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PASSAGE 13 A Thirsty World ?The world is not only hungry, it is also thirsty for water. This may seem strange to you, since nearly 75% of the earth’s surface is covered with water. But about 97% of this huge amount is sea-water, or salt water. Man can only drink and use the other 3% --the fresh water that comes from rivers, lakes, underground, and other sources. ____1____, because some of it is in the form of icebergs1 and glaciers2. Even worse, some of it has been polluted. At the moment, his small amount of fresh water is still enough for us. However, our need for water is increasing rapidly. Only if we take steps to deal with this problem now, can we avoid a severe worldwide water shortage3 later on. One of the useful steps we can take is to stop unlimited4 use of water. ____2____, however, would have a bad effect on agriculture and industry. In addition to stopping wasting our precious water, one more useful step we should take is to develop ways of reusing it. ____3____, but only on a small scale. Today, in most large cities, water is used only once and it eventually returns to the sea or runs into underground storage tanks. ____4____ that has been used to a purifying6 plant. There it can be filtered and treated with chemicals so that it can be used again just as if it were fresh from a spring. ___5____, we still would not have enough. Where could we turn next? To the oceans! All we’d have to do to make use of the vast amount of sea-water is -remove the salt. This salt-removing process is already in use in many parts of the world. So if we take all these steps, we’ll be in no danger of drying up! A. A limited water supply B. But it is possible to pipe water C. It is possible to purify5 large amounts of sea water D. But even if every large city purified7 and reused its water E. And we cannot even use all of that F. Experiments have already been done in this field KEYS: EAFBD PASSAGE 14 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 rotate8 so they could follow the sun to take maximum advantage of its light and heat. Walls would "radiate9 light" and "change color with the push of a button." Food would be replaced by pills. School would be taught "by electrical impulse10 while we sleep.’’ Cars would have radar11. Does this sound like the year 2000? Actually, ________ and the question was, "what will life be like in 1978?" The future is much too important to simply guess about, the way the high school students did, so experts are regularly asked to predict accurately12. By carefully studying the present, skilled businessmen, scientists, and politicians are supposedly able to figure out in advance what will happen. But can they? One expert on cities wrote: _______, 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 _________. But economic forecasting, or predicting what the economy will do, had 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. In early 1929, most forecasters saw an excellent future for the stock market. In October of that year, _______, ruining thousands of investors13 who had put their faith in financial foreseers. One forecaster knew that predictions about the future would always be subject to significant errors. In 1957, H.J. Rand of the Rand Corporation was asked about the year 2000, "Only one thing is certain," he answered. "Children born today _______. " A. the stock market had its worst losses ever B. will have reached the age of 43 C. the article was written in 1958 D. Cities of the future would not be crowded E. the prediction of the future is generally accurate F. future study is still a new field Key:CDFAB PASSAGE 15 Marriage and Children Many single Americans today are waiting longer to get married. Some women and men are delaying marriages and family ___(1)___; others want to become more established in their chosen profession. Most of people eventually will marry. One survey showed that only 15 percent of all single adults in the United States want to stay single. Some women become more interested in getting married and starting a family as they enter their 30s. One positive result may come from ___(2)___. People who get married at later ages have fewer divorces. Along with the decision to wait to marry, couples are also waiting longer before they have children, ___(3)___. Rearing14 a child in the United States is costly15. Some couples today are deciding not to have children at all. In 1955, only one percent of all women expected to have no children. Today more than five percent say they want to remain childless. The ability of a couple to choose ___(4)___ means that more children ___(5)___ are very much wanted and loved. EXERCISE: A) whether they will have children B) sometimes in order to be more firmly established economically C) no matter how late they marry D) men and women marrying late E) who are born in the United States F) because they want to finish school or start their careers KEY:F D B A E 点击  收听单词发音
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