“Acknowledged, Detective. This is my...”
He hung up and told the driverless UNATS Robotics car to get him down to the railway station as fast as it could, angry with himself and with Ada—whose middle name was Trouble, after all—for making him deal with a robot before he’d had his breakfast. The name had been his ex-wife’s idea, something she’d insisted on.
His ex-wife. He hadn’t thought of her in years. Well, months. Weeks, certainly. She’d been a brilliant computer scientist at the UNATS Robotics school at the University of Toronto. Now she was settled in her own research lab in Beijing, providing the kinds of software solutions for robot applications.
He itched to wiretap her, to read her email or listen in on her phone conversations. He could have done that when they were still together, but he never had. If he had, he would have found out what she was planning.
He could have talked her out of it.
“And then what, Artie?” said the nagging voice in his head. He couldn’t stop her from chasing her own dream— making the smartest robot in the world, especially with their little daughter in her belly.
“Shut up!” he told the nagging voice.
注意：
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
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In a few minutes, he was at the front gate of the railway station.
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There she was, standing by a teenage girl who had the same blue eyes as his.
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相似题推荐
I was adopted by a kind-hearted couple is a baby, who were pleased to take me into their home. As for me, they were not only my parents , but also my best friends. As I grew up day by day, I learned that my birth mother abandon me because she wasn’t able to care for me. I understood and was grateful. After all, I ended up with two caring people who loved each other very much and also loved me.
l even thought I was the happiest and luckiest girl in the world. Every day as I kissed my mom goodbye, I said “I love you, Mom. See hu tomorrow.“
However, something unpleasant happened lo me al the age of 9. My parents adopted a boy named Harty, for which I didn’t figure out the season. My father explained later that they didn’t manage to have any children of their own, for gov mom had diabetes (糖尿病). Considering my mom’s eagerness for raising children, they decided to adopt me and Harry.
Harry was very naughty. Sometimes be grabbed my schoolbag for a cartoon without permission, hid my shoes when I hurried to leave for school, and even often played tricks on me. To be frank, I didn’t like this new member quite much. How I wish I were the only child!
When I was 14, everything changed. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in a regular medical examination. Soon she suffered greater and greater pain. The strike on my family was unbelievable. My mom had to accept treatment in the hospital, while my father took a part-time job after work to cover the high expense and make ends meet in our family.
At home, taking care of my 8-year-old brother became my job. What was more, the chores such as doing the laundry, cleaning the house; and cooking meals were all mine.
At first, I didn’t think it was fair and I became upset.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Then one day, my father brought me to my mom’s bed in the hospital.
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After that, I realized I also needed to play my part in our family.
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Grandma got Grandpa out of bed and helped him to the kitchen for breakfast. After his meal, she led him to his armchair in the living room where he would rest while she cleaned the dishes. Ever so often, she would check to see if he needed anything.
This was their daily routine after Grandpa’s latest stroke. Although once a very active man, his severely damaged left arm, difficulty walking and slurred (含糊不清的) speech now kept him housebound. For nearly a year he hadn’t been to church or to visit family.
Grandpa filled his hours with television. He watched the news and game shows while Grandma went about her day. They made a promise — he was not to leave his chair or his bed without her assistance.
“If you fell and I threw my back out trying to help you, who would take care of us?” Grandma would ask him. She was resolved they should take care of themselves and live independently. The Brooklyn brownstone had been their first home and held wonderful memories. They weren’t ready to leave it behind anytime soon.
Immigrants from Ireland, they had met and married in America. Grandma was friendly, outgoing and unselfish; Grandpa was reserved, a man devoted to his family, but he wasn’t big on giving gifts. While he wouldn’t think twice about giving Grandma the shirt off his back, he had the belief that if you treated your wife well throughout the year, presents weren’t necessary; so he rarely purchased gifts for her.
It was a cold, gray February morning, a typical winter’s day in New York. As always, Grandma walked Grandpa to his chair. “I’m going to take a shower now.” She handed him the television remote. “If you need anything, I’ll be back in a little while.”
After her shower, she glanced towards the back of Grandpa’s recliner (躺椅) but noticed that his cane was not leaning in its usual spot. Sensing something unusual, she went into the room. He was gone. The closet door stood open and his hat and overcoat were missing. Fear ran down her spine. Grandma threw a coat over her bathrobe and ran outside.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Desperately, she scanned the street in both directions.
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Just then, Grandpa came around the corner.
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Postcards From The World
While the sun washed over the grass of my grandmother’s front garden, I sunk into the familiarity of one of her armchairs. Life, as I knew it, had changed. My beloved grandmother, my nanny, a stand-in parent in the absence of my father, had cancer. It was terminal, and could never be cured.
As she watched Getaway on television, she remarked to me that she’d never left Australia and that now she never would. I swallowed the sadness that came with knowing that chapters of her life were to be left unwritten.
At work, feeling helpless, I wiped tables and took orders and thought. HARD! The Saturday afternoon lunch rush was not enough to lull me from my thoughts. Wracked with grief, I pondered the power of Facebook and the collective strength of human empathy. I raced from the end of my shift to ask strangers on the internet for help.
“My Nanny Del has cancer. It’s terminal and she will never see the world. Please send her postcards so she can see the world from her armchair. I can offer nothing but gratitude.”
I resolved not to breathe a word of this; should nothing come, I couldn’t bear to carry her disappointment along with my own. Should something wander into our humble little letterbox, I would consider it a blessing and embrace it like I embraced her little, shrinking frame.
Days turned to weeks and Nanny’s health worsened rapidly in the early months of 2018. Life took me through my full-time study, babysitting and waiting tables, along with the responsibility of caring for a grandparent who was too sick to care for herself. As I helped Nanny in the early hours of those mornings, she would chat to me, sometimes joys, other times, sorrows. Whatever she shared became precious.
注意：
1．续写词数应为150左右；
2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
One afternoon, finally, a postcard from the United State arrived in our letterbox.
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Paragraph 2:
In the months that followed, her living room became a departure hall and our flights departed daily.
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Robotic Exoskeletons
Thanks to robotic exoskeletons, victims of spinal cord（脊髓）injury have a new reason to hope. Robotic exoskeletons, consisting of metal legs, motors, batteries, wiring, a controller and a set of strips work together like the user’s bones, muscles and nerves-outside the body. Fastened into an exoskeleton and supported by sticks, users can direct the machinery to take them where they want to go.
In addition to partly restoring mobility, robotic exoskeletons offer the significant mental and physical health benefits of standing up and moving. Just being able to get up from a wheelchair gives patients a more natural, positive view of the world. It also helps relieve pressure on patients’ skin and reduces the danger of pressure sores. Standing upright strengthens a disabled person’s muscles and bones, improves heart health，and reduces certain other health complications（并发症）. And it may actually result in partial nerve repair, something that can only happen when a patient is able to move.
As promising as this technology is, however, it is no simple cure-all for paralysis（瘫痪）or its complications. The motion is not accurate compared with natural walking, and exoskeletons are not easy to use, especially on surfaces that are not smooth. They are very expensive, costing about US$100000. Health insurance plans and government programs may not cover the cost of buying one.
Nevertheless, robotic exoskeletons，and access to them, will continue to improve. As with much modern technology, robotic exoskeletons will likely become more capable and easy to use, even as their cost goes down. Governments and insurers may increasingly see that the health benefits of these walking machines outweigh the costs, making it easier to fund them. Perhaps the day will come when nearly everyone paralyzed by spinal cord injury will be able to “walk” again.
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7 December is International Civil Aviation Day. Of course, we immediately think of the Wright brothers, the great pioneers who invented and put the first airplane into the sky.
The more you study the efforts the brothers made, the more you admire them. These were men who had a dream—to do what only the birds had been able to do. For thousands of years it had only been a dream and a mad one, too. It’s mad because it seemed against nature and mad also because of the dangers involved. But the Wrights flew up to 100 times a year. It was the process of trial and error that led to them producing a machine that could actually carry people through the air safely.
They were brave men. They showed courage, without which human beings would never have made any progress. A Wright brothers expert, David McCullough, gave an example of their courage. He noted that the brothers never flew together. Why? “If one got killed, the other would still be alive to carry on with the mission (使命)，” he wrote in his book The Wright Brothers.
Determination was all that they had in the beginning. They weren’t from fancy, rich backgrounds. No business or university sponsored (资助) their efforts. They had to do everything themselves. They put their lives on the line every time they climbed into the pilot’s seat.
The philosopher Aristotle had something to say about courage. He said that it is “the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees (保证) all the others”. Surely the story of the Wright brothers backs up these words. Courage is also part of the American belief that anything is possible if you put your whole heart and soul into it. The Wright brothers certainly had a cando attitude, and they taught us one great lesson: We need ambition and courage if we want to see our plans through to the end.
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Henry finished rolling copies of The Gazette, filled his bag and took off to deliver the news.
It was 8:15 a.m. when he delivered the last newspaper. He had put the paper where Mr.Grady could get it without struggling to the sidewalk. Across the street, Henry’s delivery had landed perfectly too. Mrs. Burke, with twin babies, probably liked having her paper within easy reach.
Henry parked his bike near the office building and bounded up to the editor-in-chiefs door. Mr. Trotta said, “We’re closing shop, Henry. Advertising is down. Television is how people get their news today.”
“Um, no,” said Henry. “I’ve met so many people on my route. It’s sad. People won’t get their neighborhood news anymore.”
Mr. Trotta nodded and sighed. “We held out as long as we could," he said. “You were terrific, Henry — always dependable.”
A week after his last deliveries, Henry wondered if his customers missed The Gazette as much as he did. He thought of a way to find out. He started out on his old route with a notebook. First stop: Mr. Jonas, 17 Oak. Mr. Jonas said that he liked reading the week’s happenings and he had a pile of comics from old copies of The Gazette. He wondered if anyone would want them. Henry made a note in his notebook.
Mrs. Burke said she needed a babysitter. She was going to put an ad in The Gazette, but…
As Henry made more notes, an idea started forming in his head. Maybe he could create a newsy page for the neighbors. But how would he print it? He went to the library and explained everything to Miss Ginger, the librarian. “Follow me,” she said. Seconds later, in front of a machine, Miss Ginger turned a handle and a purple-printed sheet rolled out. “ Will mimeographed (油印的) copies work?” she asked.
“Perfect.”
Henry had a plan.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Customers cheered Henry’s idea.
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Henry typed the news, mimeographed purple copies, and delivered the first Tree Streets News on Saturday.
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