阅读理解
Olaf Stapledon wrote a book called First and Last Men, in which he looked millions of years ahead.
He told of different men and of strange civilizations, broken up by long dark ages in between. In his view, what is called the present time is no more than a moment in human history and we were just the First
Men. In 2 000 million years from now there will be the Eighteenth of "last men".
However, most of our ideas about the future are really very short-sighted. Perhaps we can see some
possibilities for the next fifty years. But the next hundred? The next million? That's much more difficult.
When men and women lived by hunting 50 000 years ago, how could they even begin to picture
modem life? Yet to men of 50 000 years from now, we may seem as primitive(原始的) in our ideas as
the Stone Age hunters to us. Perhaps they will spend their days gollocking to make new spindles, or
struggling with their ballalators through the tribes. These words, which I have just made up, have to
stand for things and ideas that we simply can't think of.
So why bother even to try imagining life far in the future? Here are two reasons. First, unless we
remember how short our own lives are compared with the whole human history, we are likely to think
our own interests are much more important than they really are. If we make the earth a poor place to live
on because we are careless or greedy or quarrelsome, our grandchildren will not bother to think of
excuses for us. Second, by trying to escape from present interests and imagine life far in the future, we
may arrive at quite fresh ideas that we can use ourselves. For example, if we imagine that in the future
men may give up farming, we can think of trying it now. So set your imagination free when you think
about the future.
1. The mention of Olaf Stapledon's book in the opening paragraph .
A. serves as a description of human history
B. serves as an introduction to the discussion
C. shows a disagreement of views
D. shows the popularity of the book
2. The text discusses men and women 50 000 years ago and 50 000 years from now in order to show
that .
A. human history is extremely long
B. life has changed a great deal
C. it is useless to plan for the next 50 years
D. it is difficult to tell what will happen in the future
3. Spindles and ballalators are used in the text to refer to .
A. tools used in farming
B. ideas about modem life
C. unknown things in the future
D. hunting skills in the Stone Age
4. According to the writer of the text, imagining the future will .
A. be good for the interests of the present and future generations
B. enable us to better understand human history
C. help us to improte farming
D. make life worth living
