We don’t know how different our life will be in the future. We can only try to imagine it.

At first we think about human relationship. In the year 2050, we will use computers almost every day. We will make new friends through the Internet—even our husbands or wives will be met in this way. It will be much faster and easier for us. On the other hand, our relationships with people won’t be as important as they are today-we will feel a little lonely.

Computers will also help us in many other activities in 2050. For example, they will be used by the children at school to make their learning easier. In addition, there will be much more other machines which will play a similar role as computers, like robots which will do the housework for us.

Spending holidays will also be completely different. Traveling to other planets or to the moon will be available for everyone. Means of transport will, of course, change, too. We will use solar-powered cars, which will be much more environmentally friendly.

We could expect that the faster technological progress would lead to a more polluted environment. But it isn’t true. We will pay more attention to protecting the environment. And, scientists will probably find cures for many dangerous diseases, like cancer or AIDS. Therefore, our surroundings as well as health will be in better condition.

Although we can’t predict the exact changes which will be made in the world, we often think about them. We worry about our and our children’s future; we have expectations, hopes as well as fears. But I think we should be rather sanguine about our future. We should be happy and believe good things will happen.

1.Why will people probably feel a little lonely in 2050?

A. Because the number of people will become much smaller.

B. Because there will be less face-to-face communication.

C. Because people won’t like making friends with each other.

D. Because people won’t communicate with each other much often.

2.The third paragraph mainly tells us ________.

A. computers will do all the things for human beings

B. how people will use computers to communicate with each other

C. machines like computers and robots will help people a lot

D. how people will use robots to do the housework

3.According to the passage, which of the following will happen in 2050?

A. The relationship between people will be more important than that of today.

B. The way of spending holidays will be the same as that of today.

C. It won’t be difficult for people to travel to other planets.

D. Our environment will be much more polluted with a growing number of cars.

4.What does the passage mainly talk about?

A. How people will communicate in the year 2050.

B. What our life will be like in the year 2050.

C. How people will travel and spend their holidays in the year 2050.

D. What high technology will appear in the year 2050.

I think we should let Maria go camping with her boyfriend. _____, she's a big girl now.

          A. Above all       B. After all       C. First of all      D. For all

第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分；满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中选出最佳选项。
A
Mr. Brozina is a single father and an elementary school librarian who reads aloud for a living. When his daughter, Kristen, hit fourth grade, he proposed The Streak: to see if they could read together for 100 straight bedtimes without missing once.
When The Streak reached 100, they celebrated with a pancake breakfast, and Kristen whispered, "I think we should try for 1,000 nights."
Mr. Brozina was delighted, but what he was thinking was, a thousand nights?! "I thought, we'll never do it," he recalled. "And then we got to 1,000, and we said, 'How can we stop?' "
For 3,218 nights (and some mornings, if Mr. Brozina was coming home too late to read). The Streak went on. It progressed from picture books to middle-school classics to Harry Potter, Agatha Christie, Dickens and Shakespeare, continuing on, until Kristen's first day of college.
In those nine-plus years, they survived many close calls. When Kristen was still in elementary school, her father went to Washington. "The phone rang at 10:45 at the hotel and it was Kristen," Mr. Brozina recalled. "She said, 'Dad, we forgot The Streak!' Fortunately, I always traveled with several books and we read right then and there."
This spring, Kristen graduated from Rowan' University. She has performed as you'd expect for a product of The Streak, an English major with a 3.94 average. She also won two national writing contests, was an editor of the humor arid literary publications and won the annual English department award.
56. According to the passage, Mr. Brozina and his daughter read together for          .
A. 100 bedtimes                           B. 1000 nights                         
C. over nine years                          D. nearly 3000 nights and some mornings
57. In the passage, the underlined phrase in Paragraph 1 probably means _____.
A. the period of time for reading together    B. me children's book                   
C. the special night                      C. the school work
58. How has Kristen benefited from reading with her father?
A. She has grown closer to her father.         B. She has become a school librarian herself. 
C. She has performed well at university.          D. She has won many reading awards.
59. This passage is about a father who _____.
A. is very strict in his work                        B. enjoys reading when travelling         
C. makes his daughter love reading             D. has a hard time bringing up his daughter

Kevin is a boy who might be described as “slow”. He didn’t learn his ABCs as fast as other kids. But Kevin was__1__with people, for his bright smile and big heart won him plenty of friends.

My friend Randy decided they needed a__2__team for boys.Kevin__3__up and practiced hard. But he simply shot baskets. Or more correctly, he threw the ball at the basket. He had a __4__spot near the free throw line(罚球线). He threw and threw, and it __5__went in.

The team did well but they never won a game that season except the night when it snowed and the opposing team never__6__. At the end of the__7__lot(签)of playing against the best team.

Game day arrived. The game went as__8__.Near the end of the last quarter, Kevin’s team stood nearly 30 points behind. It was then that one of the boys called timeout. ”Coach Randy, ” he said, ”this is our__9__game and Kevin has never made a basket. I think we should let him make a basket.”

The team agreed. Kevin wan __10__to stand at his special place near the free throw line and wait. When the ball was__11__to him, he shot and missed. A moment later, Kevin got the ball again, but shot and missed again.

Slowly the other team seemed to__12__what was going on. Both teams circled the boy by their time and all the other players were shouting, “Kevin! Kevin!” Soon everyone in the __13__　joined in.

Kevin attempted again and again, and one of his shots took a crazy bounce on the basket. Everyone held their__14__.The ball dropped in. Nobody remained __15__. Everyone stood and cheered as if one boy had won a world champion.

That day, an undefeated team kept their perfect record. But everybody won because everybody had participated in a crazy conspiracy(密谋)  of kindness.

1. A. patient        B. familiar          C. popular           D. careful

2.  A. basketball　    B. football         C. swimming        D. climbing

3.  A. got           B. signed           C. went            D. set

4. A. strange        B. special          C. wrong            D. safe

5. A. randomly      B. automatically     C. possibly          D. occasionally

6. A. showed up     B. took up          C. started off        D. gave in

7. A. favorite        B. difficult          C. unfortunate       D. important

8. A. reported       B. designed         C. arranged          D. expected

9. A. first           B. last              C. excellent         D. poor

10.A. forbidden      B. wished           C. trained           D. instructed

11. A. passed        B. kicked            C. carried           D. shot

12. A. give up        B. bring about       C. figure out         D. believe in

13. A. school         B. gym             C. town            D. team

14.A. hands         B. breath            C. places           D. ground

15.A. seated         B. excited           C. amazed          D. puzzled

Traffic jam and cities, it seems, go hand in hand. Everyone complains about being stuck in traffic; but, like the weather, no one seems to do anything about it. In particular, traffic engineers, transportation planners, and public officials responsible for transportation systems in large cities are frequently criticized for failing to solve traffic jam.
But is traffic jam a sign of failure? Long queues at restaurants or theater box offices are seen as signs of success. Should transportation systems be viewed any differently? I think we should recognize that traffic jam is an unpreventable by-product of successful cities, and view the “traffic problem” in a different light.
Cities exist because they promote social interactions and economic transactions.
Traffic jam occurs where there are lots of people but limited spaces. Culturally and economically successful cities have the worst traffic problems, while decaying cities don’t have much traffic. New York and Los Angeles are America’s most crowded cities. But if you want access to major brokerage houses (经纪行), you will find them easier to reach in crowded New York than in any other large cities. And if your firm needs access to post-production film editors or satellite-guidance engineers, you will reach them more quickly through the crowded freeways of LA than through less crowded roads elsewhere.
Despite traffic jam, a larger number and wider variety of social interactions and economic transactions can be made perfect in large, crowded cities than elsewhere. Seen in this light, traffic jam is an unfortunate consequence of prosperity, not a cause of economic decline and urban decay.
So while we can consider traffic jam as increasing costs on the areas of big cities, the costs of inaccessibility (交通不便) in uncrowded places are almost certainly greater.
There is no doubt that traffic jam brings the terrible economic and environmental damage in places like Bangkok, Jakarta, and Lagos. But mobility is far higher and traffic jam levels are far lower here in the US, even in our most crowded cities. That’s why, for now, we don’t see people and capital streaming out of San Francisco and Chicago, heading for cities like California, and Illinois.
53. We can conclude from the first paragraph that____.
A. traffic jam and weather are the two factors preventing the development of the big city
B. traffic jam seems to be very difficult to deal with
C. if traffic engineers try their best, traffic jam can be solved
D. public officials are always criticized for misusing their power
54. According to the passage, what’s the author’s opinion towards traffic jam?
A. In cities, traffic jam is unavoidable.
B. Traffic jam is both a sign of failure and a sign of success.
C. Traffic jam is the consequence of successful cities.
D. For a successful city, traffic jam is not unpreventable.
55. By saying “decaying” (in Para. 4), the writer probably means____.
A. declining                               B. developing
C. rich and successful                    D. strong and healthy
56. According to this article, which statement about “New York” and “Los Angeles” is true?
A. The traffic jam in the two cities has been worsened.
B. New York and Los Angeles are the least successful cities in the USA.
C. It is easier to reach major brokerage houses in the two cities than in other cities.
D. Despite the traffic jam in LA, you’ll find a satellite-guidance engineer more quickly there.