What if handheld (掌控型的) tools know what needs to be done and were even able to guide and help inexperienced users to complete jobs that require skill? Researchers at the University of Bristol have developed and started studying a novel concept in robotics—intelligent handheld robots. Historically, handheld tools have been straight, unintelligent instruments that are unaware of the context they operate in, are fully directed by the user, and therefore, lack any understanding about the task they are performing.
Dr. Walterio Mayol-Cuevas and PhD student, Austin Gregg-Smith, from the University's Department of Computer Science, have been working in the design of the robot as well as in understanding how best to be with a tool that “knows and acts”.
Compared to other tools such as power tools that have a motor and perhaps some basic sensors (感应器), the handheld robots developed at Bristol are designed to have more degrees of freedom to allow greater independence from the instructions of the user, and importantly, understand the steps being carried out. This allows for a new level of co-operation between user and tool, such as the user providing directions and the tool performing the detailed task.
Handheld robots, aim to share physical similarity with users but are neither fully independent as is a humanoid robot nor are part of the user’s body. The aim with handheld robots is to develop the intuitiveness (灵性) of using traditional handheld tools while adding planted intelligence and action to allow for new abilities.
Dr. Mayol-Cuevas, Reader in Robotics Computer Vision and Mobile Systems, said, “There are three basic levels of autonomy (自主权) we are considering: no autonomy, semi-autonomous when the robot advises the user but does not act, and fully autonomous when the robot advises and acts even by correcting or refusing to perform incorrect user actions.”What is the new concept in robotics?
A.Full control by the user. |
B.Improvement in intelligence. |
C.Larger size of the robots. |
D.Help for the experienced users. |
What is the meaning of the underlined word “unaware”?
A.updated | B.educated |
C.organized | D.uninformed |
What is the advantage of handheld robots compared to other tools?
A.They are more dependent on the users. |
B.They all have a motor and basic sensors. |
C.They don’t need to follow the instructions at all. |
D.They have a new level of freedom to perform the task. |
What can we learn from the passage?
A.The handheld robots can never disobey the user’s order. |
B.The autonomy is the only thing that the scientists are considering. |
C.There will be more intelligence and independence in the handheld robots. |
D.The aim of the handheld robots is to correct and refuse the user’s directions. |
C
Fix it on your own
Did you know that a bowl of rice could save your iPod if you drop it in a swimming pool by accident? Or that the camera on your phone could tell you what's wrong with your TV remote control? The experts at Geek Squad (geelsquad.co.uk) have made a gadget(小机件) rescue guide. So, let’s take a look at some of their useful advice.
● How to get more juice out of your phone battery(电池)
If your battery goes dead but you need to get a number or send one last text, try warming it up. That may give you a tiny bit of power. Take the battery from the phone and rub it between your hands. Or warm it under your arm for a few minutes. Then try to start the phone – but use it quickly.
● What to do if your gadget gets wet
First, try drying it out with a vacuum cleaner. If a vacuum cleaner isn’t at hand, fill a pot or bowl with uncooked rice and put your we gadget inside. The dry, uncooked rice will absorb all the water and, after a few hours, you should be able to use the gadget. Don’t forget to remove the battery and SIM card before you dry it.
● What to do if your TV remote control stops working
If replacing the batteries doesn’t work, get the camera function up on your phone and point the remote at the lens(镜头). When you press a button on the remote, if it's working then the glass bobble(小球) at the front of the remote will light up when you look at it on the screen of your phone. This is because the screen on a phone or digital camera picks up infrared rays (红外线), even though your eyes don't. If the glass bobble doesn’t light up, the remote is broken. If it does, the receiving device is broken.
43.If your cell phone falls into a sink, you can .
A.warm it up under your arm. B.put it into the uncooked rice.
C.press it with both of your hands. D.remove the battery after you dry it.
44.Why can a phone be used to prove the TV remote control works well?
A.Because it can receive infrared ray.
B.Because it can reflect infrared ray.
C.Because it can improve the TV remote control.
D.Because it can picture the TV remote control.
45.In which section of a newspaper can we possibly read this text?
A.Entertainment B.Finance C.Culture D.Life
46.The purpose of the passage is to give people .
A.professional guides B.necessary warnings
C.practical tips D.personal opinions
B
Avatar
Venue: Orient Pioneer Theater
Date: January 2
Price (¥): 150/180/240/300
Tel: 400 – 810 – 3721
Additional Information:
The film is directed by James Cameron. In the future, Jake, a paraplegic war veteran, is brought to another planet, Pandora, which is inhabited by the Na’vi, a humanoid race with its own language and culture. Those from Earth find themselves at odds with each other and the local culture. The fierce war unfolded …
Farewell My Concubine
Venue: National Centre for the Performing Arts
Date: January 2
Price (¥): 50/80/100/300
Tel: 400 – 810 – 8271
Additional Information:
Peking Opera tells the story of XiangYu (232BC – 202BC), the self – styled Hegemon – king of Western Chu (modern provinces of Hubei, Huan, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu) who battled to unify China with LiuBang, the final founder of the powerful Han Dynasty.
Guo Degang Cross Talk Show
Venue: Cultural Palace of Nationalities
Date : January 24 – 25
Price (¥): 100/200/300/500
Tel: 400 – 610 – 2270
Additional Information:
Guo Degang is a famous Chinese cross talk actor.
Confucius
Venue : Today Art Theater
Date : January 20
Price (¥): 100/120/150/180
Tel: 400 – 610 – 3721
Additional Information: The film is about Confucius, who was a Chinese thinker
and philosopher. His teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese though and life.
40.If you want to appreciate the Chinese traditional opera, you can call
A.Tel: 400 – 810 – 3721 B.Tel: 400 – 810 – 8271
C.Tel: 400 – 610 – 2270 D.Tel: 400 – 610 – 3721
41.What can we learn from four posters?
A.Avatar, directed by James Cameron, is a scifi movie.
B.Confucius can be seen in Oriental Pioneer Theatre.
C.You can enjoy Guo Degang’s cross talk on Jan. 20.
D.Xiang Yu finally founded the powerful Han Dynasty.
42.The underlined phrases “at odds” probably means
A.in harmony B.in disagreement C.in touch D.in common
第二部分:阅读理解(共两节,满分40分)
第一节(共15题;每小题2分,满分30分)
阅读下列短文,从每题短文后所给各题的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中,选出最佳选项。
A
Chen Yurong, 55, an average woman in Wuhan, Hubei province, who was diagnosed with a fatty liver (肝), walked 10 kilometers a day for seven months, despite wind an rain, so she could donate part of a healthy liver to her son. After wearing out four pairs of shoes and losing eight kilograms, her fatty liver condition disappeared. One doctor called it a “miracle” (奇迹).
|
Hear 31 – year – old son, Ye Haibin suffered from severe Wilson’s disease, a rare disorder that causes body to keep copper. Doctors said only a liver transplant could lengthen his life. Despite her age and the knowledge that about one in 1,000 liver donators die after the transplant, Chen said she did not hesitate to donate part of her liver.
“In order to give my young granddaughter a complete family, I’dD
You can deposit money in a building society and obtain yearly interest at a certain rate.You can also borrow money from a building society.What, then, is difference between a bank and a building society? In fact, a building society does not seem to be very different from a savings bank.Many people regularly save money by depositing small amounts monthly in a building society, just as other people regularly save money by depositing small amounts monthly in a savings bank.Some people deposit large amounts in a building society as an investment.They receive higher interest than they would receive from a savings bank; their money can be invested either in building society shares or in loans to the society.
These societies are controlled by law, but they are not government organizations.They were originally started to enable people to buy houses.One of their main purposes is to provide loans for buying or building houses.Many people prefer buying a house to paying rent, but some of them cannot afford to buy a house.To cover the cost they borrow the money from a building society.The loan plus the interest is paid back in monthly amounts over an agreed number of years.Probably the payments made in this way are no more than the rent of a rented house.But at the end of the stated period, when the debt is paid, the borrower becomes the owner of the house.To protect the building society from “bad debts” he must sign a statement to say that the house belongs to the society until the debt is paid.
A building society invests the savings of its shareholders in houses and property.Unlike a bank, it does not serve as a general clearing house (清算所) for every kind of exchange or business operation.Its activities are limited compared with those of a bank.
68.A building society is different from a bank in that ____.
A.the former is limited in its activities
B.the latter is limited in function compared with the former
C.a bank doesn’t serve as a general clearing house
D.a building society can protect itself from “bad debt”
69.Some people put large amounts of money in the building society because _______.
A.they can get more profit than they do in a bank.
B.they may choose between the form of building society shares and that of loans for their investment
C.they may enjoy shares and loans at the same time
D.they like the society
70.If you borrow money from the society to buy a house, ____.
A.you have to return the money to the building society the moment it is needed.
B.you have to sign an agreement to repay the loan after a number of years
C.what you pay back monthly for the loan would be less than the rent
D.the house doesn’t belong to you unless you have repaid all the debt
C
The case for college has been accepted without question for more than a generation.
All high school graduates ought to go, says conventional wisdom and statistical evidence, because college will help them earn more money, become “better” people, and learn to be more responsible citizens than those who don’t go.
But college has never been able to work its magic for everyone.And now that close to half our high school graduates are attending, those who don’t fit the pattern are becoming more numerous, and more obvious.College graduates are selling shoes and driving taxis; college students interfere with each other’s experiments and write false letters of recommendation in the intense competition for admission to graduate school.Others find no stimulation in their studies, and drop out ------ often encouraged by college administrators.
Some observers say the fault is with the young people themselves ----- they are spoiled and they are expecting too much.But that is a condemnation of the students as a whole, and does not explain all campus unhappiness.Others blame the state of the world, and they are partly right.We’ve been told that young people have to go to college because our economy cannot absorb an army of untrained 18-year-olds.But disappointed graduates are learning that it can no longer absorb an army of trained 22-year-olds, either.
Some adventuresome educators and campus watchers have openly begun to suggest that college may not be the best, the proper, the only place for every young person after the completion of high school.
We_may_have_been_looking_at_all_those_surveysand_statistics_upside_down,_it_seems,_and_through_the_rosy_glow_of_our_own_remembered_college_experiences.Perhaps college does not make people intelligent, ambitious, happy, liberal, or quick to learn things ----- maybe it is just the other way round, and intelligent, ambitious, happy, liberal, quick-learning people are only the ones who have been attracted to college in the first place.And perhaps all those successful college graduates would have been successful whether they had gone to college or not.This is heresy (异端邪说) to those of us who have been brought up to believe that if little schooling is good, more has to be much better.But contrary evidence is beginning to mount up.
64.According to the passage all of the following statements are true EXCEPT______.
A.about half of the high school graduates continue their studies at school
B.college graduates are believed to be able to earn more money
C.administrators often encourage college students to drop out
D.more and more young people are found unfit for college
65.Which of the following is one of some observers’ opinions?
A.The students expect so much that they are not satisfied with the hard college life. B.The economic situation is so discouraging that the youth have to attend college.
C.College should improve because of so much campus unhappiness.
D.Colleges provide more chances of good jobs than anywhere else.
66.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 5 mean?
A.Our college experience proves that those surveys are incorrect.
B.The surveys may remind us of our beautiful college experiences.
C.The surveys should all be re-examined according to our college experiences.
D.Our college experiences may make us misunderstand the results of the surveys.
67.What is the main purpose of this passage?
A.To argue against the idea that college is the best place for all young people.
B.To put forward an idea that college should not be the first choice.
C.To value young people’s further education in colleges.
D.To persuade young people into working after the completion of high school.