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Unit 9
Section A
Pre-reading Activities
First Listening
Having ideas about a story before you read it is an important reading skill. Please listen to a very short piece of recording.
Second Listening
Now listen to the recording for the second time and try to the best of your ability to answer the following questions.
1. How will work quality be determined in this new century?
2. What tool brings about major changes in this new century?
3. What are the five tasks this tool will do in this new century?
Looking to the 21st Century
1. Your Future
The future does not determine itself. The actions of the present determine the future.
Edward Cornish, editor of The Futurist magazine published by the World Future Society, says:
"The responsibility we have for the future begins when we recognize that we ourselves create the future — that the future is not something imposed upon us by fate or other forces beyond our control. We ourselves build the future both through what we do and what we do not do."
2. Your Brain
Your brainwaves may be checked to see whether you are busy, tired or doing your work properly.
Psychologist Arthur F. Kramer tested volunteers working on arithmetic problems. He could predict their performance from the strength of the brain's electrical activity measured through the head.
The future? Bosses could measure brain activity to learn worker quality. Frequent computer analysis could tell whether workers, like air traffic controllers, are seeing all activity clearly enough to monitor it properly.
3. Your Doctor
More and more, doctors will use visual information about your condition from computers, instead of textbooks, for diagnosis and treatment.
Home computers will enable you to answer interactive questions about your health and show the alternative results should you act in a certain way.
4. Your Car
Cars will be almost entirely controlled by computers.
To pay for costs, cars will be billed for using high-speed toll roads. Computers will record the passage of the car and automatically take the money from the owner's computer bank account.
Computers will show drivers maps of districts the car is crossing on a small screen in the car.
Computers will diagnose any problems with the engine. Computer connections will list the nearest places of repair, tell the cost of new parts and the place where they can be bought.
5. The Computer-Home
More than half of the home computers sold in the United States in recent years will become essential to home life in the West. Future tasks computers already do at home include:
Computers turn on the lights, heating and essential household services before people arrive home from work. Computers control cooking, hot water, security.
Computers enable homework assignments to be done with worldwide resources, using sites like museums and science facilities around the world. Homework help can come equally from the local library, or libraries and databases in places as far apart as New York and London, or from teachers and fellow students around the globe.
Many shoppers order groceries at home through Internet suppliers and have purchases delivered.
6. The Workplace
The changing face of work and the workplace is one of the most widespread influences in Western society.
Women now form more than half the workers; the percentage is rising as they start up small businesses of their own, often working from home.
People are changing careers on average every ten years now, instead of staying in a job for life.
Increases in information and knowledge-based businesses are reducing levels of middle management. Top managers get all the information needed to work together with front-line staff.
Specialists are becoming more important than general workers.
7. The Environment
Protection of the environment used to be the concern of special groups. Now governments and businesses realise bad air and water pollution affect everyone, making it difficult for cities to survive and for businesses to make a profit.
London, England's biggest city, often suffers from air pollution which causes more than 1,000 deaths a year. Especially the very young, the elderly and cigarette smokers are at high risk.
Many European countries and the United States check vehicles for gas and smoke emissions to make sure the levels are below the permitted output. For example, Germany has 600 sites that monitor carbon monoxide.
8. Your Health
Physical fitness and healthy lifestyles have changed from fashion and hobby for a few to official policy for many businesses and governments.
Smoking cigarettes is under siege as a habit. Smoking advertising is banned in many areas.
Although pills for tension, heart conditions, weight and other life-threatening conditions are prescribed by Western doctors, most now require patients to develop healthy lifestyles by changing diets and exercising more to keep well.
Words: 700
NEW WORDS
editor
n. a person who prepares (a book, newspaper, film, etc.) 编辑
futurist
n. a person who favors futurism 未来主义者
publish
vt. 1. bring out (a book, newspaper, etc.) 出版
2. make known in general 发布；公布
impose
vt. 1. (on) put (a load, or punishment) on 把……强加于
2. (on) establish (an additional bill) officially 征（税等），处以（罚款、监禁等）
fate
n. power beyond human control that decides events 命运
volunteer
n. a person who offers to do sth. 志愿者
v. offer to do sth. without pay or reward 甘愿
arithmetic
n. [U] the science of numbers; the adding, dividing, etc. of numbers 算术
a. of or concerning arithmetic 算术的
predict
vt. say in advance (what will happen) 预测
performance
n. 1. action or way of doing sth. 表现
2. show of music, a play, etc. 表演
electrical
a. concerned with or using electricity 与电有关的；用电的
analysis
n. examination of sth.; analyzing 分析
◆diagnosis
n. discovery of the nature of a disease 诊断
treatment
n. 1. the act or way of dealing with a disease 治疗
2. dealing with 处理；对待
▲interact
vi. 1. have an effect on each other 相互作用；相互影响
2. exchange information or instructions 互通信息
interactive
a. 1. acting on each other 相互作用；互相影响
2. communicating (between the user and the machine)（人机之间）可互通信息的
alternative
a. giving a choice from among more than two things 可选择的
n. a serious choice （必须作的）选择
▲toll
n. a small sum of money that one has to pay in order to use a particular bridge or road （过路或过桥等的）费用
engine
n. a machine that turns power into movement 引擎；发动机
connection (英connexion)
n. 1. joining; uniting 连接
2. relations between two things, people, or groups 关系；联系
household
n. people living in a house 家庭
a. concerned with the management of a house 家庭的
security
n. 1. protection 治安保卫
2. state of being secure 安全
worldwide
a. & ad. in or all over the world 世界范围的
site
n. 1. a station from which one can get information through the Internet 网站
2. a place 地点；地方
museum
n. a building where old or important objects from history, science, or the arts are kept and shown 博物馆
facility
n. 1. (pl.) useful things 设施
2. an advantage or opportunity 便利，容易，方便
▲database
n. a computer's organization of information 资料库，数据库
globe
n. 1. the Earth 地球
2. an object in the shape of a ball, especially one with a map of the Earth painted on it 球状物；地球仪
grocer
n. a shop-keeper who sells dry foods and other things for the home 食品杂货商
groceries
n. (pl.) goods (usually foods and other things for the home) sold by a grocer 食品杂货
Internet
n. the worldwide network of computer connections 因特网
purchase
n. sth. that one buys 购买的东西
vt. buy 购买
widespread
a. 1. occurring in many places or among many people 广泛的
2. wide open; fully extended 展开的
percentage
n. a number stated as if it is part of a whole which is 100 百分率
career
n. 1. a profession 职业
2. a part of one's life that one spends working 生涯
management
n. 1. [C] people who are in charge of a firm, industry, etc. 管理人员
2. [U] the act of controlling a business 管理
specialist
n. a person who has special interest or skills in a limited field of work or study; master 专家
protection
n. 1. the act of keeping safe or the state of being kept safe 保护
2. sb. or sth. that protects 保护人（物）
pollution
n. act of making dangerously impure or unfit for use 污染
survive
v. 1. continue to live, especially after coming close to death 幸免于难
2. live longer than 比……活得长
profit
n. 1. money gained 利润
2. advantage gained from some action 得益
v. gain advantage or learn from 得益（于）
emit
vt. send out 排放
emission
n. 1. sth. that is sent out 排放物
2. the act or action of sending out sth. 排放
permit
v. allow 容许
n. official paper allowing sth. 许可证
output
n. the quantity produced 产量
carbon
n. 碳
■monoxide
n. 一氧化物
policy
n. a set of ideas or principles that is used as a foundation for making decisions 政策
▲siege
n. an act of surrounding a city, etc., by an army trying to capture it 包围
advertise
v. 1. seek to sell goods or services by giving public notice in newspaper, on television, etc. 广告（销售）
2. make public; give public notice in newspaper, on television, etc. 公布；广告
ban
vt. prevent by law or power; not allow 禁止
n. not allowing an act or speech by power 禁止
pill
n. a small piece of medicine 药片
tension
n. 1. (a feeling of) nervous anxiety, worry, or pressure 紧张，不安
2. the degree or tightness or stiffness of a wire, rope, etc. 拉力
prescribe
vt. 1. order as a medicine or treatment 开处方
2. state (what must be done) 规定
diet
n. 1. food and drink usually taken 日常饮食
2. any special combination of food eaten in sickness, or to increase or decrease weight 规定的饮食
PHRASES AND EXPRESSIONS
impose on (upon)
force on; place on 强加于
work on (upon)
have (sth.) as the subject of thought or effort 努力做……
more and more
in an increasing quantity or degree 越来越……
pay for
1. suffer the result of 因……而受苦
2. pay some money to acquire sth. 付钱购买……
bill for
give or send a bill stating how much money one has to pay for goods or services 因……送交某人账单或罚单
start up
begin (sth. such as a business); begin working (in a trade, profession, etc.) 开办，开设
on average
as the usual rate or estimate 平均
at risk
in danger 冒险
change from
change (sth. or sb.) from a state to another 由……变来
under siege
in a state of being surrounded 被包围
PROPER NAMES
St.
圣……
Edward Cornish
爱德华·科尼什（人名）
Arthur F. Kramer
阿瑟·费·克雷默（人名）
New York
纽约（地名）
London
伦敦（地名）
England
英格兰（地名）
Europe
欧洲（地名）
European
欧洲的
Germany
德国（地名）
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