So what does our deep future hold? A growing number of researchers and organisations are now thinking seriously about that question. For example, the Long Now Foundation has its flagship project a medical clock that is designed to still be marking time thousands of years hence 。

　　Perhaps willfully , it may be easier to think about such lengthy timescales than about the more immediate future. The potential evolution of today's technology, and its social consequences, is dazzlingly complicated, and it's perhaps best left to science fiction writers and futurologists to explore the many possibilities we can envisage. That's one reason why we have launched Arc, a new publication dedicated to the near future。

　　But take a longer view and there is a surprising amount that we can say with considerable assurance. As so often, the past holds the key to the future: we have now identified enough of the long-term patterns shaping the history of the planet, and our species, to make evidence-based forecasts about the situations in which our descendants will find themselves。

　　This long perspective makes the pessimistic view of our prospects seem more likely to be a passing fad. To be sure, the future is not all rosy. But we are now knowledgeable enough to reduce many of the risks that threatened the existence of earlier humans, and to improve the lot of those to come。

　　31. Our vision of the future used to be inspired by

　　[A] our desire for lives of fulfillment

　　[B] our faith in science and technology

　　[C] our awareness of potential risks

　　[D] our belief in equal opportunity

　　32. The IUCN’s “Red List” suggest that human being are

　　[A] a sustained species

　　[B] a threaten to the environment

　　[C] the world’s dominant power

　　[D] a misplaced race

　　33. Which of the following is true according to Paragraph 5?

　　[A] Arc helps limit the scope of futurological studies。

　　[B] Technology offers solutions to social problem。

　　[C] The interest in science fiction is on the rise。

　　[D] Our Immediate future is hard to conceive。

　　34. To ensure the future of mankind, it is crucial to

　　[A] explore our planet’s abundant resources

　　[B] adopt an optimistic view of the world

　　[C] draw on our experience from the past

　　[D] curb our ambition to reshape history

　　35. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

　　[A] Uncertainty about Our Future

　　[B] Evolution of the Human Species

　　[C] The Ever-bright Prospects of Mankind

　　[D] Science, Technology and Humanity

　　答案：31-35: BBDCA

　　答案详解：

　　31. B 【解析】细节题。根据题干信息，our vision of the future used to定位为文章第一段。B选项为答案，我们的对未来的想象曾经被我们对于科技的信心所鼓舞。 A 选项错误原因为因果倒置，lives of fulfillment是由science and technololgy导致，与文章题干要求our vision of future 无关。C选项为无中生有，也未提到awareness of potential risks的概念。D选项equal opportunity为opportunity for all所有人都有相等的机会的曲解。

　　32.B 【解析】推理题。文章问题是“Red List”表明人类怎么是什么。根据关键词定位到文章的第三段。Look up Homo sapiens in the "Red List" of threatened species of the International Union for the Conversation of Nature (IUCN) ,and you will read…。根据threatened species知道是被威胁的物种，同时后面的the Conversation of Nature知道是对自然的。那这个“threatened”被人类威胁就很明显。

　　33. D 【解析】判断题。 A 选项定位在it's perhaps best left to science fiction writers and futurologists to explore the many possibilities we can envisage. That's one reason why we have launched Arc, a new publication dedicated to the near future。这里根本就没有讲限制。这2句话是说要让科幻小说的作者和未来学家去探索我们能现象的可能性。。这里发表的Arc根本就没有讲限制。A 排除B讲科技，但是文章说完The potential evolution of today's technology, and its social consequences, is dazzlingly complicated,讲科技和它的社会意义。后面一句 and it's perhaps best…能看得到转折。文章也没有提到solution，也没有提到社会问题(social problem)。

　　C 选项是说对科幻小说的兴趣在上升(on the rise)但是整段都没有说到这个趋势。D选项定位文章第一句话 Perhaps willfully , it may be easier to think about such lengthy timescales than about the more immediate future。从这句话能推测出immediate future是比漫长的时标更难的事情，也是更不易察觉的。

　　34. C 【解析】细节题。 定位的是future of the mankind ,文章第6段，同时有个很重要的标点符号冒号，说明the past holds the key to the future: 一直在点号之前都是这句话的具体解释。也就是说这句强调the past 的关键性，所以选择C。A项B项和D项都跟内容无关。

　　35. A 【解析】主旨题 文章最好的题目是A选项，对未来的不确定性。文章第一段讲过去人们对于未来的想象，第二，三段为对现在的看法。第四段至最后一段为对未来的不确定性。B选项为人类的演化，C选项为人类美好的前景，D选项科学，技术与人类不是文章的主旨 。顾答案为A。

Text 4

　　On a five to three vote, the Supreme Court knocked out much of Arizona’s immigration law Monday-a modest policy victory for the Obama Administration. But on the more important matter of the Constitution, the decision was an 8-0 defeat for the Administration’s effort to upset the balance of power between the federal government and the states。

　　In Arizona v. United States, the majority overturned three of the four contested provisions of Arizona’s controversial plan to have state and local police enforce federal immigration law. The Constitutional principles that Washington alone has the power to "establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization "and that federal laws precede state laws are noncontroversial. Arizona had attempted to fashion state policies that ran parallel to the existing federal ones。

　　Justice Anthony Kennedy, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the Court’s liberals, ruled that the state flew too close to the federal sun. On the overturned provisions the majority held the congress had deliberately "occupied the field" and Arizona had thus intruded on the federal’s privileged powers。

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