1 . 
2050
My lights turn on automatically. It’s 6.50 a.m. and the house is waking me up. Still sleepy, I find my uniform in the wardrobe and put it on. It had been washed, ironed, and hung up the night before by Lina X15––my family’s housekeeper. When I was younger, she was my nanny. She’s been with me all my life. My parents didn’t have time for children then and Lina, advertised as a reliable helper, looked after me. That’s why my parents bought her. Almost everyone has an X15 today.
I enter the kitchen. My breakfast sits there, waiting for me. Always the same. Planned, with a controlled quantity. The government says our planet can’t deal with overpopulation. Food is grown in laboratories, and every house receives just enough food––no more, no less. Mum always talks about the old days when people had vegetable gardens and could go to the market to buy food. Animals actually lived in the wild and not in carefully controlled zoos. It’s all I’ve ever known.
Robots are everywhere now; they are usually referred to as “zoids.” When they first came on the market in 2030, everyone wanted one. Now, twenty years later, they’ve taken over. They do almost everything. They work in labs and factories, fix teeth and perform surgeries. My dad used to be a surgeon before they found that “zoids” could do surgery better than humans. Less room for error, I guess.
I walk to the window and look out over the landscape. All I see are buildings and interconnecting tunnels. Grey skyscrapers, all identical. I can spot my school—it is just over to the right, but it looks the same as every other building. Today we are having a lecturer from Los Angeles speak to us about the extinction of different species of animals, like the polar bear and the elephant. I find it strange that even with all our technology, we couldn’t save them.
I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn around.
“It’s time for school,” Lina says, her metallic voice echoing around the room, “Don’t be late.”
“On my way,” I reply. “I’ll be back by 6 p.m.”
I rush out the door and go down 60 floors to join the other children in my building. We’ve always walked through the tunnels to get to school. We’ve always breathed recycled air. We are children who have never been outside. I wonder what it’s like. Perhaps Lina can explain it to me.
·Comprehension Plus
1. Complete the table with information from the text.
Predictions about the future
Aspects of future life | Predictions |
| Future housework | Robots will do most of the housework. |
| Future food | |
| Future jobs | |
| Future buildings | |
| Future environment |
Answer the questions.
2. Would you like to have an X15 at home? Why or why not?
3. Do you think the overpopulation problem mentioned in the text might arise in the future? Why or why not?
4. Do you think the animal extinctions mentioned in the text are likely to happen in the future? In your view, how likely is it that endangered animals will be saved with advances in technology?
5. The children breathe recycled air in the story. Do you think that will happen in the future? Why or why not?
6. What is the author’s attitude towards the future? How did you know that?
2 . Li Zixuan is a junior middle school student. He is now studying in Grade 9. He has had many dreams since he was little. But as time goes by, some new dreams have appeared and some old ones have disappeared. However, only one dream is still in his mind.
Li Zixuan says that when he was a child, he heard about rockets and spaceships. At first, he didn’t know what they were. From his father, he knew that scientists made rockets to carry things into space, and spaceships were used to carry people through space. From then on, he has had a real interest in space. Every time he sees beautiful stars and the moon in the sky at night, he gets very excited. He is always dreaming that he can fly to space to look at the earth one day. His mother knows about his dream and often encourages him.
In school, Li Zixuan learned that the first man flew into space in 1961 and later, more astronauts succeeded in traveling into space. Some astronauts even landed on the moon. His teacher always encourages him to learn more. He knows not everyone has a chance to travel into space. More importantly, before he can fly to space, he must be trained specially.
Li Zixuan knows it’s not easy to achieve his dream, but he decides to try his best. He says I’ve had this dream for many years. It has brought me a lot of joy and always gives me power. Even if it doesn’t come true in the end, I won’t be sorry.”
1. What does the boy want to be when he grows up?| A．A scientist. | B．A pilot. | C．An engineer. | D．An astronaut. |
| A．His father. | B．His mother. | C．His teacher. | D．His friend. |
| A．Study very hard. | B．Get a driving license. |
| C．Do exercise every day. | D．Get some special training. |
| A．Dreams of a Boy | B．The Love of a Father |
| C．An Excellent Hobby | D．An Unusual Experience |
3 . 17 Year-Old Astronaut
Elena Wolf is a reporter and is interviewing(采访）a 17 year-old girl，Alyssa Carson，who wants to go to Mars(火星）. Here is what Alyssa Carson and her father said about her great dream.
Alyssa Carson, Aspiring(有抱负的）Astronaut：
Well, I first got interested in wanting to become an astronaut (宇航员)from watching a cartoon called the Backyardigans when I was around three years old. And basically on the show, the characters went on these imaginary missions(任务) to Mars. I wanted to be like one of their friends and go with them, and I started asking my dad all these questions, and basically just kept asking for videos, pictures and books and anything I could find about space and Mars.
Bert Carson, Alyssa’s Father
I’m just of that nature that I believe that parents should support their children in whatever their dreams are. It doesn’t matter if it changes a thousand times. It doesn’t matter how crazy it is, because it doesn’t get any crazier than what my kid is dreaming. And you know, there’s a great potential that she’s probably going to leave this planet. Because you have to look at this. You say, is she too young to be doing some of this thing? You know, every kid out there, if they’re wanting to do whatever job it is, you know, there are people getting pilot licenses and doing flying lessons. I mean, there are eight and nine year-olds doing this. So, I mean, to be 17 and getting a pilot’s license I don’t think is that young at all. As far as her going off into space, like I said, space is a very dangerous thing. All it wants to do is kill you. So, you know, I worry about that, but on the other side of that, she has educated me to show how important it is for us to leave this planet for the survival (生存；幸存)of the human species, and so it’s bigger than the two of us, and so I just have to let her go and I have to let her realize her dream.
1. Alyssa Carson first got interested in wanting to become an astronaut when she was ________ years old.| A．Two | B．Three |
| C．Four | D．Five |
| A．refuses | B．opposes |
| C．supports | D．delays |
| A．Alyssa Carson longs to go to Mars. |
| B．A cartoon called the Backyardigans has a great effect on Alyssa Carson. |
| C．In Bert Carson’s opinion, his daughter is too young to realize her dream. |
| D．Getting off into space is a dangerous thing. |
4 . Things to do when you aren’t hopeful about anything
You dream. You work hard. But often those expectations are not met. You don’t achieve your goals. Life seems so unfair when you do everything you can and still don’t get the desired results. You don’t want to do anything. You feel hopeless about everything in your life. What’s next?
Don’t focus too much on controlling everything. Many external (外部的) factors affect your life and you can’t control everything. Worrying about things you can’t control isn’t going to help. The desire to control every situation only exhausts you completely.
Avoid coming to conclusions too soon. We are sometimes too quick to judge the situation before it even unfolds completely.
| A．Should you just drop everything and give up? |
| B．Allow yourself to open up to endless possibilities. |
| C．Wait before forming an opinion about a particular situation. |
| D．Are you upset about a particular situation not going your way? |
| E．Concentrate on what you can control or improve and forget about the rest. |
| F．Believing in yourself and hoping for the best makes a huge difference. |
| G．It makes you believe in yourself and ensures that your hard work will actually pay off. |
5 . Rick went home from school by bus one day. When an old woman got on the bus, Rick gave her his seat. The old woman thanked him and gave him three apples. She said to him in a whisper, “Tell the apple what you want to be. Eat it and then wait and see.”
Rick thanked her and went to the park with the apples. There were some tall boys. “I want to be tall and strong.” Rick said and ate the first apple. Suddenly, he grew into a big boy. But all the boys ran away in panic when they saw him.
Rick was sad. He took out another apple and said, “I want to be famous and have lots of friends.” With these words, he ate the second apple. But when hundreds of people wanted to interview him, he ran away.
When he saw a sports car, Rick wanted to be rich and ate the third apple. But when his wish came true, he was unhappy at all.
A few days later, Rick met the old lady again. She told him, “Go to the garden, find a small yellow flower and tell the flower what you want to be.”
Rick went to the garden and picked up the flower. Then he said, “I want to be myself.” Suddenly, he was at the park again and one of the boys said to him, “Come on and play with us!”
1. The old lady thanked Rick because he was a ________ boy.| A．weak | B．kind | C．careful | D．funny |
| A．a feeling of being afraid | B．a feeling of being surprised |
| C．a feeling of being happy | D．a feeling of being amazed |
| A．tall and strong | B．very rich | C．famous | D．special |
| A．two | B．three | C．four | D．five |
