What picture do you have of the future? Will life in the future be better, worse of 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 programme from a menu 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 kilometers away. By 2050, music, films, programmes, newspapers and books will come to us by computer.
In what concerns the environment, water will have become one of our most serious problems. In many places, agriculture is changing and they are growing fruit and vegetables to export. This uses a lot of water. 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 the drivers exactly where they are. By 2050, the computer will control the car and drive it to your destination. On the other hand, space planes will take people half way around the world in two hours. Nowadays, the United States Shuttle can go into space and land on Earth again. By 2050, space planes will fly all over the world and people will fly from Los Angels to Tokyo in just two hours.
In the field 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.
In particular, medicine technology will have conquered many diseases. Today, there are electronic devices that connect directly to the brain to help people hear. By 2050, we will be able to help blind and deaf people see again and hear again and 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?. What may happen in the field of entertainment in the future?
| A．The programme made by yourself may be sent to TV. |
| B．A computer may choose TV programmes for you. |
| C．You may choose the channels from the menu in a computer. |
| D．What to broadcast on TV is decided by yourself. |
. After reading Paragraph 3, we can know _______.
| A．we should take measures to save water from now on |
| B．fruits will be more and more expensive |
| C．people will be short of supplies of vegetables |
| D．planting will need much less water in the future |
. ________ is the main factor that makes driving much safe in the future
| A．Good traffic condition | B．A good knowledge of driving skill |
| C．The role played by computer | D．The use of new fuel in cars |
. The following statements are wrong EXCEPT ________ according to the text.
| A．The future world will be controlled by robots. |
| B．People won’t be blind or deaf in the future. |
| C．Fewer and fewer workers are needed in the future in factories. |
| D．Scientists have the right to clone people of different kinds. |
The most frightening words in the English language are, “Our computer is down.” You hear it more and more when you are on business. The other day I was at the airport waiting for a ticket to Washington and the girl in the ticket office said, “I’m sorry, I can’t sell you a ticket. Our computer is down.”
“If your computer is down, just write me out a ticket.”
“I can’t write you out a ticket. The computer is the only one allowed to do so.”
I looked down on the computer and every passenger was just standing there drinking coffee and staring at the black screen. Then I asked her, “What do all you people do?”
“We give the computer the information about your trip, and then it tells us whether you can fly with us or not.”
“So when it goes down, you go down with it.”
“That’s good, sir.”
“How long will the computer be down?” I wanted to know.
“I have no idea. Sometimes it’s down for 10 minutes, sometimes for two hours. There’s no way we can find out without asking the computer, and since it’s down it won’t answer us.”
After the girl told me they had no backup(备用) computer, I said. “Let’s forget the computer. What about your planes? They’re still flying, aren’t they?”
“I couldn’t tell without asking the computer.”
“Maybe I could just go to the gate and ask the pilot if he’s flying to Washington, ” I suggested.
“I wouldn’t know what gate to send you to. Even if the pilot was going to Washington, he couldn’t take you if you didn’t have a ticket.”
“Is there any other airline flying to Washington within the next few hours?”
“I wouldn’t know, ” she said, pointing at the dark screen. “Only ‘IT’ knows. ‘It’ can’t tell me.”
By this time there were quite a few people standing in lines. The word soon spread to other travelers that the computer was down. Some people went white, some people started to cry and still others kicked their luggage.The best title for the article is _______.
| A．When the Computer Is Down | B．The Most Frightening Words |
| C．The Computer of the Airport | D．Asking the Computer |
What could the girl in the ticket office do for the passengers without asking the computer?
| A．She could sell a ticket. | B．She could write out a ticket. |
| C．She could answer the passengers’ questions. | D．She could do nothing. |
Why do you think they had not a backup computer?
| A．Because it was easy down | B．Because it was very expensive. |
| C．Because it was not advanced enough. | D．Because it was not as big as the main computer. |
The last paragraph suggests that _______.
| A．a modern computer won’t be down. |
| B．computers can take the place of humans |
| C．sometimes a computer may bring suffering to people |
| D．there will be great changes in computers |
下面是一篇应用文及其应用场合的信息，请阅读下列应用文和相关信息，并按照要要求匹配信息。
首先，请阅读下列的应用文：
a. Needed: Full time secretary position available. Applicants should have at least 2 years experience and be able to type 60 words a minute. No computer skills required. Apply in person at United Business Ltd.. 17 Browning Street.
b. Are you looking for a part time job? We require 3 part time shop assistants to work during the evening. No experience required. Applicants should be between 18 and 26. Call 366-76564 for more information.
c. Computer trained secretaries: Do you have experience working with computers? Would you like a full time position working in an exciting new company? If your answer is yes, give us a call at 457-896754.
d. Teacher Needed: Tommy’s Kindergarten needs 2 teachers/trainers to help with classes from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m... Applicants should have appropriate licenses. For more information visit Tommy’s Kindergarten in Leicester Square No.56.
e. Part time work available: We are looking for retired adults who would like to work part time at the weekend. Responsibilities include answering the telephone and giving customers information. For more information contact us by calling 345-674132.
f. University position open: The university of Cumberland is looking for 4 teaching assistants to help with homework correction. Applicants should have a degree in one of the following: Political Science, Religion, Economics or History. Please contact the University of Cumberland for more information.
请阅读以下职位申请者的信息，然后匹配申请者和她、他拟要申请的职位：
Jack Anderson. Jack graduated from the University of Trent with a degree in Economics two years
ago. He would like an academic position.
Margaret Lillian. Margaret is 21 years old and would like a part time position to help her pay her university expenses. She can only work in the evenings.
Alice Fingelhamm. Alice was trained as a secretary and has six years of experience. She is an excellent typist but does not know how to use a computer. She is looking for a full time position.
Peter Florian. Peter went to business school and studied computer and secretarial skills. He is looking for his first job and would like a full time position.
Lynne Nagata Lynne, aged 65, once worked in a kindergarten. She is now a housewife, helping her daughter with her housework on weekdays. She is looking for a part time job.
申请者 申请职位 Jack Anderson A. full time secretary
Margaret Lillian B. part time shop assistant
Alice Fingelhamm C. computer trained secretary
Peter Florian D. kindergarten teacher
Lynne Nagata E. part time job at the weekend
F. university teaching assistant
Among all the fast growing science and technology, the research of human genes, or biological engineering as people call it, is drawing more and more attention now. Sometimes it is a hot topic discussed by people.
The greatest thing that gene technology can do is to cure serious diseases that doctors at present can almost do nothing with, such as cancer and heart disease. Every year, millions of people are murdered by these two killers. And to date, doctors have not found an effective way to cure them. But if the gene technology is applied, not only these two diseases can be cured completely, bringing happiness and more living days to the patients, but also the great amount of money people spend on curing their diseases can be saved, therefore it benefits the economy as well. In addition, human life span(寿命) can be prolonged.
Gene technology can help people to give birth to more healthy and clever children. Some families, with the English imperial family being a good example, have hereditary diseases. This means their children will for sure have the family disease, which is a great trouble for these families. In the past, doctors could do nothing about hereditary diseases. But gene technology can solve this problem perfectly. The scientist just need to find the wrong gene and correct it, and a healthy child will be born.
Some people are worrying that the gene research can be used to manufacture human beings in large quantities. In the past few years, scientists have succeeded in cloning a sheep, therefore these people predict that human babies would soon be cloned. But I believe cloned babies will not come out in large quantities, for most couples in the world can have babies in very normal way. Of course, the governments must take care to control gene technology. What does “these two killers” in the second paragraph refer to ?
| A．Gene technology and another treatment of the two diseases. |
| B．The two murderers who killed the cloned baby |
| C．The two diseases of cancer and heart disease |
| D．Hereditary diseases and cancer |
What’s the main idea of the third paragraph?
| A． How gene technology can be applied in the field of treating hereditary diseases. |
| B． Gene technology can be used to clone human babies. |
| C． Gene technology can help people to give birth of a baby. |
| D． Gene technology can help the English imperial family out |
In what way gene technology can help to treat hereditary diseases?
| A．Using gene technology, people with hereditary diseases can have more living days. |
| B．Using gene technology, scientist finds the wrong gene and corrects it. |
| C．Using gene technology, human babies can be cloned. |
| D．Doctors can cure cancer and heart disease with the help of gene technology. |
What is the main purpose of writing this passage?
| A．Expressing the writer’s idea that gene technology will benefit people |
| B．Telling people the advantages of gene technology |
| C．Telling the readers that gene technology will not benefit people |
| D．Explaining that gene technology will also do harm to the humanity |
Education is not an end, but a means to an end. In other words, we do not educate children only for the purpose of educating them. Our purpose is to fit them for life.
In some modern countries it has for some time been fashionable to think that by free education for all — one can solve all the problems of society and build a perfect nation. But we can already see that free education for all is not enough; we find in such countries a far larger number of people with university degree; they refuse to do what they think “low” work; and, in fact, work with hands is thought to be dirty and shameful in such countries. But we have only to think a moment to understand that the work of a completely uneducated farmer is far more important than that of a professor; we can live without education, but we die if we have no food. If no one cleaned our streets and took the rubbish away from our houses, we should get terrible diseases in our towns…
In fact, when we say that all of us must be educated to fit us for life, it means that we must be educated in such a way that, firstly, each of us can do whatever work suited to his brains and ability and, secondly, that we can realize that all jobs are necessary to society, and that is very bad to be ashamed of one’s work. Only such a type of education can be considered valuable to society. The writer of the passage thinks that _______.
| A．education can settle most of the world’s problems |
| B．free education for all probably leads to a perfect world |
| C．free education won’t help to solve problems |
| D．Not all social problems can be solved by education |
The purpose of education is _______.
| A．to choose officials for the country |
| B．to prepare children for their future life. |
| C．to let everyone receive education fit for him |
| D．to build a perfect world |
The passage tells us about _______ of the education.
| A．the means | B．the system | C．the value | D．the type |
The average person learns most of the 30 000～40 000 words whose meanings he or she recognizes by hearing them or getting familiar with them in the context or simply absorbing them without conscious(意识到的) effort. The best way to build a good vocabulary, therefore, is to read a great deal and to participate in a lot of good talks. There are relatively few words that we learn permanently(永久的)by purposefully referring to dictionaries or keeping word lists. However, even those extra few are of value, and no one will make a mistake by working on developing a larger vocabulary. Here are some suggestions of how to do it.
Read plenty of good books. When you come across a new word, or a new meaning of an old word, stop and see if you can understand it from its context. If you can't, and if you can manage without interrupting the thought of the book too much, look it up in a dictionary or ask somebody and then repeat its meaning to yourself a couple of times. If you are really conscientious(认真的), write the word and its meaning in a personal vocabulary list — preferably using it in a sentence, or you can keep a special vocabulary notebook. Go over the list from time to time. Further, try to use a new word in writing or conversation a few times over the next several days.
Listen to good talks and be alert to new words you hear or to new meanings of words you already know. Then treat them just as you treat the new words you read.
Learn and be alert to the parts of words: prefixes, suffixes and roots. Knowing them enables you to make intelligent guesses about the meaning of words.
If you are studying a foreign language, be alert to words in that language which relate to words in English. English has inherited(继承) or borrowed much of its vocabulary of 500 000～600 000 words from Latin, Greek, French, Spanish and German. When you meet a new word in reading, what should you do?
| A．Guess its meaning. | B．Ask somebody. |
| C．Look it up in a dictionary. | D．All of the above. |
According to this passage, the best way to build a good vocabulary is _______.
| A．to remember a lot | B．to read a great deal |
| C．to take part in a lot of good talks | D．both B and C |
The phrase “be alert to” in the third paragraph may best be replaced by “_______”.
| A．look at | B．pay attention to |
| C．write down | D．learn by heart |
In the fourth paragraph, the word “them” refers to _______.
| A．the parts of words | B．prefixes | C．suffixes | D．roots |
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