2003年4月北京成人本科学位英语考试题B卷

Part I  Reading Comprehension  
Passage l 
Questions l to 5 are based on the following passage:  

What will man be like in the future - in 5000 or even 50000 years from now? We can only make a guess, 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 a relatively short period of time, so we may assume that man will continue to grow taller.  

Again, in the modem 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 tool 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 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? It will probably disappear from the body altogether in 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 this gives the impression that 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..

 [文章大意及重要词汇]

    5000甚至50，000年之后人类会是什么样子？当然，我们只能作一个预测，但是可以肯定的是他们一定会和今天有所不同，因为人类无时无刻不在变化。

    我们举个简单的例子，五百年前的人类比现在的人类普遍要矮，现在的人比五百年前的人平均要高三英寸（inch）。五百年是一个相对短的时间，所以我们可以想象（assume）到人类还会继续（continue）变高。

     同时，现在的人用脑也更加频繁。既便如此，我们也只用了大脑的20％，但是，随着时间的流逝我们将更加频繁的用脑，最终导致我们对更发达的大脑的需求，并带来我们头部的变化，特别是前额会变的越来越大。

     现在人类的眼睛处在不断的使用之中（in constant use）。事实上，由于频繁的使用使人类的视力越变越弱，并最终不得不佩戴眼睛。但是。从长远来看，人类的眼睛是越变越好。

     另外，人类使用他们的四肢的频率降低，这使得四肢越来越虚弱。但是，人类的手机会越来越灵巧，因为它们在现代化的生活中使用频繁。

     头发会发生什么样的变化呢？它可能从人类的身体上消失（disappear），因为它不在有用，将来的人类是男性还是女性都可能会是秃头（bald）。