Unit 10
Test A
What will our future be like? What might happen in the year 2144? How far can your imagination take you into the future? Let's see what a newspaper in New Zealand tells us.
The Future
Will the future be one of robots and spaceships, or meditation and organic food? Today and next Wednesday The Post steps into the future, and asks the experts what they think the world of tomorrow will be like.
Imagine you are holding the December 11, 2144 edition of The Evening Post. It won't be made of paper, but a thin screen that can be folded up and put in your pocket or bag. You'll use the same screen tomorrow, when the day's news will be beamed to its tiny modem via satellite.
The modem will chatter away all day, updating stories from around the world as they happen, complete with moving pictures and sound. A retina scanner will follow your eye, scrolling each page as you get near the bottom. The paper's computer will record which stories interest you most and design a custom menu every time you switch it on.
Let's see what's happening today. Again, the big local story is the disappearing apartment blocks at Happy Valley. Built over an old landfill, this expensive new development is slowly sinking into the ground. Engineers suspect plastic milk bottles dumped with their caps screwed on in the late-20th century are bursting under the weight of the buildings. "People back then," says Wellington's Mayor in a live interview, "were pretty stupid."
Overseas a power failure at a cryo-prison in Alabama during the holiday weekend saw 50,000 inmates thawed prematurely, and in Bangladesh monsoon floods have wiped out hundreds of villages. Some things don't change.
In reality, we can't predict what the pages of this newspaper will contain 144 years from now because we can't predict the future. But in two weeks we will arrive in the new millennium, a date long held up as the future, but which will soon represent a new beginning.
Thirty years ago it was expected that by 2000 commuters would fly to work on highways in the sky, that robots with pinnies would do the vacuuming, that humans would have colonised our near planets and the moon.
Our cars are still stuck firmly on the ground, although even the most basic family runabout has a powerful electronic brain which tells it how much fuel to use and figures out in milliseconds how to save the occupants in a crash.
We still do the vacuuming ourselves, although our ovens tell us when food is ready. We can download whole libraries through our home computers and view snaps of friends on the other side of the world seconds after they are taken.
We have yet to live anywhere other than Earth, although missions into space have allowed us to develop new medicines, information chips and superconductors to make life better down here.
Who would have believed we'd be altering the genetic make-up of animals so they can grow replacement organs for us? Who'd have believed the drink machine in the foyer dials for supplies when it senses it's getting low?
At the dawn of the new millennium the future seems to be coming at us at a frightening pace, with the world seeming to change almost weekly.
What then, will it be like in 100 years? 500? 1000? Will it be a technological future with space hotels, rocket cars, genetically engineered people and automated homes? Or will it be an organic future with a new emphasis on spirituality and nature?
Will humankind still be blighted by war? Will we be able to cure cancer? Will we still get married? What sort of world will our children inherit?
Over the past few months The Post has been asking experts in their fields to take an educated, but fanciful, guess. None claims to be able to tell the future, but by tracking current trends they can give us an idea of what to expect in the world of tomorrow.
You won't be around to read the December 11, 2144 edition of The Evening Post, but this is the next best thing.
Welcome to the future.
(666 words)
New Words
robot
n. an automatic machine that can perform the actions of a person 机器人
spaceship
n. a vehicle used for travelling in space 航天器；宇宙飞船
organic
a. 1. not using artificial chemicals in the production of plants and animals for food 施有机肥料的
2. of, found in, or formed by living things 生物体的；有机体的
expert
n. a person with special knowledge, skill or training in a particular field 专家；能手
edition
n. one printing of a book, newspaper, etc. （书、报等的）版次
fold
vt. bend (sth.) so that one part is over another 折叠
beam
vt. transmit (a signal) in a particular direction 定向发射（无线电信号等）
modem
n. （计算机）调制解调器
via
prep.through 通过
* update
vt. make (sth.) more modern or up-to-date 更新
retina
n. 视网膜
scanner
n. 扫描器
scroll
vt. (on a computer display) move a cursor smoothly, causing new data to replace old on the monitor （象展开卷轴般）将文字显示于屏幕
design
vt. plan or arrange so as to make sure that sth. fulfils your purpose 设计
custom
a. made specially for individual customers 定制的；定做的
switch
vt. turn (an electrical device) on or off 用开关把（电器）开启（或关掉）
disappear
vi. cease to be seen 消失；不见
apartment
n. a set of rooms on one floor of a building 公寓；单元房
valley
n. a stretch of land between hills or mountains 谷，山谷
landfill
n. an area built up from deposits of solid garbage 用垃圾填筑而成的地面
suspect
vt. believe without certain proof; guess 推测，猜想；认为
dump
vt. throw away (garbage, rubbish, etc.) in a heap or a place set apart for the purpose 倾倒（垃圾等）
screw
v. fasten (sth.) by turning or twisting 拧紧
mayor
n. the chief executive of a city or a town 市长
overseas
ad. across the sea; abroad 到海外；在国外
cryo-prison
n. 冰冻监狱
inmate
n. any of a number of people living together in an institution, esp. a prison （尤指监狱中的）被收容者
thaw
vi. change from a frozen to a liquid state 融化；化冻
* prematurely
ad. before the proper or usual time; too early 比（正常）时间提早地；过早地
monsoon
n. 季风
contain
vt. have or hold within itself 包含，容纳
millennium
n. a period of 1000 years 一千年
highway
n. a main public road 公路；交通要道
pinny
n. 围裙
vacuum
vi. clean with a vacuum cleaner 用吸尘器打扫
colonise
vt. make into a colony 在…开拓殖民地
firmly
ad. in a firm way 牢固地；稳固地；坚定地
runabout
n. 敞蓬小轿车
electronic
a. 电子的
millisecond
n. 毫秒
occupant
n. a person who occupies a car, house, etc. 占用者，居住者
crash
n. an accident in which a vehicle hits sth., usu causing damage, and often injury or death （车辆等）碰撞；撞毁
oven
n. 烤箱
download
vt. transfer (a program, data, etc.) from a larger computer system to a smaller computer 下载（计算机程序、资料等）
snap
n. short for snapshot （口）快照，简照
chip
n. 集成电路片；微（型）电路
superconductor
n. 超导体
alter
v. become or make different; change （使）改变；变更
* genetic
a. 基因的
makeup
n. combination of things, people, etc. that form sth.; composition of sth. （事物、人等的）组合；构成
replacement
n. 1. the act of replacing 代替；替换
2. a person or thing that takes the place of another 接替者；替换物
organ
n. a part of an animal body or plant serving a particular purpose 器官
foyer
n. an entrance hall or large open space in a theatre, hotel, etc., where people can meet or talk （剧场、旅馆等的）门厅，休息厅
pace
n. rate of progress or development （进步或发展的）速度；节奏
weekly
ad. once a week or every week 每星期；每周一次
technological
a. 技术的
rocket
n. 火箭；火箭发动机
genetically
ad. 因基因决定地
engineer
vt. 设计；建造
automate
vt. cause (sth.) to work automatically 使自动化
emphasis
n. stress 强调
spirituality
n. 精神性；灵性
humankind
n. 人类
blight
vt. spoil or ruin 损害
cancer
n. 癌症
inherit
vt. receive (property, a title, etc.) as a result of the death of the previous owner or be born with (a physical or mental quality) that a parent, grandparent or other relative has 继承
fanciful
a. showing imagination rather than reason and experience 幻想的；想像的
track
vt. follow the course or movements of 跟踪；追踪
current
a. of the present time; happening now 现时的，当前的
trend
n. the way or direction things tend to go 趋势；动向
Phrases and Expressions
step into
enter 走进，进入
fold up
make smaller in size by folding 折叠
chatter away
clatter continuously from vibration （机器）不停地咯咯作响
switch on
turn on 打开（电灯、收音机等）
screw on
旋，拧；旋牢
wipe out
destroy completely 彻底摧毁；消灭
hold sb./sth. up
show sb./sth. as an example 举某人（某事物）作为范例
other than
except 除…之外
come at
move towards in a threatening manner 冲向
Proper Names
New Zealand
新西兰（太平洋南部岛国）
Wellington
惠林顿（新西兰首都）
Alabama
亚拉巴马州（美国州名）
Bangladesh
孟加拉国（国名）
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