The future is just around the corner, and according to some people who make the future their business, it doesn't look dissimilar to what you see around you now, but below the surface there will be differences.

    Your home of the future

    One of the places in your home is the bathroom. It will have a toilet that can test urine(尿) for sugar levels, take your blood pressure and weigh you. All that information can then be uploaded to your doctor. Even the bathroom soap will be upgraded, which will have sunscreen(防晒霜) in it, which will stick to your skin.

    The future of technology

    The kitchen is often the centre of a home and it has the most potential for future changes. For example, a Web-enabled refrigerator will be able to talk to the manufacturer when a part wears out, so it can order a replacement without you ever knowing something was wrong.

    Tiny, inexpensive computer chips called RFIDs, or radio frequency identification chips, will be attached to every product in your house. The refrigerator will read the chips, and will even be able to tell you when the milk has gone bad.

    The counter will be able to make dinner suggestions. Your washing machine will know how to wash your favourite linen(亚麻布) skirt. And you will be able to call your oven from your cellphone to tell it when to start cooking the pot roast.

Future travelling

    Futurists say robots will be a large part of life. Though a driverless car sounds like a crazy idea, it is built to be safer and more efficient than what is currently parked in the driveway.

    Even with all of the changes coming in the future, the human condition will not change, though. At day's end, you will still share a drink with a friend and kiss your kids goodnight, for no robots can do that.

    Paperless office was first coined in 1975.Four decades later, we're still chasing(追逐) the paperless office dream. Take the financial(金融的) industry for example—it is one of the slower industries to hug digital transformation. Many financial institutions today still send out trade confirmations by mail. I can tell you from first-hand experience that going paperless is by no means impossible. The Centric Digital office is a paperless work environment where all the office operations go digital, which has amazed our business partners.

    Actually, companies need to stress the benefits of a digital culture for communication. Going paperless can save time and money. You could say goodbye to costly repairs, office supply orders, wasted employee time and so on. Besides, forbidding paper in the office forces information to be 100% digital, where you can make endless quantities of backups(备份), and easily increase transparency(透明). Not to mention, top talents want to work for digital companies.

    You might think the secret to a paperless company is purely technology. Well, not really. Thanks to products like iPads, smartphones and cloud services, the ability to go paperless is highly accessible. Yet, even with all this technology, companies continue to rely on paper. It's not because they don't have access to the technology, but because they're lacking the policies, organizational structure and a strong desire to change. In order to go paperless, companies need to change the way they think and operate. The decision needs to be made and carried out and everyone needs to work together to make it.

    Yes, the paperless office has been a very long time in the making—but it no longer has to be. With numerous quantities of software, services, apps, and technology available today, the only thing we need to do is make the decision to go paperless and see it through.

    What is a big dream?  Or, is a big dream something that provides only entertainment? Children dream big dreams, but there are three barriers to realizing dreams. They often kill dreams before children ever have a chance to grow.

    The self

    Immediately following the birth of a big dream, a negative self-talk takes over and gives all the reasons why it can't happen. This inside voice is the ego (自我). It is there for protecting and should be listened to. Sometimes it is right, but more often it is wrong.  That's why only a handful of people make their dreams come true.

    Family and friends are a lot like the ego. They want to protect those they love, so they will often list all the reasons why the big dreams won't come true. Sometimes, family and friends destroy dreams of those they love most, out of their own fear of being left behind.

    The world

    If one gets past the first two barriers, one has to face the world.  In the past, big dreamers were locked up and sometimes even killed when they were shown to the world. Fortunately, in most of the world today, big dreamers just get laughed at.

    The way to realize a big dream is with confidence and action. When children have confidence and then take action, they will be ready to accept any failure. The truth is that every great dreamer whose dreams have never seen the light of success knows failure well.  

A. How big dreams die

B. Family and friends

C. They simply fail until they succeed.

D. Does a big dream show one's future?

E. Most people are influenced by the inside voice.

F. It is the last and the most terrible barrier.

G. And their big dream is to be a rock star or a famous artist.

    Life is a series of choices and we can't always foresee the consequences.

    Harry Saleen, an obese man with too much money and power, faced a(n) 1. Outside his office waited his personal 2, bringing him the important news about the 3 medicine that could save his life. On the other side of the world, one of his engineers waited for his decision on an important 4 of business.

    His secretary asked him 5 she could bring the doctor in. The billionaire businessman made his 6. "Business comes first," answered Saleen. 7 the health problem caused by his huge weight, he was still 8 about making money. He raised a 9 finger, and one of his staff 10 to switch on a large television set.

    On the screen appeared his engineer. They talked by satellite directly to each other although they were thousands of miles 11. "It's all ready to explode, Mr Saleen," he said, "just one 12." His engineer was standing above Pakan Valley in South America. A few months ago, it had been a rainforest. Then Saleen's men came, cutting down all the valuable trees and 13 the villagers to move out. 14 the valley, a dam had been built to provide power for the factories that Saleen planned to build in that area. The factories would bring him great 15. Seeing no reason to delay, he ordered the engineer to press the button. There, in the valley, a cloud of dust rose, followed by a dull explosion. A large river changed its 16 and water flooded into the valley.

    "Good, that's it. Now, get that doctor in here," he 17.

    The doctor came in with a worried look and started to examine his 18 patient. "You are doing very well, Mr Saleen. The only medicine is saving your life. But the difficulty is getting more of it."

    "Tell me what you need and we'll get it," Saleen said.

    The doctor said, "The medicine was made of a plant, which is 19. There is only one place in the world where the plant grows."

    "Where?" asked the businessman, 20.

    The doctor smiled, "Well, luckily, the plant comes from one of the lands you own, sir. It comes from a place in South America, known as Pakan Valley."

    Many teachers believe that the hands-on experience is the  (good) way to learn. A group of students in the United States are putting that belief to the test. They  (success) designed and built a robot for discovering unexplored mines  the bottom of the sea. Students made the robot (answer) a challenge from the US Department of Defense.

    The students recently tested the underwater vehicle (call) PerseusⅡ in a 95-metre-long tank of water at the Stevens Institute of Technology.

    The robot costs about $15,000 to build. The students use a video game controller to direct 4(it) movements in the tank. What's more, devices known as Japters  (able) the robot to go up, down and towards its target in the water. Video cameras on the robot send images back to a computer through a 13-metre-long cable. Perseus Ⅱ,the students worked up to 20 hours a week to design and build, also has  set of lasers, which are used to measure the size of an object.

    DeLorme supervised the project from (begin) to end. He said the specialized requirements of robots were demanding.

    The year is 2094. It has been announced that a comet (彗星) is heading towards the earth. Most of it will miss our planet, but two pieces will probably hit the southern half of the earth.

    On 17 July, a piece four kilometres wide enters the earth's atmosphere with a massive explosion. About half of the piece is destroyed, but the remaining part hits the South Atlantic at 200 times the speed of sound. The sea boils and a huge hole is made in the sea bed. Huge waves are created and spread outwards from the hole. The wall of water, a kilometre high, rushes towards southern Africa at 800 kilometres an hour. Cities on the African coast are totally destroyed and millions of people are drowned.

    Before the waves reach South America, the second piece of the comet lands in Argentina. Earthquakes and volcanoes are set off in the Andean Mountains. The shock waves move north into California and all around the Pacific Ocean. The cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Tokyo are completely destroyed by earthquakes. Millions of people in the southern half of the earth are already dead, but the north won't escape for long. Because of the explosions, the sun is hidden by clouds of dust, and temperatures around the world fall to almost zero. Crops are ruined. The sun won't be seen again for many years. Wars break out as countries fight for food. A year later, no more than 10 million people remain alive.

    Could it really happen? In fact, it has already happened more than once in the history of the earth. The dinosaurs were on the earth for over 160 million years. Then 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared. Many scientists believe that the earth was hit by a piece of object in space. The dinosaurs couldn't live through the cold climate that followed and they died out. Will we meet the same end?

    There is an old Spanish saying which states, "Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week." How many times have we put off our dreams tomorrow?  We have to go for them now!

    Tomorrow is not promised.

    Nobody likes to talk about death, but everybody is going to die at one point. None of us know the day or the hour.  Don't go to your tomb (坟墓) with unrealized dreams. Make the decision to go after every dream, big or small right now.

    One of the biggest dream killers is fear. Many people could have achieved amazing things if only they weren't afraid. Just think about all the things you've wanted to do, but allowed fear to convince you that you weren't talented, or good enough. Fear is not real. It is a product of thoughts you create.

    Take action to realize your dream.

    You can dream about writing a great play, but it's never going to happen unless you actually put pen to paper. You can dream about finding a cure for cancer, but it will never happen unless you actually become equipped with the necessary tools to find that cure.

    Possibilities are waiting on you.

    There are so many amazing opportunities and people waiting on you. How do you get to them? Simple! Follow your dream.  You'll never see those doors if you sit around waiting on a dream to happen, instead of actually working to make it happen.

A. Don't let fear win.

B. Therefore, today is all we have.

C. You'll be much happier if you go for it.

D. Our dreams should not, and cannot wait.

E. In other words, dreams don't work unless you do.

F. Doors that you couldn't imagine open up when you go after what you want.

G. You were born into the world with a unique gift, which nobody can copy.

阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。

    I worked from the time when I was four and raised seven children, all of them college graduates. It seemed I'd done everything I'd ever wanted to do in my life, but I had one regret. I was born in 1898, the oldest of five kids. Papa couldn't spare me to go to school, so I worked in the fields with him till I was 21 years old.

    Everywhere I went, I learned some hard lessons about what happens to a man who even can't read the alphabet. People cheat you out of wages. They sell you a ticket to one city, take your money and hand you a ticket to somewhere else.

    By 1928, I'd been wandering for nine years. I met a woman named Elzenia. We fell in love, married and moved to Dallas, where I got work fixing roads for the city. When Amelia, the oldest of our seven children, first went to school, I took my wife aside. "Elzenia," I said. "I don't want the kids to know I can't read or write."

    In 1938, one day my boss called me in. "George," he said. "No one knows those machines like you do. I'd like to promote you. "But my thrill and surprise were cut short when he said," Fill out this application and we'll get you a raise. "I couldn't admit the truth. I thanked him and walked out of his office. I did stay right where I was, until I turned 65 and my boss made me retire. But I didn't stop working. For the next 25 years, I lived a happy life, but it still seemed to me like something was missing.

    A young fellow handed me a piece of paper. It's information about adult education classes. People can learn to read and write. Now I'm 98. I thought of my friends and neighbours and what they might think if they found out I couldn't read. After all these years, my secret would be out. But all my life I've wanted to read. It was high time for action.

注意：

1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右；

2）至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；

3）续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；

4）续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。

Paragraph 1:

    The young man drove me to

Paragraph 2:

    I'm still going to school.

    When a child is told he is "uncool", it can be very painful. He may say he doesn't care, and even act in ways that are opposite of cool on purpose(故意地). But these are simple ways to deal with sadness by pretending it's not there.

    Helping a child feel better in school has to be careful. If you say, "Why are you worried about what other children think about you? It doesn't matter!" Children know that it does matter. Instead, an active way may be best. You could say, "I'm going to do a couple of things for you to help you feel better in school."

    If a boy is having trouble making friends, the teacher can help him. The teacher can arrange things so that he has chances to use his abilities to contribute to class projects. This is how the other children learn how to value his good qualities and to like him. A teacher can also raise a child's popularity in the group by showing that he values that child. It even helps to put him in a seat next to a very popular child, or let him be a partner with that child in activities, etc.

    There are things that parents can do at home, too. Be friendly when your child brings others home to play. Encourage him to invite friends to meals and then serve the dishes they consider "super". When you plan trips, picnics, movies, and other shows, invite another child with whom your child wants to be friends.

    What you can do is give him a chance to join a group that may be shutting him out. Then, if he has good qualities, he can start to build real friendship of his own.

    People have been enjoying the benefits of cycling(骑自行车) in Amsterdam(阿姆斯特丹) for years. It is a good city for cycling because it is flat and there are plenty of places for bicycle parking. Today some people call Amsterdam "City of Bicycles" because of the convenience for bicycles there.

    In the 1960s, a group of cycling fans had an idea. They believed that it would be better for everybody if cars weren't allowed in the city centre and only bicycles were. They were hopeful that this would help to save energy, reduce pollution and provide free public transport. The group painted hundreds of bicycles white and placed them in lots of neighbourhoods around Amsterdam for people to use. Then a problem came—thieves took all the bicycles within weeks!

    However, more than thirty years later, the "white bike" is back in town—this time with a computer chip(芯片) to record its every move! To take a bicycle, you have to insert(插入) a special card. The new "white bike" is not actually white but is an unusual design with bright colours. The bikes are parked at special parking places and people who want to use them have to take them to another special parking place that has enough room.

    There is already less traffic in central Amsterdam, because both locals and tourists have been using the white bikes. Instead, thanks to the good ideas of lots of people, like the cycling fans in the 1960s, many people around the world have been enjoying city centre streets without cars many years.