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。
When you think of robots, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Do you think of science fiction movies like Star Wars, 1. robots of all shapes and sizes are part of daily life? Robots were once just a product of fiction. The word itself comes from the play Rossum’s Universal Robots, 2.(write) in 1920 by Karel Capek.
Today most robots don’t look human. They appear in many forms and 3. (program) to perform a wide variety of things, from working in factories 4. exploring the surface of Mars. But there is a surprising problem in the world of robots: What humans find easy is 5.(extreme) complicated for a robot. For example, picking up clothes in a messy room is simple for humans, 6. it is difficult for robots to do that. 7. problem is programming a robot to pick up some objects of different shapes and sizes without damaging them.
It turns out that one of 8.(difficult) things to improve in robots is their flexibility. Exciting 9.(develop) in making human-like hands and legs are underway. But the biggest advancements are to teach robots to guess what they can do and 10. they help us with daily tasks.
My brother Ken was born with a brain disease. Though Mama was extremely _______, she never babied Ken. She _______ him to do whatever we did.
I remember once we got a slide in our backyard. Ken was _______ at first sight. But unable to _______ the steps with the braces (支架) on his legs, Ken could only looking up at the rest of us from the _______.
One day, Mama put Ken in the backyard, this time without his braces, and watched him _______ with great difficulty right over to the slide. For the next three hours, Ken climbed the ladder and fell, climbed the ladder and fell, _______. He skinned his knees, and his head was _______.
Our neighbor _______ at Mama, “What kind of woman are you? Look at the blood. Get that boy off that ________________!” Mama told her kindly that if it ________________ her, she would have to close her curtains. Ken had ________________ to go down the slide, and down the slide he would go. It took a couple of days of ________________ before he could go up the ladder and down the slide as well as the rest of us, and another week before he could do it with his braces on.
Ken was not supposed to make it to his tenth birthday but he has ________________ his disease and is now a 42-year-old man who lives ________________ and even holds down a job. He ________________ everything the way he did that slide so many years ago. What a(n) ________________ Mama gave him that day by expecting him to be the ________________ he could be.
Though I often feel I fall short when I compare my ________________ to hers, it gives me great comfort to know that her spirit is ________________ me, somewhere — preparing me to make “mothering magic” of my own.
1.A.loving B.generous C.selfless D.considerate
2.A.forced B.persuaded C.invited D.expected
3.A.addicted B.annoyed C.attracted D.astonished
4.A.manage B.see C.remove D.reach
5.A.room B.ground C.window D.slide
6.A.run B.move C.jump D.D. ride
7.A.once in a while B.step by step C.time and again D.here and there
8.A.lowered B.covered C.bleeding D.spinning
9.A.laughed B.glanced C.nodded D.yelled
10.A.tree B.chair C.roof D.ladder
11.A.disappointed B.scared C.failed D.bothered
12.A.decided B.agreed C.pretended D.hesitated
13.A.walking B.trying C.training D.observing
14.A.treated B.prevented C.suffered from D.lived with
15.A.simply B.painfully C.independently D.hopelessly
16.A.loses B.approaches C.accepts D.misses
17.A.promise B.gift C.award D.suggestion
18.A.healthiest B.happiest C.best D.first
19.A.mothering B.schooling C.sufferings D.belongings
20.A.within B.beyond C.for D.from
Putting children in daycare helps working parents take their minds off childcare. 1.
How daycare negatively affects children is related to many factors. One study has suggested that some children who spend long hours in daycare centers experience more stress than those who spend more time in a setting with a mother.
Another study has shown that children who are shy have a higher level of the hormone cortisol (皮质醇) which is released when an individual shows signs of stress. 2. And as a result the child may not mix well with the other children and the teachers at the daycare center, a situation that can cause stress.
Another negative impact of daycare is that there is less communication between a mother and her child. 3. So it is essential for a child to develop a deep bond with his or her mother, since this will lay the foundation for all the relationships he or she will form later on in life. Children who spend a lot of time with their mothers experience healthy social and emotional development, while long hours in daycare can disrupt this bonding. Children who lose out on precious mother-child bonding are observed to have behavioral problems as they grow older.
Children in daycare centers also feel unprotected compared to children at home. In a daycare center, when one caregiver attends to more than one child at the same time, she may not be able to look deeply into why a child is mixing well or not. 4. Another negative aspect of daycare is that children there are more likely to fall ill if they come in contact with sick children.
5. Well-maintained daycare centers contribute a great deal to the overall development of a child by providing a structured environment. Children become more social by interacting with other children of the same age, and learn new activities that are not always available if they arc brought up only at home.
A. But daycare has its disadvantages.
B. Look for a daycare center that is well-maintained.
C. However, the advantages of daycare cannot be ignored.
D. This is because a shy child will not open up freely in public.
E. Babies become extremely attached to their primary caregivers.
F. In such cases, a child may become either completely quiet or aggressive.
G. You can cut the time in daycare centers by making alternative childcare arrangements.
Every person has the same 24 hours in their day. While the majority of people end up complaining about not having enough time, or there being too much to do, the most effective individuals always manage their time in such a way that they are able to accomplish what they feel they need to do. Peter Drucker wrote, “Time is the scarcest resource, and unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed.” There are many ways in which effective leaders can more effectively manage their time. Among them: beginning with a clear vision and setting goals that have a date attached to them; using an agenda for each day’s activities as well as for meetings, and so on.
Creating a practical vision permits a leader to focus clearly on his or her goals and what needs to be done. This must be accompanied by the ability to control oneself to slay on topic. By organizing his or her goals, a leader can better manage the various aspects of leading, and this will lead to taking action in a clear-cut, less wasteful manner. When goals have a date attached to them, it both subconsciously and consciously creates urgency and improves focus and efficiency. A true leader will then invent a plan to decide what would be better handled by staff and what needs to be handled and needs the leader’s personal attention and touch. By creating assignments and deadlines, there are clear-cut expectations and responsibilities, and for less time is wasted when this is done properly.
Leaders who understand the significance of sticking to an agenda always achieve more in less time. For example, most committee reports can and should be sent to attenders at meeting in advance for them to be able to review the contents, and the people in the meeting can then spend their time on implementation (执行), questions and so on, and not simply on reciting committee reports, which is largely wasteful. In addition, using an agenda gives an efficient flow to the meeting, avoiding much of the digression (离题) and repetitiveness. When leaders are organized, they are quite simply more productive. Although this may seem like a rather simple and obvious statement, the majority of those in leadership seem to lack that organizational ability.
1.Effective leaders are likely to manage their time by ________.
A.completing multiple tasks at a time B.arranging things in advance
C.taking action without hesitation D.making the most of free time
2.What is the benefit of a leader attaching a date to a goal?
A.It refreshes a leader’s memory. B.It helps complete other tasks easily.
C.It urges a leader to manage the leading. D.It improves the focus and productivity.
3.What is the best title for this passage?
A.How Leaders Efficiently Manage Time
B.How Committee Reports Should Be Done
C.Why Some People Become Leaders
D.Why leaders Should Have a Practical Vision
More than 30 million people were displaced last year by environmental and weather-related disasters across Asia, and the problem is likely to grow more serious as climate change exacerbates such problems, experts have warned.
Tens of millions of people are likely to be similarly displaced in the future by the effects of climate change, including rising sea levels, floods, droughts and reduced agricultural productivity. Such people are likely to migrate in regions across Asia and governments must start to prepare for the problems this will create, warned the Asian Development Bank.
The costs will be high — about US $ 40 billion — for adapting and putting in place protective measures — from sea walls to re-growing mangrove swamps (红树林沼泽) that have been cut down — that can help protect against the impacts of storm tides.
“While large-scale climate-related migration is a gradual phenomenon, communities in Asia and the Pacific are already experiencing the consequences of changing environmental conditions, including more frequent severe storms and flooding,” the bank said last week. This could lead to a widespread crisis across the region in coming years if preparations are not made to deal with the current and probable future consequence.
Robert Dobias, climate change project chief at the Asian Development Bank, said that, at present, climate change is still a relatively small cause of migration, as economic causes are the most worrying and frightening, and as environmental disasters happen independently of global warning.
The Asian Development Bank warned that governments must start to make preparations now, because more extreme weather has already started to take effect, though the changes so far have not been so great in their impact. The bank is working on a report that will set out in detail the likely problems and suggest a range of potential policy changes to help deal with them.
1.Which of the following is closest in the meaning to the underlined word “exacerbates”?
A.Solves. B.Prevents. C.Worsens. D.Reduces.
2.Which question is answered in the passage?
A.Why climate change happens.
B.What preparations will be made as protective measures.
C.How local governments help people to migrate after climate change.
D.In which part of the globe climate-related migration is most likely to happen.
3.The Asian Development Bank helps deal with the migration problem by ________.
A.working on a report B.changing its migration policy
C.starting a climate change project D.lending money to the governments
Growing up in Arizona’s rodeo (竞技) country, I was familiar with the events that come with traveling rodeos: bull riding, dressing and mutton busting. Mutton busting is like bull riding, but instead of bulls, they use sheep. And in place of the men, it’s children between six and ten years old who try to hang on for eight seconds.
It took me all of five minutes to say yes to the idea of riding a sheep. Being seven years old, my decision-making ability was pretty limited. I figured I could ride a sheep as well as the next kid. Little did I know that I was in for a world of pain and embarrassment.
My nerves were shaking the day of the rodeo. I hated being in front of crowds. I didn’t like getting dirty; I didn’t even like sheep, which I thought of as just dirty and smelly. Yet there I was, getting ready to ride one for eight seconds in front of hundreds of people. I wanted to run out of the field and hide in the hot car until it was over. But by the time this idea occurred to me, it was too late. I was lifted away from my mother by a rodeo trainer and placed onto a platform.
My feet went into the narrow pen (羊圈) first. I felt my shoes touch the dirty floor of the pen. Once I was balanced on the top of the sheep, the trainer let go and told me to lean forward. I did as he said. I could feel the animal’s heart beating faster than mine. I realized that the poor sheep was even more frightened than I was.
Then the gate opened, and I quickly discovered that my hold was too weak. Within three seconds I had fallen off the sheep, and found myself face-down on the sun-baked earth. The sheep thought this was its time to take revenge (复仇), and attacked me from behind. There I lay, hat down, covered in dirt, with tears streaming down my face. I looked behind me to see my mother running to comfort me. “Stand up and show them you’re okay,” she told me as she wiped the dirty tears from my face. I stood up, dirty and upset, waved my little hand, and walked out with my mother.
Sadly, I didn’t win anything, not even the respect of these rodeo animals. I did find a new admiration for those little balls of wool, though.
1.Which of the following is TRUE about “mutton busting”?
A.It is a dirty and terrible game. B.Only strong adults can ride a sheep.
C.It is intended to pick the fastest sheep. D.It’s a game for 6-to-10-year-old children.
2.The author decided to take part in the competition because ________.
A.it was part of growing up B.he thought he could do well
C.mother made him do so D.he found it very interesting
3.What is Paragraph 5 mainly about?
A.Why the author lost the competition.
B.Why a mother should comfort her child.
C.How the author failed in the sheep riding.
D.How the sheep hurt the author when it attacked.
4.We learn from the article that ________.
A.sheep riding is as difficult as bull riding
B.sheep riding is not popular because the pen is very dirty
C.the author wanted to give up before the competition
D.the author kept trying until he succeeded in riding a sheep
