1 . It was once common to regard Britain as a society with class distinction. Each class had unique characteristics.
In recent years, many writers have begun to speak the ‘decline of class’ and ‘classless society’ in Britain. And in modern day consumer society everyone is considered to be middle class. But pronouncing the death of class is too early. A recent wide-ranging society of public opinion found 90 percent of people still placing themselves in particular class; 73 percent agreed that class was still a vital part of British society; and 52 percent thought there were still sharp class differences. Thus, class may not be culturally and politically obvious, yet it remains an important part of British society. Britain seems to have a love of stratification.
One unchanging aspect of a British person’s class position is accent. The words a person speaks tell her or his class. A study of British accents during 1970s found that a voice sounding like a BBC newsreader was viewed as the most attractive voice. Most people said this accent sounded ‘educated’ and ‘soft’. The accents placed at the bottom in this study, on the other hand, were regional (地区的) city accents. These accents were seen as ‘common’ and ‘ugly’. However, a similar study of British accents in the US turned these results upside down and placed some regional accents as the most attractive and BBC English as the least. This suggests that British attitudes towards accent have deep roots and are based on class prejudice.
In recent years, however, young upper middle-class people in London, have begun to adopt some regional accents, in order to hide their class origins. This is an indication of class becoming unnoticed. However, the 1995 pop song ‘Common People’ puts forward the view that though a middle-class person may ‘want to live like common people’ they can never appreciate the reality of a working-class life.
1. A recent study of public opinion shows that in modern Britain ________.| A．it is time to end class distinction. |
| B．most people belong to middle class. |
| C．it is easy to recognize a person’s class. |
| D．people regard themselves socially different. |
| A．variety | B．division | C．authority | D．qualification |
| A．original | B．educated | C．prejudiced | D．unattractive. |
| A．The middle class is expanding. |
| B．A person’s accent reflects his class. |
| C．Class is a key part of British society. |
| D．Each class has unique characteristics. |
2 . All the efforts you put into studying at university may not have been enough—because robots could be coming for your job. A new study finds that as many as 800 million workers could be replaced by robots by 2030.
The study from the McKinsey Global Institute estimates that between 400 million and 800 million individuals could be replaced by automation(自动化) or robots and need to find new jobs by 2030 around the world. It estimates that 30 percent of the hours people spend on working globally could have been automated by that time.
Those most affected will be people who work in predictable environments doing tasks such as operating machines and preparing fast food. Those who make a living by collecting and processing data also face a high risk of being replaced by robots. But people who work in less predictable environments such as gardeners, plumbers, and childcare staff face a smaller risk, because their roles are technically difficult to be automated and often command relatively lower wages, which makes automation a less attractive business proposition(商业提议).
However, it’s not all doom for the future of employment. The Study notes that automation sometimes allows workers to remain employed in a different position. “Even when some tasks are automated, the employment rate in those occupations may not decline because workers may perform new tasks,” McKinsey &Company wrote in a release on its website.
It noted that China has the largest number of employees who would need to switch occupations, up to 100 million if automation was adopted rapidly, or 12 percent of the 2030 workforce. The numbers are higher in more advanced economies, with up to one-third of the 2030 workforce in America and Germany needing to switch occupations, along with nearly half of the 2030 workforce in Japan. Countries which fail to prepare workers for transition to new jobs will feel the impact of a rise in unemployment and depressed wages, according to the study.
1. Why will lots of people need to find new jobs by 2030 around the world?| A．They don’t put efforts into their study at university. |
| B．The world’s working population is on the steady rise. |
| C．They will be paid less with the development of technology. |
| D．Robots or automation will take the place of their positions. |
| A．Machine operation. | B．Fast food cooking. |
| C．Childcare in kindergarten. | D．Data collection. |
| A．Estimated figures. | B．Public opinions. |
| C．Financial reports. | D．Website contents. |
| A．Education. | B．Business. | C．Lifestyle. | D．Technology. |
1、人们可以选择到月亮上度假或在海底生活；
2、人们依靠机器人做家务；
3、所有材料都可以回收利用。
注意：
1、词数100字左右；
2、可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3、开头和结尾已经为你写好，不计入总字数。
Our Future Life
Good afternoon, boys and girls!
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks for listening!
1．工作；2．出行；3．环境。
注意：
1．词数80左右；
2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3．开头和结束语已为你写好，但不计入总词数。
Good afternoon, boys and girls!
I’d like to share with you my opinion about future life.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
That’s all.Thank you for your listening.
5 . It’s 6 A.M., and the alarm clock is ringing earlier than usual. It’s not a malfunction (故障): the smart clock scanned your schedule and adjusted because you’ve got that big presentation first thing in the morning. The electric car is ready to go, charged by the solar panels on your roof. When you get home later, there’s an unexpected package waiting. You open it to find cold medicine. Turns out, health sensors embedded (嵌入) in your bathroom detected signs of an upcoming illness and placed an order automatically.
That, at least, is the ideal design of the smart home that exists 10 years out. But a decade from now, we’ll dip into the Internet of Things (IoT) totally.
A range of technological developments will drive smart—home technology well beyond what’s available on store shelves today. Innovations in AI stand to change almost everything in our lives. You might already be using some kind of AI—powered voice—assistant device to get the latest news or weather forecast every morning. IoT company Crestron, for example, is working on software that follows a person’s habits, like which music they want to hear in the morning or which lights they want to be on at a certain time of day. Then, once it gets the hang of a user’s preferences, it automatically plays just the right playlists or makes the lights less bright before bedtime.
All this learning that the smart home of the future will be doing may raise privacy concerns. In 2016, hackers took over hundreds of thousands of secure IoT devices, then used them to send fake Internet traffic, the incident broke Internet connections for a moment throughout parts of North America and Europe. A bill put forth by Virginia Senator Mark Warner would push the government to set up minimum security requirements for smart devices used by federal agencies; such requirements could eventually become standard for the industry at large.
You’re more likely than not to end up in a connected home one day, whether you mean to or not. Ultimately, people will come to see smart—home technology as essential as electricity, refrigeration or air-conditioning. People will rely on it.
1. What is the purpose of paragraph 1?| A．To reveal people’s busy life in ten years. |
| B．To display pollution-free homes in ten years. |
| C．To show how people will cure illness in the future. |
| D．To describe how smart the home can be in the future. |
| A．Push your preferences towards green living. |
| B．Play your favorite songs with voice control. |
| C．Provide the latest news and weather automatically. |
| D．Make home devices function according to your habits. |
| A．The IoT devices were of low quality. |
| B．The government made a law because of it. |
| C．Security problems from smart devices were urgent. |
| D．Hackers were common in North America and Europe. |
| A．It’s electrical and reliable. | B．It’s attractive and necessary. |
| C．It will not need much designing. | D．It will not be affected by evil hackers. |
1. 太空、海洋探索； 2. 人工智能开发；
3. 材料的回收利用等。
注意：
1. 词数80字左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 开头和结尾已经为你写好，不计入总字数。
Good afternoon, boys and girls!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks for listening!
7 . What picture do you have of the future? Will life in the future be better, worse or the same as now? What do you hope about the future?
Futurologists predict that life will probably be very different in 2050 in all the fields of activity, from entertainment to technology. First of all, it seems that TV channels will have disappeared by 2050.Instead, people will choose a program from a “menu” and a computer will send the program directly to the television. By 2050, music, films, programs, newspapers and books will come to us by computer.
In what concerns the environment, water will have become one of our most serious problems. Demand for water will increase ten times between now and 2050 and there could be serious shortages. Some futurologists predict that water could be the cause of war if we don't act now. In transport, cars will run on new, clean fuels and they will go very fast. Cars will have computers to control the speed of the car and there won't be any accidents. Today, many cars have computers that tell drivers exactly where they are. By 2050, the computer will control the car and drive it to your destination.
In the domain of technology, robots will have replaced people in factories. Many factories already use robots. Big companies prefer robots-they do not ask for pay rises or go on strike, and they work 24 hours a day. By 2050, we will see robots everywhere-in factories, schools, offices, hospitals, shops and homes.
Last but not least, medicine technology will have conquered many diseases. Today scientists have discovered how to control genes. They have already produced clones of animals. By 2050, scientists will be able to produce clones of people and decide how they look, how they behave and how much intelligence they have. Scientists will be able to do these things-but should they?
1. What's the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To arouse the interest of the reader. |
| B．To tell the background of the passage. |
| C．To introduce the topic of the passage. |
| D．To describe the pictures of the future. |
| A．computers will finally take the place of the media nowadays |
| B．robots will completely have replaced people in factories |
| C．computers will tell drivers exactly where they are in future |
| D．it is more convenient to choose programs sent by the computer |
| A．all diseases will not be conquered by scientists |
| B．scientists have known the way to produce genes |
| C．the clones of human are understood by scientists |
| D．the clones of animals have a long way to go |
8 . Is there a time when you are away from your hometown? When do you feel homesick the most? What do you often do to relieve your homesickness?
If the West has the apple, the East has the king of fruits: the enormously big mango. Called “aam” in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, this tropical fruit traces its origins to South Asia. Urdu and Hindi literature are filled with references to this fruit that once filled the kitchens and gardens of emperors.
Everyone is crazy about mangoes during the summer months in South Asia. City streets in India are lined with vendors (小贩) selling all varieties of mangoes. Young and old bargain for better prices, mangoes can be sent as gifts, restaurants have special mango menu items and the fruit becomes a gesture of goodwill between India and Pakistan, with the choicest varieties sent across the border to celebrate each country’s independence days.
South Asians all over the world expect the coming of mango season. South Asian stores receive shipments (运输的货物) of the fruit, though they are limited in quality and quantity. Each year, I taste my mangoes, though I’m saddened that popular varieties aren’t easily available in Vancouver.
Mango memories take me back to the city I was born in: Rourkela in the eastern part of India. In late March, just as the days would start to become hot, I remember mango trees blooming (开花) with their fresh fragrance in the breeze as we biked to school. Come April, the trees would start bearing fruit. I remember the thrill of sneaking out (潜行，偷偷溜出) to collect raw mangoes, climbing onto the roof of our houses and eating them with pink salt and powdered red chilies (红辣椒粉) alongside my best friend.
Mango stories from my childhood are endless. But this summer in Vancouver, tired from the pandemic (疫情), I can’t help but remember my sweet mango memories. I realize that I need to wander the streets of my home country, to feel the intense heat of the summer months and soak in the country of my birth.
Instead, I am in a semi-lockdown state tasting mangoes, enjoying those I can find in Canada but missing the Indian varieties. This year, the enormously big mango has become a symbol of the sense of loss that each one of us is feeling.
1. What do we know about the mangoes in South Asia?| A．They are often given as gifts in India. |
| B．They are a symbol of independence in India. |
| C．In Pakistan, they are mainly grown on the borders. |
| D．They are very popular among average people in India. |
| A．Danger. | B．Excitement. | C．Anxiety. | D．Sweat taste. |
| A．Vancouver has more varieties of mangoes than South Asia. |
| B．The author works on transporting mangoes between Canada and India. |
| C．The author is familiar with the growth stages of mangoes in Vancouver. |
| D．In the author’s memory, mangoes blossom and bear fruit in March and April. |
| A．To illustrate why mangoes are popular in the East. |
| B．To provide proof for his experience in India and Canada. |
| C．To recall mango memories and express a longing to return home. |
| D．To analyze the negative impact of the pandemic on mango economy. |
9 . Sixty percent of Americans play video games daily, according to Techjury. In order to escape from the reality of quarantine (隔离), more people have turned to video games and VR (virtual reality) has become more popular than ever.
The world of VR isn't new to the gaming industry. It has been an ongoing concept for years, dating back to the 1800s. NASA popularized VR technology in 1989, bringing light to advancements that had never been seen before, and in 1991, SEGA introduced VR to gamers.
Gaming companies such as Oculus and HTC have redefined gaming by allowing players to involve themselves deeply in the world of VR through personal headsets. VR users are able to socialize through chat rooms, create 3D art and exercise through heart-pumping gameplay. Once a user puts on a headset, they are immediately transported into a virtual world. This allows the player to have a better experience compared to simply staring at a TV with a game controller.
Although VR has many positive aspects, using virtual reality too much can cause health problems among users. When using VR, it is common for people to lose spatial (空间的) awareness. Therefore, users are encouraged to play in an area that is clear of furniture and other objects causing potential danger. Eye strain can also be caused by using VR too much, so it is important to limit your time playing in virtual reality and take breaks in order to minimize the possibility of experiencing negative health effects.
How VR will develop in the future is unknown to us. However, new advancements for it are on the way. Teslasuit, a company specializing in VR equipment, is creating haptic (触觉的) suits for VR gameplay. These suits will allow users to feel aspects of VR while in game and will increase involvement, build 360-degree awareness and engage muscle memory. There are an endless number of possibilities that users can experience and create in VR, and the boundaries of the virtual world are limitless.
1. The second paragraph is mainly concerned with _______.| A．the function of VR |
| B．the origin of VR games |
| C．the history of online games |
| D．the future of the gaming industry |
| A．do physical exercise together in nature |
| B．have a more realistic gaming experience |
| C．enjoy better-quality pictures and sounds |
| D．play games without disturbing others |
| A．contact. | B．Movement. | C．Opening. | D．Damage. |
| A．Negative. | B．Objective. | C．Confident. | D．Suspicious. |
10 . We don’t know how different our future will be in the future. We can only try to imagine it.
At first we think about human relationship. In the year 2050, we will use computers almost every day. We will be making new friends through the Internet—even our husbands or wives will be met in this way. It will be much faster and easier for us. On the other hand, our relationships with people won’t be as important as they are today—we will feel a little lonely.
Computers will also help us in many other activities in 2050. For example, they will be used by the children at school to make their learning easier. In addition, there will be much more other machines which will play the same role as computers, like robots which will do the housework for us.
Spending holidays will also be completely different. Traveling to other planets or to the moon will be possible for everyone. Means of transport will, of course, change, too. We will be using solar-powered cars, which will be much more environmentally friendly(环保).
Some of us may think that the faster technological progress would lead to a more polluted environment. But it isn’t true. We will pay more attention to protecting the environment. And, scientists will probably find cures for many dangerous diseases, like cancer or AIDS. Then, our surroundings as well as health will be in better condition.
Although we can’t predict（预测）the exact changes which will be made in the world, we often think about them. We worry about our and our children’s future; we have hopes as well as fears. But I think we should be rather sanguine about our future. We should be happy and believe good things will happen.
1. Why will people probably feel a little lonely in 2050?| A．Because the number of people will become much smaller. |
| B．Because there will be less face-to-face communication. |
| C．Because people won’t like making friends with each other. |
| D．Because people won’t communicate with each other much often. |
| A．that computers will do all the things for human beings |
| B．how people will use computers to communicate with each other |
| C．that machines like computers and robots will help people a lot |
| D．how people will use robots to do the housework |
| A．The relationship between people will be more important than today. |
| B．The way of spending holidays will be the same as that of today. |
| C．It won’t be difficult for people to travel to other planets. |
| D．Our environment will be much more polluted with a growing number of cars. |
| A．disappointed | B．surprised |
| C．sad | D．optimistic |
