Question

    Nao, the first robot able to show feelings, has been created by a European research team. When Nao is sad, he lowers his head and looks down. When he’s happy, he raises his arms for a hug. Nothing is out of the ordinary, except that Nao is a robot.

“We’re modeling the first years of life,” says Lola Canamero, a computer scientist at the University of Hertforshire. “The feelings are shown through physical gestures and body movements rather than facial or verbal(言语的) expressions.”

In the future, says the scientist, robots are likely to act as companions, provide support for old people, and help people shop online. In such uses, the display of feeling will be important in making the interactions(交往) more natural and comfortable.

Nao has been programmed to copy the emotional skills of a one-year-old child. It can memorize faces, and knows the basic rules of good and bad. Based on these it can decide how to react to what is going on. The actions going with each feeling are pre-programmed, but Nao decides for itself when to display them.

Nao is also programmed to have different personalities. A more independent robot is less likely to call for help when exploring a room, while a more fearful robot will show distress if it finds something in the room that may be harmful.

Canamero’s team will take its emotional programming forward into medical applications. Part of the project will look at ways to use robots in hospitals to support the roles of doctors, nurses and parents. Children might find that a small, friendly-looking robot that can understand their emotional states makes them less anxious. “We want to explore different roles—the robots will help the children to understand their treatment and explain what they have to do. We want to help the children to control their anxiety.” she says.

1.According to the text, Nao_______.

A.displays different feelings in different situations

B.is able to imitate adult emotional displays

C.can remember people’s feelings

D.learns emotions from facial expressions

2.What can we learn from the text?

A.Scientists worked on facial and spoken expressions to create Nao’s emotions.

B.The time when Nao displays feelings has been pre-programmed.

C.Emotional programming is used in medicine production.

D.Robots with emotional skills can help children feel more comfortable.

3.What does the underlined word “distress” in Paragraph 5 probably mean?

A.Courage. B.Anxiety.

C.Anger. D.Satisfaction.

4.What is the text mainly about?

A.The relationship between humans and robots.

B.The roles that robots play in different fields.

C.The first robot able to show feelings.

D.The long history of robots.

Answer

1.A

2.D

3.B

4.C

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。文章讲述了一个欧洲研究团队发明了一个能够通过姿势表达情感的机器人Nao，让机器人能更舒服更自然的交往，表达感情是非常重要的。Nao拥有一岁小孩表达情感的能力，同时Nao也被设置了不同的特性，一个更独立的机器人能够更好的完成各种任务。最后，Canamero的团队希望能将这种情感程序运用在医学APP上，能够帮助小孩在看医生时，缓解他们的焦虑。

1.细节理解题。文中第一段第二句提到“When Nao is sad, he lowers his head and looks down. When he’s happy, he raises his arms for a hug.”当Nao生气时，他会低下头，当他开心时，他会伸出手要求抱抱，说明Nao能在不同的情况下表达不同的情绪。故选A。

2.细节理解题。文中第一句提到“Nao, the first robot able to show feelings”Nao是第一个能表达情感的机器人。同时，第二段最后一句“The feelings are shown through physical gestures and body movements rather than facial or verbal(言语的) expressions.”科学家认为情感是通过姿势和手势表达的而不是语言或面部表情，说明Nao是没有语言功能的，故A项错误。第四段最后一句提到“The actions going with each feeling are pre-programmed, but Nao decides for itself when to display them.”Nao的每种情感对应的动作是预先编程好的，但什么时候显示是Nao自己决定的，而不是显示的时间也是预先编程好的，故B项错误。第六段第一句提到“Canamero’s team will take its emotional programming forward into medical applications.” Canamero的团队将要在医学APP上运用情感程序，will take是一般将来时，表示将要发生还未发生的事情，故C项错误。第六段第三句提到“Children might find that a small, friendly-looking robot that can understand their emotional states makes them less anxious.”如果小孩有一个小小的、可爱的又能够理解他们情感状态的机器人陪着的话，他们可能就不会那么焦虑了，D项与文章意思符合，故选D。

3.词义猜测题。A. Courage勇气，B. Anxiety焦虑；担心，C. Anger生气，D. Satisfaction满意。文中第五段提到一个独立的机器人在搜索一个空间时很少寻求帮助，是独立完成任务的。句中while“然而”是一个转折连词，连接两个句意相反的句子，由此可以判断，一个胆怯的机器人在处理一个空间内的有害东西时可能会不知所措。故选B。

4.主旨大意题。根据文章内容，仅在最后一段提到了机器人将会被运用在医学APP上来缓解小孩焦虑的情况，A项不全面，故A项错误。文章第二段提到了在未来机器人能从事的一些工作，B项较片面，故B项错误。文章中无明显的关于时间、时长方面的词汇，因此无法说明机器人的历史，故D项错误。文章第一段就提到了情感机器人Nao，且文章中的内容都是围绕情感机器人的特性，将来会运用到的场景展开的，C项正确。故选C。