Here is some news of the future.

March 20, 2035

There was a lot of news around the life extension drugs that hit the market a decade ago. They didn't promise that you would like forever, but they gave you a chance to extend your life an extra five to ten years. Even though the life expectancy rate at birth has increased greatly, the life expectancy for seniors hasn't improved that much. Basically, you have a greater chance to become a senior, but you will not have a much longer lifespan, and this is where the anti-aging drugs intend to kick in. So, do the anti-aging drugs work? Well，it is too early to tell. But the sales so far are very good.

April 19, 2035

Of the total US population of 378 million, people over 65 years of age now make up 20% for the first time. The senior ratio of only 4.1% by year 1900, and 12.4% 30 years ago.

The number of people above 65 compared to those of what is considered working ages, between 15 and 64, is currently 33.7%. This is up from 18.5% since year 2005, which means that for every retired person there are now two workers, compared to four workers 30 years ago. The number of people above the age of 80 has grown to 23.8 million, making them 6.3% of the total population compared to 3.6% in 2005.

April 12, 2040

Although introduced in the market only five years ago, 10% of all hydrogen fuel now sold in the US is of the environmentally friendly Re-Hydro label, produced through eletrolysis(电解) based on a source of 100% renewable energy. Several producers have turned to producing Re-Hydro, mainly because of lower tax, which also keeps the price of Re-Hydro on the same level as regular hydrogen. Most analysts believe that Re-Hydro will be the dominating fuel in the future.

1.According to News 1 we know that the life extension drugs ____.

A．were first sold in the year 2025.

B．are made to make people live forever.

C．should be taken when people are young.

D．have greatly increased the life expectancy rate at birth.

2.The sales of the life extension drugs so far clearly show that_____.

A．people have no faith in them

B．people want to give them a try

C．they work very well for seniors

D．they have no effect on people’s health

3.What can we learn from News 2?

A．Many Americans will find it hard to find a job.

B．It’s very hard for seniors to pass the age of 80.

C．The US population has been increasing rapidly since 2005.

D．The US population has been aging rapidly since 2005.

4.We can know from the passage that the fuel of the Re-Hydro label is ______.

A．expensive         B．cheap            C．green            D．dangerous

5.What can we infer from News 3?

A．Re-Hydro will be widely used in the future.

B．The government discourages the production of Re-Hydro.

C．Producers are not interested in producing Re-Hydro.

D．Re-Hydro is more expensive than regular hydrogen.

【小题1】Nowadays, _________ （旅游业）becomes more and more popular.
【小题2】My little brother is a very _________（淘气）boy. He often plays tricks on me.
【小题3】Do you enjoy playing ___________（羽毛球）?
【小题4】Following the national news we have the _________（当地）news and weather.
【小题5】You’ve spent too much time on the Internet. I suggest you get your eyes _______(检查).
【小题6】Don’t pull the cloth so hard. It __________（撕）easily.
【小题7】It was _________(慷慨)of them to share their meals with neighbors.
【小题8】Many families go __________（野营） in the hills or on the coast.
【小题9】This kind of pills tastes ________(苦). However, they are very effective.
【小题10】The incomes of skilled workers went up, __________（同时）, unskilled workers saw their earnings fall.

Most of the news in the newspapers is bad but sometimes there is a story with good news. This is one of those stories. Millions of people around the world suffer from AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other serious diseases. There are medicines to treat these diseases but for people in poor countries, these medicines are too expensive to buy. When a pharmaceutical（制药的）company produces a new medicine, they receive a special license called a patent. This license means that the new medicine or drug is protected for a period of 20 years. The company that produced the drug can fix the price of the drug and no other company is allowed to produce the same drug or a copy of the drug for 20 years. At the moment, these patents operate all over the world, both in rich countries and in poor countries. The drugs companies say that they need patents so that they can get the money to pay for research to find new drugs and medicines. In rich countries people usually have enough money to pay for these drugs but in poor countries people can’t afford to buy them and cannot treat diseases like AIDS and malaria.

Last month, however, a group of experts published a report which says that patents are very bad for poor countries. The report says that drug companies do not want to find new medicines for diseases of poor people in poor countries. It says that poor countries should be allowed to buy cheap drugs without patents from other countries.

The authors of the report were lawyers, scientists and a senior director from the drug company Pfizer. Of course, the pharmaceuticals industry doesn’t agree with the report, “We need patents so that we can develop new medicines to fight disease both in the developed and developing world,” said a spokesman. But the report is the first sign that there might be a change in the patent system. This change could save millions of lives in the world’s poorest countries. This really is good news.

1. Why are medicines expensive for people in poor countries?

2. What does the underlined word “patent” in Para1 mean in Chinese?

3.Why do drugs companies need patents?

4. What does the report say?

5.What might happen if the patent system is changed?

根据首字母或提示意思，结合句意，填写单词。

1.Have you ever had any p __________career experience?

2.He is always __________ about his future though he had experienced many failures. （乐观）

3.Our teacher won't t__________ any cheating on exams.

4.I i__________ him that I would not be able to attend. （告诉）

5.She thought for a moment and then __________.  （赞同）

6.He felt that he had been d__________ fooled by that man.

7.It is v________ that the work should be finished in time.

8.It won't make much d__________ whether you go today or tomorrow.  

9. None of these __________to me. （吸引）

10.As one of these women, I find this “news” particularly __________. （荒唐的）

Drunken driving — sometimes called America’s socially accepted form of murder — has become a national epidemic (流行病). Every hour of every day about three Americans on average are killed by drunken drivers, adding up to an incredible 250,000 over the past ten years. A drunken driver is usually referred to as one with 0.10-blood alcohol content or roughly three beer glasses of wine or shots of whisky drunk within two hours. Heavy drinking used to be an acceptable part of the American manly image and judges were lenient in most courts, but the drunken killing has recently caused so many well-publicized tragedies, especially concerning young children, that public opinion is no longer so tolerant.
Twenty states have raised the legal drinking age to 21, reversing a trend in the 1960s to reduce it to 18. After New Jersey lowered it to 18, the number of people killed by 18-20 years old drivers more than doubled, so the state recently upped it back to 21.
Reformers, however, fear raising the drinking age will have little effect unless accompanied by educational programs to help young people to develop “responsible attitudes” about drinking and teach them to resist peer pressure to drink.
Though new laws have led to increased arrests and tests in many areas already, to a marked decline in accidents, some states are also punishing bars for serving customers too many drinks. A bar in Massachusetts was fined for serving six or more double brandies to a customer who was “obviously drunk” and later drove off the road, killing a 9-year-old boy.
As the accidents continue to occur daily in every state, some Americans are even beginning to speak well of the 13 years national prohibition of alcohol that began in 1919, which President Hoover called the “noble experiment”. They forgot that legal prohibition didn’t stop drinking, but encouraged political corruption（腐败) and organized crime. As with the booming drug trade generally, there is no easy solution.
【小题1】What can be inferred from the fact of the traffic accidents in New Jersey?