Question

    Robot Surgeon (外科医生) Succeeds without Help from Human Doctors

Humans make mistakes. Even surgeons with years of experience are not infallible. But what if these doctors could pool their knowledge and experience together and create a surgical standard of care, to be carried out by machines?

That’s the idea behind surgical robots, which may soon perform most surgeries, from sewing up tiny wounds to performing heart procedures. Many of these operations are, in fact, already completed with the assistance of robots. But a recent test suggests that robots in the operating room may soon go a step further, performing on soft tissue completely on their own, from start to finish.

The Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR), successfully completed surgeries on pigs. “We’re the first group to develop autonomous robotic surgery with soft-tissue surgery, and when compared to standard operation, it’s better, ”says Peter Kim, professor of surgery. “The idea is not to replace surgeons; it will make the surgeons better and make the procedures safer.”

A recent Mayo Clinic study found that major surgical errors-including operating on the wrong site or side of the body, or even leaving tools or objects inside the patient-occur every one out of 22, 000procedures. That’s rare, but robots like STAR would aim to lower the number even further.

In the da Vinci surgical system, surgeons place their arms inside instruments and use their hands to control the movement of robotic tools on the operating table from afar. The robot’s every major move is controlled by surgeons, and thus its results may vary based on the surgeon’s training or experience.

STAR, on the other hand, is entirely autonomous. It’s not only able to work on its own and perform surgeries with a more flexible “hand”, but it’s able to react to the unexpected incidents. Cutting into hard tissue like bones is one thing, but operating on moving soft tissue is far more complex. STAR reacts to a changing environment, similar to how self-driving cars are programmed to not only drive on the highway, but also react to another driver making a mistake and getting in your way.

1.The underlined word “infallible” in Paragraph 1 probably means ________.

A. always right B. really creative

C. rather responsible D. quite smart

2.We can learn from the passage that STAR ________.

A. has been widely used in the operating room

B. can perform the operation on its own

C. can make surgeries much faster

D. will take the place of surgeons

3.In the da Vinci surgical system, ________.

A. robots are trained from afar

B. surgery results depend on surgeons

C. robots always make mistakes

D. surgeons have trouble controlling robots

4.In the last paragraph, the author mentions self﹣driving cars in order to show ________.

A. how bad getting in another driver's way might be

B. how difficult self﹣driving on the highway is

C. how smart an autonomous robot can be

D. how dangerous operating on people is.

Answer

1.A

2.B

3.B

4.C

【解析】

本文主要描述了智能组织自动机器人的发明能帮助外科医生进行手术，展示了现代机器人的有效性和实用性．

1.词义猜测题，根据前面提到的Humans make mistakes"人都会犯错误"，可以推测即使有着多年经验的外科医生也不总是对的，故选A．

2.细节理解题，根据句子But a recent test suggests that robots in the operating room may soon go a step further，performing on soft tissue completely on their own，from start to finish．可知，STAR会自己进行手术，故选B．

3.细节理解题，根据倒数第二段The robot's every major move is controlled by surgeons，and thus its results may vary based on the surgeon's training or experience．可知，达芬奇手术系统的结果完全取决于外科医生的水平，故选B．

4.细节理解题，根据句子STAR reacts to a changing environment，similar to how self﹣driving cars are programmed to not only drive on the highway，but also react to another driver making a mistake and getting in your way．可知，自动驾驶汽车不仅能在高速公路行驶，还能根据不同的情境做出反应，作者提及自动驾驶汽车为了说明现在的自动机器人是如何聪明，故选C