Robots have always had certain advantages over humans. They’re typically made of more durable materials than the soft tissue covering human bodies and since they can be repaired in the event of damage, they can basically “live” forever. But robots are usually heavy and awkward, and humans have always had a huge advantage in terms of dexterity.
Thanks to the mad scientists at Boston Dynamics, that appears to be changing. The humanoid Atlas robot, which has already showed incredibly impressive human-like abilities, just keeps getting better and better, and a new video by the company shows that its fluidity(流畅) of movement has now easily surpassed your own (and mine).
Atlas has slowly but surely been learning a lot of new skills over the past few years. It’s graduated from holding boxes and awkwardly walking to sprinting(冲刺) over obstacles and navigating(导航) all manner of difficult terrain(地形).
This latest show is an evolution of those skills, with the robot showcasing its ability to fall down, spin in the air, and even do a respectable handstand. It’s essentially a full-fledged(经过充分训练的) gymnastics routine being performed by a robot. Whether that’s awesome or scary depends on your point of view.
We created the maneuvers(招式) using new techniques that streamline the development process. First, an optimization algorithm(优化算法) transforms high-level descriptions of each maneuver into dynamically-feasible(动态可行的) reference motions. Then Atlas tracks the motions using a model predictive controller that smoothly blends from one maneuver to the next. Using this approach, we developed the routine significantly faster than previous Atlas routines, with a performance success rate of about 80%.
Still, being able to pull this off four out of five times is nothing to laugh at, and if Atlas is indeed learning things faster than ever before, we’ll likely be seeing even more impressive routines in the near future.
1.The word “dexterity” in Paragraph 1 means to be _________.
A.violent B.flexible
C.light D.stupid
2.What’s the author’s attitude towards the robot’s new ability?
A.awesome B.scary
C.promising D.doubtful
3.What’s the author’s purpose in writing Paragraph 5?
A.To show how Atlas made full-fledged gymnastics routine.
B.To explain how Atlas got the new maneuvers.
C.To promote the development of robots
D.To introduce the theory of Atlas.
4.What does the text intend to tell us?
A.Robots have always had certain advantages over humans.
B.Robots likely have more development in the near future.
C.Atlas can do everything that we want him to do.
D.Atlas is a fully-trained gymnast with a lot of skills.
Children should do housework. That’s a controversial idea, though not everyone will admit it. A few parents will declare that their children are too busy for housework. Many more of us assign housework, or say we believe in them, but the housework just doesn’t get done.
That' s a problem. For starters, housework is good for kids. Being a part of the routine work of running a household helps children develop an awareness of the needs of others, while at the same time contributing to their emotional well-being.
One small study, done over a period of 25 years, found that the best predictor for young adults success in their mid-20s was whether they participated in household tasks at age 3 or 4. Those early shared responsibilities extended to a sense of responsibility in other areas of their lives.
But for all that their help matters, few kids are doing much around the house at all. In a survey of 1, 000 American adults, 75 percent said they believed regular housework made kids "more responsible”. Yet while 82 percent reported having had regular housework growing up, only 56 percent of those with children said they required them to do housework.
Sports and homework are not get-out-of-housework-free cards. The goal, after all, is to raise adults who can balance a caring role in their families and communities with whatever lifetime achievement goals they choose. Housework teaches that balance.
What should you do when getting children to do housework? Accept no excuses. Don’t worry if you must repeat yourself again and again. If you’re spending more time getting the child to do this job than it would take to do it yourself, then you’re doing it right. Can an allowance help? Maybe. But if you’re trying to teach kids to share the responsibility of a home, paying them for routine housework is not the right message.
1.What is most parents’ problem with children doing housework?
A.They are against the idea. B.They fail to put it into practice.
C.They doubt the possibility of it. D.They are finding excuses for their children.
2.Why does the author mention the small study?
A.To state the reasons for early success.
B.To give examples of some successful people.
C.To prove doing housework is beneficial.
D.To suggest kids take responsibility for their behavior.
3.According to the survey of American adults, how many of them used to do housework as children?
A.820 B.560.
C.750. D.440
4.Why does the author write the last paragraph?
A.To criticize some irresponsible parents.
B.To discuss the impact of a good family atmosphere.
C.To advise parents to spend more time with their kids.
D.To offer parents some advice on assigning children housework.
Like many little school girls, Savannah Hart was given the chance to take home her class “pet” — in this case, a sweetly tattered(破烂的) toy monkey named Harriet.
What happened next could be the subject of a children’s storybook: the 5-year-old from Australia took Harriet on a summer trip to Buckingham Palace when things went wrong.
While visiting Queen Elizabeth’s home, the little girl misplaced the toy, and her family assumed(假定) that Harriet would be forever stuck at the bottom of the palace’s lost property collection. But after a teacher at Savannah’s school, Woodside Preschool in Australia, wrote a letter to the Queen to see if the well-worn Harriet could be located, determined palace employees set to work to find it.
Helped by the letter and photos taken during the monkey’s tour around the U.K. with Savannah’s family, Harriet was found and returned to Savannah. But Harriet didn’t come back alone on the 9,000-mile journey from London to Australia — the monkey was also accompanied by Rex, a stuffed corgi dog sent from the palace.
Before leaving the U.K., Harriet even spent some time helping out with palace tours and was given the royal treatment.
“We aim to give every visitor to Buckingham Palace a memorable experience, and after we had found Harriet the monkey near the Family Pavilion(亭，阁), she spent some time helping out the Visitor Services team before heading home,” said a spokesperson for the Royal Collection, which runs the visitor experience at Buckingham Palace over the summer. “We hope Harriet enjoyed telling Rex the corgi dog about her adventures on the journey back to Australia.”
1.According to the text, what can be learned about Harriet?
A.Harriet is Savannah’s home pet.
B.Harriet is a sweetly tattered toy dog.
C.Harriet has been to the U.K..
D.Harriet has a teacher named Woodside.
2.Who helped Savannah find her lost toy?
A.A teacher and her family B.A teacher and the palace employees
C.Her family and the Queen D.All of them.
3.What is the right order of the events?
a. Savannah’s teacher wrote a letter to ask for help.
b. Savannah took Harriet on a summer trip to Buckingham Palace.
c. The palace employees set to work to find Harriet.
d. Harriet was given the royal treatment and came back with Rex.
e. Savannah misplaced Harriet and her family thought it would be never seen.
A.beacd B.daecb
C.dceba D.adcbe
4.What can be inferred from the passage?
A.Harriet spent some time helping out the Visitor Services team
B.Harriet took Rex back together with him and enjoyed telling him stories.
C.Whoever visits Buckingham Palace will have a memorable experience.
D.The Buckingham Palace employees aim to provide visitors with good service.
This year is considered as one of the hottest on record, but a genius cooling device in a tiny package is helping many to beat back the heat. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have already experienced the power of it.
What is It?
The device is ZenCooler developed by two German engineers who were tired of the increasingly hot and punishing weather. They realized that regular air conditioning technology was a far from the ideal solution, proving to be too inefficient, and expensive to be used practically on a daily basis. Therefore, they developed the new device that is both sleek, easy-to-use, and extremely powerful. Best of all, it’s no bigger than the size of a lunchbox.
How does ZenCooler Work?
Simply fill it with water, plug it in and turn it on. Powered by a USB cable, it can be literally run off your smartphone, power bank, and laptop. In less than 60 seconds, you will be enjoying all the benefits of a ZenCooler air-conditioned room.
The Best Value for Your Money
With most AC units costing upwards of $200 bare minimum, all the way up to thousands when you take installation and maintenance into consideration, ZenCooler is really a no brainer for the value you’re getting. Right now, you can enjoy all the benefits and savings that Zencooler offers, for an all-time low price of only $89/unit which is an absolute steal when you are thinking about everything you’re getting!
If that’s not enough of a bargain, they are also offering multi-buy discounts for as low as $49/unit available now.
Where can you buy ZenCooler?
Right now it’s only available from ZenCooler’s official website. Order now to lock in the best price! Click here to order your ZenCooler today.
1.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A.Two German engineers developed ZenCooler because of the hot weather.
B.The new device ZenCooler is smaller than a lunchbox.
C.Simply filled with water, ZenCooler can work powerfully.
D.You only can buy the device from ZenCooler’s official website.
2.How much would you spend buying a unit of ZenCooler now?
A.$200 B.$89
C.$49 D.$138
3.Where can you find this article?
A.In a magazine B.In a newspaper
C.In a guidebook D.On a website
Justin knew there was only one way out of his neighborhood—basketball. So he _______ hard, running with the ball like the _______ dogs were chasing (追逐)him. He could defeat any of the guys at the _______， and he saw his way out and he ran for it.
One day when Justin was playing basketball，he _______ his right knee badly. The doctor said he might never play _______. Justin was extremely sad. Every day Justin just _______ in bed，watching TV and eating potato chips. When he _______ like a balloon，his sister came home from the university on holiday，bringing exciting _______ of a faraway land called college.
Justin was _______ by the dorm stories and campus(校园)________ that she told，but he could ________ believe any of them. It was as if she were telling him about some ________ land high above the clouds.
Justin was a pretty ________ guy, but his sister had a way of ________ him to do things that nobody else could. So while she was home during the ________， they studied together, and they talked，and they worked, and Justin felt ________ than he ever had before.
After spending those ________ with his sister，Justin realized that he didn’t want to feel bad for himself any more, and he didn’t want to quit. Basketball ________ be his thing, but now there was only ________. Using the study skills Justin had acquired from his sister, he scored ________ in every exam. The university that he applied to accepted him.
1.A.hit B.studied C.practised D.breathed
2.A.pet B.guide C.cute D.wild
3.A.top B.court C.back D.beginning
4.A.injured B.hugged C.bent D.raised
5.A.alone B.again C.around D.well
6.A.played B.lay C.jumped D.trained
7.A.stayed up B.looked up C.grew up D.blew up
8.A.tales B.challenges C.discoveries D.possibilities
9.A.amazed B.satisfied C.annoyed D.scared
10.A.stress B.canteens C.craziness D.networks
11.A.firmly B.honestly C.really D.hardly
12.A.foreign B.rich C.fantasy D.freedom
13.A.lazy B.stubborn C.regular D.wise
14.A.getting B.promising C.permitting D.warning
15.A.duty B.trial C.break D.strike
16.A.weaker B.healthier C.worse D.better
17.A.years B.hours C.decades D.weeks
18.A.used to B.ought to C.had to D.got to
19.A.vacation B.victory C.school D.strength
20.A.much B.high C.little D.low
Scientists at the University of Hawaii at Manoa studied a huge area in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean known as the Clarion－Clipperton Zone，or CCZ to find and study new sea species.
Diva Amon，a researcher at the University says usually deep sea biologists think there is not a lot living in the deep sea.
“But we found that actually there is quite a lot living there，and so that was really exciting. . . ” she says.
The group is studying the area because the CCZ，a huge and flat area of seabed，is known to have valuable minerals. The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is allowing the company UK Seabed Resources Ltd. to explore the area on the Pacific Ocean floor for mining. However，the ISA said the company must first complete a biological study of the area before it can begin mining for metals. So，the company employed Amon and her group.
Amon says that more than half of the animals they collected were completely new to science. Her group discovered not only new species，but new genera (动植物的属) of animals.
Biological oceanographer Paul Snelgrove says that finding new species in the deep ocean is common. But，he said，finding a new genus “is really great”.
Amon warns that if mining happens across the whole area，the ecosystem would be largely destroyed. But，she says，we will find the least damaging way to make mining possible.
“There is a sort of scientific push to try and slow things down a bit so that the science can be done before. . . so it can be done with the least influence possible. . . ” she says.
“It’s likely we are going to develop at least some parts of these deep ocean environments and do it in a way that’s going to minimize (最小化) our influence，”says Paul.
1.What did scientists try to find out in the CCZ?
A.Whether there is life.
B.Whether there are valuable minerals.
C.What sea life exists there.
D.What metals lie under the sea floor.
2.What does Paul say about finding new sea species?
A.It’s something unusual.
B.It’s nothing to be surprised at.
C.It has a far－reaching effect on science.
D.It proves common species will change.
3.What is Amon’s attitude towards mining the CCZ?
A.Careful. B.Doubtful.
C.Unsupportive. D.Uninterested.
4.What does the underlined word “it” in the text refer to?
A.Mining.
B.A scientific push.
C.Finding the least damaging way.
D.Developing the ocean environments.
