Robots have taken over many of America’s factories. But can they pick a strawberry? “It’s really hard for robots to match what humans can do,” says Bob Pizter, an expert on robots.
Any 4-year-old kid can pick a strawberry, but machines can’t seem to figure it out. Pizter says the hardest thing for them is finding the fruit. Pizter’s strawberry-picking robot is rolling into a strawberry field. This well-designed device drives itself. It’s as big as a bus, long enough to straddle (跨越) a dozen rows of strawberries at once. Powerful computers are sitting on top. Underneath, there are high-definition cameras to find the berries, and robotic claws ready to pick them.
“Nobody’s telling it what to do,” explains Paul Bissett, the chief operating officer of Harvest CROO Robotics. “It’s remembering its path down the row. It’s remembering where all these plants are.” It knows all this, thanks to the super-accurate GPS. Its computer brain contains a map showing the locations of every strawberry plant in the field. The action of machinery is truly impressive, but the baskets are still practically empty. Pitzer says the robots are able to find and pick more than 50 percent of ripe berries. That’s not yet up to human standards. A typical worker, he says, manages to pick anywhere from 60 to 90 percent of the berries. Also, he admits, the machine is slower than human hands. On the other hand, it has some advantages. It can work right through the night. Two years later, he says, this machine will be in the fields working for real. “There are weaknesses to work out, but it’s getting there. We’re close.” he says.
Strawberry companies are putting millions of dollars into this project. The reason, Gary Wishnatzki, the owner of Wish Farms says, is that it’s getting more and more difficult to find enough people to pick his berries. “The fact of the matter is, if we don’t solve the problem of this labor shortage with automation, the industry is facing a big challenge ahead. The price of fruit is going to be much higher,” Jose Santos, the leader of the farm, says.
Jose is pretty convinced, though, that picking strawberries will always require people. The machines will break down, he points out. In fact, he’s looking on the bright side. “You could afford to give people a day off if you have machines behind you,” he says.
1.According to the passage, the strawberry-picking robot __________.
A.can work extra hours B.relies on GPS only to find berries
C.runs on petrol just like a bus D.picks both ripe and unripe berries
2.What do people mentioned in the passage think of the strawberry-picking robot?
A.It will lead to the price of strawberries rising.
B.It keeps human workers working through night.
C.It is not very efficient at the moment but promising.
D.It will completely take the place of human workers.
3.We know from the article that __________.
A.robots have been widely used in farming
B.it seems hard for robots to exactly locate strawberries now
C.robots can surely perform any work better than human workers
D.with the help of robots, strawberry companies have already earned much
4.What does the passage mainly talk about?
A.The working principle of strawberry-picking robots.
B.Farmers’ expectations for strawberry-picking robots.
C.The present state of strawberry-picking robots.
D.The differences between humans and strawberry-picking robots.
If you live in a place where most people speak the language you are learning, you may use the language for several hours each day. So it may become part of your “inner speech.” In other words, you start thinking in that language. Your mind stops trying to translate things from your native language into the second language. But most of the English learners live in places where English is not the main language. This may be true for you. You may not have many chances to practice English. You may even be self-taught.
Thinking in English really helps! It is not very difficult, but it does need practice. Here we will share some mental exercises. A good first step is to think in words. Look around you. What do you see? In your head, try to name each object in your surroundings. Charles Thomas has taught English for over 10 years. He tells his students to name the things that they see around them, wherever they are.
Another exercise Thomas suggest is describing in your mind objects you don’t know the words for. An example would be if you couldn’t think of the word “garage”. Thomas says, “If you’re looking at your house and you see your garage, but you can’t think of the name in English. You can say, ‘The place inside where I put my car’ or you can say, ‘It’s next to my house. I keep things there.’”
The next exercise is thinking in simple sentences. For example, if you are sitting in a park, you can tell yourself things like, “It’s such a beautiful day” and “People are playing sports with their friends.” You can also describe your daily activities. Thomas asks his students to describe their day using the simple present verb form. So, they would think to themselves things like, “I put on my shirt” and “He drives the bus.”
How much time should you spend on these exercises? Thomas says you do a little every day. “When you make things a habit, then it just pops up into your mind without thinking and then, before you know it, really, you’re thinking in English.”
1.When a second language becomes part of your “inner speech”, ________.
A.most people around you speak the language
B.you start thinking in the language
C.you translate things from your native language into it
D.you learn the language by yourself
2.“The place inside where I put my car” is an example for ________
A.naming objects in your surroundings
B.thinking in simple sentences
C.describing objects you don’t know the words for
D.describing your daily activities
3.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A.Spend your time on exercises
B.Teach yourself a second language
C.Train your brain to think in English
D.Practice English wherever you are
假如你是李华，你刚刚结束赴美国的交流活动，归国后，你发现自己的相机遗忘在接待家庭史密斯夫人家中。请写一封电子邮件,内容包括:
1.向史密斯夫人一家表示感谢；
2.告知相机遗忘并希望来访时将其带回；
3.表达对他们即将来访的期待。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Mrs.smith,
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同学们交换修改作文,请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误,每句中最多有两处。错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加:在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧),并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除:把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。
修改:在错的词下划一横线,并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意:1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词;
2.只允许修改10处,多者(从第11处起)不计分。
“Your future depends on many things, but most on you.Yes, I can't agree more to this view.It's true that our future determined by many things, such as opportunities and help from others, but their own attitude, determination, and hard work play a more important role.In other words, we are the masters of our own future.
Take Abraham Lincoln for an example.He was born in a poor family, which only received a limited education in his childhood.Yet through his painstaking efforts, he then changes not only his own fate but also the history of America.Even to this day, Lincoln is regarded as one of the most inspired figures in the world.
However, I firmly believe that our future is in our own hand.
阅读下面材料,在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。
The highly anticipated Chinese teen drama film “Beller Days”1.(net) over 600 million yuan at the box office since2.(it) release on 25th October, and has also won an astonishingly high rate of 8.4 on popular film rating website Douban.Countless movie-goers have made the movie 3. hot topic across social media platforms.
The teen drama, 4.is adapted from the well-known online novel “In His Youth, In Her Beauty”, is one of the very few movies addressing school bullying.Starring award winning actress Zhou Dongyu and boy band TFBoys member Yi yanggianxi, the story tells a 5.(touch)relationship between two youngsters as victims of school bullying and how their fates6.(shape) by the issue.
7.(sad), there is bullying at school all over the world and it is not rare in China.About half of students between the ages8.13 and 15 worldwide, or 150 million of them, have been bullied in and around school.
According to the Supreme Peoples Courts China Justice Big Data Service Platform, Chinese courts heard almost 800 cases of school9.(violent) in 2017.Almost half of them involved students aged between 16 and 18.It is believed that 10.( prevent )school bullying, joint efforts need to be made among the government, parents and schools.
As Christensen and her daughter Riley were scanning the home page of the Bike Rack, a shop in their town, a video link for Project Mobility_________their eyes.She clicked on it out of _________.The video told how Bike Rack co-owner Hal Honeyman had created a( n)_________to provide bicycles that are _________engineered for people with disabilities. It showed the happy faces of those who were now riding them—accident victims, _________veterans (老兵), and children with disabilities.
“I'm going to buy a bike for one of those kids”, Riley told her mother. Two days later, she showed Christensen a _________she had written asking for donations: "I think it's amazing to_________bikes for kids who can’t walk,” the letter said. I saw how happy a boy was when he got one...I'm writing to ask for your _______.”
Christensen was blown away by her daughter's effort, but doubts quickly_________.The cost of just one of those special bikes could be as__________________ as $4,000. Riley could never raise the money.__________________, her letter went out to 75 relatives and friends.Within three days, checks and cash began __________________.Then word about Riley's plan __________________and as Christmas neared, more and more__________________rolled in.The teen__________________raised more than $12,000, enough to pay for three bikes.
Last Christmas Eve, Riley pulled on a Santa hat and __________________the bicycle to one of the__________________kids: Ava, a 13-year-old girl, who couldn't move her legs with a rare genetic disorder. “This is the best Christmas I ever had,” said Riley.
She and Ava have since__________________ together. “When I ride, I like to go fast, get sweaty and feel the breeze”, Riley says."So does Ava. She pumps with her arms, not her __________________but she really flies .”
Riley is determined to keep her__________________going every holiday season. “I want kids to feel the wind in their faces,” she says.
1.A.caught B.shaded C.narrowed D.dried
2.A.delight B.curiosity C.suspicion D.safety
3.A.academy B.organization C.job D.custom
4.A.specially B.beautifully C.roughly D.simply
5.A.senior B.retired C.proud D.injured
6.A.notice B.statement C.reply D.letter
7.A.repair B.ride C.rent D.buy
8.A.patience B.appeal C.contribution D.faith
9.A.arose B.cleared C.faded D.changed
10.A.reasonable B.high C.actual D.fixed
11.A.Anyhow B.Otherwise C.Thus D.Besides
12.A.disappearing B.forming C.arriving D.returning
13.A.got around B.went down C.broke out D.ran away
14.A.gifts B.donations C.kids D.wishes
15.A.greedily B.cautiously C.hardly D.eventually
16.A.delivered B.purchased C.mailed D.designed
17.A.normal B.lucky C.wealthy D.confident
18.A.lived B.ridden C.studied D.worked
19.A.feet B.heart C.back D.knees
20.A.bike B.campaign C.wish D.present
