FIFTY YEARS ON

1 Sir David King, former scienti c adviser to the

British Government
If we don't reduce carbon emissions, the earth will
become
warmer, polar ice will melt and the oceans will rise.
People will
ock inland from coastal areas causing overcrowding
in many
cities, where the population is already too high. Cities
like
London and New York will disappear under the water.
By 2100,
Antarctica could be the only continent that is suitable
for human
life - the rest of the world will be too hot.
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2 Francis Collins, geneticist
Fifty years from now, millions of people will live past
the age of100 and remain healthy. This will happen
because we'll be able tostudy each person's genetic
code and nd the best way to treat and prevent
illnesses in that individual. We're close to nding
the mistakes in the genome that cause cancer, so in
the future diseases like this may no longer be life-
threatening. In about fty years' time, the most
important question for our society might not
be 'How long can humans live? but 'How long do we
want to live?

3 J. Richard Gott, physicist

During the next fty years, our planet might su er a
catastrophe. There is a possibility that the Earth could
be hit
by a comet, which is a big iceball. Humans could
disappear just like the dinosaurs and hundreds of
other species did. The best way to make humans
safe from extinction is to set up self-supporting
colony on Mars. Will we be smart enough to
it before money for investment in space exploration
runs out?
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 4 Ellen Heber-Katz, biologist
I believe that in the future we will have the technology
tocause damaged body parts to grow again. Five
years from now, we will be able to grow new ngers,
and, a few years after that, new limbs. Doctors will
soon be able to prescribe drugs that cause broken
spinal cords to heal and hearts to regenerate. Within
fty years, renewing an old and malfunctioning body
part will be the solution to the health problems of
many elderly people.
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 5 Peter Norvig, director of research at Google
Today, people all over the world have access to
billions of pages of text on the internet. At the
moment, they type a few
key words into a search engine to nd information,
but fty years from now, people will simply discuss
their needs with their computer. In response the
computer will provide us with a written report of the
information we requested instead of just a
list of links. At a later date, this report will actually
take the form of a simple conversation.

6 Eric Horvitz, principal researcher at Microsoft

Research
In fty years' time, computers will be much more
intelligent than today. They will help people work,
learn, remember, plan and decide. Computers will
help people from di erent countries to understand
each other by translating and interpreting from one
language to another. Soon they will be able to reason
on their own. In fty years' time it will be computers
that make important discoveries, not human
scientists.

ACTIVITIES
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1 Read the Reading tip. Then read the texts and
match theexperts (1-6) with the topics (a-h). There are
two extra topics that you don't need to use.

1. Sir David King. A interactive searches on

the internet
2. Francis Collins. B repairing the human body
3. J. Richard Gott. C machines that think for
themselves
4. Ellen Hebert-Katz. D renewable energy
5. Peter Norvig. E life expectancy
6. Eric Horvitz. F the space race
G the water shortage X
H global warning

2.02) Read the text again. Match the sentences with

the experts (1-6).
Which expert predicts that in fty years' time...

A computers will do research without being

supervised?
B we will be able to grow new arms and legs?
C machines will start to talk?
D machines will be able to interpret di erent
languages?
E the human race might become extinct?
F humans will be living on Antarctica?
G medicine will become completely personalized?
H most people will have changed something about
their bodies?
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 I search engines will no longer be used?
J there will be a population explosion in some major
cities?
K people will be able to determine their own lifespan?
L governments might stop paying for space travel?

UNDERSTANDING IDEAS

Look at the text and answer the questions. Use your

own words and ideas.
1 What problems do you think people might have if
they live past the age of 100?
2 What do you think are the main obstacles to setting
up a space colony on Mars?
3 Which parts of the body do you think will be most
frequently repaired or replaced in 2060?
4 How do you think intelligent computers would be
most useful?

VOCABULARY
Fifty Years On
1 Match the highlighted words in the text with these
de nitions.
1 To start something new.
2 To think about something in a logical way.
3 To grow strong again.
4 To give something to someone.
5 Arms and legs.
6 Translating spontaneously into another language.
7 To make something smaller.
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8 To use medicine to make someone well again.
9 A computer programme that looks for information.
10 The problem of having too many people in a place.
11 A sudden disaster. catastrophe.
12 Something that isn't working properly.
13 Intelligent.
14 To go somewhere in large numbers.
15 Dangerous and able to kill someone

ACTIVATE
Complete these sentences with the correct form of
the words in green.

Life-threatening, limb, catastrophe, ock, interpret

malfunction, overcrowding, provide, reason, reduce,
regenerate, search engine, set up, smart, treat

1 The hotel will give us tea, but they won´t ____ any
food
2 When my father was younger, he _______ his own
company.
3 Our air conditioning started ___________________,
so it was blowing out hot air instead of cold.
4 Brain cells do not ___________ if they are destroyed.
5 My sister's really _______ She passes all her exams
without studying very much.
6 I'm trying to _______ the amount of chocolate l eat.
7 How does your doctor ________ your sore throat?
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8 The tsunami caused many deaths and millions of
pounds of damage. It was a ___________
9 One of the main problems facing the city of Tokyo is
______________
10 Sking acidents often result in broken _____
11 Malaria can be __________ if a person has not had
a vaccination.
12 Mariam enjoyed ______________ for her English
colleagues during the conference.
13 My parents try to ________ with me instead of just
telling me o .
14 Many people ________________________ to the
department store when they heard about the sale.
15 Google is a well-known __________________.

COMPOUND NOUNS

Compound nouns are formed by joining two nouns or an

adjective and a noun.

Find compound nouns to match the de nitions to the words

in green
Space exploration, carbon emissions, key word, genetic
code, spinal cord

1. Pollution caused by burning fossil fuels.

2. The arrangement of genes that controls our
development.
3. Nerves that connect all parts of the body to the
brain.
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4. A word or phrase that you may type to nd
information about something.
5. Traveling beyond Earth to nd out our solar system.

Examples of compound nouns

Solar power, ozone layer, carbon emissions, global

warming, endangered species, greenhouse e ect, acid
rain, rain forest
Complete the sentences with the compounds in green.
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1 Many forests have been damaged by ______
2 The ______ is causing the earth's atmosphere to
heat up.
3 ___________ cause the icebergs to melt.
Most of the Amazon ________ is in Brazil.

me e helps to profect the earth from harmful

radiation from the sun.
6 Coa-burning power
7 Some endansS6 d5
Sotar
Verb + noun collocations
is a renewable source of energy.
Pwen
1 (access)/ do information
4 Choose the correct verb to collocate with each
noun.
2 (do)/ make research
3 meet /treat)illnesses
4 avoid /makemportant discoveries
5 prevent mee targets
6 make / prevenb climate change
Seen in zoos.
7 (educe treat carbon emissions
8 makeD do mistakes
a source e of Canlon
ee sSious
5 Complete the sentences with a verb + noun
collocation,
using verbs from exercise 4,.
1 If governments don't take measures to prevent
climate
change, more natural disasters will occur.
2 Environmental organizations like Greenpeace can
accesS Moabout the e ects of acid rain.
ode3 Computers have helped scientists aue (Phot
cord
taut
space.
deseee
characteristics of our genes.
4 A geneticist's job is to do2 search
oro- 5 Pharmacists have developed a new drug to
which a ect the brain.
meet
8 Airlines are trying to
into the
with di erent engines.
6 Developing countries should avoid cthe
made by developed countries.
heat
lnesos
7 The company was given a ne because it failed to
the tauslSspeci ed by the government.
by developing planes
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