Question

    Robots and humans will soon be living in harmony (和睦). A singing robot is being taught to create jazz with a human in a project.

Antonio Chella from Italy is working with a Telenoid robot. To start with, the Telenoid will be trained to follow the movements and simple sounds made by a human singer, and to connect music with different emotional states. Chella then plans to see if the robot can use these connections to create music.

Intelligence is often regarded as the ability to find connections between the existing things. But Chella suggests that a conscious(有意识的) creature should be able to go a step further and introduce new connections that result in the creation of something new.

Some jazz musicians say that they should have a mental library of musical phrases so that they are able to combine them in new ways. More importantly, however, this combination happens in a state that is similar in a sense to dreaming. Chella wants to copy these states in a machine.

“This work raises interesting questions about the link between consciousness and music making,” says Philippe Pasquier, a musician and computer scientist. But he is skeptical about whether a robot musician needs a physical body.

Pasquier argues that the robots are faced with two challenges(挑战). Software that can copy Bach has already been developed. But interpretation(演绎)includes human’s different tastes and judgments. “What made the Beatles famous was not so much their works, but the fact that the interpretations of the works were wonderful,” he says.

It is not yet clear how a robot would go about interpreting music in a new way. But by copying humans and then learning to sing, Chella’s robot could provide clues.

What seems to be important is that human composers often listen to lots of music made by others. So Chella’s robot had better listen to those jazz standards first.

1.Which of the following is the robot’s first step before it tries to create jazz?

A.Living with human beings in harmony.

B.Connecting actions with human’s emotions.

C.Copying a human singer’s movements and sounds.

D.Learning to communicate with human beings freely.

2.The underlined word “skeptical” in Paragraph 5 could be replaced by “_____“.

A.doubtful B.worried

C.certain D.concerned

3.What can we know about the robots like Telenoid from the text?

A.They are household robots. B.They can talk with researchers.

C.They are faced with two challenges. D.They will become human singers.

4.What can be concluded from the text?

A.Chella’s robot needs a physical body to make music.

B.How to interpret jazz is a piece of cake for Chella’s robot.

C.A new kind of software should be developed to copy Bach.

D.Chella’s robot should listen to much jazz to create something new.

Answer

1.C

2.A

3.C

4.D

【解析】

本文属于说明文阅读，作者通过这篇文章主要向我们描述了机器人和人类将生活和谐，目前正在创造音乐机器人。

1.细节理解题。根据第二段To start with，the Telenoid will be trained to follow the movements and simple sounds made by a human singer，and to connect music with different emotional states(首先，Telenoid将被训练来跟随人类歌手的动作和简单的声音，并将音乐与不同的情绪状态联系起来)可知机器人在创造爵士乐之前的第一步是模仿人类歌手的动作和声音。故选C。

2.词义猜测题。根据下文whether a robot musician needs a physical body可知，这是一个问题，因此推断但他对机器人音乐家是否需要身体有疑问。由此可知划线词的意思是“怀疑的”。故选A。

3.细节理解题。根据文章Pasquier argues that the robots are faced with two challenges可知，Pasquier认为机器人面临着两个挑战。故选C。

4.推理判断题。根据最后一段What seems to be important is that human composers often listen to lots of music made by others．So Chella's robot had better listen to those jazz standards first可知似乎很重要的是，人类作曲家经常听别人创作的音乐，因此，切拉的机器人最好先听爵士乐的标准,因此推断Chella的机器人应该多听爵士乐来创造新的东西。故选D。