【正文】 afrai d he did,” Zhou Yang answered. H e set to work. Hi s fi rst task was to wri te hi s story, but he had to do i t careful y. Although he reali zed the m an had been l ying, Zhou Yang knew he m ust not accuse him di rectl y. H e woul d have to be acurate, Concise too! H e knew how to do that. Months of trai ni ng had taught him to wri te wi th no wasted words or phrases. H e sat down at his puter and began to work. The first person who saw hi s article was a senior editor from his department, . He checked the evidence, read the article and passed i t on to the copyeditor. She began to edit the pi ece and design the mai n headli ne and smal ler heading. “This wil l ok very good on the page,” 1 引 言 酒店式商務公寓的概念，始于 1994 年 “酒店式的服務，公寓式的管理”，既吸收了星級酒店的服務功能和管理模式，又吸收了信息時代寫字樓的特點，集住宅、酒店、會所等多種功能于一體。公司立足婁底市場，在本項目地塊傾力打造“城市中央首席酒店式商務公寓”必將為城市注入新的活力， 為城市增添一道靚麗的風景線！ 我們拭目以待！ i ts binati on of gases had l ittl e oxygen left. H it by a l ack of fresh ai r, my head ached. Just as I tri ed to make the necessary adjustm ent to thi s new si tuati on, Wang Pi ng appeared. “Put on this m ask, ” he advised. “It ?l make you feel much better.” He handed i t to me and imm ediatel y hurri ed m e through to a sm al room nearby for a rest. I felt beter in no ti me. Son I was back on m y fet agai n and flowing hi m to col lect a hoveri ng carri age dri ven by puter. These carri ages fl oat above the ground and by bending or pressi ng down in your seat, you can m ove swiftl y. Wang Ping fastened m y safety bel t and showed m e how to use it. Soon I coul d fl y as fast as him. H owever, I l ost si ght of Wang Pi ng when we reached what l ooked li ke a l arge market because of too m any carri ages flying by in al directi ons. He was swept up into the centre of them. Just at that mom ent I had a “tim e lag” fl ashback and saw the area again as i t had been i n the year AD 20xx. I reali zed that I had been transported i nto the future of what was stil l m y hometown! Then I caught si ght of Wang Pi ng again and fl ew after him. Arri vi ng at a strangel ooking house, he showed me i nto a l arge, bri ght cl ean rom . It had a gren wal l, a brown floor and soft li ghti ng. Suddenl y the wal m oved –it was m ade of tres! I found l ater that their l eaves provi ded the rom wi th m uchneeded oxygen. Then Wang Pi ng fl ashed a swi tch on a puter screen, and a table and some chai rs rose from under the fl or as if by magi c. “Why not si t down and eat a li ttl e?” he sai d. “You may fi nd thi s di ffi cult as i t i s your first tim e travel trip. Just rel ax, si nce there i s nothi ng pl aned on the timetabl e today. Tom orrow you?l l be ready for som e vi si ts.” Havi ng sai d thi s, he spread som e fod on the tabl e, and produced a bed from the fl oor. After he l eft, I had a bri ef m eal and a hot bath. Exhausted, I sl id i nto bed and fel fast asl eep. More news l ater from your l ovi ng son, Li Qi ng I H AVE SEEN AMAZING TH INGS My first vi si t was to a space stati on consi dered the m ost m odern in space. Descri bed as an enorm ous round plate, it spi ns sl owl y in space to imi tate the pul of the earth?s gravi ty. Insi de was an exhi bi ti on of the m ost uptodate i nventions of the 31st century. A gui de(G) showed us around al ong a m oveabl e path. G: Good m orni ng to al our vi si tors from 20xx. First we?re going to exam ine one of the latest form s of municati on am ong our space ci ti zens. N o m ore typists working on a typewri ter or puter! N o m ore postage or postcodes! Messages can now be sent using a “thoughtpad”. You pl ace the m etal band over your head, cl ear your mi nd, press the sendi ng button, think your message and the next i nstant it?s sent. It?s stored on the “thoughtpad” of the recei ver. It?s qui ck, eficient and envi ronm ental ly friendl y. The onl y limi tation is i f the user does not thi nk hi s or her message cl early, an uncl ear message m ay be sent. But we cannot blam e the tool s for the faults of the user, can we? Duri ng the expl anati on I l ooked at the pai r of smal objects cal led “thoughjtpads” on a table. They just looked l ike m etal ri bbons. So ordi nary but so powerful! Whil e I was observi ng them, the path m oved us on. G: And now l adi es and gentl em en, we are i n the “environment area”. Peopl e used to col lect waste i n dustbi ns. Then the rubish was sent to be buri ed or burned, am I ri ght?(We nodded.) Wel l, now there?s a system where the waste is di sposed of usi ng the pri nci pl es of ecol ogy. A gi ant machi ne, al ways gredy for more, swal lows al l the waste avail abl e. The rubbish is turned into several grades of useful material, such as “fertil izer” for the fiel ds and “soul ” for deserts. N othi ng is wasted, and everything, even pl asti c bags, i s recycl ed. A great i dea, i sn?t i t? I stared at the moving m odel of the waste machi ne, absorbed by its efi ci ency. But agai n we moved on. G: Our thi rd stop shows the changes that have happened to work practi ces. Manufacturing no longer takes pl ace on the earth but on space stati ons li ke thi s one. A group of engi ners programm er robots to perform tasks i n space. The robots produce goods such as drugs, cl othes, furniture, hoveri ng cariages, etc. There is no waste, no pol luti on and no envi ronm ental dam age! H owever, the panies have to train thei r representati ves to li ve and work i n space settl em ents. They have to monitor the robots and the producti on. When the goods are ready they?re transported by i ndustrial spaceshi p back to earth. My mi nd began to wander. What job woul d I do? My m oti vati on increased as I thought of the wonderful worl d of the future. Unit 4 MY FIRST WORK ASSIGNMENT “unfettabl e”, says new journal ist N ever wi l Zhou Yang (ZY) fet hi s fi rst asignm ent at the offi ce of a popul ar Engli sh newspaper. Hi s discussi on wi th hi s new boss,