Whether in the home or the workplace, social robots are going to become more common in the next few years. Social robots are about to bring technology to the everyday world in a more humanized way, said Cynthia Breazeal, chief scientist at the robot company Jibo.
While household robots today do the normal housework, social robots will be much more like partners than tools. For example, these robots will be able to tell when someone is happy or sad. This allows them to respond more properly to the user.
The Jibo robot, arranged to ship later this year, is designed to be a personalized assistant. You can talk to the robot, ask it questions, and make requests for it to perform different tasks. The robot doesn’t just give general answers to questions; it responds based on what it learns about each person in the household. It can do things such as reminding an elderly family member to take medicine or taking family photos.
Social robots are not just finding their way into the home. They have potential(潜在的) applications in everything from education to health care and are already finding their way into some of these areas.
Fellow Robots is one company bringing social robots to the market. The company’s “Oshbot” robot is built to assist customers in a store, which can help the customers find items and help guide them to the product’s location in the store. It can also speak different languages and make recommendations for different items based on what the customer is shopping for.
The more interaction the robot has with humans, the more it learns. But Oshbot, like other social robots, is not aimed to replace workers, but to work together with other employees. “We have technologies to train social robots to do things not for us, but with us,” said Breazeal.
1.How are social robots different from household robots?
A. They can control their feelings.
B. They are more like humans.
C. They do the normal housework .
D. They respond to users more slowly.
2.What can a Jibo robot do according to Paragraph 3?
A. Communicate with you and put on performances.
B. Answer your questions and make requests.
C. Take your family pictures and deliver milk.
D. Obey your orders and remind you to take pills.
3.We can learn from the last paragraph that social robots will ______.
A. be our workmates
B. train employees
C. improve technologies
D. take the place of workers
4.The underlined word“recommendations”in Paragraph 5 can be replaced by_______.
A. suggestions B. commands C. expressions D. bargains
For centuries, dolphins have got our admiration, and it is easy to see why. They are beautiful, cute and smart sea animals. Dolphins are not fish, but warm-blooded animals. They live in groups, and speak to each other in their own language. In this way, they are like other animals, such as bees and birds. But dolphins are very different from almost all land animals. It is said that dolphins are the world’s second brightest creatures after humans and have many brain features related to intelligence. Their brain is nearly the same size as our own, and they live a long time at least twenty or thirty years.
Like some animals, dolphins use sound to help them find their way around. They also make these sounds to talk to each other and to help them find food. We now know they do not use their ears to receive these sounds, but the lower part of the mouth, called the jaw.
Strangely, dolphins seem to like man, and for thousands of years there have been stories about the dolphin and its friendship with people.
There is a story about sailors in the 19th century. In a dangerous part of the sea off the coast of New Zealand, they learnt to look for a dolphin called Jack. From 1871 to 1903, Jack met every boat in the area and showed it the way. Then in 1903 a passenger on a boat called The Penguin shot and wounded Jack. He recovered and for nine years more continued to guide all ships through the area－except for The Penguin.
Today, some people continue to kill dolphins, but many countries of the world now protect them and in these places it is against the law to kill them.
1.Dolphins are different from many other animals because they _____.
A. live in groups
B. have large brains
C. are warm-blooded
D. have their own language
2.Which of the following does the dolphin use to help it find its way around?
A. Its nose. B. Its ears. C. Its jaw. D. Its eyes.
3.Why did the sailors off the coast of New Zealand look for Jack?
A. He was lonely and liked to be with people.
B. They enjoyed playing with him.
C. He was seriously wounded.
D. They wanted his help.
4.By telling the story of Jack, the writer wanted to show that _____.
A. dolphins are friendly and clever
B. people are cruel to animals
C. Jack is different from other dolphins
D. dolphins should be protected by law
In China, there are more and more people leaving the countryside to hunt for jobs in the cities, because the countryside is much poorer than the city, and often there isn’t much work there. Services such as hospital and transport are usually much better in the city than in the countryside. They hope that their lives will improve when they move to the city.
But in the big cities of Europe like London or Paris, people are moving out of the city. These rich families want to live a quieter life. They are tired of the noise and the dirt of the city, and they are tired of the crowded streets, crowded trains and buses. They don’t want to live in the cities any more. They want a house with a garden in the countryside, and breathe the fresh air there. So they move out of the cities. Some don’t go very far, just a little way out of the city, to the towns near the cities. Other people move to the real countryside with sheep, cows and green fields. There they start new lives and try to make new friends.
Not all those who move from the city to the countryside are happy. After two or three years, many people who have done this feel that it is a big mistake. They don’t make so much money and there isn’t much work to do. People in the countryside are different and aren’t always very friendly. As a result, quite a lot of people who have moved to the countryside move back to the city. “It’s wonderful to see crowds in the streets and cinema lights.” they say.
1.Which is NOT the reason for people moving to the cities in China?
A. The countryside is much poorer than the city.
B. People in the countryside have nothing to eat.
C. People in the countryside don’t have much work to do there.
D. Services in cities are usually much better than those in the countryside.
2.Why do some rich families in Europe move to the countryside?
A. Because they will find good jobs.
B. Because they like feeding sheep and cows in the green fields.
C. Because they can make more money there.
D. Because they are tired of living in the city.
3.The best title of this passage may be“________________”.
A. Moving Out or Moving back
B. Living in the City
C. Living in the Countryside
D. Living a Happy Life
As an old saying in China goes, “The days of the Sanjiu period are the coldest days.” “Sanjiu period” , which is in Minor Cold, refers to the third nine-day period (the l9th to the 27th day) after the day of the Winter Solstice(冬至). There are many different customs related to Minor Cold in China.
Eating hotpot
During Minor Cold people should eat some hot food to benefit the body and defend against the cold weather. Winter is the best time to have hotpot and braised mutton with soy sauce. But it is important to notice that too much spicy food may cause health problems.
Eating huangyacai
In Tianjin, there is a custom to have huangyacai, a kind of Chinese cabbage, during Minor Cold. There are large amounts of vitamins A and B in huangyacai. As huangyacai is fresh and tender, it is fit for frying, roasting and braising.
Eating glutinous rice (糯米饭)
According to tradition, the Cantonese eat glutinous rice in the morning during Minor Cold. Cantonese people add some fried preserved pork, sausages and peanuts and mix them into the rice.
Eating vegetable rice
In ancient times, people in Nanjing took Minor Cold quite seriously, but as time went by, the celebration of Minor Cold gradually disappeared. However, the custom of eating vegetable rice is still followed today. The rice is steamed and is unspeakably delicious. Among the ingredients (原料), aijiaohuang (a kind of green vegetable), sausages and salted duck are the specialties in Nanjing.
1.What do we know about Minor Cold?
A. It refers to the Winter Solstice.
B. The Sanjiu period is in this period.
C. It lasts twenty-seven days.
D. It marks the first day of winter.
2.What is a special custom in Tianjin in Minor Cold？
A. Eating hotpot. B. Having vitamin A and B pills.
C. Having huangyacai. D. Buying cabbage.
3.How do the Cantonese eat glutinous rice?
A. They fry and toast it.
B. They eat it for dinner.
C. They mix it with many other things.
D. They steam it with soy sauce.
4.This text may be taken from the ________ column (栏目) of a newspaper.
A. travel B. culture C. fashion D. science
听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1.Why did the animals come together?
A. To see who was the happiest.
B. To see who was the most beautiful.
C. To see who was the biggest.
2.What happened to the snake?
A. She wanted to own the crown.
B. The animals said that she was ugly.
C. She dropped the crown into the pool.
3.When should the snake give the rooster(公鸡) the crown?
A. The next morning. B. In this evening. C. The next evening.
听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1.What happened to the man this morning?
A. He was late. B. He saw an accident. C. He was fined.
2.What is everyone talking about at present?
A. Private cars. B. Air pollution. C. Clean energy.
3.What transportation does the woman suggest?
A. The bus. B. The car. C. The subway.
