Humans have been keeping animals as pets for tens of thousands of years, but Dr. Jean-Loup Rault, an animal scientist at the University of Melbourne in Australia, believes new companions are coming: robot pets.
“Technology is moving very fast,” Rault told ABC News, “The Tamagotchi in the early 1990s was really the first robotic pet, and now Sony and other big companies have improved them a lot.”
This may not sit well with pet lovers. After all, who would choose a plastic toy over a lovely puppy? But Rault argues that the robotic kind has a lot going for it: “You don’t have to feed it, you don’t have to walk it, it won’t make a mess in your house, and you can go on a holiday without feeling guilty.” The technology also benefits those who are allergic to pets, short on space, or fearful of real animals.
It’s not clear whether robot pets can replace real ones. But studies do suggest that we can bond with these smart machines. People give their cars names and kids give their toy animals life stories. It’s the same with robots. When Sony stopped its repair service for its robot dog Aibo in March 2014, owners in Japan held funerals.
As an animal welfare researcher, Rault is concerned about how robotic pets could affect our attitudes towards live animals. “If we become used to a robotic companion that doesn’t need food, water or exercises, perhaps it will change how humans care about other living beings,” he said.
So are dogs and cats a thing of the past, as Rault predicts? For those who grew up with living and breathing pets, the mechanical kind might not do. But for our next generation who are in constant touch with smart technology, a future in which lovely pets needn’t have a heartbeat might not be a far-fetched dream.
1.What does the underlined phrase “sit well with” means?
A. be refused by B. be beneficial to
C. make a difference to D. receive support from
2.What are the advantages of robot pets?
a. They are plastic and feel smooth.
b. Owners needn’t worry about them when going out.
c. They can help cure allergies.
d. They save space and costs.
A. ab B. bc C. bd D.cd
3.We can learn from the passage that___________.
A. Sony is the first company to produce robot pets Aibo.
B. People can develop strong bond with their robot pets.
C. Rault thinks robot pets still have a long way to go.
D. Robot toys may help people care more about living beings.
4.The passage mainly tells us___________.
A. the advantages of robot toys
B. the popularity of robot pets
C. living pets are dying out.
D. robot pets are coming.
Failing in something isn’t a really nice feeling, but Scotland’ s Fettes College in Edinburgh wants to show its students that failure isn’t something to fear and is actually something to accept willingly!
The boarding school held “failure week” to celebrate taking risks and learning from them. Whether in sports or school, children often face lots of pressure to succeed and do well, and the school was becoming concerned.
“Young people from all walks of life live in a high-pressure environment where they are trying very hard to achieve a level of perfection,” said Sue Bruce, head of personal and social education in the school.
“This week at Fettes we have been focusing on one of the most misunderstood parts of success: failure. While we are often scared of failure, it is important to learn that it is only through failing, often many times, that we learn how to succeed. All through the week, we have looked at the experiences of some of the most successful inventors, artists and businessmen, who failed hundreds, if not thousands of times on their journey to success,” read a letter on Fettes College’s website.
To celebrate failure, students were encouraged to try something they’ve never done before, like playing an instrument or dancing in front of audiences. A number of students stepped up and tried things that they finally failed in, but they had fun and enjoyed the experience. “The concert was extremely enjoyable, proving that we should always try not to worry about failure and have a go!” read another note on the website. Students were also taught about famous people like J.K. Rowling and Richard Branson who failed many times before they finished what they set out to do.
“If they let the fear of failure stop them from doing something, they are actually stopping themselves from learning, developing, and potentially succeeding,”said Bruce.
1.What is the purpose of the boarding school to hold “failure week”?
A. To get the students involved in social activities.
B. To help the students accept and learn from failure.
C. To make the students study even harder.
D. To teach the students how to get relaxed.
2.During the “failure week” the students could do the following things EXCEPT ___________?
A. taking risks
B. learning from others’ experiences
C. trying something new
D. trying to entertain themselves
3.What can we learn from the passage?
A、Many successful people are lucky and achieve success easily.
B、Because we are often scared of failure ,we never succeed.
C、The fear of failure can stop the students from learning and succeeding.
D、The students who failed in trying new things felt depressed.
书面表达
假如你是李华，你所在的班级最近举办了一次主题为 “Learn to Be Thankful(学会感恩)”的演讲比赛。请你用英语写一封email向你的美国朋友John介绍这次活动的内容并谈谈你的感受。主要内容如下：
1. 班会在1月11日举行；
2. 班主任发表主题演讲，号召同学们心怀感恩；
3. 同学们讲述自己的经历，对父母、师长等关爱自己的人表达感激之情；
4. 你的感受......
注意：1. 词数不少于100词；2. 可以适当增加细节以使行文连贯。
Dear John,
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
Yours
Li Hua
单词拼写
1.When choosing imported goods, people are ____ (困惑) about all the different labels on them.
2.In the students’ eyes, Miss Liu who teaches them English is a(n) ____(合格的) teacher.
3.The guide ____ (警告) us that it was not a good idea to go out at night when we were traveling there.
4.As a ____ (志愿者), I am willing to help people who live in poor villages.
5.With my mother’s kind words, I am always filled with strength and ____ (勇气).
6.It’s said that the writer has written all his experiences in this book, so it is ____ (值得的) to read it.
7.No matter what happens in the future, he will not give up his ____ (志向) to be a doctor.
8.He managed to finish the work in time ____ (尽管) his lack of experience.
9.Diana is a ____ (体贴的) boss who is always willing to help.
10.He is still _________ (犹豫) about whether to join the club.
阅读表达
阅读下面的短文，请根据短文后的要求答题。
Sometimes “ love” can be the hardest word, especially when it comes to saying it to our parents. But a new video campaign named Tell Them Now has launched to get people to show true emotions to their fathers on Father’s Day. Echo, who came up with the idea, said: “ We wanted to bring fathers and their kids face to face with each other. Many people don’t feel they express their love well enough to the people close to them. ”
In total, around a dozen children and their fathers were asked to take part in Echo’s short video. During the short film, a woman gets emotional as she speaks to her elderly father, who almost dies. “Dad I’m grateful, because we don’t know how long you are going to be with us,” she says. Meanwhile, a teenage girl considers how her views about her father will change in the future once she’s fled the nest. “ At the time when I’m graduating and leaving, it’s really going to hit me,” she says before giving her father a big hug.
But it’s not just children showing the love. Parents also take time to say why their children make them proud. One father clearly finds it a difficult task when he’s put on the spot. “ I’ve always been impressed by you. You made parenting easy.” Another man states how fatherhood helped him to seek help for alcoholism. “ Thank you”, he tells his son during the public heart –to-heart scene.
Echo hopes the campaign will encourage viewers to pick up the phone, and get the “L” word out to the fathers----“Tell him why you’re grateful; tell him why you’re proud. He might just do the same”.
1.Why did Echo launch the campaign Tell Them Now ? (No more than 15 words.)
2.What feeling did the woman in the video express to her father? (No more than 3 words.)
3.What questions were the fathers asked ? (No more than 15 words.)
4.How do you understand the underlined sentence in the last paragraph? (No more than 7 words.)
5.What will you do to your father on Father’s Day ? (No more than 25 words.)
What are the biggest problems that society will have to deal with in the new age? There are diseases like AIDS and cancer. There’s climate change, of course. And what about producing enough cheap food and energy for the world’s growing population? Who’s going to solve all these terrible problems? Yes, politicians and world leaders will have a big part to play. Yes, businesses will need to create the economic wealth to pay for some of these things. But who’s going to make a much greater difference to something like AIDS or climate change? It’s going to be a scientist. It is the scientist who can turn some new bit of science into a new technology to solve these problems.
If you like thinking about the world around you, why not become a scientist? It doesn’t mean you have to wear a white coat and plastic glasses and spend all your time in a lab as most people often imagine! Scientists do all kinds of amazing things that are actually interesting!
Military scientists develop not only new weapons but new military technologies that could help make wars out of date. Forensic(法医的) scientists work with the police to find quite small clues to catch criminals. Scientists work in schools and colleges as the teachers and professors who will train tomorrow’s scientists. Don’t think a scientist is far away! Maybe you like cooking? You could be a food technologist helping to keep fruit and vegetables fresher for longer. Perhaps sport is your thing? Do you know that most top athletes work with sports scientists in order to improve their performance? You could even be the science writer who gets to spend the life studying the latest advances and sharing them with the world.
Looking for something to do for the rest of your life? My advice? Take a long and hard look at science. It is interesting and ever.
1.Many problems are mentioned in the first paragraph to ____.
A. suggest they are impossible to be solved
B. introduce the causes of these problems
C. show the writer’s worry about the future world
D. show scientists play an important part in solving them
2.What is needed to solve these problems?
A. Advanced weapons. B. Enough energy.
C. New technologies. D. A growing population.
3.Most people think the life of scientists is ____.
A. amazing B. boring C. colorful D. unreal
4.Which of the following statement is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Military technologies could help prevent wars in the future.
B. For those interested in cooking, food technologies may be a choice.
C. Forensic scientists play an important part in dealing with crimes.
D. Politicians and world leaders can solve all the social problems.
5.The passage is intended for people who ____.
A. haven’t decided on their career
B. have no interest in science
C. hope for the world peace
D. have little knowledge of science
