PASSAGE 14

Looking to the Future来源：考试大

　　The future is much too important to simply guess about， the way the high school students did， so experts are regularly asked to predict accurately. By carefully studying the present， skilled businessmen， scientists， and politicians are supposedly able to figure out in advance what will happen. But can they？ One expert on cities wrote： _______， but would have space for farms and fields. People would travel to work in “airbuses”， large all-weather helicopters carrying up to 200 passengers. When a person left the airbus station he could drive a coin-operated car equipped with radar. The radar equipment of cars would make traffic accidents “almost unheard of”。 Does that sound familiar？ If the expert had been accurate it would， because he was writing in 1957. His subject was “The city of 1982”。

　　One forecaster knew that predictions about the future would always be subject to significant errors. In 1957， H.J. Rand of the Rand Corporation was asked about the year 2000， “Only one thing is certain，” he answered. “Children born today _______. ”

　　A. the stock market had its worst losses ever
　　B. will have reached the age of 43来源：考试大
　　C. the article was written in 1958
　　D. Cities of the future would not be crowded
　　E. the prediction of the future is generally accurate
　　F. future study is still a new field

　　Key：CDFAB