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如今的政客们已经精于避重就轻之道。他们总是喜欢大谈特谈身份政治，以种族和性别等等身份话题吸引眼球，制造话题，并让我们忽视了最迫在眉睫的问题……
测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：
squabble ['skwɒbl] v. 争论，口角
uninsurable [ˌʌnɪn'ʃʊərəbl] adj. 不可予以保险的
bogeymen ['bəʊɡimæn] n. 可怕的人，鬼怪
patrol [pə'trəʊl] vt./vi. 巡逻，巡查
coveted ['kʌvɪtɪd] adj. 人人向往的
strife [straɪf] n. 争吵，冲突
newsy ['njuːzi] adj. 多新闻的，成话题的
阅读马上开始，建议您计算一下阅读整篇文章所用的时间，对照下方的参考值就可以评估出您的英文阅读水平。
On US television news this autumn, wildfires and hurricanes have replaced terrorism and — mostly — even mass shootings as primetime content. Climate change is making natural disasters more frequent, and more Americans now live in at-risk areas. But meanwhile, Donald Trump argues on Twitter about what he supposedly said to a soldier's widow. So far, Trump is dangerous less because of what he says （hot air） or does （little） than because of the issues he ignores.
He's not alone: politics in many western countries has become a displacement activity. Most politicians bang on about identity while ignoring automation, climate change and the imminent revolution in medicine. They talk more about the 1950s than the 2020s. This is partly because they want to distract voters from real problems, and partly because today's politicians tend to be lawyers, entertainers and ex-journalists who know less about tech than the average 14-year-olD.But the new forces are already transforming politics.
Ironically, given the volume of American climate denial, the US looks like becoming the first western country to be hit by climate change. Each new natural disaster will prompt political squabbles over whether Washington should bail out the stricken region. At-risk cities such as Miami and New Orleans will gradually lose appeal as the risks become uninsurable. If you buy an apartment on Miami Beach now, are you confident it will survive another 30 years undamaged? And who will want to buy it from you in 2047? Miami could fade as Detroit did.
American climate denial may fade too, as tech companies displace Big Oil as the country's chief lobbyists. Already in the first half of this year, Amazon outspent Exxon and Walmart on lobbying. Facebook, now taking a kicking over fake news, will lobby its way back. Meanwhile, northern Europe, for some years at least, will benefit from its historical unique selling point: its mild and rainy climate. Its problem will be that millions of Africans will try to move there.
On the upside, many Africans will soon, for the first time ever, have access to energy （thanks to solar panels） and medical care （as apps monitor everything from blood pressure to sugar levels, and instantly prescribe treatment）. But as Africa gets hotter, drier and overpopulated, people will struggle to feed themselves, says the United Nations University. So they will head north, in much greater numbers than Syrians have, becoming the new bogeymen for European populists. Patrolling robots — possibly with attack capabilities — will guard Fortress Europe.
Everywhere, automation will continue to eat low-skilled jobs. That will keep people angry. Carl Benedikt Frey of Oxford university's Martin School recalls workers smashing up machines during the British industrial revolution, and says: “There was a machinery riot last year: it was the US presidential election.” American workers hit by automation overwhelmingly voted Trump, even though he doesn't talk about robots.
Soon, working-class men will lose driving jobs to autonomous vehicles. They could find new jobs servicing rich people as cleaners （a profession that's surprisingly hard to automate）, carers or yoga teachers. Young men will develop new notions of masculinity and embrace this traditionally feminine work. But older working-class men will probably embrace politicians like Trump.
The most coveted good of all — years of life — will become even more unfairly distributeD.The lifespans of poor westerners will continue to stagnate or shorten, following the worldwide surge in obesity since the 1980s. Many poorer people will work into their seventies, then die, skipping the now standard phase of retirement. Meanwhile, from the 2020s the rich will live ever longer as they start buying precision medicine. They will fix their faulty DNA and edit their embryos, predicts Vivek Wadhwa, thinker on technology. Even if governments want to redress inequality, they won't be able to, given that paying tax has become almost voluntary for global companies.
Troubled regimes will ratchet up surveillance. Now they merely know what you say. In 10 years, thanks to your devices, they will know your next move even before you do. Already, satellites are monitoring Egypt's wheat fields, so as to predict the harvest, which predicts the chance of social strife. Meanwhile, western politicians will probably keep obsessing over newsy identity issues. My prediction for the 2020s: moral panics over virtual-reality sex.
请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：
A.Natural disasters.
B.Mass shootings.
C.Identity issues.
D.Terrorism.
答案 (1)
A.Because tech companies can help to persuade the public.
B.Because tech companies outspend Big Oil on lobbying.
C.Because Big Oil has lost their power in American politics.
D.Because Facebook is fighting fake news on climate change.
答案 (2)
A.Angry workers whose jobs are taken away by automation.
B.Patrolling robots with attack capabilities in Fortress Europe.
C.Political squabbles prompted by new natural disasters.
D.Famines caused by climate change and overpopulation.
答案 (3)
A.younger working-class men.
B.older working-class men.
C.females in traditional jobs.
D.poor westerners.
答案 (4)
(1) 答案：C.Identity issues.解释：大多数政客在身份问题上喋喋不休，却忽视了自动化和即将发生的医学革命。
(2) 答案：B.Because tech companies outspend Big Oil on lobbying.解释：随着科技公司取代石油巨头成为美国最大的游说群体，美国将不再否认气候变化。
(3) 答案：D.Famines caused by climate change and overpopulation.解释：但随着非洲变得更加酷热、干燥，人口过密，人们会很难获得足够的食物。
(4) 答案：B.older working-class men.解释：年轻男性将对男子气概产生新的理解，并乐于从事传统上属于女性的工作。但年长的工人很可能会用户像特朗普一样的政客。