Whether in the home or the workplace, social robots are going to become a lot more common in the next few years. Social robots are about to bring technology to the everyday world in a more humanized way, said Cynthia Breazeal, chief scientist at the robot company Jibo.
While household robots today do the normal housework, social robots will be much more like companions（伙伴） than mere tools. For example, these robots will be able to distinguish when someone is happy or sad. This allows them to respond more appropriately to the user.
The Jibo robot, arranged to ship later this year, is designed to be a personalized assistant. You can talk to the robot, ask it questions, and make requests for it to perform different tasks. The robot doesn’t just deliver general answers to questions; it responds based on what it learns about each individual in the household. It can do things such as reminding an elderly family member to take medicine or taking family photos.
Social robots are not just finding their way into the home. They have potential applications in everything from education to health care and are already finding their way into some of these spaces.
Fellow Robots is one company bringing social robots to the market. The company’s “Oshbot” robot is built to assist customers in a store, which can help the customers find items and help guide them to the product’s location in the store. It can also speak different languages and make recommendations for different items based on what the customer is shopping for.
The more interaction the robot has with humans, the more it learns. But Oshbot, like other social robots, is not intended to replace workers, but to work alongside other employees. “We have technologies to train social robots to do things not for us, but with us,” said Breazeal.
1.How are social robots different from household robots?
A. They can control their emotions.
B. They are more like humans.
C. They do the normal housework.
D. They respond to users more slowly.
2.What can Oshbot work as?
A. A language teacher.
B. A tour guide.
C. A shop assistant.
D. A private nurse.
3.We can learn from the last paragraph that social robots will ______.
A. train employees B. be our workmates
C. improve technologies D. take the place of workers
4.What does the passage mainly present?
A. A new design idea of household robots.
B. Marketing strategies for social robots.
C. Information on household robots.
D. An introduction to social robots.
My friend, Peg, and I were seeking evidence that there were people who were treating our soil, our waters, our air with the love and respect they deserved. And we found it.
One day we saw a busload of school children on an outing. The bus had stopped at a hamburger stand where we were having a rest, and half-a-hundred children poured out. Busloads of children, of course, were not new, and I hardly gave them more than a glance until I realized what they were doing. Chatting and laughing, the children were picking up as much waste as they could carry from around the stand and its parking area. They took the waste to their bus, where several bags had been brought out for the waste.
Within five minutes, before our astonished eyes, that parking lot had been picked clean. Impressed, I walked over to their teacher. "I'm interested," I began. "In fact, I'm surprised at how those kids worked this place over. Is this some kind of environment protection class?"
"You'd never guess it," he said, "but we're a history class. "
"A history class?"
"That's right. We're on our way from Boston to visit Fort(城堡) Ticonderoga. Before the trip, one of the things we tried to find out was how the Ticonderoga countryside looked back in old days," he said. "In fact, we made a little table display of the scene, using toy buildings and toy trees. When one kid jokingly suggested we ought to put a few bottles and cans around to make it look real, the others blamed him. But the boy argued that he bet Ticonderoga would look like that today. Besides, if they thought it was so funny, were they prepared to clean it up if he was right? The class decided, however, that the entire fort might be too big a task to do. But they agreed to clean up any roadside area where they stopped on their way to the fort. And so that's what they did!"
1.How did the author feel when he understood what the kids were doing?
A. Amazed.
B. Bored.
C. Disappointed.
D. Unconcerned.
2.Why were the students going to Fort Ticonderoga?
A. To learn history.
B. To go outing for fun.
C. To clean the roads to the fort.
D. To protect the environment there.
3.The underlined word "display" in the last paragraph refers to__________.
A. plan
B. show
C. cloth
D. game
Have you ever been to Taiwan, the biggest island of China? Do you want to visit there? We’ll show you the best Taiwan Island.
On a four-day tour.
Price: Only ¥5,000
Including: Round-way plane tickets between Beijing and Taiwan.
Bus service around Taiwan. Best tour guide service.
Places
Sun and Moon Lake A beautiful lake. A small island. On one side of the island, the lake looks like the sun, on the other side it looks like the moon. That is why people call the lake Sun and Moon Lake.
Ali Mountain The nearest mountain around Sun and Moon Lake. A nice experience to have a party with Gaoshan people. A wonderful place to see a very beautiful sunrise.
Peng Lake A great place for swimming, fishing, boating and eating delicious fruit and fresh fish.
Gao Xiong A full day to go shopping.
Book noww
Office hour Monday—Friday: 9:00 am—7:00 pm; Saturday: 9:00 am—4:00 pm
Tel: 6459-9561
Sold out this month Book by phone now for next month.
1.Which is the biggest island of China?
A. Taiwan Island.
B. Hainan Island.
C. Diaoyu Island.
D. Huangyan Island.
2.If you go on a trip in Taiwan, where can you see the beautiful sunrise?
A. On Sun and Moon Lake.
B. On Ali Mountain.
C. On Peng Lake.
D. In Gao Xiong.
3.The writer of this passage wants to .
A. have more people to join the tour
B. tell you something about Taiwan
C. ask people not to trouble them on Sunday
D. describe how beautiful Taiwan is
4.If you want to visit Taiwan this month, you have to .
A. visit their office on Saturday
B. phone the number 6459-9561
C. turn to some other travel agencies
D. pay more to cover the same tour
1.Customers with a strong emotional investment in your company or brand will feel _________(背叛) if you ever let them down.
2.They feel ________(内疚) about not being able to see their son often because they are busy with their work.
3.It's no use a__________ about the question with him, for he won't change his opinion.
4.It is __________(荒谬的) to believe that number 13 is unlucky.
5.If we pass the entrance examination and are fortunately a_________ to a university, we shall not stop making effort.
6.The practice of law requires __________(了解) with court procedures.
7.I apologize for the delay in __________(回复) to your message and greatly appreciate your patience.
8.Chinese leaders are __________(坚定的) to continuing Deng Xiaoping's path of opening up policy and economic reform.
9.The two organizations work together to raise public awareness of the vast scale of hunger ____________(全世界).
10.We do not need to __________(羡慕，忌妒) any other person, for our existence is actually unique!
Disability aids are vital to those who suffer problems with executing work with two hands. These are people who have been disabled due to some major sickness or some other problems. In order to help them carry on their work in the normal way, disability aids are manufactured. This helps them make their life a lot easier than what it would have been without these aids. The kind of disability aids that an individual might require depends on the person only. It is the problem that a person faces that decides the aids that he/she will use for carrying out their respective jobs. The following is the list of a few disability aids that come of significant use.
The first and foremost aid is the stocking aid, aiding the individuals suffering from the problem of bending down to reach the foot and wear their own socks. These stocking aids have a gutter that is made up of plastic material. These gutters are shaped in a certain way along with the attachment of cotton tapes in it. The sock is then put over the gutter. The foot is placed inside the gutter. The cotton tapes help in pulling the socks up the leg and subsequently the sock. In this manner, the sock is worn by a person who has problems wearing it by bending one’s back and reaching the foot.
There are openers that help the people who have problems with their hands or wrists to open bottles of ketchup, jam and other such bottles and jars that necessitates the use of hands and fingers.
The third type of disability aids that comes to our minds are lifts. Now what are lifts? Lifts are certain machines that help in lifting people from specific areas, such as a bathtub or a set of stairs. These lifts are of varied types and come for numerous applications. It is for the individual to decide the type that he/she requires to use.
For people, who have problems in balancing their upper bodies in a stable manner, there is something known as grab rails. These grab rails are installed for those who have mobility problems in their upper bodies. These rails come in varieties of shapes, sizes and angles. These grab rails are available to home users as well, in their different variations. One can purchase and fix one to their homes according to one’s specificities. These grab rails require the act of screwing and drilling in order to fix them to their appropriate place. The prices of these rails also vary according to the variation of their shapes and sizes.
A portable book holder is a much sought-after disability aid. It can be used by anybody for that matter, not just the disabled. These portable book holders are light-weight and can be easily moved about. These holders relieve the strains on one’s hands, necks and shoulders that might occur due to the handling of a book. The holders are provided with extended legs that help in placing the reading material at suitable distance.
Thus with the help of these disability aids, the old and disabled people can make their lives much more convenient and comfortable that would otherwise have been a cumbersome and complex one.
Disability Aids
Theme | Disability aids are of great 1. to those who are disabled as a result of some major sickness or other problems. | |
Different 2. of aids | Stocking aids | Help the individuals who have problems 3. down to reach their feet to put on socks by themselves. |
Openers | Aid the disabled to open the bottles of ketchup when they can’t take 4. of their hands or wrists. | |
Lifts | Assist in lifting people from 5. areas with varied types of lifts, which are 6. numerously. | |
Grab rails | Help those having mobility problems in their upper bodies to keep their 7. in a stable manner. | |
Book holders | Help to make the strains on one’s hands , necks and shoulders 8. when people are reading. | |
9. | 10. to these disability aids, the life of the old and disabled will become more convenient and comfortable. | |
This Sunday in London, an American running phenomenon will hit the UK for the first time — and looks set to leave a mark. The Color Run™ series, founded in 2011 by Utah resident Travis Snyder, who currently lives in Los Angeles, is a 5k with a twist: runners start in white clothing, and at each kilometer get caked in brightly colored powders (made from 100% eco-friendly and natural food-grade corn starch) thrown by volunteers.
Snyder, 35, previously organized rock climbing events but says it was having a child that inspired him to think of an event combining fitness and pleasure. So far, 600,000 people have already taken part in Snyder's fitness festivals across the world, from Sydney to Rio de Janeiro, becoming America's biggest 5k along the way.
What does Snyder think is its appeal? "I think sometimes people get tired of being so competitive," he says. "In a running event, the person next to you is the tool that you are going to compare yourself to; whether or not you run faster than them or they run faster than you. The Color Run still has running in its basis: people still get to be out and be active. But instead of it being an exclusive experience, it's an inclusive experience, where the people next to you are part of that."
The events attract a large population, including families and children, along with a higher proportion of women than most runs. For many, it is their first race and furthest distance. Synder's eight-year-old son has taken part in 20 of the races. "It's not a big deal because he doesn't think of it as 5k – he is just running and having fun."
In line with this theme of participation rather than competition, there are no praises for coming first. If runners want to get a result, they will have to track it themselves, as it is not officially timed. And, needless to say, the finish line is one big party – before the clean up begins.
1.Those ________ can join in the Color Run.
A. whose ages are more than 8 B. who wear colorful clothes
C. who are good at running D. who dress in white
2.What contributed to Travis Snyder’s founding the fitness festival?
A. Competitive society.
B. Being a father.
C. Love among families and children.
D. Having a lifestyle mentally and physically.
3.The Color Run series main aim is to ________.
A. reduce people’s stress B. find the fastest runners
C. combine health and fun D. have a big party for every family
4.Why does the author mention Snyder’s eight-year-old son in Paragraph 4?
A. To show Snyder’s love for his son.
B. To prove the son was good at running.
C. To tell us how the son covers his furthest distance.
D. To argue the activity gains popularity whatever age.
