Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension（Skimming and Scanning）（15 minutes）
Directions：In this part，you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions an Answer Sheet 1. For question 1—7 choose the best answer from the four choices marked /A），B），C）and D）. For questions 8—10 complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.
What Will the World Be Like in Fifty Years?
This week some top scientists, including Nobel Prize winners, gave their vision of how the world will look in 2056, from gas-powered cars to extraordinary health advances, John Ingham reports on what the world’s finest minds believe our futures will be.
For those of us lucky enough to live that long, 2056 will be a world of almost perpetual youth, where obesity is a remote memory and robots become our companions.
We will be rubbing shoulders with aliens and colonizing outer space. Better still, our descendants might at last live in a world at peace with itself.
The prediction is that we will have found a source of inexhaustible, safe, green energy, and that science will have killed off religion. If they are right we will have removed two of the main causes of war-our dependence on oil and religious prejudice.
Will we really, as today’s scientists claim, be able to live for ever or at least cheat the ageing process so that the average person lives to 150?
Of course, all these predictions come with a scientific health warning. Harvard professor Steven Pinker says: “This is an invitation to look foolish, as with the predictions of domed cities and nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners that were made 50 year ago.”
Living longer
Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute in North Carolina, believes failing organs will be repaired by injecting cells into the body. They will naturally go straight to the injury and help heal it. A system of injections without needles could also slow the ageing process by using the same process to “tune” cells.
Bruce Lahn, professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago, anticipates the ability to produce “unlimited supplies” of transplantable human organs without the need for human donors. These organs would be grown in animals such as pigs. When a patient needed a new organ, such as a kidney, the surgeon would contact a commercial organ producer, give him the patient’s immunological profile and would then be sent a kidney with the correct tissue type.
These organs would be entirely composed of human cells, grown by introducing them into animal hosts, and allowing them to develop into an organ in place of the animal’s own. But Prof. Lahn believes that farmed brains would be “off limits”. He says: “Very few people would want to have their brains replaced by someone else’s and we probably don’t want to put a human brain in an animal body.”
Richard Miller, a professor at the University of Michigan, thinks scientist could develop “authentic anti-ageing drugs” by working out how cells in larger animals such as whales and human resist many forms of injuries. He says: “It is now routine, in laboratory mammals, to extend lifespan by about 40%. Turning on the same protective systems in people should, by 2056, create the first class of 100-year-olds who are as vigorous and productive as today’s people in their 60s”
Aliens
Colin Pillinger, professor of planetary sciences at the Open University, says: I fancy that at least we will be able to show that life did start to evolve on Mars well as Earth.” Within 50years he hopes scientists will prove that alien life came here in Martian meteorites(陨石).
Chris McKay, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, believes that in 50 years we may find evidence of alien life in the ancient permanent frost of Mars or on other planers.
He adds: There is even a chance we will find alien life forms here on Earth. It might be as different as English is to Chinese.
Princeton professor Freeman Dyson thinks it “likely” that life form outer space will be discovered before 2056 because the tools for finding it, such as optical and radio detection and data processing, are improving.
He says: “As soon as the first evidence is found, we will know what to look for and additional discoveries are likely to follow quickly. Such discoveries are likely to have revolutionary consequences for biology, astronomy and philosophy. They may also change the way we look at ourselves and our place in the universe.”
Colonies in space
Richard Gott, professor of astrophysics at Princeton, hopes man will set up a self-sufficient colony on Mars, which would be a “life insurance policy against whatever catastrophes, natural or otherwise, might occur on Earth.
“The real space race is whether we will colonise off Earth on to other worlds before money for the space programme runs out.”
Spinal injuries
Ellen Heber-Katz, a professor at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, foresees cures for injuries causing paralysis such as the one that afflicted Superman star Christopher Reeve.
She says: “I believe that the day is not far off when we will be able to prescribe drugs that cause severed (断裂的) spinal cords to heal, hearts to regenerate and lost limbs to regrow.”
“People will come to expect that injured or diseased organs are meant to be repaired from within, in much the same way that we fix an appliance or automobile: by replacing the damaged part with a manufacturer-certified new part.” She predicts that within 5 to 10 years fingers and toes will be regrown and limbs will start to be regrown a few years later. Repairs to the nervous system will start with optic nerves and, in time, the spinal cord.” Within 50 years whole body replacement will be routine,” Prof. Heber-Katz adds.
Obesity
Sydney Brenner, senior distinguished fellow of the Crick-Jacobs Center in California, won the 2002 Nobel Prize for Medicine and says that if there is a global disaster some humans will survive-and evolution will favor small people with bodies large enough to support the required amount of brain power.” Obesity,” he says.” will have been solved.”
Robots
Rodney Brooks, professor of robotics at MIT, says the problems of developing artificial intelligence for robots will be at least partly overcome. As a result, “the possibilities for robots working with people will open up immensely”
Energy
Bill Joy, green technology expert in California, says:” The most significant breakthrough would be to have an inexhaustible source of safe, green energy that is substantially cheaper than any existing energy source.”
Ideally, such a source would be safe in that it could not be made into weapons and would not make hazardous or toxic waste or carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming.
Society
Geoffrey Miller, evolutionary psychologist at the University of New Mexico, says: The US will follow the UK in realizing that religion is not a prerequisite (前提)for ordinary human decency.
“This, science will kill religion-not by reason challenging faith but by offering a more practical, universal and rewarding moral framework for human interaction.”
He also predicts that “absurdly wasteful” displays of wealth will become unfashionable while the importance of close-knit communities and families will become clearer.
These three changes, he says, will help make us all” brighter, wiser, happier and kinder”.
1. What is john lngham’s report about?
A) A solution to the global energy crisis
B) Extraordinary advances in technology.
C) The latest developments of medical science
D) Scientists’ vision of the world in half a century
2. According to Harvard professor Steven Pinker, predictions about the future_____.
A) may invite trouble
B) may not come true
C) will fool the public
D) do more harm than good
3. Professor Bruce Lahn of the University of Chicago predicts that____.
A) humans won’t have to donate organs for transplantation
B) more people will donate their organs for transplantation
C) animal organs could be transplanted into human bodies
D) organ transplantation won’t be as scary as it is today
4. According to Professor Richard Miller of the University of Michigan, people will____.
A) life for as long as they wish
B) be relieved from all sufferings
C) live to 100 and more with vitality
D) be able to live longer than whales
5. Princeton professor Freeman Dyson thinks that____.
A) scientists will find alien life similar to ours
B) humans will be able to settle on Mars
C) alien life will likely be discovered
D) life will start to evolve on Mars
6. According to Princeton professor Richard Gott, by setting up a self-sufficient colony on Mars, Humans_____.
A) might survive all catastrophes on earth
B) might acquire ample natural resources
C) will be able to travel to Mars freely
D) will move there to live a better life
7. Ellen Heber-Katz, professor at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, predicts that_____.
A) human organs can be manufactured like appliances
B) people will be as strong and dynamic as supermen
C) human nerves can be replaced by optic fibers
D) lost fingers and limbs will be able to regrow
8. Rodney Brooks says that it will be possible for robots to work with humans as a result of the development of _____
9. The most significant breakthrough predicted by Bill Joy will be an inexhaustible green energy source that can’t be used to make__.
10. According to Geoffrey Miller, science will offer a more practical, universal and rewarding moral framework in place of_______.
试题详解
本文探讨了未来五十年世界的样子。文章从8个方面进行了细致的阐述，例如寿命、外星人、肥胖症、太空移民、医疗、机器人、能源危机、社会和谐等。
1. D
题干中的John Ingham和report出现在文中的第一段末尾。The world’s finest minds指的就是科学家。
2. B
根据题干关键词Harvard professor Steven Pinker定位文中第六段第二句话。此题的关键是理解教授作的比喻an invitation to look foolish。教授认为，对未来的预测好比是封愚蠢的邀请函，正如五十年前对穹顶城市和核能真空吸尘器（都没有实现）的预测一样。显然教授对预测所持的怀疑态度。
3. A
关键词Professor Bruce Lahn of the University of Chicago出现在文章第一个小标题下面的第二段首句。题干中的predict和原文中的participate是同义词，其宾语就是教授的预测。
4. C
此题关键词也非常明确，为Richard Miller of the University of Michigan，定位于文章第一个小标题下面的第四段首句。选项中的live to 100等同于文中的the first class of 100-year-olds，with vitality等同于文中的as vigorous and productive as today’s people in their 60s。
5. C
Princeton professor Freeman Dyson出现在文章的第二个小标题下面的第四段。教授认为，科学家很有可能在2056年之前发现外太空生命。
6. A
关键词Richard Gott出现在第三个小标题下面的第一段。原文中which引导的定语从句意思为：这将是一种生命保险政策，是人类能够应对发生在地球上的各种灾难，无论是自然的，还是其他的。
7. D
此题有一定难度，关键词Ellen Heber-Katz很容易定位，在第四个小标题下面的第一段，但是该段没有提到选项中的信息。需要换词重新定位，利用题干中predict定位在第三段的第二句话中。
8. artificial intelligence
利用关键词Rodney Brooks定位在文章第六个小标题。题干中的as a result of和原文中的as a result都表示因果关系，前者原因在后，结果在前，后者原因在前，结果在后。
9. weapons
由题干中的Bill Joy定位在小标题Energy下面。教授的话语中之提到了重要的突破，没有提及这种能源不能用作什么，于是往后延伸一段，文中could not be made into 和题干中的can’t be used to同义转换。
10. religion
根据关键词Geoffrey Miller, practical, universal and rewarding moral定位在原文倒数第二段。文中提到科学会kill religion，而题干中的in place of和kill同义转换。
Directions: In this section, there is a short passage with 5 questions or incomplete statements. Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete statements in the fewest possible words. Please write your answers on Answer Sheet 2.
If movie trailers(预告片)are supposed to cause a reaction, the preview for "United 93" more than succeeds. Featuring no famous actors, it begins with images of a beautiful morning and passengers boarding an airplane. It takes you a minute to realize what the movie’s even about. That’s when a plane hits the World Trade Center. the effect is visceral(震撼心灵的). When the trailer played before "Inside Man" last week at a Hollywood theater, audience members began calling out, "Too soon!" In New York City, the response was even more dramatic. The Loews Theater in Manhattan took the rare step of pulling the trailer from its screens after several complaints.
“United 93” is the first feature film to deal explicitly with the events of September 11, 2001, and is certain to ignite an emotional debate. Is it too soon? Should the film have been made at all? More to the point, will anyone want to see it? Other 9/11 projects are on the way as the fifth anniversary of the attacks approaches, most notably Oliver Stone's " World Trade Center." but as the forerunner, “United 93” will take most of the heat, whether it deserves it or not.
The real United 93 crashed in a Pennsylvania field after 40 passengers and crew fought back against the terrorists. Writer-director Paul Greengrass has gone to great lengths to be respectful in his depiction of what occurred, proceeding with the film only after securing the approval of every victim's family. "Was I surprised at the agreement? Yes. Very. Usually there’re one or two families who're more reluctant," Greengrass writes in an e-mail. "I was surprised at the extraordinary way the United 93 families have welcomed us into their lives and shared their experiences with us." Carole O'Hare, a family member, says, “They were very open and honest with us, and they made us a part of this whole project.” Universal, which is releasing the film, plans to donate 10% of its opening weekend gross to the Flight 93 National Memorial Fund. That hasn't stopped criticism that the studio is exploiting a national tragedy. O’Hare thinks that’s unfair. “This story has to be told to honor the passengers and crew for what they did,” she says. “But more than that, it raises awareness. Our ports aren’t secure. Our borders aren’t secure. Our airlines still aren’t secure, and this is what happens when you’re not secure. That’s the message I want people to hear.”
1. The trailer for “United 93” succeeded in ____ when it played in the theaters in Hollywood and New York City.
2. The movie “United 93” is sure to give rise to _______________.
3. What did writer-director Paul Greengrass obtain before he proceeded with the movie?
4. Universal, which is releasing “United 93”, has been criticized for _________.
5. Carole O’Hare thinks that besides honoring the passengers and crew for what they did, the purpose of telling the story is to _________ about security.
