1 . You’ve heard the predictions from some of the brightest minds about AI’s influence. Tesla and SpaceX’s chief Elon Musk worries that AI is far more dangerous than nuclear weapons. The late scientist Stephen Hawking warned that AI could serve as the “worst event in the history of our civilization” unless humanity is prepared for its possible risks.

But many experts, even those who are aware of such risks, have a more positive attitude, especially in health-care and possibly in education. That is one of the results from a new AI study released Monday by the Pew Research Centre.

Pew canvassed the opinions of 979 experts over the summer, a group that included famous technologists, developers, innovators, business and policy leaders. The interviewed experts, some of whom chose to remain anonymous, were asked to join in the discussion of a serious and important question: “By 2030, do you think it is most likely that advancing AI and related technology systems will improve human capacities and control them?”

Nearly two-thirds of experts predicted most of us will be mostly better off. But a third thought otherwise, and a majority of the experts expressed at least some concerns over the long-term impact of AI on the “essential elements of being human”. Among those concerns were data abuse, loss of jobs and loss of control brought by autonomous weapons and cybercrime. Above all, by taking data in and spitting answers out, those “black box” tools make decisions in digital systems. It is an erosion in our ability to think for ourselves.

1. Why is Stephen Hawking mentioned in the first paragraph?

A．To warn humans to give up AI as soon as possible.

B．To remind readers that a new AI age has come into view.

C．To prove great scientists care much about the future of AI.

D．To introduce the main idea of the text that AI benefits the future.

2. What is true of Pew’s study?

A．Most experts are certain that AI will be out of control.

B．Pew asked experts from different fields for opinions.

C．Pew concludes that humans will suffer from AI.

D．33% of experts think AI will have little impact on humans.

3. Why some experts concern about “black box” tools?

A．Because they make decisions in digital systems.

B．Because they can take data in and spit answers out.

C．Because they may weaken our ability to think independently.

D．Because they may decrease humans’ welfare in the long term.

4. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．Experts’ concern about AI.	B．Humans’ being controlled by AI.
C．Experts’ Expectation of AI.	D．AI’s influence on society.

2 . 你们年级下周要举办一次主题为“展望未来新生活”的英语演讲比赛，请根据以下内容，通过合理想象，写一篇演讲稿。包括：
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!

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Thanks for listening!

3 . Today’s grandparents are joining grandchildren on social media, but the different generation’s online habits couldn’t be more different. The over-55s are joining Facebook in increasing numbers, meaning that they will soon be the site’s second biggest user group, with 3.5 million users aged 55-64 and 2.9 million over-65s.

Sheila, aged 59, says, “I joined to see what my grandchildren are doing, as my daughter posts videos and photos of them. It’s a much better way to see what they’re doing than waiting for letters and photos in the post. I think I’m lucky I get to see so much more of their lives than my grandparents did.”

However, Sheila’s grandchildren are less likely to use Facebook themselves. Children under 17 are leaving the site—only 2.2 million users are under 17---but they’re not going far from their smartphones. Chloe, age 15, even sleeps with her phone. “It’s my alarm clock so I have to,” she says. “I look at it before I go to sleep and as soon as I wake up.”

Teenagers might have their parents to thank for their smartphone and social media addiction as their parents were the early adopters of the smartphone. Peter, 38 and father of two teenagers, reports that he used to be on his phone or laptop constantly. He says, “How could I tell my kids to get off their phones is I was always in front of a screen myself?” So, in the evenings and at weekends, he takes his SIM card out of his smartphone and puts it into an old-style mobile phone that can only make calls and send text messages. “I’m not completely separated from the world if emergent, but the important thing is that I’m setting a better example to my kids and spending more quality time with them.”

Is it only a matter of time until the generation above and below Peter catches up with the new trend (趋势) for a less digital life?

1. How does Sheila feel about social media?

A．Useful.

B．Disappointed.

C．Useless.

D．Addicted.

2. Why does Peter take his SIM card out of his smartphone?

A．To make calls to his boss.

B．To stop his work.

C．To set a good example to his kids.

D．To catch up with the new trend.

3. What does the underlined word “separated” mean in Paragraph 4?

A．different

B．figured out

C．cut off

D．protected

4. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Children under 17 don’t use smartphone at all.

B．Chloe is one of the early adopters of the smartphone.

C．Today’s grandparents enjoy a life without social media.

D．People may enjoy a less digital life in the near future.

4 . Futurologists(未来学家)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 programme from a “menu”(菜单)and a computer will send the programme directly to the television.Today，we can use the World Wide Web to read newspaper stories and see pictures on a computer thousands of kilometres away.By 2050，music，films，programmes，newspapers and books will come to us by computer.We will also be able to see，smell and touch the things that we see on television.

In transport，cars will run on new，clean “gas” 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 where you want to go.Space planes will fly all over the world and people will fly from Los Angeles to Tokyo in just two hours.

In 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.By 2050，we will be able to help blind and deaf people see again and hear again.Scientists will be able to produce clones of people and decide how they look，how they behave and how much intelligence they have.

1. What is NOT true about television by 2050 according to this passage?

A．One will be able to smell the food on television.

B．One can have a try of the food he or she sees on television.

C．There will be no channels for us to choose programmes.

D．Televisions will be completely controlled by computers.

2. What can be the development of transport that benefits people most by 2050?

A．Cars will go at a very high speed on their own.

B．Space planes will fly all over the world in a short time.

C．There will be less pollution and no car accidents.

D．Computers will tell people where they are going.

3. It can be implied in the passage that by 2050         ．

A．people will live more healthily and longer

B．computers will control the speed of cars

C．people can read newspapers through a computer

D．there will be no people working in factories

4. What is the author's attitude towards people's life in future?

A．Doubtful.	B．Sad.
C．Happy.	D．Worried.

5 . 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.

2. What can we learn from what Martina Doblin said in paragraph 6?

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.

3. Which word can be used to describe the author's attitude towards sea fanning?

A．Skeptical.

B．Objective.

C．Tolerant.

D．Negative.

4. Which can be a suitable title for the text?

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

6 . Those concerned that robots are taking over the world can rest easy-for now. Though the androids have proved useful at performing ordinary tasks, they are not ready for prime time. At least that appears to be the case at Japan’s cutting-edge Henn-na Hotel chain where over half of the robot staff is being replaced by humans.

The first Henn-na Hotel opened in July 2015, where guests were greeted and checked-in by either a family-friendly English-speaking dinosaur robot or a Japanese-speaking humanoid. Autonomous robots stood ready to help guests carry luggage to their rooms, while a cute doll-shaped android called Churi, placed inside each room, provided them with information about nearby attractions. Even the hotel’s garbage cans were robotic.

Not surprisingly, the lodging, recognized in 2016 as the world’s first robot-staffed hotel by Guinness World Records, drew in curious visitors from all around the world.

But as the years have passed, the hotel’s main draw — its employees — are becoming less of a novelty (新颖) and more of a bother. Also as the robots are “aging”, they are costing more to repair and maintain. Earlier this month, the hotel chain’s parent company H. I. S. announced that it had decided to “fire” over half of the robot employees and replace them with humans. Among them are the chain’s two robot receptionists. In addition to scaring young guests, they are also unable to photocopy guests’ passports-a requirement when checking into a Japanese hotel--forcing human employees to step in each time. Also, out are the cute Churi robots, which have proved unable to answer even the simplest questions and annoyed guests by interrupting their conversations.

While this is a setback, the company’s officials are not discouraged. They plan to continue with their ambitious expansion plans and believe the human-robot interaction is a learning process.“When you actually use robots, you realize there are places where they aren’t needed.” said one of the officials.

1. What could robots in the first Henn-na Hotel do?

A．Offer guests traffic information.	B．Help guests pack their luggage.
C．Greet guests in English or Japanese.	D．Direct guests to check in at the front desk.

2. What’s one of the problems of the “fired” robots?

A．They cause trouble to customers.	B．They ignore instructions.
C．They annoy human employees.	D．They are beyond repair.

3. What can be inferred about the officials of Henn-na Hotel chain?

A．They think highly of their interaction with customers.

B．They are against the use of state-of-art equipment.

C．They plan to hire more cute Churi robots.

D．They’ve realized the limitations of robots.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Robot Employees-Ready for Prime Time

B．Japanese Hotel Chain Expands Ambitiously

C．Robot Employees-a New Novelty for Hotels

D．Japanese Hotel Chain “Fires” Robot Employees

7 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个恰当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

The 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry     1    (award)to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna recently. The two female scientists won the prize     2     the development of a method of genome (基因组) editing.

Gene editing has a wide     3    (apply) across the world. It can     4     (direct) change the DNA of a lifeform and has the potential of leading to     5    (benefit) results.

One of the most convenient methods of gene editing is called CRISPR/Cas9,     6     was discovered by the two Nobel winners. The method enables scientists to cut a sequence of DNA into two pieces,     7    (allow) nature to “repair” it. During the repair process, errors will be introduced to create a different sequence of DNA, thus resulting in an     8    (edit) gene.

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     9    (expect) to have a revolutionary impact on the life science and make the dream of curing some diseases come true.

There will be no traditional Nobel Awarding Ceremony in Stockholm this year due to the COVID-19,     10     an online version will be held instead.

8 . 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.     1    

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.     2    

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.     3     These have been well recognized.

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.

    4     They point out that although crops growing in a tall glass building would get natural sunlight during the day, it wouldn’t be enough. The plants closest to the windows would grow much more quickly than the plants further inside. The plants growing away from the windows may not produce as many or as high quality vegetables.     5     They would need additional light sources.

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.

9 . 阅读下面短文，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。

There is no doubt that humankind dreams of making Mars our second home. However, sending people there will require all the skills, courage and     1     (intelligent) of the human race. While the Moon can be reached within days, it would take months to reach Mars,     2     (travel) through dangerous solar radiation. And even if the first settlers do reach Mars safely, staying alive will be     3    daily challenge, but as proved by the Biosphere experiment, not impossible.

As early as the 1980s, scientists were building Biosphere 2 in the Arizona desert. It consisted of a closed space    4     people, animals and plants could live together. The “closed” concept meant that the space was designed     5     (function) with its own oxygen, food and water, needing nothing from the outside world.     6     the two-year experiment was not a success, it did provide us with a better understanding of how humans might be able to live on another planet. More recently, scientists     7     (succeed) in growing a variety of plants in an environment similar to that on Mars. That     8     (definite) is a big step forward.

For now, human settlement of Mars is still     9     (decade) away. In the meantime, scientific research shows that the planet Earth is getting     10     (warm). This change is having a terrible effect on the biosphere.

10 . What if we had the power to control time, instead of moving from the past to the present to the future? What if we could jump, loop and travel through time in a machine? What if we could go wherever and whenever we pleased?

This ability would allow us to witness historic wonders, change decisions and   see people from the past. We could right wrongs and stop wars from starting.

The mysterious puzzle of time has kept people debating its nature for hundreds of years. Science fiction writers have turned it into imaginative stories. Some scientists have even attempted to explain it using math. This math tries to make the dream of time travel come true.

The scientist Albert Einstein said that time and space are one thing. He called it “spacetime.” Einstein said that there are three dimensions in space: height, width and depth. A scientist named Hermann Minkowski added time as a fourth dimension.

Einstein introduced two ideas that have led to theories about the possibility of time travel. The first is relativity. The idea of relativity is that the force of gravity causes space to bend, which causes time to twist. The second idea focuses on special relativity. The idea is that a traveler moving super-fast through flat spacetime will enter the future. Einstein considered time “relative” because it is measured based on where we are on Earth or in space.

Stephen Hawking is a famous scientist. He believes that a time machine will never be built. If it were possible, he thinks we would already know. If a time   machine could be built, how come no one from the future has invaded us?

The first science fiction story with this theme is The Clock That Went Backward by Edward P. Mitchell, which was published in 1881. Since then, thousands of books, films and television shows have explored the idea of time travel, in which some tools such as phones, watches, photographs and old books take travelers backward and forward.

Will time travel ever happen? Who knows? Most important is to keep your eyes open and have a sense of wonder.

1. What is the author’s purpose of writing the first paragraph?

A．To show time and space are connected.

B．To show people’s interest in time travel.

C．To draw readers’ attention to time travel.

D．To make people believe time travel is possible.

2. Which of the following statement could Einstein agree with?

A．Time travel is possible in the future.

B．People can’t move faster than light.

C．Time travel is against scientific rules.

D．Spacetime is not a real thing in theory.

3. What is the last but one paragraph mainly about?

A．The first science fiction story.

B．Some tools used in time travel.

C．Edward P. Mitchell, the pioneer.

D．Different works about time travel.

4. What is the writer’s attitude toward time travel?

A．cautious.	B．pessimistic
C．sceptical	D．optimistic.