The home of the future won’t be completely different and we will be living in houses and flats just as we do today．But people will want to shape their homes to match their dreams．No two homes will be the same．People will be able to buy “house kits” containing a basic house structure, with movable walls, doors and windows．They will put together the different parts to create the home they want．
Many jobs that we do today will disappear, others will still exist but will change and new jobs will be created. Skilled workers such as builders, gardeners and electricians won’t disappear because machines can’t replace them. Teachers will still exist because students need human contact. But they will be using modern technology in class more and students will be working more from home. The medical technology revolution and space travel will create new jobs which we can only imagine today．
Space holidays will develop in the future, but these holidays won’t be for everyone because they won’t be cheap. Short space trips will develop first, then space hotels will orbit the earth where it will be possible to have a longer vacation. By the end of the next century, there will be holiday centres on the moon with leisure facilities for families．
Paper won’t exist in the future. Instead, there will be e-paper which people will be able to use over and over again. This will develop in order to save natural resources. E-newspapers and e-magazines will replace traditional newspapers and magazines and we will download information and news articles from the Internet every day onto our reuseable paper．
The laws of physics tell us that the earth is going to disappear some time in the future．This isn’t going to happen tomorrow but scientists predict that it will happen in five billion years when our sun explodes (爆炸)．We will have to explore the universe and find another home. At some point in the distant future, either we stay on the earth and die with it, or we leave and move to another planet. There won’t be any other choice.Homes of the future will ________．
| A．be completely different from those of today |
| B．be very similar to our homes |
| C．all be different from one another |
| D．be movable as you want |
Space trips and staying in space hotels will ________．
| A．become a very common way to spend a holiday |
| B．be the best holiday option for families |
| C．attract a lot of people |
| D．still only be for very rich people |
E-paper will replace traditional paper because ________．
| A．we will use it again |
| B．it won’t waste natural resource |
| C．it will be cheaper to produce |
| D．it will be convenient to carry |
We will have move to another planet ________．
| A．if we want to save the human race |
| B．when the sun explodes |
| C．when the earth disappears |
| D．when the earth is too crowded to fill people on |
Decision-thinking is not unlike poker—it often matters not only what you think, but also what others think you think and what you think they think you think. The mental process is similar. Naturally, this card game has often been of considerable interest to people who are, by any standards, good thinkers.
The great mathematician John von Neumann was one of the founders of game theory. In particular , he showed that all games fall into two classes : there are what he called games of “ perfect information ” , games like chess where the players can’t hide anything or play tricks : they don’t win by chance , but by means of logic and skills . Then there are games of “imperfect information”, like poker, in which it is impossible to know in advance that one course of action is better than another.
One mistaken idea about business is that it can be treated as a game of “perfect information”. Quite the reverse, business, polities, life itself are games which we must normally play with very imperfect information. Business decisions are often made with many unknown and unknowable factors, which would even puzzle the best poker players. But few business people find it comfortable to admit that they are taking a chance, and many still prefer to believe that they are playing chess, not poker.The subject discussed in this text is __________.
| A．the process of reaching decisions |
| B．the difference between poker and chess. |
| C．the secret of making good business plans |
| D．the value of information in winning games |
An important factor in a game of imperfect information is __________.
| A．rules | B．luck | C．time | D．ideas |
Which of the following can be used in place of “Quite the reverse ” in Paragraph 3 ?
| A．Quite right. | B．True enough. |
| C．Most unlikely. | D．Just the opposite. |
In the writer’s opinion, when making business decisions one should _________.
| A．put perfect information before imperfect information |
| B．accept the existence of unknown factors |
| C．regard business as a game of chess |
| D．mix known and unknown factors |
See a cellphone cover that you like on Taobao? Forget about placing an order, paying the bill online and waiting for days for it to be delivered to you. In the near future, you'll be able to get it in minutes just by hitting “print” on your computer.
You might find it hard to believe that you could actually “print” an object like you would a picture. But it is not that hard to understand how it would work. Just as a traditional printer sprays ink onto paper line by line, modern 3D printers spread material onto a surface layer by layer, from the bottom to the top, gradually building up a shape.
Instead of ink, the materials the 3D printer uses are mainly plastic, resin(树脂) and certain metals. The thinner each layer is—from a millimetre to less than the width of a hair—the smoother and finer the object will be.
This may sound like a completely new technology, but the truth is that 3D printing has been around since the late 1980s. Back then, it was barely affordable for most people, so few knew about it.
Last year, though, saw a big change in the 3D printing industry—printers became much cheaper. For example, 10 years ago a desktop 3D printer might have cost ￡20，000, while now they cost only about ￡1，000, according to the BBC.
Taken out of the factory and introduced to more diverse and common uses, 3D printing can create just about anything you can think of—flutes , bikinis, jewelry, aircraft parts and even human organs. In fact, scientists from Cornell University in New York have just made an artificial ear using a 3D printer, according to Science Daily. The fake ear looks and acts exactly like a natural one.
However, as 3D printing becomes more common, it may bring about certain problems—such as piracy. “Once you can download a coffee maker, or print out a new set of kitchen utensils (餐具) on your personal 3D printer, who will visit a retail store again？” an expert in 3D printing told Forbes News. Even more frightening, what if anyone in the world could use a 3D printer to print out a fully functioning gun?
According to the article, in the future, the 3D printing technology will _______.
| A．enable people to make better purchases online |
| B．change the way we make many products |
| C．be applied as widely in our daily life as computers |
| D．shorten the time it takes for people to get what they buy online |
What happened in the 3D printing industry last year?
| A．The 3D printing technology was taken out of the factory. |
| B．The 3D printing technology began to be used in various fields. |
| C．The 3D printer was used for medical treatment for the first time. |
| D．The 3D printer became more affordable for consumers. |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．Great Demand for 3D Printers | B．Technology in the Future |
| C．Online Shopping Disappearing | D．Printing out Everything |
How is the last paragraph developed?
| A．By giving examples. |
| B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By analyzing the cause and effect. |
| D．By presenting research findings. |
The bed should be reserved as a place for sleep, but people tend to read an iPad a lot in bed before they go to sleep.
Charles Czeisler, a professor at Harvard Medical School, and his colleagues got a small group of people for an experiment. For five days in a row, the people read either a paper book or an iPad for four hours before sleep. Their sleep patterns were monitored all night. Before and after each trial period, the people took hourly blood tests to paint a day-long picture of just how much melatonin (褪黑激素) was in their blood at any given time.
When subjects read on the iPad as compared to the paper books, they reported feeling less sleepy at night and less active the following morning. People also took longer to fall asleep on the iPad nights, and the blood tests showed that their melatonin secretion (分泌) was delayed by an hour and a half.
The researchers conclude in today's journal article that given the rise of e-readers and the increasingly widespread use of e-things among children and adolescents, more research into the long-term consequences of these devices on health and safety is urgently needed. Czeisler and colleagues go on, in the research paper, to note：“Reading an iPad in bed may increase cancer risk.”
However, software has been developed that can reduce some of the blue light from the screens of phones and computers according to time of day, and there are also glasses that are made to filter (过滤) short wavelengths. While they seem like a logical solution for the nighttime tech users, it needs more research.In Charles Czeislers experiment, all the subjects were asked to______.
| A．sit in a row and receive the strict tests |
| B．have their sleep patterns observed all night |
| C．read a paper book and an iPad at the same time |
| D．have their blood tested per hour during the trial |
The third paragraph tells us the iPad readers were likely to____________.
| A．feel less sleepy and tired in the day |
| B．fall asleep more easily after reading |
| C．become less energetic the next morning |
| D．have a lot more melatonin secretion |
The special software recently developed can______.
| A．remove the blue light from your devices completely |
| B．help prevent eyes being harmed by short wavelength |
| C．weaken the harm done by doing nighttime e-reading |
| D．be used in all the e-things widely and safely |
Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
| A．No e-reading in bed before sleep |
| B．New software for night e-readers |
| C．Wrong behaviors before bedtime |
| D．No games on iPad in bed |
Since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbed Mount Everest, Mount Qomolangma’s peak is no longer a lonely place and is turning into a trash heap.
So far, more than 350 climbers have successfully reached the peak. And they have complained about waiting for hours in the bottlenecks (狭窄路段) on the way to the peak, a situation that isn’t just uncomfortable — it’s cold and windy up there — but downright dangerous. If bad weather strikes, climbers can and do die.
As a matter of fact, the dangerous crowds aren’t the only problem on Qomolangma. All those climbers need to bring a lot of gear—and much of them ends up being left on the mountain, sometimes even the peak itself. Mount Qomolangma is becoming the world’s largest dump. Here’s mountaineer Mark Jenkins writing in National Geographic about the state of Qomolangma: “The two standard routes, the Northeast Ridge and the Southeast Ridge, are disgustingly polluted with oxygen cans and torn tents everywhere.”
But the good news is that some mountaineers are taking it upon themselves to clean up Qomolangma. Mountianeer Paul Thelen and his friend Eberhard Schaaf are part of the annual Eco Everest Expedition, which has been cleaning up rubbish from base camps to the peak since 2008. So far they’ve collected over 13 tons of garbage.
Some of that rubbish is even being used for a higher purpose. As part of the Mount Everest 8844 Art Project, a group of 15 artists from Nepal collected 1.5 tons of garbage brought down the mountain by climbers. They’ve transformed the cans and oxygen tanks—and in one case, part of the remains of a helicopter—into 74 pieces of art that have already gone on exhibition in Nepal’s capital. Part of the profit from sales will go to the Everest Peakers Association, which has helped collect tons of rubbish on the slopes of the mountain.What does the underlined word “gear” mean?
| A．Equipment for climbing mountains. |
| B．The food climbers brought onto the mountain. |
| C．Some important machines used for the bottlenecks. |
| D．Some rubbish found on the mountain. |
The group of 15 Nepali artists_________.
| A．created works of art using rubbish from Qomolangma |
| B．were employed by the Everest Peakeers Association |
| C．climbed Qomolangma and collected 1.5 tons of trash |
| D．painted 74 beautiful pictures of Mount Qomolangma’s peak |
What can be the best title for the text?
| A．Eco Everest Expedition Proves Successful |
| B．Qomolangma Has Become A Huge Mess |
| C．Test Yourself Against Qomolangma |
| D．Recycle Rubbish On Qomolangma |
Cleverness is a gift while kindness is a choice．Gifts are easy—they’re given after all．Choice can be hard．
I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago．I came across the fact that the Internet usage was growing at 2300 percent per year．I’d never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast，and the idea of building all online bookstore with millions of titles was very exciting to me. I had just turned 30 years old，and I’d been married for a year．I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go to do this crazy thing that probably wouldn’t work since most start-ups don’t and I wasn’t sure what to expect．MacKenzie told me I should go for it．As a young boy，I’d been a garage inventor．I’d always wanted to be all inventor，and she wanted me to follow my passion．
I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired．I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet．He took me on a long walk in Central Park，listened carefully to me，and finally said，“That sounds like a really good idea，but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn’t already have a good job．”That 1ogic made some sense to me，and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision．Seen in that light,it really was a difficult choice，but finally，I decided I had to give it a shot．I didn’t think I’d regret trying and failing．And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all.
After much consideration ，I took the less safe path to follow my passion ，and I’m proud of that choice．For all of us，in the end，we are our choice．What inspired the author with the idea of building an online bookstore?
| A．His dream of being an inventor． |
| B．The support of his wife． |
| C．The greatly increasing usage of the Internet． |
| D．Millions of exciting titles, |
Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined sentence?
| A．The idea of not trying would keep coming to his mind and disturb him． |
| B．He would be very excited if he tried it out． |
| C．Be would be always having a doubt if he didn’t try． |
| D．The decision to not try the online bookstore would terrify him． |
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Cleverness and Kindness | B．The Starting of Amazon |
| C．Following My Passion | D．We Are What We Choose |
We can know from the passage that_______．
| A．the boss thought the idea was suitable for the author |
| B．the author wanted someone else to try the idea |
| C．the author might not regret if he failed the idea |
| D．the author might go back to his boss if he failed |
粤公网安备 44130202000953号