2020年中考英语阅读理解专题练习《热点话题》
新科技
Passage 1(2019台州)
Brooke wanted a dollhouse and some sugar cookies. So the 6yearold asked Alexa to get them. Alexa wasn't her mom or babysitter. It was a voiceactivated home assistant powered by AI(人工智能). And it made Brooke's wishes come true. A few days later, much to her parents' surprise, a  $170 dollhouse and four pounds of cookies showed up. They ate the cookies and gave away the dollhouse to a local hospital. And that's not the end of the story. When a news reporter told the story of what happened on TV, Alexa devices(设备)in many listeners' homes woke up and tried to order dollhouses!
Alexa isn't the only AI willing to serve you. Apple Homepod has Siri, Google Home has its Assistant, and the upcoming Galaxy Home device will have Bixby. People who have these devices use them mainly for listening to music, checking the weather, and setting timers. Acc
ording to a report from The Information, nowadays voice shopping is rare. But many scientists predict a boom(增长) in voice shopping in the near future. Is that a good thing?
________. You can shout out an order as soon as you think of it, even if you are cooking, cleaning, or driving. In addition, people with disabilities who are unable to use a keyboard or mouse can shop without any help.
But voice shopping has its disadvantages. Unwanted dollhouses aren't the biggest problem. It's usually very easy to cancel an order or return products. The thing that worries some people is that these assistants are always listening. They have to be able to respond when you want them. So they listen for “Alexa” or “OK Google” or another order. When they hear it, they start recording the conversation. Some have worried about what happens to these recordings. Should companies be allowed to use them to learn about people's shopping habits? And what if someone hacks(入侵) the device? The CIA found a way to hack smart TVs to turn them into spies that listen all the time. Others could do the same with any smart device.
What do you think? Are you ready to start voice shopping?
(  )1. From the passage, we know that Alexa ________．
A. can look after the baby  B. can cook delicious food
C. is a toy doll sold online  D. is one kind of AI device
(  )2. The underlined word “rare” in Paragraph 2 probably means ________．
A. unusual  B. expensive  C. harmful  D. impossible
(  )3. Which of the following is the best to fill in the “________” in Paragraph 3?
A. Convenience is the main advantage of voice shopping
B. The cost of voice shopping is lower than other ways
C. The popularity of voice shopping is increasing
D. The technology of voice shopping needs improving
(  )4. Paragraph 4 mainly tells us that ________ when people try voice shopping.
A. AI sometimes forgets people's orders
B. personal information might be hacked
C. it's difficult to cancel or return products
D. the needs for products can't be satisfied
Passage 2(2019宿迁)
Technology is developing fast and it has become an important part of our life. Then what will the world be like in the future?
3D food will be both delicious and nutritious(有营养的). We can use 3D printers to print some basic materials. __①__ And we can go further. Scientists believe that we just need to turn on a printer in the kitchens and then we can enjoy our favourite food whenever we like.
__②__ 5G network will allow many more people to get information. Big companies like China Mobile and China Unicom will start to offer 5G. It is said that 5G promises download speeds 10 to 20 times faster than 4G. For example, we can download a film within just 1 second. But with a 4G network, it takes a few minutes. There will be much bandwidth(带宽) and we can get unlimited(无限的) information.
Underwater cities will provide more space. The earth is becoming more and more crowded. We may turn to underwater homes, which will be built as low as 15 kilometers below the sea. And the different temperatures at the different depths(深度) of the sea can be used to provide power for the homes.
__③__ For us common people on the earth, the dream of travelling around space will come true. In the coming years, spacecraft will be as popular as buses, trains and planes. We can leave our home and enter space to take an adventure(冒险). And even we will get used to living there.
A robot will be a part of life. Robots can do many of the same things as we humans do like driving cars. But they will be used in other areas as well. They will be able to think. They can tell the difference between right and wrong. They can feel sadness or joy. When we are lonely, they can haveless is more英文理解 a talk with us like real friends.