Up until a few decades ago,our visions of the future were largely-though by no means uniformly-glowingly positive.Science and technology would cure all the ills of humanity,leading to lives of fulfillment and opportunity for all.Now utopia has grown unfas

单选题A Very few of them are engaged in research.B They were not awarded degrees until 1948.C They have outnumbered male students.D They were not treated equally until 1881.

Text 3 Up until a few decades ago,our visions of the future were largely-though by no means uniformly-glowingly positive.Science and technology would cure all the ills of humanity,leading to lives of fulfillment and opportunity for all.Now utopia has grown unfashionable,as we have gained a deeper appreciation of the range of threats facing us,from asteroid strike to epidemic flu and to climate change.You might even be tempted to assume that humanity has little future to look forward to.But such gloominess is misplaced.The fossil record shows that many species have endured for millions of years-so why shouldn't we?Take a broader look at our species'place in the universe,and it becomes clear that we have an excellent chance of surviving for tens,if not hundreds,of thousands of years.Look up Homo sapiens in the"Red List"of threatened species of the International Union for the Conversation of Nature（IUCN）,and you will read:"Listed as Least Concern as the species is very widely distributed,adaptable,currently increasing,and there are no major threats resulting in an overall population decline."So what does our deep future hold?A growing number of researchers and organisations are now thinking seriously about that question.For example,the Long Now Foundation has its flagship project a medical clock that is designed to still be marking time thousands of years hence.Perhaps willfully,it may be easier to think about such lengthy timescales than about the more immediate future.The potential evolution of today's technology,and its social consequences,is dazzlingly complicated,and it's perhaps best left to science fiction writers and futurologists to explore the many possibilities we can envisage.That's one reason why we have launched Arc,a new publication dedicated to the near future.But take a longer view and there is a surprising amount that we can say with considerable assurance.As so often,the past holds the key to the future:we have now identified enough of the long-term patterns shaping the history of the planet,and our species,to make evidence-based forecasts about the situations in which our descendants will find themselves.This long perspective makes the pessimistic view of our prospects seem more likely to be a passing fad.To be sure,the future is not all rosy.But we are now knowledgeable enough to reduce many of the risks that threatened the existence of earlier humans,and to improve the lot of those to come.33.Which of the following is true according to Paragraph 5?A.Arc helps limit the scope of futurological studies. B.Technology offers solutions to social problem. C.The interest in science fiction is on the rise. D.Our Immediate future is hard to conceive.

问答题This book is about the future of technology. In it we will examine some of the many recent developments in a few key fields and try, in a limited way, to predict where they will take us in the next fifteen years or (1)____.　　If that sounds like a modest goal, it’s not. Technology is the (2)____(dominate) force of our time and probably of all time to come. It appears in more varieties than we can count. It changes so rapidly (3)____ no scientist or engineer can keep up with his own field, much less with technology in general. It permeates and shapes our lives at every turn. We live in technology (4)____ fish live in the sea, and we have only a little better chance of (5) f____ the details of its future changes.　　Yet the task is well worth undertaking. Whatever hints we can glean (一点点搜集) about the future win help us prepare for the changes to come. Modest forecasts, evidence of trends, a few concrete developments to be expected all are better than no warning at all. And (6) th____ technology has made the present much less stable than the past, and surely will make the future more disturbed still, there is good reason to hope that our lives, in sum and on average, will be better as a result. In an age of uncomfortable (7) ch____, this is reassurance(保证) we all can use.　　For an idea of what is to come—in magnitude if not in (8) sp____—look to the past. In the last ninety years, the world has shrunk, while human experience has advanced almost beyond the recognition of these who grew up in our grandparent’s generation.A century after America’s (9)____(found) conceived their agrarian (耕地的) democracy, nearly all their descendents still lived on fanning. Since World War I, technology has extracted us from behind horse-drawn plows and plugged us into (10) as____ lines and offices. Today it is removing many of us from offices and letting us work at home or forcing us to work on the road.

To live in the United States today is to gain an appreciation for Dahrendorf′s assertion that social change exists everywhere. Technology, the application of knowledge for practical ends, is a major source of social change. Yet we would do well to remind ourselves that technology is a human creation; it does not exist naturally. A spear or a robot is as much a cultural as a physical object. Until humans use a spear to hunt game or a robot to produce machine parts, neither is much more than a solid mass of matter. For a bird looking for an object on which to rest, a spear or robot serves the purpose equally well. The explosion of the Challenger space shuttle and the Russian nuclear accident at Chernobyl drive home the human quality of technology; they provide cases in which well-planned systems suddenly went haywire and there was no ready hand to set them right. Since technology is a human creation, we are responsible for what is done with it. Pessimists worry that we will use our technology eventually to blow our world and ourselves to pieces. But they have been saying this for decades, and so far we have managed to survive and even flourish. Whether we will continue to do so in the years ahead remains uncertain. Clearly, the impact of technology on our lives deserves a closer examination. Few technological developments have had a greater impact on our lives than the computer revolution. Scientists and engineers have designed specialized machines that can do the tasks that once only people could do. There are those who assert that the switch to an information-based economy is in the same camp as other great historical milestones, particularly the Industrial Revolution. Yet when we ask why the Industrial Revolution was a revolution, we find that it was not the machines. The primary reason why it was revolutionary is that it led to great social change. It gave rise to mass production and, through mass production, to a society in which wealth was not confined to the few. In somewhat similar fashion, computers promise to revolutionize the structure of American life, particularly as they free the human mind and open new possibilities in knowledge and communication. The Industrial Revolution supplemented and replaced the muscles of humans and animals by mechanical methods. The computer extends this development to supplement and replace some aspects of the mind of human beings by electronic methods. And it′s the capacity of the computer for solving problems and making decisions that represents its greatest potential and that poses the greatest difficulties in predicting the impact on society. By using the phrase "the human quality of technology", the author refers to the fact that technology _____________.A.has a great impact on human life B.has some characteristics of human nature C.can replace some aspects of the human mind D.does not exist in the natural world

Hundreds of years ago cloves were used to remedy headaches.A:disrupt B:diagnose C:evaporate D:cure

单选题We would like to take this ____ to introduce ourselves as one of the leading importers in our countryA place B time C occasion D opportunity

Hundreds of years ago cloves were used to remedy headaches.A:disrupt B:diagnose C:evaporate D:cure

问答题Practice 15　　Thank you for choosing our restaurant during your visit to London. Services to guests of the restaurant are a large part of our tasks, and we are grateful for the opportunity to serve you. We would like to invite your comments on our performance and to learn from your experiences. Please take a few moments to complete our customer response form so that we may serve you better in the future.

单选题A few years ago, computers were used only in business, in medicine, and for scientific research, ______ these days they are common in almost all schools.A though B whereasC so D therefore

Text 3 Up until a few decades ago,our visions of the future were largely-though by no means uniformly-glowingly positive.Science and technology would cure all the ills of humanity,leading to lives of fulfillment and opportunity for all.Now utopia has grown unfashionable,as we have gained a deeper appreciation of the range of threats facing us,from asteroid strike to epidemic flu and to climate change.You might even be tempted to assume that humanity has little future to look forward to.But such gloominess is misplaced.The fossil record shows that many species have endured for millions of years-so why shouldn't we?Take a broader look at our species'place in the universe,and it becomes clear that we have an excellent chance of surviving for tens,if not hundreds,of thousands of years.Look up Homo sapiens in the"Red List"of threatened species of the International Union for the Conversation of Nature（IUCN）,and you will read:"Listed as Least Concern as the species is very widely distributed,adaptable,currently increasing,and there are no major threats resulting in an overall population decline."So what does our deep future hold?A growing number of researchers and organisations are now thinking seriously about that question.For example,the Long Now Foundation has its flagship project a medical clock that is designed to still be marking time thousands of years hence.Perhaps willfully,it may be easier to think about such lengthy timescales than about the more immediate future.The potential evolution of today's technology,and its social consequences,is dazzlingly complicated,and it's perhaps best left to science fiction writers and futurologists to explore the many possibilities we can envisage.That's one reason why we have launched Arc,a new publication dedicated to the near future.But take a longer view and there is a surprising amount that we can say with considerable assurance.As so often,the past holds the key to the future:we have now identified enough of the long-term patterns shaping the history of the planet,and our species,to make evidence-based forecasts about the situations in which our descendants will find themselves.This long perspective makes the pessimistic view of our prospects seem more likely to be a passing fad.To be sure,the future is not all rosy.But we are now knowledgeable enough to reduce many of the risks that threatened the existence of earlier humans,and to improve the lot of those to come.31.Our vision of the future used to be inspired byA.our desire for lives of fulfillment B.our faith in science and technology C.our awareness of potential risks D.our belief in equal opportunity

Up until a few decades ago,our visions of the future were largely-though by no means uniformly-glowingly positive.Science and technology would cure all the ills of humanity,leading to lives of fulfil

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