Robots Are Now Teaching English!
Get ready． Robots are about to invade our classroom． From Korea to Japan to the United States， schools are putting English﹣speaking robots in front of their students． In Korea， robots are the new teaching assistants in a number of preschools and kindergartens． The young students say that the robots are fun， but are these children really learning anything？
I don't think a computer will ever be able to do what a teacher does． A teacher has to be able to respond to students as individuals （个体）．__▲__and a teacher has to change his or her teaching style to fit the needs of the student． I seriously doubt that a computer will ever be able to do this even though the big data （数据）is widely used in the world．
4 Comments on "Robots Are Now Teaching English!"
Sara says：
In my opinion， schools should spend money training human teachers rather than buying robots． Research shows that children learn more from real speakers than from recorded conversations．
Keiko says：
I don't think you can learn a language without real human interaction．After all， robots cannot think as humans do．
Hassan says：
Robots might be able to help people lean a language， but I don't think they should replace teachers because robots are just machines without human feelings．
Nancy says：
I think robots might be very helpful in the classroom． A child might be less afraid to make a mistake in front of a robot than in front of a real person．
Add a comment
（1）The underlined word "invade" in Para.1 probably means ．
A． enter
B． leave
C． accept
D． fight
（2）Which of the following can be best put in___▲___in Para． 2？ ．
A． Each teacher is different
B． Each student is different
C． AIl teachers are helpful
D． All students are fun
（3）Of the 4 comments， thinks that robots could give lots of help to learners in class．
A． Sara
B． Keiko
C． Hassan
D． Nancy
（4）What's the writer's attitude （态度）towards robots' teaching English？
A． Uncaring．
B． Supportive．
C． Doubtful．
D． Agreeable．
“How are you?” is a nice question. It’s a friendly way for Americans to greet each other. But “ How are you？”is also a very unusual question. It often doesn’t need an answer. The person who asks” How are you?” hopes to hear the answer“Fine”even if the person’s friend isn’t fine. In fact, they are not really a question or an answer. They are simply other ways of saying “Hello”or“Hi”.
Sometimes people also don’t say exactly what they mean, For example, when someone asks “ Do you agree？”the other person might think，“No，I disagree. I think you’re wrong.” But it isn’t very polite to disagree so strongly, so the other person might say,“ I’m afraid …”It’s a nicer way to disagree.
People also don’t say exactly what they are thinking when they finish talking with other people. For example, many phone talks finish when one person says” I have to go now.” Often, the person who wants to finish the phone call gives an excuse,” Someone’s at the door.” The excuse might be real, or not. Perhaps the person who wants to finish the phone call simply doesn’t want to talk anymore, but it isn’t polite to say that. The excuse is more polite, and it doesn’t hurt the other person.
When they are greeting each other, talking about an idea, thinking of finishing a talk, people don’t say exactly what they are thinking about. It’s an important way that people try to be nice to each other, and it is part of the game of language.“How are you？”is another way of saying “Hello” or “Hi”.
It is polite to say” No，I disagree. I think you are wrong” if you don’t agree with others.
When someone says” I have to go now” on the phone, it means he wants to go on talking.
“Someone is at the door ”may be an excuse for finishing a phone call.
Sometimes, people don’t say exactly what they are thinking about just because they try to be nice to each other.
阅读与回答问题（共5小题，每小题2分，计10分）
Returning a Father’s Love
He was a single father， raising a 5-year-old boy by himself. He often worried about his son growing up without a mother to care for him.
One day， he went away on business， leaving the child alone. He worried about his child all the way， not knowing if he had eaten. But his child always told him not to worry. He ran home as soon as possible after he finished his work.
When he got home， the child was deep asleep. He was tired out. He was about to sleep when he was surprised to find an overturned (翻到的) bowl of noodles under the quilt (被子). He hit his sleeping son angrily， “Why are you so careless， making the quilt dirty？ Who will wash it？” It was the first time that he had hit his boy after his wife’s death.
“Sorry， but…” the child explained with tears in his eyes， “This is your supper， Daddy.” In order to let his father eat dinner when he arrived home， the child prepared two bowls of noodles: one for himself， the other for his father. He was afraid that his father’s noodles would get cold， so he placed them under the quilt!
Hearing this， the father felt deeply moved and felt sorry about what he did to his son — he hugged his son tightly without saying a word.Where was the boy’s mother？
What did the father worry about his son？
How many bowls of noodles did the son prepared？
Why did the father hugged his son tightly without saying a word after hearing his son？
What do you think of the little boy？ (no more than 6 words)
任务型阅读 （共10小题，每小题1分，计10分）
阅读下面短文，根据短文内容完成表格中所缺信息，每空一词。
We go to school every day and enjoy our school life . School life is usually full of fun ，and the school seems to be the safest place in the world .
But do you know that our school life could be dangerous if we are not careful enough ？ How do we make the school safer and keep us away from danger ？ Here are some tips for us to be safe in an easy way . For example ， we must remember some important rules in the playground. Before we do sports ， we need to do some warm up activities ， and after that we should drink some water. And in the classroom ， we need to learn how behave well . Don’t run in the hallways . We mustn’t fight with or run after each other . And teachers need to keep an eye on the students after class and stop them from running . We students should remember not to be naughty and get ourselves into trouble . What’s more ， we can have some practice to learn to protect ourselves from a fire . In this way ， we can know where to go if there is a fire in our school . We should learn to use the fire extinguisher(灭火器)too， I don’t think we should put out a fire by ourselves ， because it is too dangerous for young students . Well ， I think all of us should think more of our safety in school.
How to keep in the school
| In the playground |
Do some warm up activities Drink some water |
| In the |
Don’t run in the hallways . Teachers need to Don’t |
| Take part in the Don’t try to put out the fire |
|
| Conclusion |
“I’m so sorry. It was all my fault， with no excuse and no reason，” said the 23-year-old Taiwan actor， Kai Ko or Ko Chen-tung (柯震东)， bowing to the press conference (新闻发布会). Ko apologized publically for taking drugs (吸毒) with friends at his house in Beijing“It was my personal behavior， selfish and stupid. I cannot go back in time to undo what I did， but there is willingness to correct a mistake. I want to correct my mistake， because I don’t want to see the sad faces of those who love me and those who I love. I am really sorry to them.”Ko said.
Ko became very famous and popular after starring in the film called You Are the Apple of My Eye in 2011. His clean and youthful image won him many fans. For those fans， they are willing to trust Ko. By the end of the 10-minute press conference， 3，207 users of Sina Weibo (新浪微博) supported Ko and hoped he would be a better person in the future.
However， there were other voices. Wang Zhuo， a user of Sina Weibo said， “ It doesn’t matter whether he apologizes or not， because nobody cares. Showbiz and the arts industry (娱乐圈) will not use anyone like him from now on anyway.” Another user said， “After 14 days of detention (监禁)， Ko’s acting skills grew a lot!”
When asked what his plans are after he regained freedom， Ko said he would continue to cooperate with the police on further investigations (调查) after returning to Taiwan.Ko Cheng-tung apologized publically because he____________.
| A．took drugs | B．hit his fans |
| C．did badly in his film | D．said something bad |
What made Ko become famous？
| A．The song called You Are the Apple of My Eye. |
| B．The film You Are the Apple of My Eye. |
| C．His good looking. |
| D．His background. |
How long did the press conference last？
| A．We don’t know. | B．1 hour. |
| C．Half an hour. | D．10 minutes |
What does the user mean by saying “After 14 days of detention， Ko’s acting skills grew a lot”？
| A．He thinks Ko is still a good actor. |
| B．He supports Ko no matter what happened. |
| C．He doesn’t trust what Ko said. |
| D．He thinks Ko has trained hard and improved his acting skills. |
The best title for the passage is “_________________”.
| A．Drugs are dangerous |
| B．A famous Taiwan actor |
| C．Apologizing for taking drugs |
| D．At the press conference |
To us， it seems so natural to put up an umbrella to keep the water off when it rains. But in fact the umbrella was not invented as protection against the rain. Its first use was as a shade (遮蔽) against the sun.
Nobody knows who first invented it， but the umbrella was used in very ancient times. Probably the first to use it were the Chinese， back in the eleventh century BC.
We know that the umbrella was used in ancient Egypt and Babylon as a sunshade. And there
was a strange thing connected with its use : it became a symbol of honor and power(权力). In the
Far East in ancient times， the umbrella was allowed to be used only by those in high office or by
royal people such as the kings or queens.
In Europe， the Greeks were the first to use the umbrella as a sunshade. The umbrella was in
common use in ancient Greece， but it is believed that the first people in Europe to use the umbrella as protection against the rain were the ancient Romans. During the middle ages in Europe， the use of the umbrella almost disappeared. Then it appeared again in Italy in the late sixteenth century. And again it became a symbol of power.
Umbrellas have not changed much in style during all this time， though they have become much lighter in weight. It wasn't until the twentieth century that the umbrellas for women began to be made in all kinds of colors.Ancient people first used umbrellas as ____.
| A．a symbol of honor |
| B．protection against the sun |
| C．a symbol of power |
| D．protection against the rain |
According to the passage， the umbrella was probably first used in ancient ______.
| A．Egypt . | B．Babylon | C．Rome | D．China |
The underlined word royal might mean _ in Chinese.
| A．王室的 | B．富有的 |
| C．中产阶级的 | D．贫穷的 |
According to the passage， which of the following is NOT true？
| A．The ancient Greeks used the umbrella in their daily life. |
| B．Europeans hardly used the umbrella during the middle ages. |
| C．The umbrellas for women were made colorful in ancient times. |
| D．The style of the umbrella hasn't changed a lot since it was invented |
This passage is mainly about ___________.
| A．the sales of the umbrella |
| B．the differences among umbrellas |
| C．the invention of the umbrella |
| D．the history and the use of the umbrella |