Question

    Robots have always had certain advantages over humans. They’re typically made of more durable materials than the soft tissue covering human bodies and since they can be repaired in the event of damage, they can basically “live” forever. But robots are usually heavy and awkward, and humans have always had a huge advantage in terms of dexterity.

Thanks to the mad scientists at Boston Dynamics, that appears to be changing. The humanoid Atlas robot, which has already showed incredibly impressive human-like abilities, just keeps getting better and better, and a new video by the company shows that its fluidity(流畅) of movement has now easily surpassed your own (and mine).

Atlas has slowly but surely been learning a lot of new skills over the past few years. It’s graduated from holding boxes and awkwardly walking to sprinting(冲刺) over obstacles and navigating(导航) all manner of difficult terrain(地形).

This latest show is an evolution of those skills, with the robot showcasing its ability to fall down, spin in the air, and even do a respectable handstand. It’s essentially a full-fledged(经过充分训练的) gymnastics routine being performed by a robot. Whether that’s awesome or scary depends on your point of view.

We created the maneuvers(招式) using new techniques that streamline the development process. First, an optimization algorithm(优化算法) transforms high-level descriptions of each maneuver into dynamically-feasible(动态可行的) reference motions. Then Atlas tracks the motions using a model predictive controller that smoothly blends from one maneuver to the next. Using this approach, we developed the routine significantly faster than previous Atlas routines, with a performance success rate of about 80%.

Still, being able to pull this off four out of five times is nothing to laugh at, and if Atlas is indeed learning things faster than ever before, we’ll likely be seeing even more impressive routines in the near future.

1.The word “dexterity” in Paragraph 1 means to be _________.

A.violent B.flexible

C.light D.stupid

2.What’s the author’s attitude towards the robot’s new ability?

A.awesome B.scary

C.promising D.doubtful

3.What’s the author’s purpose in writing Paragraph 5?

A.To show how Atlas made full-fledged gymnastics routine.

B.To explain how Atlas got the new maneuvers.

C.To promote the development of robots

D.To introduce the theory of Atlas.

4.What does the text intend to tell us?

A.Robots have always had certain advantages over humans.

B.Robots likely have more development in the near future.

C.Atlas can do everything that we want him to do.

D.Atlas is a fully-trained gymnast with a lot of skills.

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.B

4.B

【解析】

科技说明文。本文主要介绍了机器人Atlas的新发展，学会了更灵活敏捷的体操动作，将会更有前景。文章说明了Atlas学会的动作，以及这些动作是如何被创建出来的。

1.词义猜测题。结合上文But robots are usually heavy and awkward, and humans have always had a huge advantage可知对比之下，机器人沉重笨拙，人类的巨大优势是灵活敏捷。故划线单词意思为“灵活的”。故选B。

2.推理判断题。由文中最后一段Still, being able to pull this off four out of five times is nothing to laugh at, and if Atlas is indeed learning things faster than ever before, we’ll likely be seeing even more impressive routines in the near future.（尽管如此，能够做到五次四次并不是什么可笑的事情，如果阿特拉斯确实比以前更快地学习东西，我们可能会在不久的将来看到更多令人印象深刻的动作。）可知作者对机器人的新能力持抱有希望的态度。故选C。

3.推理判断题。根据第五段第一句We created the maneuvers using new techniques that streamline the development process.（我们使用简化开发过程的新技术来创建动作。）和第五段主要讲科学家如何优化编程机器人，如何让机器人做更灵活敏捷的动作。故作者写第5段的目的是解释Atlas是如何得到新的动作的。故选B。

4.推理判断题。根据最后一段中 if Atlas is indeed learning things faster than ever before, we’ll likely be seeing even more impressive routines in the near future.（如果阿特拉斯确实比以往任何时候都学习得更快，那么在不久的将来，我们可能会看到更令人印象深刻的程序。）以及本文主要讲述了机器人Atlas发展的现状和前景。可知文章主要想告诉我们机器人在不久的将来可能有更多的发展。故选B。