Computers might not be clever enough to trick adults into thinking they are intelligent yet, but a new study, led by Javier' Movellan at the University of Califomia San Diego, shows that a giggling (咯咯笑的) robot is clever enough to get toddlers (初学走路者) to treat it as a peer (同龄人).
The researchers stationed a 2-foot-tall robot Called QRIO in a classroom of a dozen toddlers aged between 18 months and two years. QRIO stayed in the middle of the room using its sensors (传感器) to avoid bumping (碰撞) into the kids. It was programmed to giggle when the kids touched its head, to occasionally sit down, and to lie down when its batteries died.
"We expected that after a few hours, the magic was going to disappear," Movellan says. "That's what was found with earlier robots." But, in fact, the kids remained interested in the robot over several weeks, eventually communicating with QRIO in much the same way they did with other toddlers.
The researchers measured the relationship between the children and the robot in several ways. Firstly, as with other toddlers, they touched QRIO mostly on the arms and hands, rather than on the face or legs. For this age group, "the amount of touching is a good predictor of how you are doing as a social being," Movellan says.
The children helped the robot up when it fell, and when QRIO's batteries ran out and it lay down, a toddler would come up and cover it with a blanket and say "night, night". However, when QRIO was programmed to spend all its time dancing, the kids quickly lost interest. When the robot went back to its old self, the kids treated it like a peer again.
"The study shows that current technology is very close to being able to produce robots able to develop a special relationship with toddlers," says Movellan. But, he adds, it is not clear yet whether robots can interest older children or adults in the same way.
1.What does the underlined word "stationed" in Paragraph 2 probably mean?
A. Hid. B. Observed. C. Placed. D. Named.
2.At the beginning of the experiment, researchers .
A. feared that the robot would harm the toddlers
B. programmed the robot to move freely about the classroom
C. expected the robot to communicate with the toddlers
D. thought the toddlers' interest in the robot wouldn't last long
3.Kids aged between 18 months and two years behave
as social beings by.
A. giggling B: touching C. toddling D. dancing
4.What would be the best title for the passage?
A. Giggling robot becomes one of the kids
B. Giggling robot used as a classroom assistant
C. Giggling robot makes kids more active in class
D. Giggling robot attracts more attention from kids
For many people, there is only one good reason to go to an amusement park: the roller coaster. But why do People go on roller coasters?
"Where else in the world can you scream at the top of your lungs and throw your arms in the air?" Frank Farley asks. "If you did that in most other places, they'd take you to your parents and probably put you through a psychological evaluation (心理检查)." Farley is a psychologist at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Roller coasters are often attractive to kids whose lives are stressful or controlled. "Roller coasters are a way of breaking out of the humdrum (单调 ) of everyday life. You can let it all go and scream and shout or do whatever you want," Farley says. It has been proved that many adults feel the same way.
Compared with skateboarding, extreme mountain biking, and other adventure sports, riding roller coasters is safe. Parents usually don't mind when kids go on coasters. Roller coasters also have a way of bringing people together. Riders share the thrill and adventure of surviving what feels like an extreme experience.
Whether you like to ride a roller coaster may depend on your personality. Psychologists say that there is a certain type of person that naturally seeks out extreme experiences. "They enjoy things like change, variety, and intensity (强度)," says Farley. "These people are actually attracted to thrills." He describes such people as having Type-T personalities ("T" stands for thrill).
He also believes that these thrill seekers are more adventurous and creative than other people. Albert Einstein was a Type T. "If nobody liked to seek stimulation (刺激)," he argues, "the human race wouldn't be where it is today."
1.What is the passage mainly about?
A. The disadvantages of roller coasters.
B. The characteristics of roller coasters.
C. Why many people enjoy roller coasters.
D. How people act when riding roller coasters.
2.According to Farley, what will most people feel after riding a roller coaster?
A. Scared. B. Confident. C. Nervous. D. Relaxed.
3.If a person is a Type T, he seems to .
A. enjoy adventure sports
B. dislike riding roller coasters
C. like popular sports
D. work well with others
4.According to Farley, to our society, people with Type-T personalities are __
A. dangerous B. important
C. useless D. harmful
The great Alaskan explorer John Muir once wrote that to have dinner with a glacier (冰川) on a sunny day is an excellent thing. It is better to sleep beside one, on an Antarctic island, with just a sleepifig bag for warmth and the sky as your tent.
Our camp-out was in early January of this year on Danco Island, along the Antarctic Peninsula. Midway through a 10-day Antarctic journey, conditions were near perfect. We started our voyage from the Akademik Ioffe in Zodiacs, landing on the wide beach with its fist-sized rocks. At the height of the Antarctic summer, the shore was clear of snow, with plenty of room for the 40 adventurers to spend the night.
Danco Island was charted in 1898 by the Belgian explorer Adrien de Gerlache, who was the first to prove that you could overwinter in Antarctica and survive. De Gerlache paved the way for Lt. Robert Scott's first expedition in 1901. De Gerlache mapped the archipelago (群岛). He later named the island after his team member mile Danco, a geophysicist who died that winter. For one year in the mid-1950s, Danco was known as Base O by the British, who kept a scientific research station there, although all that. remains of it is a foundation and a pile of coal.
Our expedition was organized by Australian tour operator Peregrine Adventures. The weather was extraordinary -- sunny with daytime temperatures of about 1't2. The camping was easy and accessible to all ages. Sleeping under the stars in Antarctica, in just a sleeping bag is pretty amazing.
1.Whom did Adrien de Gerlache have a direct effect on?
A. John Muir. B. Lt. Robert Scott.
C. The tourists. D. The author.
2.What was Danco Island named after?
A. A place. B. A glacier.
C. A person. D. An ocean.
3.It can be inferred from the passage that .
A. old people can't go 'camping in Antarctica
B. the author went to the Antarctica in winter
C. John Muir might have visited an Antarctic island
D. Lt. Robert Scott built a station in the Antarctic
4.What would be the best title for the passage?
A. Danco Island
B. An expedition to Antarctica
C. Explorers of Antarctica
D. Sleep under the stars in Antarctica
A.I. (人工智能) is just starting to become part of our lives, and books and movies have been talking about A.I. and robots for years. Mostly, in these books and movies, the computers and robots turn out to be the enemies of the human race. Here is a selection of some famous A.I. movies..
2001: A Space Odyssey
In the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL is one of the first computers to talk like a human. HAL is very frightening because it speaks in a calm voice as it goes on a killing spree (疯狂杀戮). When the astronauts attempt to hide in a smaller spaceship and switch off the microphones, HAL uses a camera to read their lips and understand what the astronauts are saying.
The Terminator
In The Terminator, a computer thinks that its deadly enemies are human beings. As a result, the computer launches missiles (导弹) to start international wars and then builds killer robots to destroy the human race.
The Matr/x
In The Matrix, a computer takes over the world and uses human beings for energy. The computer keeps people alive by making them think that they are still living normal lives. A few brave rebels (叛逆者) decide to fight against the computer.
Star War movies
In the Star War movies, computerised robots are used as servants and soldiers. R2-D2, a small cylindrical (圆柱形的) robot, and C-3PO, a tall talking robot, help some humans defeat the evil ruler, Darth Vader, in a dangerous battle between the forces of good and evil.
1.In the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, the astronauts switch off the microphones to
A. prevent HAL hearing whom they axe calling
B. prevent HAL hearing what they are saying
C. force HAL to use a camera
D. force HAL to speak loudly
2.If you want to know how an intelligent computer uses human beings for energy, you should watch __
A. The Terminator.
B. 2001: A Space Odyssey'
C. Star War movies
D. The Matrix
3.R2-D2 and C-3PO stand for
A. the scientific forces
B. the natural forces
C. the good forces
D. the evil forces
4.What do the four movies have in common?
A. They all have the same ending.
B. They are about a similar theme.
C. They are all based on science fiction books.
D. They started heated discussions about A.I.
On Nov.18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give a concert in the Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York City.
If you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you know that getting on stage is no small achievement for him. He was stricken with polio (小儿麻痹症) as a child, and so he has braces (支架) on both legs and walks with the aid of a pair of crutches (拐杖).
He walks
painfully until he reaches his chair. Then he sits down
slowly, puts his crutches on the floor, undoes the clasps (扣压环) on his legs, pushes one
foot back and extends the other foot forward. Then he bends down and picks up
the violin, puts it under his chin, nods to the conductor and begins his play.
But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first few notes, one of the strings on his violin broke — it went off like gunfire across the room. We figured that he would have to get up, put on the clasps again, pick up the crutches and limp his way off stage — to either find another violin or else find another string for this one. But he didn't. Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the conductor to begin again.
The orchestra began, and he played from where he had left off. When he finished, there was an extremely impressive silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered. He smiled, wiped the sweat from his brow, raised his bow to quiet us, and then he said in a quiet tone, "You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left."
1.What does the author mean when he writes the underlined part in Paragraph 2?
A. It's very difficult for Perlman to get to the stage.
B. It's' hard for Perlman to play a violin with three strings.
C. It's not easy for Perlman to face such a large audience.
D. Pefiman plays the violin with three strings successfully.
2.The third paragraph describes .
A. how Perlman deals with his disability
B. Pefiman's attitude towards the concert
C. the various stages of Perlman' s performance
D. the difficulties Pefiman had before playing
3.What does the underlined word "one" in Paragraph 5 refer to?
A. String. B. Crutch.
C. Violin. D. Orchestra.
4.Itzhak Pefiman can be best described as a man who is .
A. intelligent B. strong-willed
C. humourous D. highly skilled
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从36—55各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项。
This is a true story. Rex White lived in a 1some distance from the coast, so he 2to drive to Lytham and leave his car in a car park beside the river. Then he 3row out to the pilot boat, and wait for the 4ship that it was his duty to guide.
Early one morning, Mr. White 5to Lytham from a night on duty, only to 6he couldn't start his car. He had driven from his village the evening before and left his car in the car park 7. Now with his work finished; how he 8to drive home to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate and a warm bed! 9, no matter what he did, he could not get the engine to start.
It was a cold and windy night; there was no garage 10to which he could turn for help. He was just about to 11, and spend the rest of the night in his car, when a bright idea 12him. He pushed his car round so that it was facing in the 13of the wind, opened ail four doors, 14it along a short way, and then jumped in. The doors acted like15, and in no time the wind had taken him 16out of the car park and away down the beach road. When he 17the starter-switch once more, the engine roared to 18immediately. All he had to do then was to stop the car and shut the 19.
He went to bed later than usual, 20he did not go without his cup of hot chocolate. Mr. White was not a seaman for nothing.
1.A. city B. town C. village D. family
2.A. decided B. had C. managed D. asked
3.A. could B. should C. would D. might
4.A. old B. foreign C. big D. particular
5.A. returned B. got C. went D. walked
6.A. accept B. tell C. find D. remember
7.A. once more B. as usual C. at last D. as well
8.A. prepared B. supposed C. hurried D. desired
9.A. Sadly B. Surprisingly C. Naturally D. Finally
10.A. inside B. around C. away D. ahead
11.A. shout at B. break down C. give out D. give up
12.A. knocked B. beat C. kicked D. struck
13.A. position B. direction C. speed D. strength
14.A. pulled B. rode C. pushed D. followed
15.A. brakes B. engines C. energies D. batteries
16.A. nearly B. right C. almost D. hardly
17.A. opened B. checked C. tried D. provided
18.A. effect B. way C. use D. life
19.A. windows B. doors C. lights D. systems
20.A. but B. or C. and D. so
