A lesson from the terrible drought(干旱) that hit some parts of southwestern China this year is that more anti-drought projects ______ built in the past years.
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A．should be |
B．should not have been |
|
C．ought to have been |
D．must be |
—Where did you get this book?
—Oh, I ______ it in the bookshop when I was looking for another one.
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A．came across |
B．found out |
C．looked for |
D．came up |
The plane of the Polish president was about to land ______ it snagged(挂) treetops and crashed, ______ the president and 96 others on board.
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A．while, killed |
B．when, killing |
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C．and, and killed |
D．when, to kill |
Mum ______ to us. “Be quiet! Your little sister is sleeping.”
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A．shouted |
B．explained |
C．whispered |
D．replied |
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
