What picture do you have of the future? Will life in the future be better, worse

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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?
小题1:. 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.

小题2:. 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

小题3:. ________ 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

小题4:. 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.

答案

小题1:D
小题2:A
小题3:C
小题4:C

解析

本文是关于未来生活的一篇文章，非常有趣，能引起读者的阅读兴趣！
小题1:Ｄ　细节题。第二段最后三行可知未来电视节目可以由电脑来控制。
小题2:Ａ　推理题。根据文章第三段，尤其是最后一句Some futurologists predict that water　could be the cause of war if we don’t act now.可知水可能是未来战争的原因，所以现在就应该采取措施了。
小题3:Ｃ　细节题文章第四段可以知道未来的车辆是由电脑控制的。
小题4:Ｃ　推理题文章倒数第二段可以得知在未来的工厂里将由机器人代替人类。

举一反三

Now and again I have had horrible dreams, but not enough of them to make me lose my delight in dreams. To begin with. I like the idea of dreaming, of going to bed and lying still and then, by some queer magic, wandering into another kind of existence. As a child, I could never understand why grown-ups took dreaming so calmly when they could make such a fuss about any holiday, this still puzzles me. I am puzzled by people who say they never dream and appear to have no interest in the subject. It is much more astonishing than it would be if they said they never went out for a walk. Most people do not seem to accept dreaming as part of their lives. They appear to see it as an irritating little habit, like sneezing or yawning I can never understand this. My dream life does not seem as important as my waking life because there is far less of it, but to me it is important.
小题1:What is the author’s attitude toward dreaming?

A．He thinks it puzzling

B．He likes it

C．He is interested in it

D．He doesn’t accept it as part of his life

小题2: For the author of the passage, dreaming is________. .

A．another kind of existence

B．an irritating little habit

C．a horrible but wonderful experience

D．a true reflection of reality

小题3:The author of the passage suggests that people who say they never go out for a walk are_____.

A．interesting	B．unbelievable
C．mysterious(难以理解的)	D．lazy

小题4:Why does the author of the passage complain?

A．Because most people are overexcited about their dreams

B．Because most people are not interested in talking about their dreams

C．Because most people have had dreams most of the time

D．Because most people consider their dreams of too much importance

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Animal experts in Croatia say a bear has learned how to trick people to let him in by knocking at the door.
They believe the 220- kilogram brown bear probably learned the trick while nudging (轻推) a door to get it to open.
Experts have a guess that the nudging was mistaken by the owners for knocking and that the bear, pleased by the result, repeated the trick.
The Loknar family from Gerovo in western Croatia said the bear had knocked at their door three times and they were now refusing to answer the door.
‘We jumped out of the window as he came in through the door and went into the kitchen to take some food for the first time.” Mum Nevenka Loknar told a reporter from a local newspaper. “I opened the door and saw him standing there and I didn’t believe my eyes at first, then I ran for it as he walked in as if it was the most normal- thing in the world.”
Bears are a common thing in the woods around here, but no one has ever heard of a bear that knocks at the door.
Mum Nevenka Loknar said, “The bear is so intelligent. It’s incredible. We’ve tried to put up lots of obstacles to stop him coming in, like a wire fence but he still gets through. I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew how to use wire cutters (钢丝剪).”
小题1:According to experts in Croatia, how did the bear learn the trick?

A．By knocking at the door several times.	B．By accident.
C．By learning from the owner of a family.	D．By imitation.

小题2:What does the underlined word “it” in paragraph 5 refer to?

A．Eating at the kitchen.	B．Knocking at the door.
C．Walking into the house.	D．Answering the door.

小题3:It is ________ in Gerovo that a bear knocks at the door.

A．unusual	B．a troubling problem
C．common	D．an exciting experience

小题4:Mum Nevenka Loknar was surprised that the bear ________.

A．didn’t attack her family

B．knew how to use wire cutters

C．jumped across her wire fence three times

D．was clever at getting through the obstacles

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Homework can put you in a bad mood (心情), and that might actually be a good thing. Researchers from the University of Plymouth in England doubted whether mood might affect the way kids learn. To find out the answer, they did two experiments with children.
The first experiment tested 30 kids. Some shapes (图片) were hidden inside a different, larger picture. The kids had to find the small shapes while sitting in a room with either cheerful or sad music playing in the background. To test their mood, the scientists asked the kids to point to one of five faces, from happy to sad. Children who listened to cheerful music tended to point to the smiley faces while the others pointed to the unhappy ones. The researchers found that sad kids took at least a second less to find the small shapes. They also found an average of three or four more shapes.
In the second experiment, 61 children watched one of two scenes from a film. One scene was happy, and the other was sad. Just like in the first experiment, kids who saw the sad scene acted better compared to the others.
The researchers guessed that feeling down makes people more likely to focus on a problem or difficult situation. Not all scientists agree with them, however. Other studies argued that maybe, that cheerful music in the first experiment distracted (使分心) kids from finding shapes.
While scientists work on finding out the answers, it still might be wise to choose when to do your tasks according to your mood. After eating a delicious ice cream, for example, write an essay.
小题1:Researchers did experiments on kids in order to find out ______.

A．how they really feel when they are learning

B．whether mood affects their learning ability

C．what methods are easy for kids to learn

D．the relationship between sadness and happiness

小题2:The researchers found in the first experiment that ______.

A．kids who listened to happy music turned out to be energetic

B．kids who listened to sad music liked to choose smiley faces

C．kids worked harder in the background of happy music

D．sad music helped kids find out small shapes quickly

小题3:What can we learn from the text?

A．The researchers will continue to do experiments.

B．The researchers have found a clear answer.

C．The experiments are popular among kids.

D．Kids change their feelings more easily.

小题4:We can infer that the text is ______.

A．a science survey	B．a research report
C．a school project	D．an introduction to an experiment

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Among all the fast growing science and technology, the research of human genes（基因）, 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（应用）, 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 scientists 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 (produce) 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.
小题1: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

小题2:What’s the main idea of the third paragraph?

A．How gene technology can be applied to cure family diseases.

B．Gene technology can be used to clone human babies.

C．Gene technology can help people to give birth to a baby.

D．Gene technology can help the English imperial family out

小题3: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

小题4:Which of the following worries people by using this technology?

A．Scientists have already successfully cloned sheep.

B．Most couple will normally give birth to babies.

C．A good number of babies will be cloned

D．The government will take action to control it.

题型：不详难度：| 查看答案

Every heard the old saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”? It is true! Apples have a lot of nutritional value!
A medium sized apple has only 80 calories (卡). What a great snack choice! Not only is an apple low in calories, they contain absolutely no fat. Thus, eating apples as snacks, as opposed to chips or cakes, will help reduce the risk of cancer.
On top of reducing the risk of cancer, the low sodium (钠) amounts in apples also help reduce high blood pressure and heart disease. They are cholesterol (胆固醇) free. They are also rich in vitamin A, which helps strengthen vision (视力) along with bone and tooth development.
Now that we know the nutritional facts, let’s take a look at some of the fun facts—That’s right! Apples can be fun, as well as healthy!
If an apple is fresh, it will float on water. Twenty-five percent of an apple is air, thus allowing it to float. Can you imagine bobbing (上下浮动) for apples that sink?
And, did you know that an apple is covered with a natural layer of wax (蜡)? That’s what the peeling (剥下的皮) is. It protects the apple’s high water content, keeping the apple fresh.
Apples are a very important part of a healthy diet, but keep in mind they can be fun. And always remember, if an apple sinks in water, pick another one to bob for!
小题1:How many kinds of facts about apples are mentioned in the passage?

A．Two.

B．Three.

C．Four.

D．Five.

小题2:Apples contain no _________.

A．calories and sodium	B．fat and sodium
C．fat and cholesterol	D．cholesterol and sodium

小题3:We learn that an apple is probably _________ if it sinks in water.

A．too high in water content	B．still green
C．sweet and rich in vitamins	D．unsuitable to eat

小题4:Why do apples stay fresh for a long time?

A．Because they contain much water.

B．Because they have peeling with a layer of wax.

C．Because they contain much air.

D．Because they have peeling with nutritional value.

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