The world’s elderly population is increasing. The number of older people — those age 60 years or older — is expected to double by 2050 and is growing faster than all younger age groups across the globe. That comes with an increasing need for caregivers which can provide 24-hour care, not only at hospitals or nursing homes, but also at private homes.
Already, caregiving robots are programmed to ask questions a nurse would ask and can keep an eye on patients for falls These robotic assistants are expected to become increasingly marketable and reach 450,000 by 2045 because of the expected caregiver shortage in the USA.
“Unluckily, the hard structure of present caregiving robots prevents them from a safe human-robot interaction (互动), limiting their assistance to only social interaction and not Physical interaction,” said Ramses Martinez,an assistant professor in Purdue’s College of Engineering. “After all,would you leave babies or old people in the hands of a robot?”
Recent advances in material science have enabled the production of soft robots with deformable (可变形的) bodies or the ability to reshape when touched, but today the complex (复杂的) design prevents the use of this technology at home.
However, Martinez and other researchers have developed a new design method which shows promise in enabling the production of soft robots using a 3D printer.
The design process has three steps. First, a user makes a computer-aided design file (文件) with the shape of the robot. The user then paints the file to show which directions the different joints of the soft robot will move. It takes the computer a few seconds to change the computer-aided model into a 3-D soft machine that can be printed using any 3-D printer.
“The soft machines move like humans. Their ability to change their body structure and movement to adapt (适应) to a wide variety of environments will improve caregiving greatly.” says Martinez.
The researchers are looking for partners to test and bring their technology to market.
1. What does the underlined word “That” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．The younger age group. |
| B．The group of older people. |
| C．The population across the globe. |
| D．The growth of the elderly population. |
| A．They can’t provide safe physical interaction. |
| B．They can’t communicate with patients. |
| C．They can’t watch patients for falls. |
| D．They can’t provide 24-hour care. |
| A．It requires a special kind of 3D printer. |
| B．It makes the production of soft robots simpler. |
| C．It has been put onto the market. |
| D．It is hard for users to master. |
| A．The robot industry in the future. |
| B．Effects of population ageing. |
| C．Robots for the elderly created with 3D printers. |
| D．The development of caregiving robots. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Parents have a new tool in the battle over screen time, with an Australian app asking kids to solve one math or English problem before they can unlock their phones.
Sydney entrepreneurs Issac and Ann Elnekave turned their bright idea into an app called 1 Question and tried it on their 16-year-old daughter Alyssa.
“At first I wasn’t sure about it,” Alyssa said. “I didn’t want my friends to blame me if their parents made them get it. But once I started using it, I realized it doesn’t take that long to answer a question and it’s actually pretty cool.”
“Research has shown almost half of children aged between 6 and 16 either have a mobile phone or have access to one. The majority play games or use apps like YouTube for an average of about five hours a day. The 1 Question app creates micro learning moments,” Mrs. Elnekave said. “We created a solution that makes a balance between screen time and study.”
Parents can download the $2.99 a month app onto their child’s phone, select their grade and curriculum subjects, then monitor each time their child correctly answers a question to open a game or app such as YouTube.
“We designed the user experience to be really simple, but underneath the hood is our incredibly intelligent AI engine,” Mr. Elnekave said. “As your child learns, so does the AI, which works out each child’s areas of strength and weakness and creates a customized path for their learning.”
The app has a base of 12,000 questions developed by teachers using the Australian, British and American curriculums designed for primary school children.
1. What do we know about the 1 Question app?| A．It is free of charge. |
| B．It contains questions suitable for high school students. |
| C．Children need to answer more than one question correctly to unlock their phones. |
| D．It serves to help children learn something useful during their screen time. |
| A．The popularity of mobile phones. |
| B．The influence of phone games on children. |
| C．The function and significance of the 1 Question app. |
| D．The way to install the l Question app. |
| A．Entertainment. | B．Science. | C．Finance. | D．Health. |
【推荐2】A Swiss company that developed technology to capture (捕获) carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the air says it has launched the world’s largest plant to do so in Iceland. The company said the plant began operations on Wednesday.
The company partnered with Icelandic carbon storage provider Carbfix on the project. It says the new plant called Orca whose name is based on the Icelandic word for energy, Oirka, is designed to capture up to 3,600 metric tons of CO2 per year. That is the same amount of CO2 produced by about 790 automobiles during a year.
The International Energy Agency, IEA, estimates that this year, the amount of CO2 emissions (排放) worldwide will rise 1.5 billion metric tons to a total of 33 billion metric tons. Direct air capture is one of the few technologies that can remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. Many scientists see the process as critical to limiting harmful pollutant emissions. Such emissions are caused mainly by human activities. They can trap heat in the atmosphere and create higher temperatures. Many scientists blame this warming for increased heatwaves, wildfires, floods and rising sea levels across the world.
Orca uses eight large containers that look like those used in the shipping industry. A series of high-tech filters (过滤器) and blowers attached to the containers capture CO2. The captured carbon is then mixed with water and deposited deep underground, where it slowly turns into rock. Both technologies are powered by renewable energy from a nearby geothermal (地热) plant.
Direct air capture is still a new and costly technology. But developers hope to bring down the price by increasing operations as more companies and individuals seek the technology. Currently, there are 15 direct air capture plants operating worldwide. The American oil company Occidental is currently developing the largest direct air capture center. It aims to pull 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the air around some of its Texas oilfields.
1. What is Orca?| A．A kind of energy. | B．A Swiss company. |
| C．A high-tech factory. | D．A developed technology. |
| A．It can stop global temperature rising. |
| B．It is crucial to deal with air pollution. |
| C．It is of great use for disaster prediction. |
| D．It can limit the amounts of gases in the air. |
| A．Stored. | B．Discovered. | C．Recycled. | D．Exposed. |
| A．It will increase oil production. | B．It has shown little practical value. |
| C．It costs too much to improve it. | D．It would have a bright future. |
【推荐3】A Swiss company that developed technology to capture (捕获) carbon dioxide from the air says it has started the world’s largest plant to do so in Iceland.
The company is called Climeworks AG. It said the plant began operations on Wednesday. The system captures carbon dioxide, CO2, directly from the air and then deposits (沉淀) the gas underground.
Climeworks says the plant is designed to capture up to 3,600 metric tons of CO2 per year. That is the same amount of CO2 produced by about 790 automobiles during a year, Reuters news agency reported.
The International Energy Agency, IEA, estimates (估计) that this year, CO2 emissions (排放量) worldwide will rise 1.5 billion metric tons to a total of 33 billion metric tons.
Direct air capture is one of the few technologies that can remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. Many scientists see the process as critical to limiting harmful pollutant emissions. Such emissions, which can trap heat in the atmosphere and create higher temperature, are caused mainly by human activities. Many scientists blame this warming for increased heatwaves, wildfires, floods and rising sea levels across the world.
The new plant is called Orca, based on the Icelandic word for energy, Orka. It uses eight large containers that look like those used in the shipping industry. A series of high-tech filters (过滤器) and blowers (鼓风机) attached to the containers capture CO2. The captured carbon is then mixed with water and pumped deep underground, where it slowly turns into rock.
Direct air capture is still a new and costly technology. But developers hope to bring down the price by increasing operations as more companies and individuals seek the technology. Currently, there are 15 direct air capture plants operating worldwide. The IEA estimates the plants capture more than 9,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.
The American oil company Occidental is currently developing the largest direct-air-capture center. It aims to pull 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the air around some of its Texas oilfields.
1. What’s the main intention of the passage?| A．To introduce a Swiss company called Clineworks AG. |
| B．To show the links between Clineworks AG and Carbfix. |
| C．To tell us the largest factory capturing CO2 in the world is on. |
| D．To list the damages caused by the increasing amount of CO2. |
| A．Cut down emissions caused by human activities. |
| B．Build up a new plant to capture CO2 in the US. |
| C．Cut down the price by increasing operations. |
| D．Help scientists limit the pollutant emissions. |
| A．A diary. | B．A collection of science fictions. |
| C．A travel guide. | D．A newspaper. |
| A．How the name of the plant comes from. |
| B．How the plant processes(处理) the CO2. |
| C．How the plant was first built. |
| D．How the plant gets its power. |
【推荐1】ChatGPT, a new chatbot model developed by US-based AI research laboratory OpenAI，has quickly become a hit globally due to its advanced conversational abilities.
It can write emails, computer codes, even academic papers and poems, and has passed a number of tests within seconds. Academicians worldwide are discussing whether AI should be used in education. Some universities have banned it. The New York City’s Department of Education, for example, banned the chatbot from its public school devices and networks, with some people warning that it could encourage more students to cheat, especially in exams.
Many more welcome this app, claiming that, like most technological advances and groundbreaking innovations in history, ChatGPT is a powerful tool for the development of higher education.
Embracing AI as early as possible is advisable. Higher education institutions should make preparations for including AI in their syllabus (教学大纲). They can start by offering related courses, because by understanding how it works, they can make better use of it. Besides, students with good knowledge of AI are more competitive when it comes to getting a good job, as an increasing number of jobs are being done by computer programmes—some in cooperation with humans, AI-powered education technologies can be adopted to make the learning experience more suitable for each student based on his or her strengths and weaknesses. As for professors, AI can free them from doing some dull tasks so they can concentrate on teaching and interacting with students.
Since we cannot avoid ChatGPT and other AI-powered applications from entering the field of higher education, we should make collective efforts to ensure they have a positive impact on society and the future of education. Despite AI helping make learning much more interesting and enjoyable, humans need to work very hard to win the race with technology.
1. Why do some higher education institutions forbid ChatGPT?| A．ChatGPT can write emails and computer codes quickly. |
| B．Some professors might not perform their duties properly. |
| C．Students would have conversations with each other via it. |
| D．Students might seek help from it in completing the exams. |
| A．Refusing. | B．Improving. | C．Accepting | D．Affecting. |
| A．It offers students an increasing number of jobs. |
| B．It personalizes students’ learning experience. |
| C．It equips students with competitive skills to cooperate with humans. |
| D．It handles uninteresting tasks so students can better focus on learning. |
| A．We should guard against AI apps. |
| B．AI will be more widely used in education. |
| C．The future of education relies on AI apps. |
| D．Humans will be left behind by technology. |
【推荐2】Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) have grown wood-like structures from cells taken from the leaves of a flowering plant.
The results were recently reported in a study. Velasquez-Garcia, the lead researcher, said the process is still in the early stage. But if it can be perfected, it could simplify and speed up the production of wood products. “The way we get these materials hasn't changed in centuries and is very inefficient,” Velasquez-Garcia said.
For example, the current process of making a wooden table can take many years. First, a tree has to grow. Then, it must be cut down, transported, processed, etc. Velasquez-Garcia says lab-grown wood could combine all those steps into one. “you want a table, then you should just grow a table.” he said.
The process is similar in some ways to lab-produced meat, which is grown from live animal cells. But in the wood experiment, the MIT team collected live cells from the leaves of a zinnia plant.
The plant cells were then kept in an environment designed to support growth. Plant cells can become anything if they are induced to.
The experiment was carried out indoors, without soil or sunlight. During the process, the researchers used a mixture of two plant hormones that helped the cells grow a thick, strong wood-like structure. With further study, the researchers say they could use the same process to grow wood in specific shapes, such as a table.
Such a lab-based farming method “promises to improve yields while reducing plant waste and competition for arable land,” the research study states.
David Stern is a plant biologist, who was not involved in the study. He said one big question is whether the technology can remain economically competitive since the method would require major financial and intellectual investments. And he said new issues would arise when parts of forestry and agriculture were brought into the lab. “Agriculture uses the sun's energy through photosynthesis, and…natural rainfall. It does not require buildings, heat, or artificial light,” Stern said.
1. What is the advantage of producing wood in the lab over traditional ways?| A．Lower cost. | B．Stronger structure. |
| C．More procedures. | D．Higher productivity. |
| A．stress the high popularity it enjoys | B．help tell it from lab-produced wood |
| C．explain the wood experiment more clearly | D．provide another way of producing wood in the lab |
| A．It requires no light. | B．It failed eventually. |
| C．It needs to be perfected. | D．It produced no plant waste. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Opposed. | C．Uncaring. | D．Favourable. |
【推荐3】Two-thirds of the world population lives under conditions where the freshwater demand is more than twice the natural water availability for at least one month per year. According to official statistics, one billion of those live in India and 0.9 billion live in China. Other areas facing this problem for longer periods include Bangladesh (130 million people), the western and southern states of the USA (130 million), Pakistan (120 million), Nigeria (110 million), and Mexico (90 million).
Communities use a range of techniques to overcome this issue. In dry summers, those near the coast can desalinate (淡化) seawater, although the process requires a large amount of energy and expenditure. Some remote inland communities have alternative methods that suit their particular conditions. For example, many high-altitude Chilean communities in the Andes use fog collectors, specialized nets that can gather just a few liters a day.
Elsewhere, there’s another option available. Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a new device that passively harvests water from the air around the clock. The device is made up of a specially coated glass pane (玻璃板) that reflects solar radiation and also radiates away its own heat. In doing so, it cools down by as much as 15 degrees Celsius below the surrounding temperatures. This difference in temperature between the air and the pane causes water vapor to condense (凝结) on its underside, which can then be easily collected.
Tests so far have been conducted on a university building in Zurich and suggest that the device can produce twice as much water per day as other passive water-collection technologies. Under ideal conditions, researchers harvested 0.53 decilitres of water per square metre of the surface per hour. “That’s close to the theoretical maximum value of 0.6 decilitres per hour, which is physically impossible to exceed,” says Iwan Hachler, a doctoral student who is working on the technology.
The zero-energy input of the set-up could make it suitable for use in developing countries, particularly in remote communities where water shortage is often combined with power shortages. The scientists are hopeful that the device could be used with other water-collection methods, such as desalination, to increase productivity.
1. What does the author want to tell us by mentioning official statistics in Paragraph 1?| A．Fresh water insecurity is a global crisis. |
| B．Water resources are unevenly distributed globally. |
| C．Lack of water seriously restricts many countries’ growth. |
| D．Developed countries are better at handling water shortages. |
| A．By harvesting water from fog. |
| B．By bringing in seawater and purifying it. |
| C．By moving to water-rich areas in summer. |
| D．By cutting down on their water consumption. |
| A．To hold the condensed water. | B．To work as a cooling surface. |
| C．To get rid of harmful solar radiation. | D．To record the changes in temperature. |
| A．It produces satisfying outcomes. | B．It is limited to laboratory environments. |
| C．It has met with theoretical bottlenecks. | D．It needs further confirmation from experts. |
【推荐1】Neither television nor radio nor magazines nor books nor any other medium can begin to match newspapers for depth and breadth of coverage (新闻报道). In fact, all these media themselves depend on newspapers to bring them information that they then process and distribute as their own brand of news.
Now many newspapers are locked in a struggle for survival. If they lose — which is by no means impossible — we all lose.
The great task for editors and publishers is to respond to the competitive challenge caused by online news, and at the same time use their own online news to increase their profits (利润). As yet, they haven’t figured out a smooth and sure way to do that.
So they cut some more to get profit. The cuts in size that they are making are in some cases risky and in others without considering the results. With every cut, publishers tirelessly argue that readers won’t even know the difference. The trouble is that by the time customers do notice that they are getting less for their money, it will be too late — too late to notice the reduction in the number of readers.
The other big cuts, of course, are in staff (员工). The victims would be the oldest and most experienced workers because they are the highest paid. While there is plenty of tired deadwood among them, there is also a lot of talent.
When experienced staff leave in large numbers — as they often do now — the newspaper loses great professional memory. But the real loser is the readers, who are suddenly robbed of the insights (见识) that only the experienced reporters can bring.
As for the future, there is at least one big, bright sign: intelligent young people will continue to flood into journalism in urgent search of jobs, despite its high demands and modest (不太高的) pay.
1. The underlined word “deadwood” in Paragraph 5 may refer to “________”．| A．the staff who are going to retire |
| B．people who are no longer useful or needed |
| C．workers who are experienced |
| D．reporters who are tired of covering events |
| A．The author has no objection. |
| B．The author is against them. |
| C．The author has not shown it clearly. |
| D．The author regards them reasonable. |
| A．experienced workers are the last to be laid off |
| B．journalism is a job offering highest pay for high demands |
| C．the challenge of newspapers is that there are not enough intelligent young people |
| D．it is possible that newspapers may not survive in the end |
| A．patience | B．selfishness |
| C．insights | D．sensitivity |
【推荐2】The San Diego Splash senior women’s basketball team plays three-on-three in 30-minute half-court games — looking at the score-board and it doesn’t take long to realize that there’s nothing “senior” about these athletes.
The Splash may be the oldest team under the San Diego Senior Women’s Basketball Association (players must be 80 or over to join), but its members play to win and have won two championships (冠军称号) at the National Senior Games. Nine women are on the record, including Meg Skinner and Grace Larson — both of whom are 91.
Born in the 1920s and 1930s, Larson and the rest of her teammates are making up for the lost time and missed chances. “I was 80 when I got my first basketball shoes, and I was excited,” Larson said. Players in the Splash didn’t just wake up on their 80th birthdays and decide to join the team, and many of them have been playing basketball for many years, both as players in the San Diego Senior Women’s Basketball Association and other organizations.
Since it’s medically proved that seniors’ sports can lead to a longer and livelier life, it comes as no surprise that many Splash players have lived longer. “A lot of my childhood friends thought I was crazy to play basketball at 66,” explained 87-year-old Marge Carl. “They thought I’ll break an arm or a leg, but I’m the only one surviving of my childhood friends. They’re all gone, every one of them.”
“Seniors have to join us,” Carl told a San Diego newspaper. “They can’t sit in a room watching TV. That’s a death warning.” With over 6 million views, the videos about the Splash are very popular. “A friendship, a sisterhood, a family” is how Larson describes her team —“It’s the nicest group of people from all walks of life.”
1. What does the underlined sentence in the first paragraph mean?| A．The athletes are not as experienced as they look. |
| B．The athletes can’t wait to have another game. |
| C．The athletes play as well as young players. |
| D．The athletes are actually very young. |
| A．It is the oldest team in the world. |
| B．It has won two games in the finals. |
| C．The players must be less than 80. |
| D．Members don’t have basketball experience. |
| A．They will live a healthier life. |
| B．They will be very excited every day. |
| C．They are sure to break arms and legs. |
| D．They will live longer than anyone else. |
| A．Age is just a number |
| B．Everyone should do more exercise |
| C．Playing basketball makes us healthy |
| D．Old people should be taken good care of |
【推荐3】For years, business people in Western Europe were worried. They knew they could not compete against business from the U.S. The United States is much larger and had many more resources than any Western European countries.
Some European people realized that the European nations need to join together to help each other. If they could forget their language differences and the differences in customs, they might become strong competition against other countries.
In 1958, six of the European countries — Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany and Italy got together and decided to cooperate. They called their group the European Economic Community, or the Common Market. These countries agreed to join their resources together.
Within a few years, the European Economic Community had worked so well that its members were more prosperous than many other European nations. Soon, other nations began to realize the advantage of the Common Market. Today the Common Market includes most of the important countries in Western Europe. It is helping Western Europe to again take its place as a leader among the industrial nations of the world.
1. From the passage we know the U.S. is much richer than ________ in resources.| A．any other Western European countries | B．any other country in Western Europe |
| C．any country in Western Europe | D．every country in Europe |
| A．share their resources and become more prosperous |
| B．can again take the place as a leader in the world |
| C．forget the differences in their languages and customs |
| D．have become strong competition against the U.S. |
| A．The Common Market is only a political association. |
| B．The Common Market is an economic and political association. |
| C．The Common Market is only an economic association. |
| D．The Common Market is neither an economic association nor a political one. |
| A．join together to found a united country |
| B．help each other to smooth away the differences in customs |
| C．work and act together for common purpose |
| D．work together and fight against the U.S. |
