Ask anyone what is the most difficult part of changing their lifestyle habits and they are most likely to say, "Staying motivated．" But a 36-year-old professor from Carnegie Mellon University claims it may have the answer in the form of robot weight loss coach that dishes out daily health advice and encouragement．
Autom is the work of Intuitive Automata, a company based in Sha Tin which claims to be a pioneer in commercial socially-interactive robots．
The robot, which stands around 38 centimeters tall, has a head that swivels (旋转), blue eyes, and a touch screen which allows the user to input information daily about exercise and diet Its creators say Autom will have a daily conversation with its user lasting up to five minutes, giving feedback and encouragement．Over time, it will interact more with the user as it gathers more information about them．
Cory Krdd, a research team manager with the Federal Emergency Management Agency claims research has shown that people find robots a more reliable source of information than on-screen-based character．
In a controlled study in Pittsburgh City Council, 15 dieters were given Autom for six weeks． Another 15 received a touch-screen computer with identical software and 15 were given a paper log．The study found, people using the robot are more likely to stick with their diets longer, in fact twice as long as those using just a paper log．
"While not one person among the computer or paper groups continued past six weeks, most who had Autom did not want to give her back at the conclusion of the study," he said．
The bottom line is that a robot creates a more powerful and long-lasting relationship with the user than a character on the screen．
Autom is expected to go on sale later this year in the United States for around $500．A robot which speaks and understands Cantonese and Mandarin in addition to English according to the demands is also being developed．What's the passage mainly about?
| A．The development of Autom． |
| B．The automated way to motivation． |
| C．The working principle of robots． |
| D．The way to change the lifestyle habits． |
What can we know about the controlled study?
| A．The study was led by Cory Kidd． |
| B．The subjects were divided by two． |
| C．Every person with Autom continued past six weeks． |
| D．People using Autom gain more benefits than other people． |
Which is true about Autom according to the passage?
| A．The price of this robot is very high． |
| B．It can communicate with people freely． |
| C．Autom can act as a coach to help lose weight． |
| D．These robots called Autom have been used widely． |
Which institution is responsible for the development of Autom?
| A．Intuitive Automata． |
| B．Pittsburgh City Council． |
| C．Carnegie Mellon University． |
| D．Federal Emergency Management Agency． |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．The robot can help people change their lifestyle habits． |
| B．The robot can't speak English except Cantonese and Mandarin． |
| C．The robot that can speak many languages has been popular with the users． |
| D．The robot that can speak many languages meets the demand of the customers． |
For the past two years, 8-year-old Harli Jordean from Stoke Newington, London, has been selling marbles(弹珠). His successful marble company, Marble King, sells all things marble-related － from affordable tubs of the glass playthings to significantly expensive items like Duke of York solitaire tables － sourced, purchased and processed by the mini-CEO himself.
“I like having my own company. I like being the boss,” Harli told the Mirror.
With profits now in the thousands, “the world’s youngest CEO” has had to get his mother and older brothers to help him meet the growing demand.
Harli launched Marble King after swapping marbles at school led to schoolchildren consuming his marble collection. Yes, he literally “lost his marbles.” Harli and his mother, Tina, turned to the Internet to find replacements.
Harli saw an empty space online: the marbles he wanted were hard to find. Within months, Harli had his own marble-selling website － and orders started pouring in.
Tina says her son's attachment to marbles started when he was just 6.
“His attachment became so passionate that we started calling him the Marble King — so when he wanted to set up a website it was the natural name for it,” she told The Sun.
“I never thought it would become so popular － we are struggling to cope with the number of orders at times.”
The 8-year-old boy has his sights set on expanding his business and launching his own brand of marbles.
“Sometimes his ideas are so grand we have to scale them back a bit. But his dream is still to own Britain's biggest marble shop and open stores around the world,” Tina told The Daily Mail.
“At the moment he is annoying me by creating his own Marble King marbles － so that could well be the next step for him.”Harli’s Marble Company became popular as soon as he launched it because ______.
| A．it was run by “the world’s youngest CEO” |
| B．it filled the gap of online marble trade |
| C．Harli was fascinated with marble collection |
| D．Harli met the growing demand of the customers |
How many mass media are mentioned in the passage?
| A．One | B．Two | C．Three | D．Four |
The underlined expression “scale them back” is closest in meaning to ______.
| A．hold them down | B．carry them out |
| C．set them aside | D．clear them away |
What message do the last two paragraphs carry?
| A．Conflicts often occur between Harli Jordean and his family. |
| B．Harli’s mother and brothers are worried about Marble King’s future. |
| C．Marble King marbles will surely attract more fans around the world. |
| D．The “Marble King” has great ambition for his Marble King company. |
Building a foundation for your child of family values may not be as easy as you think. Often we believe that our child will pick up on our values if they live in the same home. While they may pick up many of our values, parents need to remember they are not the only influence in their child’s life. These outside values often compete with family values for your child’s attention. If we do not make a conscious(有意的) effort to instill our values into our children, they may not get instilled at all.
I wish I had learned that lesson a little earlier. I thought if I lived my values for my children they would pick them up and make their own. Sometimes this happened and sometimes it didn’t. I often see twenty-something “kids” who have no faith in many of the values of their family in favor of the values of their friends. Children will often pick up the negative you show quicker than the positive, so the positive things need extra focus to set them.
Some of the influences your children face every day include their church, their school, their friends, any clubs or sporting groups they are part of and more. Kids spend many hours a day at school and with their friends. Sometimes in the business of life, we suppose our children will obtain that foundation we want for them.
Instilling a foundation of family values to sustain(维持) your child requires more than living it in front of them. That is important, but building up your child with this important foundation must become intentional.
That means we plan times to gather as a family. We plan activities together that show the values we want to pass on. We talk about our values; we live our values; we discuss the values of others and how they differ from ours; we constantly look for opportunities and make our own opportunities to share these values in word or deed with our children.
Family values give our children a foundation to build upon. It helps them know they are loved and gives them a sense of belongings. Upon this sure foundation, they can spread their wings and grow to become parents who share these same values with their own children.The underlined word “instill our values into” in the 1st paragraph probably means “______”.
| A．get our ideas out of | B．impress our ideas on |
| C．collect our ideas for | D．force our ideas upon |
We can learn from the passage that children ______.
| A．sustain their family values easily |
| B．will hold their family values with age |
| C．often discuss family values of others |
| D．accept negative values more quickly |
Family values can be passed on if ______.
| A．we live with our children |
| B．parents show positive things |
| C．parents foster them intentionally |
| D．we plan times to gather with other families |
The passage mainly tells us about ______.
| A．the importance and the way to pick up family values |
| B．a lesson the writer learned in educating his(her) kids |
| C．the influences the children face while growing up |
| D．some negative and positive family values |
When the one-year anniversary of my mother’s passing came around, I found myself in the kitchen preparing some of her favorite dishes.
As I poured myself into cooking, some of the deep sadness I was experiencing at this one-year mark moved through me. I loved my mom's turkey soup. I remembered the time she made some especially for me. It was summer then and I had a terrible head cold. She arrived unexpectedly one afternoon at my work place with a huge jar of her turkey noodle soup. At the thought, I began to feel a little more relieved in the pain of losing her.
It was then that I realized I was reconnecting with my mother through food. I laughed a bit at myself when I reflected on all the dishes I had cooked that week. Without knowing it, I had created a beautiful ceremony to honor my mother and to comfort myself at this vulnerable(脆弱的) time. I suddenly felt my mother at hand and was filled with her presence. I was so uplifted and excited that I began talking to her, imagining she was there.
“What else should we make?” I asked of us both, wanting to keep the ceremony from ending.
“Irish Potato Pancakes,” was the reply.
I hesitated. The thought of these brought up another loss. The last time I made potato pancakes was two and a half years ago. I had taken off my engagement (订婚) ring and never found it again. Since then, I resisted using that recipe even though I really liked those pancakes as if it were partly to blame.
My mom should know better than to suggest these, I thought. She knew how upset I was about losing my ring. But despite these hesitations, I found myself caught up in the joy and celebration of the moment, and I reached for the cookbook without another thought of the ring. My mom did love Irish things. I opened the cookbook and turned to the pancake recipe. At once, something at the bottom of the page caught my eye... It was shining! Amazingly, there, pressed into the pages of this book, was my diamond ring!
That day, I made potato pancakes in the shape of hearts.At the one-year anniversary, the writer ______.
| A．cooked some dishes in memory of her mother |
| B．felt more painful at the thought of the turkey noodle soup |
| C．was so excited as to see her mother home |
| D．didn’t give a thought of the lost ring |
The writer hesitated to cook potato pancakes probably because ______.
| A．she felt too sad to make them |
| B．she didn’t like such pancakes |
| C．her mother was to blame for the loss of her ring |
| D．they reminded her of the loss of her ring |
It can be inferred from the passage that her mother ______.
| A．was connected with the writer through food |
| B．taught the writer how to cook pancakes |
| C．actually still lived with the writer |
| D．found the ring for her daughter |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Heart-shaped Pancakes | B．Lost and Found Ring |
| C．Favorite Dishes | D．Sad One-year Anniversary |
Starting next year, Ford Motor Co. will allow parents to limit the speed at which their teenage children drive their car.
The company will make a new feature on many models that can limit teen drivers to 80 mph(130 kph), using a computer chip(芯片) in the key.
Parents in the United States, where most teens can get their driving license at 16, also have the option of programming the car key to limit the audio system volume(音量), and to sound continuous alarm if the driver doesn’t wear a seat belt.
More than half of parents surveyed worry that their teenage children are driving at unsafe speeds, talking on hand-held cell phones or texting while driving, or otherwise driving without due care and attention. More than a third of parents also are concerned that their teens do not always fasten their safety belts when driving.
“Our message to parents is, hey, we are proving you some conditions to give your new drivers that may allow you to feel a little more comfortable in giving them the car more often,” said Jim Buczkowski, Ford’s director of electronic and electrical systems engineering.
More than 5,000 US teens die each year in car crashes. The rate of crashes, fatal(致命的) and nonfatal, per mile driven for 16-year-old drivers is almost 10 times the rate for drivers aged 30 to 59, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The new feature, called “MyKey”, will be standard on an unspecified number of Ford models when the new models come out late next summer. The feature will spread to the entire Ford, Lincoln and Mercury Lineup as models are updated, spokesman Wes Sherwood said.
The company already uses computer chips in its keys to prevent thefts. The car won’t start unless it recognizes the chip in the key.
“It’s making use of existing technology, and through the magic of software, we’re able to build features on top of the features we already have,” Buczkowski said.
According to the passage, MyKey can ______.
| A．limit speed and prevent thefts |
| B．adjust the audio system’s volume |
| C．remind drivers to answer the phone |
| D．help drivers wear a seat belt |
According to Jim Buczkowski, MyKey ______.
| A．helps parents feel more comfortable in their cars |
| B．provides parents more chances to get along with children |
| C．helps parents feel less worried when giving cars to children |
| D．discourages parents from giving cars to their children more often |
From the passage, we can learn that ______.
| A．teens often drive 10 times faster than adults |
| B．many parents think their children drive too fast |
| C．Ford will take over Lincoln and Mercury Lineup |
| D．MyKey has nothing to do with existing technology |
Ford Motor Company’s new car key may be most welcomed by ______.
| A．teens | B．passengers | C．parents | D．policemen |
B
 Blindsided |
In many ways, Natalie O’Reilly is a typical 14-year-old girl. But Natalie will lose her sight within a few short months. Natalie is sent to school for the blind to learn skills such as Braille(盲文). Outwardly, she does as she’s told; inwardly, she hopes for a miracle(奇迹) that will free her from a fearful life of blindness. But the miracle does not come. Will she go home to live scared? Or will she master the skills she needs to make it in a world without sight? |
 Crossing the Tracks |
At 15, Iris seems to have no home, no family, no direction. After her mother’s early death, Iris’s father focuses on big plans for his new shoes stores and his latest girlfriend, and has no time for his daughter. Unknown to her, he hires Iris out as housekeeper and companion for a country doctor’s elderly mother. Iris is buoyed by the warmth and understanding the doctor and his mother show her, but just as she starts to break out of her trouble, a disaster strikes. Iris must find the courage to discover if she is really as helpless — or as hopeless — as she once believed. |
 The Education of Bet |
Will and Bet were brother and sister. Being a girl, Bet’s world is contained within the walls of their grand home. Will is allowed — forced — to go to school. So Bet comes up with a plan: They’ll switch places. She’ll go to school as Will. Will can then live as he chooses. But once Bet gets to school, she soon realizes living as a boy is going to be much more difficult than she imagined. |
 X-Isle |
Ever since the floods came and washed the world away, survivors have been desperate to win a place on X-Isle, the island where life is believed to be easier. Only young boys stand a chance of getting in, the smaller and lighter the better. Baz and Ray are two of the lucky few to be chosen, but they soon discover that X-Isle is a far cry from paradise(天堂). It’s a violent, unpredictable place, where terrible things can happen at any moment. |
From the book Blindsided, we can learn that Natalie ______.
| A．is longing to stay away from blindness |
| B．has been blind for several months |
| C．has to quit school because of her blindness |
| D．is unconfident in learning Braille |
The underlined word “buoyed” probably means “______”.
| A．spoiled | B．thrilled | C．annoyed | D．encouraged |
X-Isle turns out to be ______.
| A．easier for life | B．no paradise |
| C．chosen for lucky men | D．a romantic place |
The main characters of the four books ______.
| A．live a happy life |
| B．get out of trouble eventually |
| C．struggle for a better life |
| D．dream about better education |