Roll over, sit and fetch aren’t commands normally given to a robot, but the smart toy company WowWee has developed a new way of owning a puppy.
CHIP (Canine Home Intelligent Pet) is a robotic dog with blue LED eyes and pointy ears and can sit, shake, dance and make all types of dog noises. It also has tracking capabilities to help locate its owner. “The beauty about CHIP is that it has its own thing going on,” said Sufer, CTO at WowWee. “It has its own life and own kind of intelligence. Even if you’re not around, it’s always doing something.”
CHIP uses wheels to get around and is loaded with sensors(传感器) that give it a 360-degree view to find its ball. The pup is Bluetooth enabled, which connects to a wristband worn by its owner. The wristband, similar to a watch, displays icons（图标）for different commands such as a thumb-up, which allows you to give your pup a digital belly rub. With its owner wearing a smart wristband, it can even follow him around the room.
“We worked on CHIP for about five to six months,” Davin Sufer, told dailymail.com, “We typically come up with a concept, model and product and get it on shelves within a year.” The company plans to start shipping units by next fall, which will allow them to load up the robotic dog with sensors and add many more animated responses per-owner interactivity.
The high-tech toy company made its debut（处女作）in 2004 by releasing the 1.5 foot RoboSapien, which sold millions of units. MiP, which hit shelves last year, is a seven inch tall robot covered in white with black accents. Users can direct it, change its emotions and make it dance to any song on your iPad. It’s loud, fast and active.
About 15 years ago, a company called ToyQuest developed the first ever electronic robotic dog---Tekno, the Robotic Puppy. The company sold over seven million units in the first season and 40 million more during its original four years of production. Tekno was built with over 160 emotions and instructions, but most importantly offered consumers a quick look into the future.
1.According to Sufer, the amazing characteristic of CHIP is that _____.
A. it is loaded with special sensors
B. it can make all kinds of dog noises
C. it has quick response to the commands
D. it can do something without instructions
2.CHIP can follow its owner with the help of _____.
A. a watch B. a smart wristband
C. pointy ears D. blue LED eyes
3.From the passage, we can know_______.
A. CHIP can be bought in the store now
B. WowWee introduced its first product last year
C. Tekno provided the bright future of the robotic puppy
D. MiP is the first company to develop the robotic puppy
For anyone still doubting the belief that our emotions influence our physical health, a new study from New Zealand should be able to settle the matter. It reports that the physical wounds of healthy seniors healed more quickly if they wrote about their most upsetting experiences.
This confirms the results of a 2010 study, and extends those findings to cover older adults—a group that is likely to suffer wounds (as from surgery), and one with less access to other ways of lowering tension (such as exercise).
Reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, a research team led by the University of Auckland’s Elizabeth Broadbent made a study featuring 50 healthy adults ranging in age from 64 to 97. They were asked to write for 20 minutes per day for three consecutive(连续的) days.
Half were asked to write about the most upsetting experience in their life, describing their deepest thoughts, feelings, and emotions about the events, ideally not previously shared with others. The others were asked to write about their daily activities without mentioning emotions, opinions or beliefs.
Two weeks after the third day of writing, all participants received a standard 4mm skin biopsy(皮下活体组织检查) on their inner arm. The very tiny wounds caused by the biopsy were photographed regularly over the following days to determine the rate at which they healed.
On the 11th day after the biopsy, the wounds completely healed on 76.2 percent of those who had done the expressive writing. That was true of only 42.1 percent of those who had written about everyday activities.
“The biological and psychological mechanisms(机体) behind this effect remain unclear,” the researchers wrote, noting that those who had done the expressive writing did not report lower stress levels or fewer depressive symptoms than the others in the control group. Even if they weren’t consciously aware of feeling more relaxed or positive, the expressive writing appeared to have caused some sort of bodily reaction—probably involving their immune systems—that hastened their recovery.
1.What was the difference between the two groups of participants in the study?
A. What they wrote.
B. Where they wrote.
C. When they wrote.
D. How often they wrote.
2.According to the text, the experiment lasted .
A. about three days B. about a month
C. about two weeks D. about ten days
3.The underlined word “hastened” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to .
A. speeded B. showed C. limited D. ruined
4. What would be the best title of the text?
A. Sharing with others can reduce stress.
B. Skin biopsies are likely to cause wounds.
C. Expressive writing heals physical wounds.
D. Upsetting experiences influence our emotions.
Once when I was facing a decision that involved high risk, I went to a friend. He looked at me for a moment, and then wrote a sentence containing the best advice I’ve ever had: Be bold and brave — and mighty forces will come to your aid.
Those words made me see clearly that when I had fallen short in the past, it was seldom because I had tried and failed. It was usually because I had let fear of failure stop me from trying at all. On the other hand, whenever I had plunged into deep water, forced by courage or circumstance, I had always been able to swim until I got my feet on the ground again.
Boldness means a decision to bite off more than you can eat. And there is nothing mysterious about the mighty forces. They are potential powers we possess: energy, skill, sound judgment, creative ideas — even physical strength greater than most of us realize.
Admittedly, those mighty forces are spiritual ones. But they are more important than physical ones. A college classmate of mine, Tim, was an excellent football player, even though he weighed much less than the average player. “In one game I suddenly found myself confronting（面对） a huge player, who had nothing but me between him and our goal line,” said Tim. “I was so frightened that I closed my eyes and desperately threw myself at that guy like a bullet— and stopped him cold.”
Boldness — a willingness to extend yourself to the extreme—is not one that can be acquired overnight. But it can be taught to children and developed in adults. Confidence builds up. Surely, there will be setbacks and disappointments in life; Boldness in itself is no guarantee of success. But the person who tries to do something and fails is a lot better off than the person who tries to do nothing and succeeds.
So, always try to live a little bit beyond your abilities—and you’ll find your abilities are greater than you ever dreamed.
1.Why was the author sometimes unable to reach his goal in the past?
A. He faced huge risks.
B. Fear prevented him from trying.
C. He lacked mighty forces.
D. Failure blocked his way to success.
2.What is the implied meaning of the underlined part?
A. Act slightly above your abilities.
B. Swallow more than you can digest.
C. Develop more mysterious powers.
D. Learn to make creative decisions.
3.What was especially important for Tim’s successful defense in the football game?
A. His physical strength. B. His basic skill.
C. His spiritual force. D. His real fear.
4.What can be learned from Paragraph 5?
A. Boldness can be gained little by little.
B. Confidence grows more rapidly in adults.
C. Trying without success is meaningless.
D. Repeated failure creates a better life.
I decided a few months ago that l was going to treat myself to a 4-day getaway from Los Angeles and visit Chicago. I turned in some long-saved frequent flier miles(航空积分里程) for the airplane ticket, but had to shell out cash I really couldn’t afford for the hotel. I found a travel website where a discounted promotional 3-night stay was purchased from a recently opened hotel.
About three weeks before the trip, I had to regretfully cancel and only then realized the room, while transferable to another person, couldn’t be changed to a later date and wasn’t refundable(可退款的)．For the next two weeks, I tried selling it on Craig’s list with no success. Five days before the “big weekend” I gave up trying to spend any money and decided I’d contact some friends who live in Chicago and offer someone a free “staycation”. After trying a handful of people all of whom already had their own plans, I was determined to have the room not go to waste.
That’s when it suddenly occurred to me that I was looking at the rooms in the wrong way. Instead of viewing them for vacation purposes, surely there must be a way to put them to good use, and that was when the idea that some sort of shelter might be able to use it hit me. I finally found one whose focus is aiding victims of domestic violence. This particular one was willing to listen to my out-of-left-field story and facilitated the transfer of the rooms. The shelter was working with a desperate woman and her young daughter, who were fortunately able to make use of the room.
1.What did the author decide to treat himself to?
A. A big meal in Chicago.
B. A 4-day travel.
C. A holiday abroad.
D. A get-together with family.
2. The author purchased a 3-night stay from a newly-opened hotel .
A. to act as a promoter
B. to experience e-business
C. to get a free air ticket
D. to save some money
3. The room the author booked could only be .
A. cancelled within 24 hours
B. changed to a later date
C. transferred to another person
D. refunded half of the money
4. What did the author decide to do with the room at last?
A. Sell it online.
B. Let it go to waste.
C. Use it to help strangers in need.
D. Offer it to one of his friends.
书面表达
假设你的英文名为Jack,是英国诺丁汉大学的中国留学生。你负责为在该校就读的32名中国学生筹划寒假期间的苏格兰之行，为期7天，请你给诺丁汉的STA(Students’ Travel Agency)经理Phil发一封电子邮件，联系有关事宜。要点如下：
1. 希望能够派车接送；
2. 需要一名说标准英语，并非常熟悉苏格兰的导游；
3. 请求告知旅行日程及就餐、旅馆、费用等情况；
4. 你的联系方式：电子邮箱地址：Jackwang@yahoo.com.cn或电话号码：07747745007
注意：（1）词数：100词左右；
（2）开头和结尾已为你写出，不计入总词数；
（3）参考词汇：诺丁汉大学Nottingham University; 旅馆住宿accommodation；旅行日程安排itinerary；长途客车coach。
Hi, Phil,
I’d like you to organize a trip to Scotland for us.________________________________________.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________.
Yours truly,
Jack
短文改错，文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。
I am secretary of the City Student Union (CSU). We were organizing an art exhibition for high school students in city. It will be held in the 9th of July in the Exhibition Hall of Beihai. More than 1000 painting will be on show, but high school students and teachers from all the eight districts will come to the event. As you are very popularly with us Chinese high school students, we’d like to invite for you to the exhibition. We would be grateful when you could join them that day. Looking forward to hear from you soon.
