Looking to the future
When a magazine for high-school students asked its readers what life would be like in twenty years, they said: Machines would be run by solar power. Buildings would rotate so they could follow the sun to take maximum advantage of its light and heat. Walls would “radiate light” and “change color with the push of a button. ” food would be replaced by pills.__1__. Cars would have radar. Does this sound like the year 2000? __2__.
The future is much too important to simply guess about, the way the high school students did, so experts are regularly asked to predict accurately. __3__. But can they? One expert on cities wrote: cities of the future would not be crowded, but would have space for farms and fields. People would travel to work in “airbuses”, large all-weather helicopters carrying up to 200 passengers. When a person left the airbus station he could drive a coin-operated car equipped with radar. The radar equipment of cars would make traffic accidents “almost unheard of”. Does that sound familiar? If the expert had been accurate it would, because he was writing in 1957. his subject was “The city of 1982”.
If the professionals sometimes sound like high-school students, it’s probably because future study is still a new field. But economic forecasting, or predicting what the economy will do, has been around for a long time. It should be accurate, and generally it is. But there have been some big mistakes in this field, too. __4__. In October of that year, the stock market had its worst losses ever, ruining thousands of investors who had put their faith in financial foreseers.
?__5__. In 1957, H.J. Rand of the Rad Corporation was asked about the year 2000, “Only one thing is certain, ” he answered. “Children will have reached the age of 43. ”
A. By carefully studying the present, skilled businessmen scientists, and politicians are supposedly able to figure out in advance what will happen.
B. School would be taught “by electrical impulse while we sleep.”
C. One forecaster knew that predictions about the future would always be subject to significant errors.
D. In early 1929, most forecasters saw an excellent future for the stock market.
E. Everyone may look to the future for it is always promising.
F. Actually, the article was written in 1958 and the question was, “what will life be like in 1978?”
答案及解析
1. B 分析：空格前后句都在舉例，而且時態(tài)結構都是” would + v.”，因此B最合適：在內容上舉例，而且時態(tài)上呼應。
2. F 分析：空格前句出現疑問句，因此接下來在空格處出現另一個問題，或對前面的問題進行回答的可能性較大，而且F中的“the article ”與前文內容呼應—“當一本面向中學生的雜志問它的讀者。?！?BR> 3. A 分析：空格前句提到“專家”，空格后句說到“他們” —指代專家的可能性較大，因此猜測空格處可能出現涉及到“專家”的內容描述，A中出現的“對經商之道熟悉的商人，科學家，政治家”正是“專家”，所以A正確。
4. D 分析：空格后句中提到了“股票市場”。
5．C 分析：空格后句是在進行具體列舉了一個預測家所做的預測，因此空格處出現觀點性， 概括性的句子的可能性較大， C在用詞上（one forecaster）恰好與空格后句中的具體人名（H.J. Rand）呼應， 而且C（一位預測家知道預測未來總是容易發(fā)生大的錯誤）也正好是概括總結句，而且在句意上很好的解釋了為什么H.J. Rand說“只有一件事情是確定的， 那就是現在出生的孩子在2000年時將是43歲?！?
When a magazine for high-school students asked its readers what life would be like in twenty years, they said: Machines would be run by solar power. Buildings would rotate so they could follow the sun to take maximum advantage of its light and heat. Walls would “radiate light” and “change color with the push of a button. ” food would be replaced by pills.__1__. Cars would have radar. Does this sound like the year 2000? __2__.
The future is much too important to simply guess about, the way the high school students did, so experts are regularly asked to predict accurately. __3__. But can they? One expert on cities wrote: cities of the future would not be crowded, but would have space for farms and fields. People would travel to work in “airbuses”, large all-weather helicopters carrying up to 200 passengers. When a person left the airbus station he could drive a coin-operated car equipped with radar. The radar equipment of cars would make traffic accidents “almost unheard of”. Does that sound familiar? If the expert had been accurate it would, because he was writing in 1957. his subject was “The city of 1982”.
If the professionals sometimes sound like high-school students, it’s probably because future study is still a new field. But economic forecasting, or predicting what the economy will do, has been around for a long time. It should be accurate, and generally it is. But there have been some big mistakes in this field, too. __4__. In October of that year, the stock market had its worst losses ever, ruining thousands of investors who had put their faith in financial foreseers.
?__5__. In 1957, H.J. Rand of the Rad Corporation was asked about the year 2000, “Only one thing is certain, ” he answered. “Children will have reached the age of 43. ”
A. By carefully studying the present, skilled businessmen scientists, and politicians are supposedly able to figure out in advance what will happen.
B. School would be taught “by electrical impulse while we sleep.”
C. One forecaster knew that predictions about the future would always be subject to significant errors.
D. In early 1929, most forecasters saw an excellent future for the stock market.
E. Everyone may look to the future for it is always promising.
F. Actually, the article was written in 1958 and the question was, “what will life be like in 1978?”
答案及解析
1. B 分析：空格前后句都在舉例，而且時態(tài)結構都是” would + v.”，因此B最合適：在內容上舉例，而且時態(tài)上呼應。
2. F 分析：空格前句出現疑問句，因此接下來在空格處出現另一個問題，或對前面的問題進行回答的可能性較大，而且F中的“the article ”與前文內容呼應—“當一本面向中學生的雜志問它的讀者。?！?BR> 3. A 分析：空格前句提到“專家”，空格后句說到“他們” —指代專家的可能性較大，因此猜測空格處可能出現涉及到“專家”的內容描述，A中出現的“對經商之道熟悉的商人，科學家，政治家”正是“專家”，所以A正確。
4. D 分析：空格后句中提到了“股票市場”。
5．C 分析：空格后句是在進行具體列舉了一個預測家所做的預測，因此空格處出現觀點性， 概括性的句子的可能性較大， C在用詞上（one forecaster）恰好與空格后句中的具體人名（H.J. Rand）呼應， 而且C（一位預測家知道預測未來總是容易發(fā)生大的錯誤）也正好是概括總結句，而且在句意上很好的解釋了為什么H.J. Rand說“只有一件事情是確定的， 那就是現在出生的孩子在2000年時將是43歲?！?