单选题
Hardly a week goes by without some advance in
technology that would have seemed in- credible 50 years ago. And we can expect
the rate of change to accelerate rather than slow down within our lifetime. The
developments in technology are bound to have a dramatic effect on the future of
work. By 2010, new technology will have revolutionized communications. People
will be transmitting messages down telephone lines that previously would have
been sent by post. Not only postmen but also clerks and secretaries will vanish
in a paper-free society. All the routine tasks they perform will be carried on a
tiny silicon chip so that they will be as obsolete as the horse and cart after
the invention of the motor car. One change will make thou-sands, if not
millions, redundant. Even people in traditional professions,
where expert knowledge has been the key, are unlikely to escape the effects of
new technology. Instead of going to a solicitor, you might go to a computer
which is programmed with all the most up-to-date legal information. Doctors,
too, will find that an electronic competitor will be able to carry out a much
quicker and more accurate diagnosis and recommend more efficient courses of
treatment. In education, teachers will be largely replaced by teaching machines
far more knowledgeable than any human being. Most learning will take place in
the home via video conferencing. Children will still go to school though, until
another place is created where they can make friends and develop social
skills. What can we do to avoid the threat of unemployment? We
shouldn't hide our heads in the sand. Unions will try to stop change but they
will be fighting a losing battle. People should get computer literate as this
just might save them from professional extinction. After all, there will be a
few jobs left in law, education and medicine for those few individuals who are
capable of writing and programming the software of the future. Strangely enough,
there will still be jobs like rubbish collection and cleaning as it is tough to
programme tasks which are largely unpredictable.
单选题
According to the writer, the rate of change in technology ______.
A. will remain the same.
B. will slow down
C. will speed up
D. can not be predicted
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 本题的落点在第一段的第二句。句中 rather than (而不是)连接两个意义相对的成分。从 slow down (缓慢下来)可以推测 accelerate 意为“加速”，与C项中 speed up 相近。
单选题
The writer expects that by 2010 new technology will have revolutionized
communications and ______.
A. bookshops will not exist
B. the present postal system will have disappeared
C. people will no longer send letters
D. the postmen will have been replaced by the motor cars.
单选题
The passage tells us that in the future ______.
A. children will not be taught in schools
B. no teachers will be needed
C. teachers will be less knowledgeable
D. children will learn life skills at school
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 本题的落点在第二段最后三句，注意以下词语 largely replaced 而不是 completely re placed，most learning 而不是all learning，still go to school 以及 make friends and develop social skills 。