[素材选自English in Mind Book 2]
新型社交机器人
Nexi is one of a new generation of robots. It____ on wheels and can pick up objects.____ robots like Nexi are more than just entertaining toys.
Nexi, a social robot created by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, can____ human emotions.
Roboticists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) call a “social robot” Nexi. A social robot is a robot that can____ like a human. It can express human emotions. Nexi can look sad, mad, and even bored. Some social robots can also “read” our ____ expressions. For example, Nexi can see that we are sad and can say ____ to make us happy. Roboticists like MIT 's Cynthia Breazeal, believe that it won't be long before we have social robots in our homes, helping us live ____ lives.
Autom is another social robot developed at MIT. Autom is a robot____ coach. It has a screen where you enter information about what food you ____ that day and how much you exercised. Autom has a face with eyes that can move. It speaks with a synthesized voice. Autom gives you ____ about your diet and exercise and motivates you to do better.
In a test, Autom helped people lose____ better than other ways of recording diet information. Breazeal thinks this is because Autom ____ facial expressions and words of encouragement. In other words, Autom interacted like a real person. In fact, many people who used Autom gave the robot a ____ name and talked to it. When robots use human expressions and body language, people respond to them “a lot like they respond to people”.
____, humans may interact with social robots just like they do with other people. The robot of the future will be not just a machine; it may also be your coach helper or ____. Let's wait and see what will happen in the future!
Word Bank
emotion 情感;情绪 synthesize 合成
motivate 激励 interact 交流
respond 回应
1.A.throws B.moves C.deals D.thinks
2.A.So B.And C.But D.Unless
3.A.express B.sleep C.choose D.hide
4.A.study B.communicate C.play D.leave
5.A.traditional B.facial C.personal D.possible
6.A.everything B.nothing C.something D.anything
7.A.better B.higher C.worse D.quicker
8.A.beauty B.sports C.health D.ball
9.A.cooked B.ate C.bought D.shared
10.A.note B.research C.test D.advice
11.A.heart B.weight C.interest D.confidence
12.A.discovered B.described C.forgot D.used
13.A.strange B.awful C.new D.simple
14.A.In the past B.In a word C.In the end D.In the future
15.A.boss B.friend C.leader D.neighbor
Now, in the 21st century, there are lots of great inventions. 1. However, when we enjoy that, we should never forget those who devoted themselves to making people's life better in the 20th century.
2. Like many other famous inventors, they failed many times. However, they never gave up—even though almost no one was interested in what they were doing. For many times, they risked their lives to test their airplane. Finally, after lots of calculations and improvements, they succeeded.
3. The invention led to a quantum leap in human history. From then on, better and safer airplanes have been invented and long flights have become increasingly convenient and comfortable. Round the world trips have become a reality. Without the Wright brothers, we might still have to spend days, weeks or even months travelling to distant places today.
The Wright brothers have also inspired generations of people to make great achievements in their own chosen fields. China, for example, had to depend on the West for its large passenger aircraft. Of course, our country didn't want to continue that way forever. With the same adventurous spirit as that of the Wright brothers, Chinese people kept trying and made great progress. Today, China has its own large passenger aircraft. 4.
Thanks to the Wright brothers, humans realized the dream of flying. Till today, their experience still has a great influence on young people. 5. I think they are among the greatest people of the 20th century.
Word Bank
calculation 计算 leap 飞跃
inspire 鼓舞 quantum 量子
A.That's an important step forward.
B.The result of their work shocked the world.
C.In 1903, the Wright brothers invented the airplane.
D.They inspired young people to realize their own dreams.
E.We enjoy a lot of convenience, thanks to the latest technology.
热点:北京大兴国际机场
Beijing Daxing International Airport started its first flight after a China Southern Airlines' A380 left the airport at 4:22 pm on Wednesday heading to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. Following the first flight, China Eastern Airlines, Air China, Capital Airlines, China United Airlines, Xiamen Air and Hebei Airlines, each had one of their airplanes take off from the airport.
With the airport being put into use, China United Airlines will deal with over 10, 000 passenger trips on Thursday.
According to the airport, 66 domestic and overseas carriers including China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, British Airways, Finnair and Ethiopian Airlines plan to operate out of Daxing airport. Starting in the winter and spring seasons, the airport will serve 116 routes and 112 domestic and foreign airports.
Li Daxing, the captain of the Capital Airlines' A330-200, said, “Daxing airport used many advanced technologies and got the world's leading ability of making sure of safe flights in low visibility conditions, which will increase travel efficiency and take the pressure off Beijing Capital International Airport.”
The new airport is expected to deal with 45 million passenger trips a year by 2022 and 72 million by 2025. The new airport will finally deal with more than 100 million passengers yearly. It's aiming to become the busiest airport in the world in the future and lead Beijing to become an international transit hub.
Word Bank
airline 航空公司 route 线路
visibility 能见度 trainsit hub 交通枢纽
1.Which airlines was the first flight taking off from Beijing Daxing International Airport?
A.Guangzhou Baiyun Airlines.
B.China Southern Airlines.
C.China Eastern Airlines.
D.China United Airlines.
2.What does the underlined word “domestic” mean in Chinese?
A.国内的 B.国际的 C.平常的 D.特别的
3.What's the advantage of Beijing Daxing International Airport?
A.It uses many high technologies.
B.It can deal with all kinds of weather conditions.
C.It can hold the most passengers than any other airport.
D.It can take the place of Beijing Capital International Airport.
4.Which of the following is TRUE about the new airport according to the text?
A.The new airport is an international transit hub.
B.The new airport is the largest airport in the world.
C.The new airport deals with 45 million passenger trips a year.
D.The purpose of the new airport is to become the busiest airport in the world.
5.What's the best title of the text?
A.A new invention in China
B.The busiest airport in the world
C.The history of Daxing international airport
D.The introduction of Daxing international airport
Today in science class, we made paper airplanes. Our teacher said, “We will see 1. airplane flies the farthest.”
Most of the airplanes went farther 2. the students thought it would be. It was my turn. I threw my airplane 3. hard as I was able to. After about six or seven seconds later, it landed almost at the back of the room. “Ten meters!” said our teacher. “That is the farthest till now.” I jumped very happily.
Then, there was only one boy left. He threw his airplane into the air excitedly. Finally, it landed a little farther than mine. Bill ran to pick 4. his airplane and told us that he added a clip at the front of the airplane. Everyone congratulated Bill. From this I know that we all 5. try many other ways to make our project perfect.
Word Bank: clip回形针
A primary school teacher decided to let her class play a game. The teacher told each child in the class to bring along a plastic bag with a few tomatoes. Each_____ would be given a name of a person that the child hated, so the number of tomatoes that a child would put in his/her plastic bag would depend on the _____ of people he/she hated.
So when the day_____, every child brought some tomatoes with the names of the people he/she hated. Some had two tomatoes; some three _____ some up to five tomatoes. The teacher then told the children to carry with them the tomatoes in the plastic bag wherever they go for the week, even the toilet. Days passed by, and the children started to _____ because the tomatoes had begun to rot away and let out _____ smell. Besides, those having five tomatoes also had to carry heavier bags.
After a week, when the game_____ ended, the children were relieved. The teacher asked, “How did you _____ when carrying the tomatoes with you for a week?” The children let out their frustrations and started complaining of the trouble that they had to _____ when they had to carry the smelly and ______ tomatoes wherever they go. Then the teacher told them the hidden meaning behind the game. The teacher said, “This is exactly the ______ when you carry your hatred for somebody inside your heart. The smell ______ hatred will pollute your heart and you will carry it with you wherever you go. If you cannot ______ the smell of rotten tomatoes for just a week, can you imagine ______ it is like to have the smell of hatred in your heart for your lifetime?”
So throw away any hatred for______ from your heart so that you will not carry sins for a lifetime. “Learn to forgive and forget!”
Word Bank
relieve 解除 frustration挫折 hatred仇恨rotten腐烂的
1.A.banana B.tomato C.potato D.apple
2.A.spirit B.value C.number D.opinion
3.A.came B.flew C.happened D.appeared
4.A.since B.until C.while D.unless
5.A.cheer B.wonder C.relax D.complain
6.A.unpleasant B.similar C.serious D.different
7.A.hardly B.finally C.really D.nearly
8.A.live B.feel C.study D.stick
9.A.go through B.look after C.think of D.wait for
10.A.tasty B.tiny C.heavy D.fresh
11.A.accident B.information C.situation D.experience
12.A.of B.with C.to D.from
13.A.sense B.stand C.follow D.admire
14.A.what B.who C.whose D.which
15.A.anyone B.no one C.everyone D.someone
Air is around us. However, with the development of modern society, air pollution has become one of the most serious problems in the world today. People polluted the air with gas and smoke produced by machines. 1.
2. Automobiles and planes cause pollution, but they provide people with transportation. Factories cause air pollution, too, but they provide people with jobs and products. In crowded cities, thousands of automobiles and factories can add tons of pollution to the air every day.
3. It makes the clear sky look cloudy and the air smell bad. It is harmful to everyone's health. Air pollution damages the plants that provide us with food. Most materials are used up more quickly in polluted air than in clean air. 4.
If we want to stop pollution immediately, we have to stop using many of the machines that make life easier for us. 5. Scientists and engineers can develop automobiles that produce less pollution.
Word Bank: automobile汽车
A.Nobody likes air pollution.
B.Pollution can be stopped slowly.
C.Most of the pollution is caused by things that people need.
D.Polluted air can even damage strong materials like steel.
E.Badly polluted air can cause sickness and even death.