1、 UNIT 2 LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE 第一部分第一部分 听力（听力（略略） 第二部分第二部分 阅读（共两节，满分阅读（共两节，满分 50 分）分） 第一节（共第一节（共 15 小题；每小题小题；每小题 2.5 分，满分分，满分 37.5 分）分） 阅读下列短文，从每题所给的 A、B、C、D 四个选项中选出最佳选项。 A The Albuquerque Balloon Festival Every autumn, the sky above the city of Albuquerque in the south-western United States turns
2、into a mass of bright colours. This is the Albuquerque Balloon Festival, a nine-day event. The first festival was held in 1972 to celebrate the 50th birthday of the local radio station. There were about 12 hot-air balloons and they took off from the car park in the middle of Albuquerque. From these
3、small beginnings the festival has grown steadily. This year at least a thousand balloons are expected at its current out-of-town site. What to do The pilots light up the burners of their balloons at the same time. These are known as “balloon glows”. However, you must arrive just after night has fall
4、en or before 5:30 am to see these “glows” as the balloons rise into the dark sky. During the day, you can walk around among the balloons. The balloons come in all sizes and colours, some in the shapes of animals or cartoon characters. In the afternoon, why not take to the sky yourself by booking a b
5、alloon flight with the Rainbow Ryders? This company is allowed to take guests during flight. Another possibility is to take the cable car (缆车) to the top of the nearby mountains and enjoy a birds-eye view of the festival. There are other attractions for visitors of all ages, including balloon races.
6、 Practical advice Tickets are available online. Buy them in advance and save yourself a long wait to get into the festival site. Wear several layers of clothing. At night and in the early morning it can be quite cool, but during the day sunglasses are necessary. Bring a flashlight for night-time eve
7、nts and, of course, bring your digital camera for evening and night-time pictures. 21. What do we know about the Albuquerque Balloon Festival? A. It runs for nine days. B. It started as a big event. C. It takes place every two years. D. It was held in memory of a pilot. 22. What can you do with the
8、Rainbow Ryders during the festival? A. Take a cable car tour. B. Ride a hot-air balloon. C. Enter balloon competitions. D. Make balloons in different shapes. 23. What are you advised to do to attend the festival? A. Wear cool clothes. B. Buy tickets online. C. Arrive in the early morning. D. Take pi
9、ctures in the daytime. B When Alex Petrie went to stay with his father, he noticed that the 75-year-old walked around several times during the night. This was worrying: his father lived alone and had recently been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia (路易体失智症). “I was feeling quite nervous about it and
10、wondered if he was doing it every night,” says Petrie. “Its not nice to think that hes worried or cant sleep properly.” But Petrie had recently installed (安装) a smart home system, Howz, in his fathers flat. It uses sensors to track movements, feeding the data into an app that family members and clos
11、e friends can access. Once the Howz system has analysed and established someones habitual way of doing things, it will send alerts (警报) to the app if there are any changes. For example, if a sensor usually senses movement before 8 am each day signalling the time the person normally gets up an alert
12、will be sent if there has been no movement by that time. Relatives can then call in to make sure everything is okay. Using the app, Petrie could see that his father usually got a good nights sleep and very rarely walked about during the night. With this knowledge, he was able to provide the right ki
13、nd of support and care when his father did have a sleepless night. Howz, which was developed by Intelesant, a Manchester-based health tech company, aims to help people live independently in their own homes and provide peace of mind for their relatives. Petrie set up two sensors in his fathers flat:
14、one on the front door and another in the hall. “The door sensor is important as I can see whether his carers have visited. It doesnt tell me who has visited but its easy to find out by the time of the day. The sensor in the hall covers the most commonly used area of the flat. It gives us a near-cont
15、inuous view of whether hes up and about. Its a little safety net,” says Petrie. 24. What was the problem with Petries father? A. He insisted on living alone. B. He didnt like the care home. C. He always went out for a walk at night. D. He sometimes couldnt fall asleep at night. 25. What is paragraph
16、 3 mainly about? A. How Howz works. B. How Howz is tested. C. Who invented Howz. D. Why Howz was created. 26. What does Petrie think of Howz? A. It isnt privacy-friendly. B. It isnt safe enough. C. It is quite helpful. D. It is big business. 27. What does the author want to tell us in the text? A. T
17、ech shortens the distance between people. B. Tech is benefiting peoples daily life. C. Tech affects the way people work. D. Tech is slowing down aging. C A new study shows that the household consumers (家庭消费者) are focusing more on reducing their energy costs by using technologically advanced home app
18、liances. The lighting control held the largest share in the smart home market in 2016. The increase in the adoption (采用) rate of intelligent lighting controls by households worldwide has fuelled the growth of the smart home market. These have the ability to reduce electricity consumption because the
19、y adjust (调节) the artificial light according to the surroundings. Four years ago, I was in a discussion about Nest Thermostat (恒温器), sharing my view that if a house is built properly, it doesnt need a smart thermostat. It probably wouldnt do much good there because with careful placement of high-qua
20、lity windows, you seldom need to heat or cool it at all. Since then, other studies have shown that in a leaky old house, smart thermostats can be very effective and save energy. But is smart lighting saving energy? A smart lighting system might turn off or adjust the brightness of a bulb (灯泡), but a
21、n LED bulb already uses very little electricity, say 7 watts per bulb. But when you make it smart, it is always connected, consuming a bit of power to talk to the controller or bridge; one guy with a meter tested it at 0.4 watts per hour, or 9.6 watts in a day. It means that if you have a pile of sm
22、art bulbs and devices, you are consuming a fair bit of electricity. Except for smart thermostats in leaky houses, none in the smart market saves energy. Asking Siri, voice control on any of Apple devices, to turn off the lights is fun, but we would be better off in terms of energy and exercise if we
23、 got up and reached for a light switch. Rather than saving energy, the smart home is wasting it. 28. What does the underlined word “fuelled” in paragraph 1 probably mean? A. Controlled. B. Promoted. C. Predicted. D. Detected. 29. What does the author think of smart thermostats? A. They are well-desi
24、gned. B. They are energy-efficient. C. They are not very useful. D. They are not always automatic. 30. What does paragraph 3 mainly want to tell us? A. LED bulbs are very bright. B. LED bulbs are of little value. C. Smart lighting has developed quickly. D. Smart lighting does little to save electric
25、ity. 31. What does the author advise us to do in the last paragraph? A. To use Siri for fun. B. To improve smart lighting. C. To give up smart thermostats completely. D. To turn to the traditional way of turning off lights. D Since I learned that shoppers who do less research are happier with their
26、purchases ( 购买的东西), Ive been proud of my “good enough” method of shopping. Unlike my husband, who does weeks of research, looking at various choices, and weighing his preferences compared to costs, I always buy the first item I come across that fits my needs and price range. According to Barry Schwa
27、rtz, author of the book The Paradox of Choice, my method of shopping is called “satisficing,” while my husband engages in ( 参与)“maximizing.” Maximizers want the best and believe that theres a perfect one of whatever theyre looking for. Satisficers, on the other hand, focus on what will be good enoug
28、h to meet their minimum (最低的) standards. I recently purchased a desk chair. I wanted one that offered more lumbar ( 腰部的) support, so I went to a store and picked out a chair that felt comfortable and was within my price range. I was happy with my purchase for six months, until the day I put just a l
29、ittle weight on the back of the chair, and it broke. Turned out that the chairs back was made of particle board and it was just a matter of time before some weight broke the board. Now I have to buy a new one. It would have been less expensive if Id researched various chairs, even if Id ended up wit
30、h a pricier chair. While I am very much a satisficer, there are purchases that bring out the maximizer in me. One of them is blank notebooks. Recently I spent nearly two hours looking through the notebooks at a store to find the perfect one for a creative project. While I could use any notebook to t
31、ake notes and draw pictures, the one I found fitted the project I had in mind. While Im always glad to be a satisficer, I admit my satisficing ways can sometimes prevent me from getting the satisfaction of finding exactly what I want. I know making sure that I raise my standards and get the enjoymen
32、t of finding the right choice for me will help me to enjoy the best of both worlds. 32. What can we learn about the author from paragraph 1? A. She dislikes shopping at all. B. She wants every purchase to be perfect. C. She is proud of every choice she has made. D. She is a quick decision-maker when
33、 shopping. 33. Why does the author mention her experience of buying a desk chair? A. To suggest that satisficing can save time. B. To show that satisficing can often be silly. C. To show that satisficing can be expensive. D. To prove that satisficing can bring happiness. 34. How did the author feel
34、about the notebook she bought? A. She regretted buying it. B. She felt satisfied with it. C. She thought it was affordable. D. She found it was not good enough. 35. What does the author learn from her shopping experiences? A. It pays to be a patient shopper. B. Shopping can provide pleasure. C. Spen
35、ding wisely saves one trouble. D. One never wastes time on what to buy. 第二节（共第二节（共 5 小题；每小题小题；每小题 2.5 分，满分分，满分 12.5 分）分） 阅读下面短文， 从短文后的选项中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。 选项中有两项为多余选项。 By 2050 well be able to send memories, emotions and feelings across the Internet. 36 Teenagers will love it. Instead of putting an emo
36、ticon (表情符号) at the end of every sentence, they will use an emotion: anger, happiness, or excitement. Im talking about telepathy ( 心灵感应), really. Well still communicate the traditional way. 37 Our children will wonder, What is a keyboard? We will enter the age of the “brain net”. Medicine will devel
37、op fast, too. We will have cured certain forms of cancer, and we will have begun to treat the disease like the common cold. Well live with it. It will no longer be deadly. 38 Technology will help in this respect. 39 Smart toilets will perform liquid biopsies ( 液体活检) to discover cancer cells. Smart o
38、bjects like phones will check us over automatically. 40 By 2050 I think well be able to grow many of the important organs (器官) of the body and, rather than allow the organs were born with to become old and weak, well replace them. Thats all coming. And it doesnt take much imagination to realise it.
39、A. We will do a few tests. B. People will live an easy life. C. We wont fear it like we used to. D. Brain science will have changed communication. E. We can already use human cells to grow skin, noses, ears, etc. F. But communicating telepathically will avoid misunderstandings between people. G. Our
40、 clothes will discover the beginnings of a heart disease, and advise us to get treatment. 第三部分第三部分 语言运用（共两节，满分语言运用（共两节，满分 30 分）分） 第一节（共第一节（共 15 小题；每小题小题；每小题 1 分，满分分，满分 15 分）分） 阅读下面短文，从每题所给的 A、B、C、D 四个选项中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。 Technology has really improved my life over the past years. For example, the 41 t
41、hat the iPhone brought have been dramatic (巨大的). We 42 our phones as music players, cameras, flashlights, and entertainment ( 娱乐) devices. We can use Siri, or Google on our phones to 43 to our voice requests. Phones have 44 become a way to pay for items. And the saying “Theres an app for that” has b
42、ecome a serious 45 to many of our questions and problems. The Amazon Echo voice assistant (Alexa) has also had a dramatic 46 on my life. With a few Internet-connected light bulbs and switches, I can now 47 Alexa to turn lights and devices on and off. When I get into bed at night, I tell Alexa what t
43、ime to 48 me. In the morning, Alexa 49 the alarm clock and gives me the weather and news. A more recent 50 to my home, the Google Home voice assistant, has also made my life 51 . With the addition of a $35 Chromecast device for my TV and a subscription (订阅) to Netflix, I can tell Google to play a ce
44、rtain Netflix movie or television show by 52 . For example, I can say, “Hey Google, 53 The Crown on TV.” My TV will display the show and 54 right where I left off. No more 55 the series in the Netflix app or trying to remember what I watched last. 41. A. changes B. voices C. problems D. prices 42. A
45、. require B. use C. look D. copy 43. A. agree B. respond C. relate D. compare 44. A. still B. never C. even D. seldom 45. A. way B. discussion C. answer D. plan 46. A. push B. recovery C. decision D. impact 47. A. ask B. allow C. beg D. force 48. A. teach B. warn C. invite D. wake 49. A. switches B.
46、 sounds C. sets D. tests 50. A. connection B. direction C. addition D. description 51. A. safer B. longer C. worse D. easier 52. A. name B. order C. time D. example 53. A. watch B. play C. film D. buy 54. A. organize B. record C. start D. close 55. A. thinking about B. turning to C. giving up D. sea
47、rching for 第二节（共第二节（共 10 小题；每小题小题；每小题 1.5 分，满分分，满分 15 分）分） 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入 1 个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。 A robot is any machine that can work 56. _ (independent) and perform tasks otherwise done by humans. Robots as we know them started out as science fiction ( 假想之物). The author Isaac Asimov coined the term “r
48、obotics” and 57. _ (come) up with the Three Laws of Robotics. The first of these was that robots may not harm a human being and 58. _ (scientist) referred to Asimovs laws when they started making real-life robots. In 1954, Unimate, a large robotic arm, became the worlds first 59. _ (industry) robot.
49、 For a long time, robots were only found in factories or laboratories. But later, robots found 60. _ (they) way into homes and classrooms. Nowadays, robots have become an important part of space missions. Some people fear that robots will take too many jobs away 61. _ humans. This process is called
50、automation. However, some experts think that the use of robots will allow businesses 62. _ (create) more jobs than have been lost. The coronavirus pandemic (冠状病毒流行病) has shown how robots and humans can work together. In Singapore, a robotic dog called Spot has been used to help enforce (执行) social d
