【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 Fi rst we?re goi ng to exam i ne one of the l atest forms of m unication am ong our space ci ti zens. N o m ore typi sts worki ng on a typewriter or puter! N o m ore postage or postcodes! Messages can now be sent usi ng a “thoughtpad”. You pl ace the m etal band over your head, cl ear your m i nd, press the sendi ng button, thi nk your m esage and the next i nstant i t?s sent. It?s stored on the “thoughtpad” of the recei ver. It?s qui ck, effi ci ent and envi ronmental l y fri endly. The onl y li mi tati on i s if the user does not thi nk hi s or her m esage cl earl y, an uncl ear m essage m ay be sent. But we canot bl am e the tool s for the faul ts of the user, can we? Duri ng the explanati on I looked at the pai r of sm al objects cal ed “thoughjtpads” on a tabl e. They just l ooked li ke 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 adies and gentl em en, we are i n the “envi ronm ent area”. Peopl e used to col ect waste i n dustbi ns. Then the rubbi sh was sent to be buri ed or burned, am I ri ght?(We nodded. ) Wel l, now there?s a system where the waste i s di sposed of usi ng the pri nci pl es of ecol ogy. A gi ant machi ne, al ways gredy for m ore, swal ows al l the waste avai labl e. The rubbish i s turned i nto several grades of useful m ateri al , such as “fertil i zer” for the fi el ds and “soul ” for deserts. Nothing i s wasted, and everything, even plastic bags, i s recycl ed. A great i dea, isn?t i t? I stared at the m ovi ng model of the waste m achi ne, absorbed by i ts effi ciency. But agai n we m oved on. G: O ur third stop shows the changes that have happened to work practi ces. Manufacturi ng no l onger takes pl ace on the earth but on space stati ons l i 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, furni ture, hoveri ng carri ages, etc. There is no waste, no pol uti on and no envi ronm ental dam age! H owever, the pani es have to trai n thei r representatives to l ive and work in space settl em ents. They have to moni tor the robots and the producti on. When the goods are ready they?re transported by i ndustri al spaceship back to earth. My mi nd began to wander. What job woul d I do? My m otivati on i ncreased as I thought of the wonderful worl d of the future. Uni t 4 MY FIRST WORK ASSIGNMENT “un fetabl e”, says new journal i st N ever wi l Zhou Yang (ZY) fet hi s first assignment at the offi ce of a popul ar Engl ish newspaper. H is di scussi on wi th his new boss, H u Xi n (H X), was to strongl y i nfl uence hi s l ife as a journali st. H X: Wel e. We?re deli ghted you?re i ng to work wi th us. Your fi rst job here wil l be an asi stant journali st. Do you have any questi ons? ZY: Can I go out on a story im m edi atel y? H X: (l aughi ng)That?s admi rabl e, but I?m afrai d i t woul d be unusual! Wai t til you?re m ore experi enced. Fi rst we?l l put you as an assi stant to an experi enced journali st. Later you can cover a story and submi t the arti cl e yoursel f. ZY: Wonderful . What do I need to take wi th m e? I al ready have a notebook and cam era. H X: No need for a cam era. You?l l have a professi onal photographer wi th you to take photographs. You?l l fi nd your col l eagues very eager to assi st you, so you m ay be abl e to concentrate on photography later i f you ?re i nterested. ZY: Thank you. N ot onl y am I i nterested i n photography, but I took an am ateur course at uni versi ty to update m y skil l s. H X: Good. ZY: What do I need to rem em ber when I go out to cover a story? H X: You ned to be curi ous. O nly i f you ask m any different questi ons wi l you acqui re al l the i nformati on you need to know. We say a good journali st m ust have a good “nose” for a story. That m eans you must be abl e to assess when peopl e are not tel li ng the whol e truth and then try to di scover i t. They m ust use research to i nform them sel ves of the m issi ng parts of the story. ZY: What shoul d I kep i n mi nd? H X: H ere es m y l ist of dos and don?ts: don?t m i s your deadl ine, don?t be rude, don?t tal k too much, but make sure you l isten to the i ntervi ewee careful y. ZY: Why i s li steni ng so im portant? H X: Wel , you have to li sten for detai l ed facts. Meanwhil e you have to prepare the next questi on dependi ng on what the person says. ZY: But how can I l isten careful ly whil e taki ng notes? H X: Thi s i s a tri ck of the trade. If the i ntervi ewee agrees, you can use a recorder to get the facts strai ght. It?s al so useful i f a person wants to chal enge you. You have the evidence to support your story. ZY: I see! H ave you ever had a case where som eone accused your journal ists of getting the wrong end of the sti ck? H X: Yes, but it was a l ong ti m e ago. Thi s i s how the story goes. A footbal l er was accused of taki ng money for deli beratel y not scori ng goals so as to l et the other team wi n. We went to intervi ew hi m. H e deni ed taki ng money but we were skepti cal . So we arranged an i ntervi ew between the footbal ler and the m an supposed to bri be him . When we saw them together we guessed from the footbal er?s body l anguage that he was not teli ng the truth. So we wrote an arti cl e suggesti ng he was gui lty. It was a di l emm a because the footbal er coul d have dem anded dam ages i f we were wrong. He tri ed to stop us publi shi ng i t but l ater we were proved ri ght. ZY: Wow! That was a real “scoop”. I?m looki ng forward to m y fi rst assignm ent now. Perhaps I?l l get a scoop too! H X: Perhaps you wil l. You never know. GETTING TH E “SCOOP” “qui ck, ” sai d the edi tor. “Get that story ready. We need i t i n thi s edi ti on to be ahead of the other newspapers. Thi s i s a scoop. ” Zou Yang had just e back into the offi ce after a