What kind of car will we be driving in 2020? Rather different from the  21  we know today, with the next 12 years bringing greater changes than the past 60. The people who will be  22  the models of tomorrow believe that  23  problems may well accelerate the pace of the car’s development. Today they are students on the  24  design course at London’s Royal College of Art.

Their imagination is of a machine with three wheels instead of four, 25  powered,environmentally friendly , and able to drive itself along  26  roads equipped with built-in power supplies. Future cars will  27  their fuel during long journeys from power companies built into the road, or store it in small quantities for travelling in the street.

This view of the future car is  28  on a much more super road system, with strips built into motorways to supply power to vehicles passing along them. Cars will not need drivers,because computers will provide safe driving control and route finding. All the driver will have to do is to say where to go and the computer will do the rest. It will become  29  for cars to crash into one another. The  30  already exists for the car to become a true automobile in the future.

Many teenagers envy those young actresses who are discovered by famous directors and start glittering careers in their early 20s.Like Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi who were discovered by Zhang Yimou, the new lucky girl is 19-year-old Zhang Yuqi from Shandong Province.
    Chosen by Hong Kong comedy actor and director Stephen Chow, Zhang makes her__31__film performance in Chow's new successful movie, CJ7 or A Hope. The movie__32__ (bring ) to the screen on January 31.

In the sci-fi movie, Chow plays a poor father, __33__works very hard to support his 9-year-old son. __34__day, Chow discovers a strange "toy" in the garbage __35__gives it to his son  a birthday present. Soon the "toy" turns out to be a communication device lost by aliens, who__36__(desperate) want it back. Zhang stars as his son's beautiful teacher, __37__ whom Chow falls in love, not__38__ (know) that she is a robot. Although Zhang feels fortunate, as A Hope has made her__39__ overnight star, the student at Shanghai Drama Academy has to learn to adapt to the competitive film world.
   "It's a good start, a good opportunity and a stressful challenge as well for__40__ age," Zhang said.

Without most people realizing it, there has been a revolution in office work over the last ten years. Before that time, large computers were only used by large, rich companies that could afford the investment. With the advancement of technology, small computers have come onto the market, which are capable of doing the work that used to be done by much larger and expensive computers, so now most smaller companies can use them.

       The main development in small computers has been in the field of word processors (处理器) , or WPS as they are often called. 40% of British offices are now estimated to have a word processor and this percentage is growing fast.

       There are many advantages in using a word processor for both secretary and manager. The secretary is freed from a lot of daily work, such as re-typing letters and storing papers. He or she can use this time to do other more interesting work for the boss. From a manager’s point of view, secretarial time is being made better use of and money can be saved by doing daily jobs automatically outside office hours.

       But is it all good? If a lot of daily secretarial work can be done automatically, surely this will mean that fewer secretaries will be needed. Another worry is the increasing medical problems related to work with visual display units (显示器). The case of a slow loss of sight among people using word processors seems to have risen greatly. It is also feared that if a woman works at a VDU for long hours, the unborn child in her body might be killed. Safety screens to put over a VDU have been invented but few companies in England bother to buy them.                                                                                 

       Whatever the arguments for and against word processor are, they are a key feature (特征) of this revolution in office practice.

41. Ten years ago, smaller companies did not use large computers because_________.

     A. these companies had not enough money to buy such expensive computers

     B. these computers could not do the work that small computers can do today

     C. these computers did not come onto the market

     D. these companies did not need to use this new technology

42. According to the writer, the main feature of the revolution in office work over the last ten years is __________.

    A. the saving of time and money

    B. the use of computers in small companies

    C. the wide use of word processors           

    D. the decreasing number of secretaries

43. It is implied but not directly stated in the passage that with the use of word processors _________.

    A. some secretaries will lose their jobs  

  B. daily jobs can be done automatically outside office hours

    C. medical problems related to work with a VDU have increased greatly

    D. the British companies will make less money

44. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

   A. There are both advantages and disadvantages in using a word processor.

   B. The British companies care much for the health of the people using word processors.

   C. The technology in the field of computers has been greatly advanced over the last ten years.

   D. Using word processors, secretaries can get more time to do more interesting work for their bosses.

45. It can be concluded from the passage that ________.

   A. safety screens are of poor quality     

   B. working at a VDU for a long time is good for one’s health

   C. more and more British offices will use word processors

   D. British companies will need fewer and fewer managers

Although April did not bring us the rains we all hoped for, and although the Central Valley doesn’t generally experience the sound and lightning that can go with those rains, it’s still important for parents to be able to answer the youthful questions about thunder and lightning.

The reason these two wonders of nature are so difficult for many adults to explain to children is that they are not very well understood by adults themselves. For example, did you know that the lightning we see flashing down to the earth from a cloud is actually flashing up to a cloud from the earth? Our eyes trick us into thinking we see a downward motion when it’s actually the other way around. But then, if we believed only what we think and we see, we’d still insist that the sun rises in the monring and sets at night.

Most lightning flashes take place inside a cloud, and only a relative few can be seen jumping between two clouds or between earth and a cloud. But, with about 2,000 thunderstorms taking place above the earth every minute of the day and night, there’s enough activity to produce about 100 lightning strikes on earth every second.

Parents can use thunder and lightning to help their children learn more about the world around them. When children understand that the light of the lightning flashing reaches their eyes almost at the same moment, but the sound of the thunder takes about 5 seconds to travel just one mile, they can begin to time the interval(间隔) between the flash and the crash to learn how close they were to the actual spark(闪光).

46. Accodring to the author, in the area of the Central Valley____.

   A. rains usually come without thunder and lightning.

   B. it is usually dry in April

   C. children pay no attention to the two natural wonders.

   D. parents are not interested in thunder an lightning.

47. We believe that lightning is a downward motion because_______.

   A. we were taught so by our parents from our childhood.

   B. we are taken in by our sense of vision.

   C. it is a common natural sight.

   D. it is a truth proved by science.

48. What is TRUE about lightning according to the passage?

   A. Only a small number of lightning flashes occur on earth.

   B. Lightning flashes usually jump from one cloud to another.

   C. Lightning travels 5 times faster than thunder.

   D. There are far more lightning strikes occurring on earth than we can imagine.

49. The underlined word “activity” is most closely related to the word(s) _____.

   A. cloud           B. lightning strikes         C. lightning flashes        D. thunderstorms

50. It can be concluded from the passage that _______.

   A. we should not believe what we see or hear.

   B. things moving downward are more noticeable.

   C. people sometimes may have wrong ideas about ordinary phenomena.

   D. adults are not as good as children in observing certain natural phenomena.

TOKYO, Japan (AP) Japan is very serious about robotics (机器人技术). If the droids are going to fit in, they probably need to learn the Japanese custom of serving tea. Fortunately, researchers at the University of Tokyo are exploring just that. In a show this week, a humanoid（有人特点的）with camera eyes made by Kawada Industries Inc. poured tea from a bottle into a cup.Then another robot on wheels delivered the cup of tea in an experimental room that has sensors embedded in the floor and sofa as well as cameras on the ceiling, to simulate（模仿）life with robot technology.

“A human being may be faster, but you’d have to say ‘Thank you,’” said University of Tokyo professor Tomomasa Sato. “That’s the best part about a robot. You don’t have to feel bad about asking it to do things.”

Sato believes Japan, a rapidly aging society where more than a fifth of the population is 65 or older, will lead the world in designing robots to care for the elderly, sick and bedridden（卧床不起的）.

Already, monitoring technologies, such as sensors that automatically turn on lights when people enter a room, are becoming widespread in Japan.

The walking, childsize Asimo from Honda Motor Co. greets people at showrooms. NEC Corp. has developed a smaller companion roboton wheels called Papero. A seal robot available since 2004 can entertain the elderly and others in need of fuzzy companionship.

Sato says his experimental room is raising awareness about privacy questions that may arise when electronic devices（设备）monitor a person’s movements down to the smallest detail.

On the bright side, the tea pouring humanoid has been programmed to do the dishes.

51. What is the best title of this passage?

       A. “Thank You” Will Never Be Needed in Japan

       B. Monitoring Technologies Are Widespread in Japan

       C. Robot Is Designed to Care for the Elderly.

       D. Robot technologies are widespread in Japanese daily life.

52. The underlined word “embedded” in the first paragraph probably means       .

       A. fixed                    B. established            C. settled                  D. rooted

53. According to Professor Sato,       .

       A. the robot serves tea much faster than a human being

       B. the robot does anything like human beings

       C. tea serving robot helps to form laziness of the aging society

       D. tea serving robot doesn’t need any reward for the service

54. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

       A. A robot can imitate people to complete complicated tasks

       B. A robot has been programmed to clean the dishes

       C. All the problems in the aging society can be solved by robots.

       D. The number of aging people is increasing rapidly in Japan.

55. We can infer from the passage that        .

       A. people are afraid of being monitored by robots.

       B. the technology of robots has been highlighted in Japan.

       C. robots can completely take the place of human beings.

       D. people’s privacy should be strictly protected