Supposition and Belief

彭荣华

推测与确信是人们的一种思维活动。不管是对过去发生的事情还是对未知的将来，也许人们会作出一定的推测或确信，那么怎样使用好表示推测与确信的日常用语呢？请看本期话题Supposition and Belief。

一、常用表达

1. No one can predict what will happen in one million years. 没有人能预测到，过一百万年后会发生什么。

2. We can only guess what would happen to her if she went there alone. 我们猜想一下，假如她单独去那里，她会发生什么情况。

3. Just imagine if there would be a big storm， what should we do？ 猜想一下，假如有一场暴雨，我们该怎么办？

4. It’s impossible to predict there would be a big earthquake tomorrow. 预测明天有一场大地震，那是不可能的。

5. It would be wonderful if someone jumped into the valley. 假如有人跳进大峡谷，会是很精彩的。

6. It would be bad for their eyes if the children often watched TV too close. 假如孩子们经常看电视太近，会对眼睛有害的。

7. —It looked as if there were no more fish left in the river. 看来河里没有鱼了。

—I guess the pollution around must have been badly serious. 我猜一定是周围环境的污染太严重了。

8. —It would be impossible for him to open a computer firm. 他不可能开一家电脑公司。

—I guess he must have been short of money. 我想他一定缺少资金。

9. —I guess that he is about 40 years old. 我猜他大约40岁。

—In fact， he is only 30 years old. 实际上，他只有30岁。

10. —Your group has better players for the English contest. 你们组有更好的选手去参加英语竞赛。

—It is likely that our group will win the first prize in the contest. 我們组可能会在竞赛中赢得第一名。

二、对话演练

A： Hi， Mike. Do you often take exercise， such as running？

B： Yes. I think it is good to do this.

A： Now I really find that you are a regular runner. Perhaps you guess running is good for your health.

B： Well， I think so. The best thing is that it can keep your health for a long time.

A： But some doctors suggest that people over the age of forty shouldn’t run.

B： Oh， I suppose it’s up to you. No doubt quick running will make you exhausted. It might give you an instant heart attack.

A： I imagine so.

B： But on the contrary， you can keep your heart and lungs in good shape if you keep running slowly.

A： I guess， running over a long distance is boring. There’s a number of other ways to improve our health. It’s more fun to play football， I think.

B： Well， I think that’s it if you talk about it that way.

三、对应练习

（一）根据对话内容，选择符合对话内容的选项。有两项为多余选项。

A. Is it good？

B. I couldn’t agree more.

C. No one can guess what will happen.

D. But it is difficult to imagine the future life.

E. How do you tell me about the future life？

F. Can you give us an example？

G. Also I wonder whether it would be won-

derful

A： Hi， Xiao Li. Can you guess what life will be like in the future？

B： Perhaps we can. _1_

A： Oh， however， in our modern life， we will meet with what will happen.

B： Yes. _2_

A： Of course. For example， in transportation， there are new types of cars， taxis， buses and trains we use that don’t pollute the air. Have you known about them？

B： Just a little. _3_ if there are online shopping.

A： Well. It would be convenient to go shop-

ping online. For example， when you go shopping online， you can use a smart card， which contains a tiny chip， instead of cash.

B： That’s too wonderful. What else？

A： Yes. There are interesting topics about health and medicine， education and knowledge. Some of them refer to e-school like the school of the future. You can study at home by watching educators on TV. _4_

B： Yes， I agree with you. Also with new discoveries in genetics and biochemistry may lead to changes in the way diseases are cured and medicines are made to help patients.

A： OK. There will be new changes in our daily life. _5_

（二） 根據所给汉语完成句子。

1. 也许Claire 爱上了他，但我不相信。

Maybe Claire fell in love with him， ________.

2. 我不喜欢那个想法。也许对我们来说做我们自己的工作是最好的。

I ________. Maybe it’s best for us to do our own work.

3. 我怀疑他们两天内是否能完成这项艰巨的任务。

I ________ they will finish the hard task in two days.

4. 我想明天很有可能会有大暴雨。

I guess that ________ there is going to be a big storm tomorrow.

5. 我无法相信我的眼睛。

I ________ my eyes.

6. 你真的相信我们将有一天能在别的星球上旅行吗？

Do ________ we’ll one day be able to travel on other planets？

7. —你相信别的星球上有生命吗？

—________ on other planets？

—有点。怪不得人类在研究呢。

—Only a little. No wonder that human beings are studying.

8. —我不相信他是个这样诚实的人。

—________ to be such an honest person.

—他做的事情让我失望。

—What he has done really disappoints me.

（三） 根据括号内的汉语提示完成对话。

A： 1. ________ （我想机器人将能够） make life so much better for people. For example， nobody will need to do housework any more because the robot will do it for them.

B： Maybe they could also make wonderful dinners for parties and tidy up the children’s bedrooms after they’ve gone to bed.

A： Yes， that would be great. 2. ________ （我想你是否能够） have a robot follow your instructions， whether it could make a sandwich or cut the grass.

B： 3. ________ （我想我的孩子们会喜欢） a robot that did their homework for them！

A： I suppose mine would too. But in that case， how would you ever know if someone had done the homework by themselves？

B： Yes， and if you had a really creative idea

4. ____ （谁相信） that you’d created

it？

A： I don’t like that idea. Maybe it’s best for us to do our own work—whether it’s good or not！<P：＼ts02＼2021＼《考试与评价》高二专刊2021年第1期＼文章角标.tif>

（Key ☞ p. 37）