme accuracy. It also enables humans to breed (孕有) more plant varieties and develop better treatment of cancer.
In the future, the discovery
There will be no traditional Nobel Awarding Ceremony in Stockholm this year due to the COVID-19,
