There are plenty of concerns about robots stealing jobs from hard-working, flesh-and-blood humans. However, Japan’s Henna “Strange” Hotel has fired half of its 243 robot staff, because these labor-saving machines were causing more problems than they were solving— and requiring humans to come in and fix things as a result.
One of the victims of the robot layoffs was a doll-shaped robot called Cheri, which functioned as an artificial intelligence assistant. Unfortunately. Cheri tuned out to be pretty poor at answering questions from hotel guests. A pair of dinosaur robots, which worked at the hotel check-in, were also made non-existent by the firings since they wound up being unable to do many of the jobs required of 8 receptionist. A concierge (服务台职员) robot, meanwhile, was replaced by a human better able to answer important questions about nearby tourist attractions. Humans are also now going to carry luggage to the rooms, one quarter of which the previous porter robots were only able to reach—and only in excellent weather conditions.
Not surprisingly, the hotel, recognized in 2016 as the world’s first robot-staffed hotel by Guinness World Records, allured curious visitors from all around the world. Encouraged by the success the hotel s owner, Sawada opened seven additional locations across Japan and announced plans to build at least 50 more.
In the end, though, it seems that—as great as robots can be—they’re simply not suitable for every role just yet. With the rise of robot bar-tenders, robot-staffed restaurants and the like, it will be interesting to see how many similar concepts fall apart in the coming years. After all, once the novelty of a dinosaur robot on reception wears off, you’re just faced with a receptionist who can’t properly understand you and lacks an effective number of fingers on each hand to properly photocopy your passport.
1. Which of the following was used to answer such questions as scenic spots?A.A porter robot. | B.A dinosaur robot. |
C.A concierge robot. | D.A doll-shaped robot. |
A.attracted | B.relaxed | C.thrilled | D.upset |
A.They did better than humans. |
B.They couldn’t replace humans entirely. |
C.The rest of them will be fired. |
D.They were a big challenge for humans. |
A.World’s First Robot-staffed Hotel. |
B.Robots Perform Various Functions. |
C.Humans Will Replace Robots Eventually. |
D.Japanese Hotel Fires Half Its Robot Staff. |
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【推荐1】Fashion designers are always looking for new materials to work with. Lately, it’s all about environment-friendly materials -- recycled tires, mushrooms, even pineapple fibers! What if you want such a pair of shoes? Thaely is here to help.
This sneaker brand out of Dubai wants to fight the growing problem of plastic pollution. Led by 23-year-old Indian businessman Ashay Bhave, they may have found a winning approach: making shoes out of plastic grocery bags. “Thaely” means “plastic bag” in the Hindi language.
“I was looking to create footwear that is cost-effective and safe for the environment,” Bhave said in an interview with a newspaper. “I needed to come up with something that uses recycled plastic without creating any more plastic waste. ”Plastic bags were the perfect solution. He said five trillion plastic bags are used around the world each year. “I was motivated to find a solution to this problem,” Bhave said.
That solution was the fiber called ThaelyTex. Made entirely from plastic bags, the material looks and feels like leather. That sounds promising. Better yet, the production process requires no additional chemicals and produces no poisonous by-products. The result is a smart-looking pair of white low-top sneakers.
Bhave wouldn’t expose the full process for making ThaelyTex, but he said that each pair of shoes was made from up to 15 plastic bags and 22 plastic bottles. Where do they get the materials? Bhave told Elle that was the hardest part. “The biggest challenge we faced was right at the first step of acquiring the plastic bags. ”
Finally, they got help from TrioTap Technologies, a waste management plant. Bhave said they offered to collect the bags and also process them into ThaelyTex.
So far, it seems like things are falling into place. There are already hundreds of pre-orders in place. It sounds like they have some plans for the future. “We have a few more colors coming up,” said Bhave. They also plan to put out a high-top model and bring in a line of clothing. Let’s hope their growth is also friendly to the environment.
1. Why did Bhave choose to make shoes out of plastic bags?A.To set a new footwear trend. |
B.To test new materials for footwear. |
C.To reduce the use of plastic bags in his home country. |
D.To use recycled plastic in an environment-friendly way. |
A.Having a few more colors for Thaely. | B.Processing plastic bags into ThaelyTex. |
C.Collecting enough production materials | D.Dealing with many poisonous by-products |
A.produce | B.conserve |
C.provide | D.broadcast |
A.Bhave: a promising young man |
B.Thaely: killer of waste plastic bags |
C.ThaelyTex: material out of plastic bags |
D.TrioTap Technologies: a waste management plant |
【推荐2】About 20 years ago Nissan introduced the world’s first “talking car”. Actually, it was just a recorded voice that would tell you that your door was open, and would continue talking to you until you closed it. Of course, it never caught on.
Times have changed and the talking car of the near future is a car that you talk to, rather than a car that talks to you. You’ll be able to control your radio by giving voice orders, get traffic reports and directions, and send and receive e-mails. To do this, you needn’t push a button at all.
This is good news for those who spend more and more of their lives in their cars. In fact, the new type of cars will be more like offices on wheels, with computers, wireless Internet access, and satellite radio inside. Companies are hoping that time wasted in traffic could be put to better use. If workers are able to check their e-mails, faxes, and meeting time on the way to work, they can spend more time at the office doing more important tasks.
Microsoft, of course, is hoping that every one of those mobile offices will use Windows. “It’s a great goal,” says Dick Brass, VP of Microsoft’s automotive division. “But we’d like to have one of our operating systems in every car on earth. “There are already 650 million cars in the world, and every year about 50 million new cars roll off the production lines. If Brass’ wish came true, cars could become a bigger business for Microsoft than computers.”
1. The radio of the new talking car can be operated by receiving ________.A.traffic reports | B.voice orders | C.light signals | D.electricity energy |
A.their workers will have more time to do more important work |
B.their workers will get to the office earlier |
C.much time will be wasted in traffic |
D.their workers will check e-mails, faxes, and meeting time at home |
A.turned on | B.took off | C.become popular | D.was colourful |
A.all of the mobile offices will use Windows |
B.about 50 million new cars are produced every year |
C.the new type of talking car has a recorded voice inside |
D.the talking car of the near future is a car that talks to you |
【推荐3】Imagine driving behind a huge truck shooting clouds of smoke into the air while your new fully electric vehicle cleans up its carbon emissions (排放). This dream may soon be a reality. A team of students in the Netherlands has created an electric car that not only doesn’t produce carbon dioxide when driving, but actually pulls it out of the air.
The two-seater sports car was designed and built in less than a year by a team of 32 students at Eindhoven University of Technology. Called “ZEM”, which stands for “zero emission mobility”, the car is equipped with special devices that remove carbon dioxide from the air as it drives. The team says if ZEM is driven about 32,000 kilometers, it can remove 2 kilograms of carbon dioxide from the air. That’s not a huge amount. The team calculates that 10 ZEM cars on the road for a year would remove as much carbon dioxide as a typical tree does during that time. However, they also point out that there are over a billion passenger cars in the world that could be using this technology. And if a billion cars were removing carbon dioxide instead of producing it, the result would be huge.
ZEM also has several other innovations that help to make it more capable of being sustained: the car’s frame and panels (面板) are 3D printed to reduce waste; it was built using recycled and recyclable materials; and it can be easily taken apart so that many of its parts can be reused. ZEM’s battery is also reusable, and has another handy feature: it can be charged with solar panels on the car’s roof—and can even be used to provide power to your house when the car isn’t on the road.
According to the statistics, transportation was responsible for over 20% of global carbon dioxide emissions in 2020—and of those emissions, cars were responsible for 41%. The Eindhoven team says its goal is to challenge the electric car industry: If 32 students can build a car like this in less than a year, then surely car manufacturers (生产商) are expected to adopt these innovations, too.
1. What is special about ZEM?A.It can end the world’s CO2 release. |
B.It can cut the truck’s CO2 emissions. |
C.It can reduce the level of CO2 in the air. |
D.It can absorb dirty air as well as CO2. |
A.To demonstrate a superb vision of ZEM cars. |
B.To explain how ZEM removes CO2 as trees do. |
C.To illustrate the ongoing change in car making. |
D.To show the influence of ZEM on the car market. |
A.They are of high quality. | B.They are easy to process. |
C.They are convenient to print. | D.They are environmentally friendly. |
A.Sharp decline in fuel consumption. | B.Mass production of ZEM cars. |
C.Big success in beating other car makers. | D.Dramatic changes in transportation. |
【推荐1】Museum Day
Museum Day is here for one day and one day only — so you’ll need to hurry if you want to take advantage of the chance to get free Saturday admission to one of the hundreds of participating museums.
This event is hosted annually by Smithsonian Magazine and involves museums and cultural institutions coming together to offer free admission for visitors who would otherwise have to pay for entry.
You just need an email address to get a free ticket.To get a ticket you’ll need to go to the Smithsonian Magazine website and pick which museum you want to go to. You’ll be able to search to see which museums near you are participating, and you just have to put in your email address and name. After that, you can download your ticket and head out for some fun.
A lot of museums are still feeling financial stress from the pandemic.The event is happening as museums are still struggling from the hits they took during the first few years of the pandemic.
The American Alliance of Museums estimated it will take years for museums to fully recover. In February, the group released survey results that detailed those financial losses.
But there’s hope that a free day at the museums might contribute to more future visits.
1. How often is Museum Day held?A.Once a week. | B.Once a day. | C.Once a year. | D.Once a month. |
A.By writing an email. | B.By signing up on the Internet. |
C.By visiting the nearest museum. | D.By downloading Smithsonian Magazine. |
A.From a textbook | B.From a postcard | C.From a diary | D.From a magazine |
【推荐2】Caroline Woodward wakes each morning to the sound of waves crashing onto the rocks that surround her home, Lennard Island, British Columbia, Canada.
This rocky island is home to a bright white lighthouse with a fire engine red top. Lennard Island's lighthouse has been a fixture of the Western Canadian coast since 1904, when the first wooden lighthouse was built to guide sailors navigating the surrounding waters.
There's been a lighthouse keeper on Lennard Island ever since, and today, that job falls to Woodward, who also writes poetry and children's stories, and her husband Jeff George.
"I think many people have romantic, 19th century ideas of lighthouses," says Woodward. Not many of them are correct, she says.
No, she doesn't live in the tower itself — and no, she doesn't have much time to kill. What Woodward does have is a busy, fun, and rewarding role, one she wouldn't trade for the world.
Woodward and George take turns to send a 3:15 a.m. weather report to the local Coast Guard radio. It's the first of seven they deliver each day. They survey the sea and sky from the lookout points. Their routine work also involves maintaining the twelve buildings that make up Lennard Island Lightstation.
The couple work seven days a week — vacations come only when the Coast Guard organizes relief keepers. In between, there's time for tending to the garden, hiking, and keeping watch on the wildlife that populates Lennard Island and its spectacular surrounds.
"We have resident bald eagles, lots of gulls, crows, and water and shorebirds all the year round. We also host Pacific tree frogs and wonderful insects."
There are, fortunately, no bears or wolves, says Woodward.
The wildlife and landscapes provide plenty of inspiration for her writing, too. Woodward has recently finished a novel, which she says was inspired by the stunning surrounds of the North Pacific Ocean.
1. Which of the following is a duty of the lighthouse keepers?A.Living in the tower of the lighthouse. | B.Sending seven weather reports daily. |
C.Taking care of the garden. | D.Observing the wildlife on the island. |
A.She values her job greatly. | B.She finds her job boring. |
C.Reality disappoints her. | D.She wants to change her job. |
A.She lives a romantic life there. | B.She secures long vacations. |
C.Her creativity in writing is inspired. | D.Her physical health is improved. |
A.Why Woodward becomes a lighthouse keeper. |
B.What it is like to be a lighthouse keeper. |
C.How the lighthouse keepers kill the time. |
D.Where Woodward continues writing. |
【推荐3】All too often, a choice that seems sustainable(可持续的) turns out on closer examination to be problematic. Probably the best example is the rush to produce ethanol(乙醇) for fuel from corn. Corn is a renewable resource —you can harvest it and grow more, almost limitlessly. So replacing gas with corn ethanol seems like a great idea.
One might get a bit more energy out of the ethanol than that used to make it, which could still make ethanol more sustainable than gas generally, but that’s not the end of the problem. Using corn to make ethanol means less corn is left to feed animals and people, which drives up the cost of food. That result leads to turning the fallow land — including, in some cases, rain forest in places such as Brazil — into farmland, which in turn gives off lots of carbon dioxide(CO2) into the air. Finally, over many years, the energy benefit from burning ethanol would make up for the forest loss. But by then, climate change would have progressed so far that it might not help.
You cannot really declare any practice “sustainable” until you have done a complete lift-cycle analysis of its environmental(环境的) costs. Even then, technology and public policy keep developing, and that development can lead to unforeseen and undesired results. The admirable goal of living sustainable requires plenty of thought on an ongoing basis.
1. What might directly cause the loss of the forest according to the text?A.The growing demand for energy to make ethanol. |
B.The increasing carbon dioxide in the air. |
C.The greater need for farmland. |
D.The big change in weather. |
A.the energy benefit | B.the forest loss |
C.climate change | D.burning ethanol |
A.impractical | B.acceptable | C.admirable | D.useless |
A.Technology. | B.Sustainability. |
C.Ethanol energy. | D.Environmental protection. |