1 . There’s a classic short story in which a young man travels years ahead and meets his future self. Narratives like this have always been related to science fiction. But what if you could meet your future self?
I’m a psychologist and professor. My research over the past 15 years isn’t far from this theme. I’ve largely focused on how people think about and relate to their future selves, and explored the reasons why we have such a hard time making long-term decisions. In my research, I’ve learnt that we often imagine our future selves like strangers, which can impede us in making long-term choices. One way to bridge the emotional gap is to think of future selves in more concrete and vivid ways, like writing letters to and from one’s future self, which can strengthen the connection between current and future selves.
Admittedly, having people engage in an imagined conversation is a far cry from actually meeting one’s future self. But it’s believed that far richer interactions may happen in the near future through artificial intelligence (AI). It wouldn’t be predicting exactly what choices you’d make. It’d be more about showing your potential, based on the lives of people similar to you: not just one possible life for you, but rather, the most possible life path for you. Such interactions could offer valuable insights into our potential future selves.
So, to return to my original question: if you could time-travel to meet your future self, what aspects of your life would you want to know more about? I realized, through thorough reflections, that the most powerful questions would be ones that helped me make better choices today —questions exploring personal growth, regrets and unfulfilled actions.
Actually, you don’t need to wait for time travel or advanced AI for answers that you can act on. Through my research, I’ve learnt that simply taking a bit of time to picture this meeting can help you make better choices now. All you need is a little imagination, and the willingness to put yourself in the shoes of a person you currently treat as a stranger.
1. Why is it difficult for people to make long-term decisions according to the author?| A．Technology for time travel is not available. |
| B．Strangers cannot help with decision-making. |
| C．Writing letters to one’s future self is impractical. |
| D．People find it hard to connect with their distant selves. |
| A．contradictory to | B．very different from |
| C．not as convenient as | D．less popular than |
| A．Why hasn’t my hard work ever paid off? |
| B．What can AI do to help people become better persons? |
| C．If given the chance, what would you have done differently? |
| D．How can I succeed without going through all the difficulties in life? |
| A．Time travel: What if you met your future self? |
| B．My research: How do people view their future selves? |
| C．Emotional gap: Why can’t we talk with our future selves? |
| D．Artificial intelligence: Is it possible to meet your future self? |
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As time goes by, all of us will change a lot. I dream to be
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3 . New Scientist magazine’s chief reporter Adam recently published “Net-zero living: how your day will look in a carbon-neutral (碳中和) world”. Here, he imagines what a typical day would be like in the future — through the eyes of Isla, a child in 2050.
Isla lives in the south of the United Kingdom and her life looks pretty much like life does today: she has a house, a car, a job, and a cup of tea in the morning. There are great forests, and giant machines sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. It all sounds like a green and pleasant land, but it didn’t sound like the future to me.
It’s an interesting exercise, imagining what it will be like in about 30 years. I thought I would give it a try: here is some speculative fiction about Edie, living in Toronto, Canada in 2050.
Edie lives in the garage in an old house that is her apartment and workshop. She considers herself to be very lucky to have this garage in what was her grandparents’ house. The only people who live in houses these days either get the houses from their parents or are multi-millionaires from all over the world, desperate to move to Canada with its cooler climate and plentiful water and are able to afford the million-dollar immigrant visa fee.
Edie is lucky to be working. There are no office or industrial jobs anymore: Artificial Intelligence and robots took care of that. The few jobs left are in service, culture, craft, health care, or real estate (房地产). In fact, selling real estate has become the nation’s biggest industry.
There may be lots of electricity from wind and solar farms, but even running tiny heat pumps for cooling is really expensive at peak times. The streets are unpleasantly hot, so many people sleep through the midday.
Now Edie is checking the balance in her Personal Carbon Allowance (PCA) account to see if she has enough to buy another imported battery for her e-bike. If she doesn’t have enough then, she will have to buy carbon credits, and they are expensive. She sets her alarm for 6:00 p.m. when the streets of Toronto will come alive again on this hot November day.
1. What does the author think of Isla’s life?| A．Desirable. | B．Unappealing. |
| C．Unachievable. | D．Exciting. |
| A．Many people will immigrate abroad. | B．Its climate will get colder and colder. |
| C．Electricity will be very cheap to use. | D．The house prices will be extremely high. |
| A．The house problem. | B．Being out of work. |
| C．The balance of her bank account. | D．The energy consumption. |
| A．To point out Adam’s unreasonable thinking. |
| B．To compare the present life and the future life. |
| C．To imagine the life after reducing carbon emissions. |
| D．To raise people’s awareness of environmental protection. |
1. What would the man like to know about the future?
| A．How the environment will be. |
| B．How fast the technology will develop. |
| C．How rich he will be. |
| A．A scientist. | B．A teacher. | C．A doctor. |
In the near future, life is filled with amazing wonders.
Mornings are a delight as the delicious breakfast takes center stage. Helpful robots with advanced AI offer assistance gracefully. Transportation has become super fast with hyper loop trains that travel through tunnels
As twilight sets in, streets come alive with holographic(全息的) displays
Yet among these technological wonders, the core of humanity
As the day draws to
6 . What will our world really be like 20 years from now? What does the future hold for the food we eat, the technology we use and the homes we live in? It would be beyond imagination--food pills, flying cars and bases on the moon--but the reality will probably be less exciting. The world in 2040 will probably be much like it is today, but smarter.
The future of food
The next major food change will be vertical farming (垂直农业) in which we grow food in AI-controlled vertical buildings rather than horizontal land. We could be eating insects in 2040. Insects are rich in proteins, low in fat and a good source of calcium.
The future of love
The Internet has forever changed the way people meet and fall in love. Online dating and location-based services have opened up possibilities that allow people to look beyond their friends, friends of friends, and co-workers.
The future of technology
We’re heading into a future where improved battery technology will make better electric cars, personal flying machines, and private space tourism possible.
The future of work
Rather than humans working with machines, robots are likely to reduce some jobs. Taxi drivers will be replaced by self-driving cars, for example. Clearly, there will also be new jobs created: the computer engineer, mechanics who fix the self-driving taxis, programmers, space tour guides and vertical farmers. Technology will continue to disturb businesses and get rid of some jobs, creating new professions we can’t yet imagine.
The future of health
Hospitals are the costliest part in the health system, Prevention will become the center of attention as we gain greater control of our health information.
1. What is the food in 2040 like?| A．People will not eat pork or beef then. |
| B．Insects will become the main food then. |
| C．The food will mainly exist in the form of pills. |
| D．Part of the food will come from vertical farming. |
| A．New professions will appear. | B．Boring jobs will be abandoned. |
| C．Most jobs will be done by robots. | D．Humans will work with machines. |
| A．Hospital treatment. | B．Health systems. |
| C．Prevention. | D．Health information. |
A. People have always been interested in how things will change in the future. But we should remember that people have often got things wrong.
B. Undoubtedly, these predictions weren’t right. But we can be sure that developments in IT today will become the changes in our lifestyles tomorrow. It’s possible that by 2025, anything small enough to contain a microchip (微型芯片) will have one.
C. So, for example, household technology might be very different. We could have fridges which can read the use-by date on your milk. Or our washing machines could be so smart that when something goes wrong, they send a message to a service engineer about the problem.
D. In 1943, Thomas Watson, the founder of IBM, was asked what he thought about the future of technology. And he predicted that one day there might be a worldwide market “for maybe five computers”. And H. G. Wells, the writer, said that one day public transport would be moving walkways, and you’d just step on and off to go anywhere you wanted.
E. And even the things you wear could be connected to this technology. For example, a device could change your mobile to various settings, depending on whether you’re in your work or casual clothes. But if you don’t like the sound of all this, don’t worry. Even H. G. Wells got the future wrong!
8 . H. G. Wells, born in 1866, was trained as a scientist, a pioneer among his literary contemporaries, and was perhaps the most important figure in the genre (类型) that would become science fiction. Writers in this tradition have a history not just of imagining the future as it might be, but of inspiring others to make it a reality.
Audio book, Airplane, and Television
Wells imagined forms of future entertainment. In When the Sleeper Wakes (1899), residents use fantastic forms of technology like audio books, airplanes and television sets.
Visitors to The Island of Dr. Moreau(1896) meet odd creatures created by the mad man doctor in human-animal hybrid experiments that may predict the age of genetic engineering.
Lasers(激光)
Martians in The War of the Worlds(1898) give off what Wells called a Heat Ray.
Atomic Bombs(原子弹)
| A．Genetic Engineering |
| B．Directed-energy Weapons |
| C．It can burn enemies with a noiseless flash of light |
| D．It is often a warning about the consequences of technology |
| E．Here are some of the incredible Wells predictions that have come true |
| F．Wells recognized the damaging power that might be created by this weapon |
| G．Scientists are working towards the possibility that animal organs could save human patients |
1. What did the program say about the life in the future?
| A．People’s way of consumption will change. |
| B．More supermarkets will come into existence. |
| C．More free time will be available for people. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Supportive. | C．Dismissive. |
| A．Experiment on the future pizza. |
| B．Taste a specially-made pizza. |
| C．Travel to a future restaurant. |
| D．Meet with a group of futurists. |
| A．They aimed to show people how to cultivate food in a lab. |
| B．They were curious to know what the future would look like. |
| C．They intended to promote the environmentally-friendly food. |
| D．They wanted to highlight the role of science in sustainable living. |
| A．It is three times the size of a normal pizza. |
| B．All the ingredients come from an indoor lab. |
| C．Part of it has been 3D-printed by a robot chef. |
| D．It’s quite different from the traditional pizza except for the appearance. |
