【推荐1】Robot: your future nurse

Dr. Pekomon, from the Yale university, has established an international team that coached a robot to copy natural human actions.     1    . Over time this should contribute to great improvements in safety during operations because unlike the human doctors, robots will never tire and can complete an endless array of precise motions. The ultimate goal is not to remove all the doctors from the operating room, but to better it with a robots’ particular skills and benefits.

“I, as a roboticist, believe that robotic assistant and coworkers will surely change the whole market, but that won’t steal our job opportunities.     2    .” Dr. Pekomon explained.

Dr. Pokemon’s team photographed a person conducting numerous different reaching actions, in a way similar to handing devices to a surgeon. These camera captures were stored into the computer network of a robotic arm, which is vital to controlling movements. Then, a human operator guided the robotic arm in copying the reaching actions that the human subject had initially performed. Although the robotic and human actions can’t be overlapped completely, they were broadly similar.

    3    .These observers determined whether the actions of the robotic arms were biologically inspired, which would indicate that their neural networks had effectively learned to imitate human behavior. About 80% of the time this is exactly what the human observers concluded.

These results are promising, although further research is necessary to confirm or refine Dr. Pekomon’s conclusions. If robotic arms can indeed imitate human behavior, it would be necessary to build conditions in which humans and robots can operate effectively in high stress environments like operating rooms.     4    . Dr. Pekomon’s work is part of the growing field of healthcare robotics, which has the potential to change the way we receive health care sooner rather than later.

A．His work indicates that humans and robots can effectively cooperate during high-task events such as surgeries.

B．This future may not be what you think in your mind.

C．Robots can’t successfully imitate doctors motions in the operating room.

D．They will just allow us to decrease workload and achieve better performances in several tasks.

E．The nursing assistant for your next trip to the hospital will still be human beings.

F．Finally, several humans observed as the robotic arm made numerous motions.

【推荐2】Faced with a decreasing population and workforce, Japan has been increasingly turning to robots for help. Over the years, the robots have carried out a large number of human tasks, including building products and providing care for the elderly.

However, the robots currently being used by companies, like Walmart and Amazon, are only able to perform single, repetitive tasks, such as packing boxes. Model-T, on the other hand, has a wider range of movement and is able to hold, pick and place objects of several different shapes and sizes into different locations, making it ideal for convenience and grocery stores, which sell a large variety of items.

Model-T robots are operated from a distant location by human “pilots” wearing a virtual reality (VR)headset and special gloves, which allow them to feel the product the robot is holding in their hands and guide it to the right shelf.

The VR-controlled robots are ten times cheaper than automated robots, because they don’t require advanced programming and are easier to develop and maintain. And their easy-to-use controls require little training. Tomohiro Kano, a general manager in charge of development at FamilyMart, believes this will enable the chain to hire workers who would typically not work in stores.

Though Model-T appears to be getting rapidly through the experiments, it is not quite ready to enter the workforce. Besides being a lot slower than humans, it is also only able to lift packaged items, and cannot get hold of things such as fruits and vegetables. The company is working to improve the weaknesses and hopes to introduce a faster, more skillful Model-T within the next two years. They believe that in addition to the stores, the robots could also be useful in hospitals, allowing doctors to do operations from remote locations.

1. What is one of the features of Model-T according to the text?

A．It works much faster than humans.

B．It can easily hold all kinds of objects.

C．It can be operated from a distance away.

D．It is harder to produce than an automated robot.

2. What does the underlined word “this” in paragraph 4 refer to?

A．The low price of Model-T.	B．The easiness to operate Model-T.
C．The low-level programming of Model-T.	D．The strict training for maintaining Model-T.

3. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．Model-T is now being massively produced.

B．Japan’s workforce will be reduced by Model-T.

C．The weaknesses of Model-T have been overcome.

D．Model-T may be used in wider fields in the future.

【推荐3】During the winter, Andy Law likes to keep his house warm, which used to be a problem. He’d sometimes forget to turn down the thermostat(恒温器）when he traveled, which raised his heating bills. But he hasn’t had to worry about that since buying one of Google’s Nest thermostats.

In fact, companies are developing many smart devices that will tailor their functions to what they learn about their user’s needs. But many of these devices are still in the drawing board, so the Nest thermostat first provides a good example of what is fast coming down the road.

Officials at Google Inc, say the Nest thermostat can understand what its owners want. The first three to four days is when it’s most eager to learn, said Maxime Veron, director of product marketing for Nest. It gathers data, temperature, the time it was set and occupancy. After four days, Nest learns enough to keep the house as hot or cold as the person generally prefers at different times.

One feature that will click in about a week after Nest starts learning is its “ Atuo-Away” function. Nest will automatically adjust the temperature to whatever the person previously has indicated they prefer when they’re gone.

The Auto -Away sensors also are designed to scan a room for movement “above most pets’ heads,” so it doesn’t mistake a dog or cat for a person and assume someone is still in the home. But the thermostats can be fooled by large pets.

Another feature many people seem to like is “Nest Leaf,” which gives the user feedback(反馈）whenever the temperatures they set save energy. So if the person raises the temperature enough on a hot day or down on a cool one, a green leaf appears on the thermostat.

However, some people say that it is too expensive. But after trying it out, PC Magazine editor John Delaney said, “it is a must for anyone looking to save on heating and air conditioning costs and I like the idea of setting it and forgetting it.”

1. After buying a Nest thermostat, Andy Law _____

A．doesn’t worry about his traveling expenses

B．has solved his health problems

C．doesn’t need to keep his house warm

D．has reduced his heating bills

2. By saying “on the drawing board” in Paragraph 2, the author means that many of the devices are _______.

A．out of control	B．in the process of being planned
C．designed in many new ways	D．made for a special purpose

3. One feature of the Nest thermostat is that it can _________.

A．affect and change its users’ living habits

B．recognize the differences between people and large pets

C．collect detailed information about its users’ activities

D．learn its users’ daily heating and cooling preferences

4. A green leaf will appear when you _______.

A．adjust your Nest thermostat to an energy-efficient temperature

B．turn down your Nest thermostat on a hot day

C．turn on the “Auto-Away” function of your Nest thermostat

D．place your Nest thermostat in a cool house

【推荐3】Every order of takeout comes with a side of single-use plastics and each plastic fork. knife, spoon and straw-whether or not you wanted it or used it-ends up in the trash.

New research found that 139 million metric tons of single-use plastic waste was generated in 2021-six million metric tons more single-use plastics compared to 2019. A hunger for takeout meals during the pandemic contributed to the surge.

An estimated 60% of Americans order takeout or delivery at least once a week and online ordering is growing 300% faster than in-house dining; that means millions of single-use plastic utensils (餐具) are going out with every order.

New laws aim to address the problem. Some of the recent bills are thanks to The National Reuse Network, part of the environmental nonprofit Upstream, which launched a national Skip the Stuff campaign to work out policies that require restaurants to include single-use plastic utensils, straws, and napkins only when customers request them.

The bills also require meal delivery and online apps like Uber Eats, GrubHub and Door Dash to add single-use extras to their menus; customers can choose the items and quantities to have them included in the order. Customers that don’t order the single-use plastics won’t receive them. The goal of the bills is to reduce the 40 billion plastic utensils sent to the landfill (垃圾填埋场) every year.

“Most of the time, people are taking food home or to their offices where there are reusable utensils so these utensils wind up in a drawer or get thrown out,” says Alexis Goldsmith, national organizing director for a nationwide project Beyond Plastics. “Some people do need utensils, but for the most part, they’re not needed.”

To date, Skip the Stuff bills have been passed in several cities, including Denver, Washington, D.C. and Chicago, California and Washington state passed statewide bills that make single-use plastic “accessories” available with takeout orders only upon request.

Organizations like Upstream, Beyond plastics and NRDC have created toolkits to help additional communities launch their own Skip the Stuff campaigns.

1. What does the underlined word “surge” in paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Great desire.

B．Sharp decline.

C．Rapid increase.

D．Obvious panic.

2. According to the Skip the Stuff campaign, what can be done by restaurants?

A．Choosing green products.	B．Adding single-use napkins.
C．Recycling and reusing utensils.	D．Providing utensils only on request.

3. What’s the purpose of the recent new bills?

A．To reduce plastic waste.	B．To stop bad eating habits.
C．To encourage people to eat out.	D．To better the dining environment.

4. What would Goldsmith probably think of the Skip the Stuff campaign?

A．Unimportant.

B．Damaging.

C．Much-needed.

D．Well-known.

【推荐2】We know that our pet dogs and cats can recognize our faces, but our pet fish? A team of scientists from the UK and Australia have discovered that archerfish (喷水鱼) can distinguish human faces!

This marks the first time that a species of fish has shown such an ability. Such abilities have been previously shown in birds, but unlike fish, they have been proven to possess structures similar to the neocortex (大脑新皮层), the researchers added.

“Being able to distinguish between a large number of human faces is a surprisingly difficult task,” Dr. Newport said, “mainly due to the fact that all human faces share the same basic features.”

During their experiments, Dr. Newport and her colleagues presented archerfish with two images of human faces, and trained them to choose one by spitting jets (喷射流) of water at that picture. Next, the fish were presented with the familiar face and several that were unfamiliar, and were able to correctly pick the one that they had been trained to recognize, even when features such as head shape and color were removed from the selected pictures.

In the first experiment, the archerfish were tasked with picking the previously learned face from a group of 44 new ones, which they did with 81 percent accuracy. In the second, the researchers decided to make things a little harder. They took the pictures and made them black and white and evened out (使平均) the head shapes. You would think that would throw the fish for a loop. But no, they were able to pick the familiar face even then-and with more accuracy: 86%!

“Fish have a simpler brain than humans and entirely lack the section of the brain that humans use for recognizing faces. Despite this, fish may still be capable of finding the face they are trained to recognize,” Dr. Newport said, “The fact that archerfish can learn this task suggests that complicated brains are not necessarily needed to recognize human faces.”

1. What does the underlined word “they” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A．Species.

B．Birds.

C．Fish.

D．Abilities.

2. The research shows that ______.

A．archerfish are cleverer than other fishes

B．all fishes can be trained to recognize human faces

C．complex brains are not necessary for facial recognition

D．it is very difficult for animals to recognize human faces

3. We can infer from the text that ______.

A．archerfish have a good memory

B．the neocortex is linked with visual ability

C．archerfish can only recognize human faces

D．People’s similar physical appearance limits archerfish’s facial recognition

4. The text is likely to appear in ______.

A．a biology textbook	B．a medical report
C．a science fiction	D．a science magazine