阅读理解
Can you imagine what our life will be like in the year 2050? Perhaps you will be flying off for a holiday on the moon, or maybe you will be taking your dog for a walk in virtual(虚拟的) reality. We recently
carried out a survey of 1 000 people from different countries to find out what they think life will be like in
the future. The results clearly show both our hopes and fears.
The survey suggests that friendship-one of the most important human relationships-will have changed
dramatically(显著地) . People will make friends mainly through the Internet. What is more, a large number of people will come across their future wives or husbands in this way! Computers will have become
completely necessary by 2050. Even now, some people begin to regard them as their best friends ! Others, however, say that we will become much more separated and estranged (疏远的) from each other
because we will have little real human contact.
Education will have changed a lot, too. As more and more children will be using computers in schools, certain abilities, such as mental arithmetic (心算), won't be necessary since there will be computer
programs for most calculations(计算). Even writing by hand-at least to some extent-will have become a
thing of the past.
According to the survey, home life will be more and more comfortable. Most people believe that by
2050 robots will be doing housework and we will rely mainly on ready-made food. A lot of people tlunk
that we might only cook for fun in the future.
Space exploration will become increasingly popular. Fifty percent of the people we talked to believe
that man will regularly visit Mars. They also believe that travel on our own planet will probably change.
Almost everyone thinks that there will be no cars in the city center. Some even think that
environmentally-friendly electric of solar-powered cars will have replaced the cars we use now.
Pollution is something that worries us very much. Some fear that it will continue to get worse, and that it will be impossible for us to live on our polluted planet. Others even foresee that one day we'll have to
pay for clean air.
On the other hand, people seem to be quite optimistic about the benefits of genetic engineering, as they think scientists will use it to cure diseases like cancers and AIDS. If scientists manage to find a cure for
these, we'll have a much healthier society.
Some people worry about the future, while others are full of hope and confidence. No matter how
dark or bright it may seem, it is up to us to look after our planet and try to make it a better globe to live on.
1. Many people believe that in 2050, we will .
A. not pay for computers
B. seldom leave our homes
C. not have any real friends
D. find partners and friends mainly through computers
2. The passage suggests that in 2050 .
A. half of the world population will have traveled to Mars
B. students wiU write with typewriters only
C. cooking will nqt be easy to people
D.lessons taught at school and the ways in which they are taught will be very different
3. Some people believe that pollution will have by 2050.
A. disappeared
B. killed most of the people on the planet
C. become an even worse problem
D. made our planet a warmer place to live on
4. Many people think that by 2050 .
A. there will be a cure for cancers and AIDS
B. people will have stopped dying
C. scientists will solve all the problems we face
D. people won't get diseases
