When it comes to relationship, we spend a lot of time discussing their joys, but rarely talk about the pain when they break down. Yet most people have a story about a broken relationship.
For Jane Black, a six-year friendship ended when her friend was rude to one of her children. “After quite a few drinks at a party in my house, she said something rude to my child. I ended the friendship face to face at the party,” she says. “I didn’t realize what I was doing at the time, I was simply standing up for my child, but in her eyes any challenge was a betrayal.”
When Angela Thompson noticed a seven-year friendship disappearing, she let it go. “I didn’t know how to deal with the issue. I didn’t sit down for a grown-up conversation; I just walked away quietly.” The decision caused a reaction among Thompson’s other friends. “The other friends in the circle are the worst people when you are trying to break up with a friend,” she says. “They don’t want you to stop being friends, because it puts them in a difficult position. You get told to just get it over.”
Though we have plenty of measures for handling conflict at work or family fight, we still don’t have good ways of ending friendships. Do we sit down and properly break up, or just walk away? Psychologist Serena Cauchy has the following advice.
Don’t blame.
Talk about your needs and feeling rather than talking like a Dutch uncle.
Do talk about your needs.
Talk about why the friendship is not working for you—about how your needs aren’t being met.
Don’t gossip.
Negative talk hurts everyone involved and in some cases can make matters worse.
Don’t be so accessible.
If there is a common wish to conclude the friendship, then you can remove it.How did Angela Thompson deal with her friendship when it went wrong?
| A.She ended it face to face. |
| B.She left it as it was. |
| C.She turned to her friends for advice. |
| D.She made a direct challenge. |
According to the third paragraph, we learn the other friends________.
| A.will help you to fix a broken friendship |
| B.will choose either of the sides who broke up |
| C.will ask you to forgive each other |
| D.will be the worst people to break up with you at the same time |
Which is NOT mentioned by Psychologist Serena Cauchy?
| A.End the friendship if it can’t be renewed. |
| B.Don’t complain behind one’s back. |
| C.Express what you want and expect. |
| D.Sincerely talk about friends’ shortcomings. |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A.A True Friendship |
| B.When Friendships disappear |
| C.How Friendships Last |
| D.Ways to Fix Friendships |
Robots at the World Expo 2010 Shanghai play football,practice tai chi , play the violin, prepare Chinese dishes and care for the elderly. Scrap metal robots created by a Chinese farmer can pour tea and paint pictures.
Global designers of robots are making them more capable, powerful and affordable, so they will play more roles in more sectors, from manufacturing to health care, and they can help around the house.
Now Toyota, the world's biggest car maker, and Canon, the biggest camera maker, have joined research and development to make robots a practical reality, like a PC.
The Expo Shanghai is a place where China can learn about advanced robotics, and a stage for made-in-China robots.
Developers are taking robots from “Star Wars”and top laboratories and putting them into the industrial sector, even in consumer markets. They are used in health care, computer programming, manufacturing and culture.
The goals are to add more practical functions and to cut prices, and lower cost comes with higher volume.
“The World Expo is a unique opportunity to demonstrate French technology,”says Bruno Maisonnier,chief executive of Aldebaran Robotics, which shows Nao robots in the France Pavilion.
More than 700 Nao robots, which cost 1,000 to12,000 euros (US $ 14,640) each, are sold mainly to research organizations, including 60 to 70 in China.
The French-based company aims to promote robots in the general public market starting from late2011,with entertainment or learning functions at a"reasonable price", according to Maisonnier.
Visitors to the Japan Pavilion are struck by Toyota's dextrous Partner Robot playing the Chinese folk song Jasmine Flower on the violin. Other robots play other instruments, but the violin is the most complicated.
Many people were so enchanted by the robotic musician that they overlooked other Partner Robots, designed to be personal assistants especially for Japan's aging population. One can even carry passengers. Robots at the World Expo 2010 Shanghai are designed to be __________
| A.enjoyable and interesting |
| B.practical and affordable |
| C.good-looking and considerate |
| D.funny and relaxing |
Toyota and Canon have joined research and development to make robots, which shows __________
| A.robots are not too difficult to design |
| B.they want to abandon their present career |
| C.they are more fit to make robots |
| D.robot manufacture will become a big market |
From the passage we can see Nao robots are designed __________
| A.to show robots can be made cheaply |
| B.to meet the need of research |
| C.to serve the needs of every one of us |
| D.to show robots can be intelligent |
What's the best title of the passage?
| A.Advanced robots in the world |
| B.Robots in the future |
| C.Robots, practical and affordable |
| D.Robots show at the World Expo 2010 Shanghai |
Among the most popular books being written today are those which are usually classified as science fiction. Hundreds of titles are published every year and are read by all kinds of people. Furthermore, some of the most successful films of recent years have been based on science fiction stories.
It is often thought that science fiction is a fairly new development in literature, but its ancestors can be found in books written hundreds of years ago. These books were often concerned with the presentation of some form of ideal society, a theme which is still often found in modern stories.
Most of the classics of science fiction, however, have been written within the last one hundred years. Books by writers such as Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, to mention just two well-known authors, have been translated in many languages. Modern science fiction writers don't write about men from Mars or space adventure stories. They are more interested in predicting the results of technical developments on society and the human mind, or in imagining future worlds which are a reflection of the world which we live in now. Because of this their writing has obvious political undertones.
In an age where science fact frequently over-takes science fiction, the writers may find it difficult to keep ahead of scientific advances. Those who are sufficiently clear-sighted to see the way we are going, however, may provide a valuable lesson on how to deal with the problems which society will inevitably face as it tries to master its new technology and come to terms with a continually changing view of the world. Most of the classics of science fiction have been written within __________.
| A.the last few hundred years |
| B.the last one hundred years |
| C.the last two hundred years |
| D.the last three hundred years |
Modern science fiction writers are interested in __________
| A.writing about men from Mars |
| B.writing about everything but politics |
| C.forecasting the results of technical develop-ments and imagining the future world |
| D.writing space adventure stories |
Science fiction writers may provide a valuable les-son on how to deal with the problems of __________
| A.conflict used by different political theories |
| B.adopting new technology and adapting quickly to its effects on society |
| C.conflict caused by different religious beliefs |
| D.space adventure |
Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
by Isaac & Anderson
Price: $11. 86
Availability: In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon, com.
This how-to book is divided into four parts :“Story - telling ”,“ Ideas and Foundations ”,and two sections on mechanics, markets, and dealing with editors. Isaac talks about “Plotting”,“Dialog”,and“Revisions”,but Andersons technical essay on pre-paring a scientifically valid world couldn't be better. Masterpieces
by Orson Scott Card
Price: $11. 36
Availability: In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon, com.
It may not include every reader's choices for the top science fiction of the 20th century, but it lives up to its title. There 're 27 famous stories by the biggestnames and best writers, for example, Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson, and Snow by John Crowley. Masterpieces isn't an anthology (文选)for well-read fans. However, it is a great book (or new science fiction readers.
World Building
by Ben Bova
Price: $16. 99
Availability: In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon, com.
Another in Ben Bova 's series on science fiction writing. While it may take you a little more than seven days,when you're done, your knowledge will be greatly increased. It is designed to give science fiction writers the solid grounding they need to make their fictions read like fact. World Building is to help writers transport readers from one world to another through words, tables and diagrams.
End in Fire
by Syne Mitchell
Price: $6. 99
Availability: Only 2 left in stock—order soon by Amazon, com.
Astronaut Claire Logan is living her dream working on the space station Unity. But two days be-fore her mission ends, Earth is engulfed (吞没)in a nuclear war. Helpless to contact her family, Claire refuses to give up. But when Unity rescues a Chinese space station from certain death, Claire discovers that the war on Earth has come to space and she must make a final stand. The four books are all about __________.
| A.science fiction writers |
| B.science fiction writing |
| C.science fiction |
| D.science fiction fans |
Who is the author of Bears Discover Fire"!
| A.Orson Scott Card. |
| B.Ben Bova. |
| C.Syne Mitchell. |
| D.Terry Bisson. |
Which of the following books is most probably difficult to buy?
| A.End in Fire. |
| B.Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy. |
| C.Masterpieces |
| D.World Building. |
What can we learn from the above information?
| A.World Building helps writers to improve by story-telling. |
| B.Masterpieces is suitable for new science readers. |
| C.Isaac is good at writing essays on preparing a scientifically valid world. |
| D.End in Fire tells readers more than one story. |
An underwater robot that can hear the calls of whales, and to help ships to avoid them, has just been successfully tested in the Bahamas.
The scheme relies on a fish-shaped glider that moves freely through the ocean. It can dive down as far as 200 meters below the surface and direct itself by shifting a weight from fore to aft. A microphone attached to the bottom of the glider can pick up calls from all whales, including the high frequency call of the beaked whale, which until now has been difficult to detect. The glider returns periodically to the surface to radio its data back to base, or if that's too far away, it can call a satellite phone and send its information anywhere in the world.
"We are entering a new era of underwater sensing' says Jim Theriault of Defence Research and Development Canada, in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia who ran the trial. "We can put a glider in the Bahamas and monitor it in Nova Scotia. ”
The hope is that naval or other ocean-going operations that use sonar (声呐)will be able to more easily track where whales are, and so avoid using their noisy equipment when they are close by. There is circumstantial evidence that sonar can upset whales and a number of strandings (搁浅)have been seen shortly after naval sonar operations. “We're trying to lower the potential risk by knowing the animals are there,” says Theriault. The shape of the underwater robot is like __________
| A.a man |
| B.a fish |
| C.a snake |
| D.a turtle |
The underwater robot is built to __________.
| A.help whales move to the Bahamas |
| B.help whales give birth to their young |
| C.help ships avoid whales |
| D.help humans kill more whales |
To radio its data back to base, the robot has to __________
| A.dive down as far as 200 meters below the surface |
| B.stay deep in the water |
| C.call a satellite phone |
| D.come to the surface periodically |
The best title for this passage is “ __________ ”.
| A.Whales are in danger |
| B.Whales are difficult to find |
| C.Robot built to kill whales |
| D.Robot built to spy on whales |
Which of the following statements is FALSE?
| A.Whales can be disturbed by naval sonar operations. |
| B.Whales can be disturbed by noisy equipment. |
| C.Whales can be disturbed by noisy ocean-going operations. |
| D.Whales' strandings have nothing to do with naval sonar operations. |
Scientists are racing to build the world's first thinking robot. This is not science fiction: some say they will have made it by the year 2020,Carol Packer reports.
Machines that walk, speak and feel are no longer science fiction. Kismet is the name of an android (人形机器人)which scientists have built at the Massa-chusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Kismet is different from the traditional robot because it can show human emotions. Its eyes, ears and lips move to show when it feels happy, sad or bored. Kismet is one of the first of a new generation of androids—robots that look like human beings—which can imitate human feelings. Cog, another android invented by the MIT, imitates the action of a mother. However, scientists admit that so far Cog has the mental ability of a two-year-old.
The optimists (乐观主义者) say that by the year2020 we will have created humanoids (人形机器人) with brains similar to those of all adult human beings. These robots will be designed to look like people to make them more attractive and easier to sell to the public. What kind of jobs will they do? In the future, robots like Robonaut , a humanoid invented by NASA, will be doing dangerous jobs, like repairing space stations. They will also be doing more and more of the household work for us. In Japan, scientists are designing androids that will entertain us by dancing and playing the piano.
Some people worry about what the future holds:Will robots become monsters(怪物)? Will people themselves become increasingly like robots? Experts predict that more and more people will be wearing micro-computers,connected to the Internet, in the future. People will have micro-chips in various parts of their body, which will connect them to a wide variety of gadgets (小装置). Perhaps we should not exaggerate (夸大)the importance of technology, but one wonders whether, in years to come,we will still be falling in love, and whether we will still feel pain. Who knows? Kismet is different from traditional robots because __________.
| A.it thinks for itself |
| B.it is not like science fiction |
| C.it can look after two-year-old children |
| D.it seems to have human feelings |
What makes Cog special?
| A.It looks like a mother. |
| B.It behaves like a child. |
| C.It can imitate the behavior of a mother. |
| D.It has a huge brain. |
In about 10 years' time from now, robots __________
| A.will become space designers |
| B.will look like monsters |
| C.will behave like animals |
| D.will think like humans |
In the future robots will also __________.
| A.explore space |
| B.entertain people |
| C.move much faster |
| D.do all of the housework |
What is the writer's attitude to robots in the future?
| A.Critical. |
| B.Hostile. |
| C.Objective. |
| D.Enthusiastic. |