Life in 2060

许光辉

Let us suppose① it is now about AD 2060. Lets make believe it is about forty years from now. Of course， things have changed and life is very different. Maybe you cant wait to have a glimpse of it; the following description will surely satisfy your desire.

Voyages to the moon are being made every day. It is as easy to take a holiday on the moon today as it is to take a holiday in Europe. At a number of scenic spots on the moon， many hotels have been  built.  The  hotels  are  air-conditioned naturally， which is totally beyond your imagination. In order that everyone can enjoy the beautiful scenery on the moon， every room has at least one picture window. It could be closed and opened as automatically② as you wish. All you need to do is merely give the order.

What are people eating now？ People are still eating food， but many foods now come in pill form， and the food that goes into the pill comes mainly from green plants. Thus pills， which can be easily taken everywhere， may be your meals or snakes③.

Since there are several times as many people in the world today as there were a hundred years ago， most of our planets surface has to be filled. The deserts are irrigated④ with water and crops are no longer destroyed by pests. Farming， of course， is highly developed. Very few people have to work on the farm. It is possible to run a farm by just pushing a few buttons now and then.

People are now largely vegetarians⑤. You see， as the number of people increases， the number of animals decreases. Therefore， people have to be vegetarians and are healthier both in their bodies and in their minds， and it is possible to get rid of diseases. No one has to be ill any more.

Such would be our life in 2060.

Writing Task： Future school life

According to the passage above， we can predict that our future school life is sure to be more convenient and easy—what you only need to do is sitting in front of a computer， receiving distant learning. However， some pessimists may worry future school life may not be as ideal as what we would have wanted to be. It would be boring， lacking in communication as well as friendship.

Now write a short passage， trying to per- suade the pessimists not to worry about that.

Notes： ① suppose v. 猜想 ② automatically adv. 自動地 ③ snake n. 小吃 ④ irrigate v. 灌溉

⑤ vegetarian n. 素食者