Exercise 17: Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.
If you could travel back in time five centuries, you'd encounter a thriving Aztec empire in Central Mexico, a freshly painted "Mona Lisa" in Renaissance Europe and cooler temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere. This was a world in the midst of the Little Ice Age (A.D. 1300 to 1850) and a period of vast European exploration now known as the Age of Discovery. But what if we could look 500 years into the future and glimpse the Earth of the 26th century? Would the world seem as different to us as the 21st century would have seemed to residents of the 16th century? For starters, what will the weather be like?
Depending on whom you ask, the 26th century will either be a little chilly or infernally hot.
Some solar output models suggest that by the 2500s, Earth's climate will have cooled back down
to near Little Ice Age conditions. Other studies predict that ongoing climate change and fossil fuel use will render much of the planet too hot for human life by 2300.
Some experts date the beginning of human climate change back to the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, others to slash-and-burn agricultural practices in prehistoric times. Either way, tool- wielding humans alter their environment -- and our 26th century tools might be quite impressive indeed.
Theoretical physicist and futurist Michio Kaku predicts that in a mere 100 years, humanity will make the leap from a type zero civilization to a type I civilization on the Kardashev Scale. In other words, we'll become a species that can harness the entire sum of a planet's energy. Wielding such power, 26th-century humans will be masters of clean energy technologies such as fusion and solar power. Furthermore, they'll be able to manipulate planetary energy in order to control global climate. Physicist Freeman Dyson, on the other hand, estimates the leap to a type I civilization would occur within roughly 200 years.
Technology has improved exponentially since the 1500s, and this pace will likely continue in the centuries to come. Physicist Stephen Hawking proposes that by the year 2600, this growth would see 10 new theoretical physics papers published every 10 seconds. If Moore's Law holds true and both computer speed and complexity double every 18 months, then some of these studies may be the work of highly intelligent machines.
What other technologies will shape the world of the 26th century? Futurist and author Adrian Berry believes the average human life span will reach 140 years and that the digital storage of human personalities will enable a kind of computerized immortality. Humans will farm the oceans, travel in starships and reside in both lunar and Martian colonies while robots explore the outer cosmos.
(Source: haps://science,howstuffworks.com)
Question 121: Which of the following could be the main idea of the passage?
- How would the world change in the next 500 years?
- What would we do in the next five centuries?
- What problems would happen in the 26th century?
- How would technology improve the life in the far future?
Question 122: The word “infernally” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to_____ _.
A. differently B. extremely
C. permanently D. contemporaneously
Question 123: According to the passage, what do experts predict about the weather in the future?
- The temperature will decline as much as possible because of the excessive fossil fuel use.
- The Little Ice Age will return due to the influence of solar energy.
- The Earth will have to face with extreme weather like frost or scorching period.
- The climate change will happen more quickly because of deforestation.
Question 124: The word "harness" in paragraph 4 could best be replaced by______ _.
A. renew B. adjust C. exploit D. discover
Question 125: What does the word "they" in paragraph 4 refer to?
A. fusion and solar energy B. clean energy technologies
C. masters D. 26th - century humans
Question 126: Which of the following is TRUE about the future predictions?
- Michio Kaku believes that the progress from type 0 to type I civilization will take about two centuries.
- People in the 2500s are likely to control the energy of the Earth to limit the global climate.
- The speed of technology improvement will remain changeable in the far future.
- Solar energy will be the main power for the 26th -century citizens.
Question 127: According to Adrian Berry, the following are what future humans can do, EXCEPT
______.
A. cultivating in the oceans B. traveling between the stars
C. exploring the universe by robots D. living as long as they want
Question 128: It can be inferred from the passage that_________ _.
- no one could be sure what the life would be like in the 2500s.
- what we imagine about the life in the 26th century may be the same what the 16th- ceritury people thought about the current life.
- the predictions of different scientists may draw the same world in the next 500 years.
- technology will affect most of the fields in the future life.
