For each numbered blank in the following passage there are four choices labeled [A], [B], [C], and [D], choose the best one and put your choice in the ANSWER SHEET. Read the whole passage before making your choice. (10 points)
No one knows for sure what the world would be like in the year 2001. Many books have been written __26__ the future. But the 19th-century French novelist Jules Verne may be called a futurologist in the fullest __27__ of the word. In his fantastic novels “A Trip to the Moon” and “80 Days Around the World,” he described with detail the aeroplane and even the helicopter. These novels still have a great attraction __28__ young readers of today because of their bold imagination and scientific accuracy.
Below is a description of what our life will be in the year 2001 as predicted by a __29__ writer.
In 2001, in the home, cookers will be set so that you can cook a complete meal at the touch of a switch.
Television will provide information on prices at the __30__ shops as well as news and entertainment. Videophones will bring pictures as well as __31__ to telephone conversations.
Machines will control temperature, lighting, entertainment, security alarms, laundry and gardening.
Lighting will provide decoration as well as wallpaper.
At work, robots will take __32__ most jobs in the manufacturing industries. Working hours will fall to under 30 hours a week. Holidays will get longer; six weeks will be the normal annual holiday. Men and women will retire at the same age.
Our leisure will be different too. The home will become the center of entertainment through television and electronic games. More people will eat out in restaurants __33__ they do today; also they will have a much wider variety of food available. There will be a change of taste towards a more savoury-flavored menu. New synthetic foods will form a __34__ part of people’s diets.
Foreign travel will __35__; winter holidays will become more popular than summer ones.
Also non-stop flights from Britain to Australia and New Zealand will be easily available and much cheaper. Education will become increasingly more important than ever before.
