EU5-12:Talking about the future technology

Vocabulary

[SIMON]That was an amazing documentary.
[JAKE] Gotta love those tiny robots.
[SIMON] Yeah. But I find it hard to believe these robots will inside our bodies. find cancer cells and destroy them.
[JAKE] I don't know - some of the predictions about the future technology really blew me away.
[SIMON] I liked when the scientists predict we'll have genetic scanners that can read our whole DNA in two minutes. But I find It hard to believe.
[JAKE] I think, in the future, robots will Be everywhere.
[SIMON] Yeah. We'll have robot babysitters, robots helping the elderly...
[JAKE] No! I mean these robots will be everywhere, And they'll be so small, we won't Be able to see them. They'll get inside our brains And tell us what to do. Must buy that brand of soda. Must have those new sneakers.
[SIMON] Seriously, though, it's shocking how much robots will take over Our lives in the future.
[JAKE] Scary,huh? Oh.I have another prediction.
[SIMON] What?
[JAKE] I predict... a pizza delivery.

Keywords

• tiny robots
• bodies
• cancer cells
• genetic scanners
• DNA
• the elderly

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Grammar

Predicting

使用情态动词will和 be going to 预测将来要发生的事情。

Robots will take care of the elderly.
Doctors are going to have medical scanners they can hold in their hands.

加上think that猜想将来会发生什么。

I think that robots will do more of our work.

也可以使用动词predict做出预测。

Scientists are predicting that fewer people will die from cancer.

使用in the future强调你在谈论离现在很远的一段时间。

In the future, people will wear their technology, not carry it.

2. Expressing surprise, amazement or doubt

你可以说That’s surprising! 和 That’s amazing!表达惊奇或者吃惊。下面介绍一些其他的方法表达吃惊。

That medical scanner blew me away.
I can’t believe it!
Shocking!

使用I doubt it表示怀疑，下面也有其他方式表示怀疑。

I find that hard to believe.
That’ll never happen.

3. Listening for a speaker’s attitude

当人们讨论将来的时候，会有很多不同的观点。
当人们态度乐观时，他们会使用意义积极肯定的词汇。

I’m very optimistic. it’s going to be amazing! Friendly robots will do our work, and life will be easier.

当人们态度悲观时，他们会表达疑虑，会使用意义消极否定的词汇。

I’m pessimistic. I doubt that we can ever stop cancer. It’s a scary illness, and we’ll never know enough about it.

人们不肯定时会表达uncertainty.

I’m not sure. I really don’t know what will happen.

表达疑虑，会使用表达可能的情态动词，例如：may, might或者could。

Robots might help us, but the environment could be a problem.

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