What if you arrived home to find a delicious hot meal waiting for you, prepared by your very own kitchen robot? It might sound like science fiction, but professors at the university of Tokyo have taken the first steps toward making that scenario a reality. The team recently introduced a humanoid kitchen robot that can pour tea and other drinks into cups and serve them to guests. When teatime is over, the robot can also wash the dishes and put them away.
In California, another interesting kitchen robot has been developed, called Readybot. It can pick up objects and either store them in cabinets (橱柜) or put them in the trash. It also carries a separate floor-cleaning robot that can operate by itself. Unlike the Japanese robot, Readybot just looks more like a large box with arms and wheels.
Readybot was created by engineers and designers who established a club called the Readybot Challenge. They believe that in the future millions of robots will be needed in homes to perform ordinary household tasks. Readybot is just the first step in their plan to create a robot that can do jobs not only in kitchens but in other rooms of homes and in offices as well.
Clearly there are technological difficulties to solve before robots can cook a complete there are also many safety concerns (忧虑). Not everyone (especially parents) would be comfortable with the idea of robots in their house, manipulating hot pans and sharp knives. The European Commission recently funded (资助) a project to study these concerns. According to lead researcher Professor Chris Melhuish, “Enabling robots to work safely with humans is a key need for the future development of robotics.”
1.Compared with Readybot, which of the following is true about the Japanese robot?
A. It is more popular. B. It performs more jobs.
C. It moves more quickly. D. It looks more like a person.
2.What can Readybot be used to do?
A. Drive you afround. B. Clean your kitchen.
C. Prepare food for you. D. Work for office workers.
3.What’s the meaning of the underlined word “manipulating” in the last paragraph?
A. Inventing. B. Avoiding.
C. Controlling. D. Making.
Unlike most other holidays,the history of April Fools’ Day.Sometimes called All Fools’ Day,is not totally clear.The only point in time that can be agreed on as the beginning of this tradition was 1582,in France.Before that year,the New Year was celebrated for eight days,beginning on March 25.The celebration reached the highest point on April 1.With the reform of the calendar under Charles 1X,the the Gregorian calendar(公历，阳历）was introduced,and New Year’s Day was moved to January 1.
However,because in those days communications were not as developed as they are today,many people did not receive the news for several years.Some people refused to accept the new calendar and continued to celebrate the New Year on April 1.These backward people were considered”fools” by other people.They were often sent on “fools” errands（徒劳无益的工作）or were made the targets of jokes.
This developed,over time,into a tradition of playing a trick on someone on the first day of April.The tradition eventually spread to England and Scotland in the eighteenth century.It was later introduced to the American colonies of both the Britain and France.April Fools’ Day thus developed into an international fun feast,so to speak,with different nationalities specializing in their own kind of humor at the expense of their friends and families.
1.According to an earlier calendar,New Year’s Day in France was .
A. March25 B. January 1 C. April 1 D. April3
2.Which of the following first had the tradition of celebrating the April Fools’ Day?
A. France. B. England. C. Scotland. D. America.
3.What was people’s attitude towards the new calendar?
A. They accepted it happily. B. They refused it immediately. C. Some recognized it. D. Some laughed at it.
4.The passage mainly tells us .
A. what the French did on April Fools’ Day B. How April Fools’ Day come into being
C. when was the new calendar introduced D. why some people were fooled in France
How old are the apps on your smartphone? Is it time for an update? Here are three apps for you. Try them out and have fun.
Duolingo
Learning a foreign language doesn’t always mean you have to sit in a class and take endless exams. An app called Duolingo has been designed to help you memorize (记住) new words and grammar in creative ways，such as online lessons，games and interesting exercises. For example，one exercise asks you to put words in the right order to make the correct sentence. You can also try translation practice.
Douban FM
A music app is a necessity for almost every smartphone now. Douban FM might be the right thing for you.
There is no playlist on Douban FM--songs just keep streaming (播放) one by one. You can use the “heart”, “trash” and “skip” buttons (按钮) to mark the songs you like，don’t like and want to cut short, respectively (分别地). Those marked with a heart will be stored in another list as your favorites for you to listen to anytime you want. Douban FM also has different channels (频道). There are many types of music, such as blues, jazz, and pop. You can choose the music for outdoor activities, work or studying depending on your mood (心情).
It is one of the hottest news apps right now. With Flipboard, you can make everything personal to you. All you have to do is open up the app, “flip through” to select whatever interests you，and click the “+” button. At the end you’ll have your own magazine, complete with a front page, new articles, and information.
1.What’s the purpose of the passage?
A. To show a new way to learn English.
B. To offer a hottest news website.
C. To introduce three apps.
D. To give advice to music lovers.
2.What does Duolingo help you do?
A. Get away from endless exams.
B. Keep words and grammar in mind.
C. Have easy access to online lessons.
D. Practice speaking English correctly.
3.Which statement is true about Douban FM?
A. There is no playlist on it, making a smartphone easier to operate.
B. It has special channels where conceits are regularly broadcast live.
C. It knows about your mood, based on what you are doing.
D. You can choose with it your favorite songs and music as you like.
4.According to the text, what can you do with Flipboard?
A. Make a personalized news magazine.
B. Go through everything that interests you.
C. Safely store some personal information.
D. Contribute your articles to popular magazines.
随着信息技术的不断发展，传统的靠读报获取信息的方式逐渐被看电视，上网所代替。对此我们学校开展了题为“Views on Newspaper”的假期社会调查。请你根据以下提示，给中学生英语报写篇稿，客观介绍你的调查情况，并简单陈述自己的看法。
45%的人喜欢读报：（1）不受时间限制，方便；
（2）阅读使人思考，有利于智力的提高；
（3）可以随个人兴趣获取信息。
55%的人不喜欢读报：（1）没有声像，不够生动；
（2）信息传递速度相对较慢。
注：文章的开头已给出。词数不少于100。
Dear editor,
Recently students of our school have made a survey of “Views on Newspaper”. _____________________________
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假定英语课课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。
修改：在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均限一词。
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
We all have a strong desire to succeed. For some the desire is great than that of the average people. In a fact, everyone wants to successful but every few are willing to pay the price of hard work. Success is an attitude and has no real secrets. It all start with your belief system. Your belief system starts with what you feel about yourself. You must first believe in yourself. On your journey to succeed, you will find that there are no shortcuts. You will never be able to completely master every detail of your life. Attempt to do so will only lead to disappointment. Beside, it’s necessary for you to have clear goals. You’d better put down your goals on paper which they are visible so that they can help to monitor your progresses.
1.By the end of October 1886, the statue had been put together again and it was _____________ __________ ___________ the American people by Bartholdi.
2.Ever since then, the great monument has been __________ ___________ ___________ liberty for the millions of people who have passed through New York Harbor to make their homes in America.
3._____________ lanterns are hung outside each house to help the dead to find their way.
4.The land ____________ __________ ____________ from 700 meters above sea level to over 2,000 meters and is home to a great diversity of rare plants and animals.
5.So don’t _________ __________ ____________ the disabled or make fun of them, and don’t ignore them either.
