【推荐1】Roboticists at the University of California San Diego have developed an affordable, easy to use system to track the location of flexible surgical robots inside the human body. The system performs as well as current state of the art methods, but the whole system, including the robot, magnets and magnet localization setup, costs around $100. Many current methods also require exposure to radiation, while this system does not.

The system was developed by Tania Morimoto, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego, and mechanical engineering Ph. D. student Connor Watson.

“Continuum medical robots work really well in highly constrained (受限的) environments inside the body,” Morimoto said. “But it becomes a lot harder to track their location and their shape inside the body.” The researchers used existing magnet localization methods, which work very much like GPS, to develop a computer model that predicts the robot’s location.

GPS satellites ping (发送) smartphones and based on how long it takes for the signal to arrive, the GPS receiver in the smartphone can determine where the cell phone is. Similarly, researchers know how strong the magnetic field should be around the magnet placed in the robot. They rely on four sensors that are carefully spaced around the area where the robot operates to measure the magnetic field strength. Based on how strong the field is, they are able to determine where the tip of the robot is.

Morimoto and Watson went a step further. They then trained a neural network to learn the difference between what the sensors were reading and what the model said the sensors should be reading. As a result, they improved localization accuracy to track the tip of the robot. “Ideally we are hoping that our localization tools can help improve these kinds of growing robot technologies. We do want to push this research forward so that we can test our system in a clinical setting and eventually translate it into clinical use,” Morimoto said.

1. What be learnt about the system according to the text?

A．It’s complex.	B．It’s low-cost.
C．It’s delicate.	D．It’s radioactive.

2. What is Paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．The system’s working principle.

B．The function of GPS satellites.

C．The reason for inventing the system,

D．The necessity of inventing the system.

3. What do Morimoto and Watson expect of the system?

A．It’ll be environmentally-friendly.	B．It’ll be sold on the Internet soon,
C．I’ll be easy for us to operate.	D．It’ll be tested with real patients.

4. Where is this text most likely from?

A．A diary.	B．A guidebook.
C．A magazine.	D．A novel.

【推荐2】When robots and humans interact in the same environment, it is important for them to move in techniques that monitor an environment, predict the future actions of humans, identify secure track for a robot and control its movements accordingly.

Predicting human behavior and movements, however, can be incredibly challenging. Determining the future movements of a robot, on the other hand, could be far easier. If human users could anticipate the movements of robots and the effects these will have on the surrounding environment, they should then be able to easily adapt their actions in order to avoid accidents.

With this in mind, researchers at Kyushu University in Japan recently created a near-future perception system named Previewed Reality that allows human users to forecast future changes in their environment, which could then inform their decisions and guide their actions. This system compiles (编译) a data-set containing information about the position of objects, humans and robots within the same environment, to then produce simulations (模拟) of events that could take place in the near future. These simulations are presented to human users via Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality (AR) headsets.

To collect information about the position of different objects, robots, and humans in the same environment, the researchers used a number of strategically placed sensors, including optical trackers that monitored the movements of objects or robots, and a RGB-D camera which mainly tracked human actions. The data gathered by the sensors was then fed to a motion planner and a dynamics simulator. Combining these two system components allowed the researchers to forecast changes in a given environment and synthesize (合成) images of events that are likely to occur in the near future, from the viewpoint of a specific human. Human users could then view these synthesized images simply through a VR headset or an AR display.

“This system provides human-friendly communication between a human and a robotic system.” the researchers explained. In their next studies, they plan to expand and simplify the perception system, for instance by creating a lighter and more affordable version that can operate on smart phones or other portable devices.

1. Why did the researchers develop the system?

A．To predict future changes in human behavior.

B．To record developments in the field of robotics.

C．To enhance safety of human-robot interactions.

D．To make good use of virtual reality technology.

2. What is special about Previewed Reality?

A．It simulates near-future events via VR headsets.

B．It enables human users to perceive future events.

C．It guides robots to track humans’ movements easily.

D．It helps determine the position information of objects.

3. What is paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．The functions of the system components.	B．The dynamic way to synthesize images.
C．The inner structure of Previewed Reality.	D．The working procedure of Previewed Reality.

4. What might the researchers do in the future?

A．Promote the new version through advertising.

B．Trial this perception system with smart phones.

C．Make the system accessible on portable devices.

D．Apply some new techniques to robotic systems.

【推荐3】New observations of the Moon show that lunar water may be more accessible than originally thought. The new data is particularly exciting for NASA, which hopes to make use of the Moon’s resources — especially water ice existing in the soil — to help future astronauts live and work on the lunar surface.

In one study, researchers discovered water directly on the lunar surface, finding the molecule(分子) on areas of the Moon lighted by the Sun. A second study speculates （推测）that water ice might be trapped in tiny areas or small holes spread all over the Moon’s surface, making water more abundant (大量的) and more accessible than we could have imagined. The two studies were published in the journal Nature.

This isn’t the first time water has been discovered on the Moon. But the only water we’ve been able to find until now is really difficult to reach. It seems to be primarily located in large holes at the lunar south pole that are in continuous shadow. The freezing holes are dangerously cold — possibly reaching -400 ℉ — making them almost impossible to access with modern technology.

The research published today raises the possibility that astronauts can find water in other areas of the Moon that are far less deadly. “If we find that it’s abundant enough in certain locations, it would be easier to access versus going into these very cold, very dark places,” Casey Honniball, an expert at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and lead author on one of the studies, tells The Verge.

It seems to be good news for NASA. But there are still a lot of unknowns related to this research. Though the first study discovered water, the researchers didn’t find a lot. Besides, if the water is existing in the lunar dirt as expected, it’s going to take a lot of work to get it. “The method to get that water would be to melt the glass, so that the water can be released,” Honniball says. “This is a difficult process, compared to some other methods.”
1. Where can we read about the new studies？

A．From NASA.	B．In The Verge.
C．From Space Flight Center.	D．In the journal Nature.

2. What can we learn from Paragraph 3?

A．The only water found is located on areas lighted by the Sun.

B．The deadly cold situation stops people from accessing the holes.

C．It is the first time that people have found water on the Moon.

D．It can reach a temperature of -400 ℃ in the holes.

3. What is the difficulty when we get the water according to Honniball?

A．Great efforts will be needed to melt the glass.

B．There is not enough water on the Moon.

C．We don’t know where to find the water.

D．We don’t know how to get the water.

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．NASA plans to send astronauts to the Moon.

B．A lot of unknowns exist in making use of the Moon.

C．Using water on the Moon will be key to a future lunar base.

D．Water ice on the Moon may be easier to reach than we thought.

【推荐1】Most teachers assign novels for students to read not write. But many teachers nationwide are not only asking students to read novels but also giving them a month to write them. Yes, you read that right: one month.

However, students participating in November’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) do not complain about being overworked. Instead, they have been known to ask, “Can we work on our novels today?” That’s because, above all, NaNoWriMo is meant to be fun. An exercise in “seat-of-your-pants” novel writing, it has almost no rules.

The Office of Letters and Light is the nonprofit behind the event. It believes this carefree approach encourages writers to take imaginative risks and truly enjoy their work. Founded in 1999, the adult version of the event requires only that you commit yourself to making an attempt at novel writing and submitting a novel of 50,000 words, no matter how good or bad they are, by the end of November.

Since 2005, NaNoWriMo has entered many classrooms, including those of National Writing Project teachers, through its Young Writers Program. In addition, teachers receive a classroom kit featuring a progress chart, stickers to mark word counts, and buttons for writers who cross the finish line.

About 1,800 classrooms and 45,000 kids and teens participated last year. The rules for under-18 writers are the same as those for adults. But there is one important exception: young writers can pick their own “reasonable yet challenging” word length. If a student elects to write, say, 18,000 words and achieves this goal in a month, he or she is a winner. Awards include a “handsome winner’s certificate” and a promotional code to receive a free bound proof copy of the finished novel.

The Young Writers Program also facilitates Script Frenzy, a similar scriptwriting (剧本写作) event that happens each April and challenges participants to write a 100-page script in 30 days.

While young writers work primarily as individuals, teachers are also encouraged to write along with them.

1. How do students usually feel after participating in NaNo WriMo?

A．Courageous.

B．Distracted.

C．Pleased.

D．Overwhelmed.

2. What is “seat-of-your-pants” novel writing mentioned in Paragraph 2?

A．The participants have to stick on their seats for long writing novels.

B．The novel writing activity gives its participants pants as awards.

C．The novel writing activity needs new rules for participants to follow.

D．The participants are free to write whatever novels they can imagine.

3. What can be learned about the rules for adolescent writers?

A．They should submit novels on their teachers’ recommendation.

B．They can decide on their novels’ word counts themselves.

C．They can lengthen the duration of their writing process.

D．They should cross the finish line before participating.

4. What is this passage mainly aimed at?

A．Explaining the objectives of an event.

B．Illustrating the benefits of novel writing.

C．Giving a general introduction to an event.

D．Attracting teachers to join a writing program.