Question

    For the last month, a married couple has been interacting with a robot — called an Avatar — （hat’s con trolled by their daughter hundreds of miles away. Made by ANA Holdings Inc, it looks like a vacuum cleaner with an iPad attached. But the screen displays the daughter’s face as they chat, and its wheels let her walk slowly about the house as though she’s really there.

“Virtual travel” is nothing new, of course. Storytellers, travel writers and artists have been stimulating the senses of armchair tourists for centuries. It’s only in recent decades that frequent, safe travel has become available to the non-wealthy.

Yet even as the world’s middle classes climb out of the armchair and into economy-class seats, there are signs of a post-travel society appearing. Concerns about the environment make people lose interest in carbon-intensive (碳排放量很高的) airlines. And the aging of societies is both slowing down the growth of physical travel and creating demand for alternative ways to experience the world. For the travel industry, virtual reality offers a tantalizing (诱人的) response to these trends.

Of course, far-out (前卫的) technologies encourage profits. ANA doesn’t plan to start selling Avatars until next year. By one estimate, the global market for this kind of technology will be worth only about S300 million by 2023. By contrast, ANA’s traditional travel business brought in more than $19 billion last year.

But although the business case for virtual vacations is still weak, the market for technologies that bridge physical distances between families and coworkers seems likely to only expand. ANA’s robots may not replace its airplanes any time soon, but they’ll almost certainly be a part of travel’s high-tech future.

1.What purpose does the first paragraph serve in the passage?

A.To show a picture of our future life.

B.To describe the daily life of a couple.

C.To attract readers’ attention to the topic.

D.To add background in formation of the topic.

2.What is the third paragraph mainly about?

A.Humans tend to live much longer than before.

B.People are becoming more worried about the environment.

C.Virtual travel might cater for people’s desire to see the world.

D.The profits of carbon-intensive airlines are possibly declining.

3.ANA is not planning to start selling Avatars soon probably because ________.

A.it is still skeptical about their potential

B.they still need to be further tested out

C.traditional travel business is taking off

D.their commercial profits may not be satisfying

4.The author believes the global market for virtual travel is ________.

A.promising B.ambiguous

C.depressing D.challenging

Answer

1.C

2.C

3.D

4.A

【解析】

本文为说明文。随着科技的进步和时代的发展，虚拟旅行成为对体验世界的方式的新需求，尽管商业前景依然黯淡，但它们几乎肯定会成为未来高科技旅行的一部分。

1.推理判断题。第一段描述了一对夫妇与一个由女儿在好几百英里之外操控的称作an Avatar的机器人互动的情景，从而引出下文“Virtual travel”的话题，故第一段的作用是吸引读者对话题的兴趣，故选C。

2.段落大意题。根据Concerns about the environment make people lose interest in carbon-intensive (碳排放量很高的) airlines. And the aging of societies is both slowing down the growth of physical travel and creating demand for alternative ways to experience the world.可知，环境保护和人口老龄化等问题使得传统旅行逐渐失去吸引力，一个后旅游社会的迹象正在显现，而虚拟旅行可以满足人们看世界的欲望。故选C。

3.推理判断题。根据倒数第二段By one estimate, the global market for this kind of technology will be worth only about S300 million by 2023. By contrast, ANA s traditional travel business brought in more than $19 billion last year.（据估计，到2023年，这种技术的全球市场价值将仅为3亿瑞士法郎。相比之下，全日空的传统旅游业务去年带来了超过190亿美元），通过数据对比可知，他们的商业利润可能并不令人满意，故选D。

4.推理判断题。根据最后一段ANA’s robots may not replace its airplanes any time soon, but they’ll almost certainly be a part of travel’s high-tech future.（全日空的机器人可能不会很快取代它的飞机，但它们几乎肯定会成为未来高科技旅行的一部分。）可知，作者对虚拟旅行的全球市场是充满希望的，故选A。