I was desperately nervous about becoming car-free. But eight months ago our car was hit by a passing vehicle and it was destroyed. No problem, I thought: we'll buy another. But the insurance payout didn't even begin to cover the costs of buying a new car—I worked out that, with the loan(贷款) we'd need plus petrol, insurance, parking permits and tax, we would make a payment as much as ￡600 a month.
And that's when I had my fancy idea. Why not just give up having a car at all? I live in London. We have a railway station behind our house, a tube station 10 minutes' walk away, and a bus stop at the end of the street. A new car club had just opened in our area, and one of its shiny little red Peugeots was parked nearby. If any family in Britain could live without a car, I reasoned, then surely we were that family.
But my new car-free idea, sadly, wasn't shared by my family. My teenage daughters were horrified. What would their friends think about our family being "too poor to afford a car"? (I wasn't that bothered what they thought, and I suggested the girls should take the same approach.)
My friends, too, were astonished at our plan. What would happen if someone got seriously ill overnight and needed to go to hospital? (an ambulance) How would the children get to and from their many events? (buses and trains) People smiled as though this was another of my mad ideas, before saying they were sure I'd soon realize that a car was a necessity.
Eight months later, I wonder whether we'll ever own a car again. The idea that you "have to" own a car, especially if you live in a city, is all in the mind. I live—and many other citizens do too—in a place that has never been better served by public transport, and yet car ownership has never been higher. We worry about rising car costs, but we'd be better off asking something much more basic: Do I really need a car? Certainly the answer is no, and I'm a lot richer because I dare to ask the question.
Rapid advances in a new technology will soon transform science fiction into reality—meaning people will have driverless cars, small robots at their command and the ability to experience being in another place without leaving home, predicted Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the planet's largest cellphone trade show.
Introduction of books available online, Internet translation of languages and voice recognition for computers all happened much faster than anyone could foresee and that technological research into even more previously unheard of advances is progressing at a fast speed.
"People who predict that holograms(全息图) and self-driving cars will become reality soon are absolutely right," Schmidt told thousands of attendees. Research underway will lead to situations where people can put themselves at events like a rock concert so that they can see, hear and even feel the event. And turn down the volume, if it's too loud.
One attendee said she was scared that the possibility could be dehumanizing, but Schmidt replied by holding up his cellphone into the air. "It has an off button and it is here on the right," Schmidt said. "My point is that it is all about your control. If you don't like my version of a rock concert, I'm not forcing you to go. In the future, small robots could be used, so busy people can send them to events for video and voice transmissions when their presence isn't required," Schmidt said.
Technology in the near future will redefine the relationship among people in the world. "Smarter resourceful citizens are going to demand a better deal for their new life," Schmidt said.
What will man be like in the future—in 5,000 or even 50,000 years from now? We can only make guesses, of course, but we can be sure that he will be different from what he is today, for man is slowly changing all the time.
Let us take an obvious example. Man, even five hundred years ago, was shorter than he is today. Now, on average, men are about three inches taller. Five hundred years is relatively a short period of time, so we may assume that man will continue to grow taller .Again, in the modern world we use our brains a great deal. Even so, we still make use of only about 20% of the brain's capacity. As time goes on, however, we shall have to use our brains more and more ,and eventually we shall need larger ones! This is likely to bring about a physical change to the head; in particular, the forehead will grow larger.
Nowadays our eyes are in constant use. In fact, we use them so much that very often they become weaker and we have to wear glasses .But over a very long period of time it is likely that man's eyes will grow stronger.
On the other hand, we tend to make less use of our arms and legs. These, as a result, are likely to grow weaker. At the same time, however, our fingers will grow more sensitive because they are used a great deal in modern life.
But what about hair? This will probably disappear from the body altogether in the course of time because it does not serve a useful purpose any longer. In the future, then, both sexes are likely to be bald.
Perhaps all these give the impression that in the future man will not be a very attractive creature to look at! This may well be true .All the same, in spite of all these changes, future man will still have a lot in common with us. He will still be a human being, with thoughts and emotions similar to our own.
Ali and his younger sister, Zahra, lived with their parents in a poor neighbourhood. Their mother was very sick and their father was struggling to find a job, and they had only a little money with which to buy food. As they had not paid the rent for several months, the landlord was breathing down their necks(盯着他们).
One day, Ali took Zahra's shoes to a shoe repairman to be fixed, but he lost them on the way home. It wasn't until he got home that he realized he had lost the shoes. He was afraid that his parents would be angry and disappointed, so he begged his sister to keep it secret. Zahra agreed and the two decided to share Ali's running shoes. Zahra's school hours were in the morning, so she would wear them first. After school, she would rush back and give them to Ali. He could then run to his school, which began in the afternoon. Although he ran as fast as he could, Ali often arrived late and was warned by the school.
Ali heard about a long distance race that was held for the boys in the city. When he learned that the third prize was a new pair of shoes, he decided to take part. He ran home excitedly and promised his sister that he would win her the new shoes.
The day of race arrived. Ali had a strong start, but halfway through the race he began to get tired and his legs began to ache. Getting more and more exhausted he thought only of Zahra and his promise to her. Dreaming of the new shoes he would win for his sister gave him strength, and he stayed right behind the two fastest runners, determined to finish third. Suddenly, as the finish line drew near, another runner collided (碰撞) with Ali from behind and he crashed to the ground.
注意：
1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2）至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
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Ali looked up and saw the other boys rushing ahead.
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Filled with pleasure, Ali walked home quickly.
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