Top Technology Products at CES 2024
One of the world’s largest technology events, CES, is taking place this week in Las Vegas, Nevada. Here is a look at some top products presented at CES 2024.
Robot that adds walking power
WIRobotics introduced a wearable robot that provides walking assistance to users. The company’s WIM model is designed for anyone who needs an extra “push” when walking. An online description explains the robot can help individuals “walk farther, faster and healthier”. The price for such assistance is high, though, with the WIM selling for about $2,500.
Body power to charge a phone
Sports equipment developer LifeSpan introduced an exercise bicycle/desk combination that uses human power to charge phones or other devices. The Ampera bike is designed to be used with a “standing” desk table. LifeSpan says the bike can produce up to 65 watts of electricity per hour.
Home-made ice cream in 2 minutes
The ColdSnap company introduced a machine that can make single servings of ice cream in about two minutes. The machine uses small containers, called pods, just like Keurig coffeemakers. The company points out the pods for its ColdSnap machine can be kept at room temperature, saving energy costs. The machines can be taken anywhere and are simple to operate.
Smart mirror for better mental health
French health product developer Baracoda presented what it described as “the world’s first AI-powered smart mirror for mental wellness.” The company’s BMind model is built to work in any bathroom. The product was designed to use cameras and sensors to collect data on a person's movements , expressions and language. It can identify a user’s moods (心情) and sense other possible mental health issues.
1. What do the first product and the second one have in common?| A．They are expensive. | B．They are related to sports. |
| C．They can produce power. | D．They can make walking easier. |
| A．Maintain a good mood. | B．Make bathing more comfortable. |
| C．Improve your image gradually. | D．Find your mental health problems. |
| A．The robot that adds walking power. | B．The Ampera bike. |
| C．The home-made ice cream machine. | D．The AI-powered smart mirror. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Louis Pasteur once said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” That’s the truth behind the following inventions — the scientists were prepared and were able to see the magic in a mistake.
MauveIn 1856, William Perkin was trying to come up with an artificial medicine, but his experiments produced a thick mess. But the more Perkin looked at it, the more he saw a beautiful color in his mess. Turns out he had made mauve, the first-ever synthetic dye (合成染料), which was far better than any natural dyes: the color was brighter, clearer, and didn’t fade or wash out.
SuperglueThis super-sticky substance was discovered by accident — twice! Chemist Harry Coover had been attempting to make clear plastic gun sights, and in 1942 one method he tested produced an extremely quick bonding adhesive (黏合剂). It was useless for his gun sights, though, and he forgot about it until almost ten years later, when he came across it again while developing heat-resistant parts for airplanes. This time he realised its potential, and the product was put on the market.
PlasticIn 1907, shellac (虫胶) was used in electronics. It was costly, so American chemist Leo Hendrik Baekeland tried to produce an alternative. Instead, his experiments produced a material that could take high temperatures. He later developed it into plastic, and it was soon used in the production of almost everything.
TeflonBack in the 1930s, Young DuPont chemist Roy Plunkett was working to make a new kind of CFC for refrigeration. After storing the gas in certain containers, he opened one to discover that it had changed into a white powder that was extremely sticky and had a very high melting point. Three years later, the substance, which was named Teflon, was patented.
1. Which invention came out earliest?| A．Mauve. | B．Superglue. | C．Plastic. | D．Teflon. |
| A．William Perkin. | B．Harry Coover. | C．Leo Hendrik. | D．Roy Plunkett. |
| A．They were made by accident. | B．They could take high temperatures. |
| C．They received no recognition at first. | D．They could be used in medical fields. |
【推荐2】Macinley Butson was just 16 years old when she first had the idea to try and protect women from more — than — necessary radiation during breast cancer treatments—and now, her invention could be a game-changer in the medical field.
Butson, whose father works in medical physics, has always been interested in science. But she only began researching the harmful side effects of radiation treatment after her father discussed his experience with ineffective cancer treatments in his work. Since Butson had also recently lost a relative to breast cancer, she felt inspired to conduct her own research on the subject. She tried to begin her medical research by consulting scientific journals, but she found their academic terms almost impossible to understand.
She then turned to the Internet to find videos that taught how to read scientific journals. As she went deeper in her research, she stumbled upon a key bit of information: copper （铜）has been shown to be effective at protecting skin from radiation. An idea hit this Australian teen as she was viewing a film on medieval wars in her 10th grade history class. When she saw the scaled （鳞片） patterns of the mail （盔甲）,she was inspired to create a wearable protective tool out of copper. She then headed back online and watched videos on how to put together tiny scales. She made her own flexible scale-mail which she now calls SMART: Scale Mail for Radiation Therapy.
When her invention was tested in a laboratory setting, it reduced surface exposure to unnecessary radiation by 75%. And now Butson is working on getting her SMART into clinical settings for use.
1. Why did Macinley Butson start her research?| A．To assist her father with his work. | B．To save her relative from cancer. |
| C．To publish some articles in journals. | D．To find effective ways to treat cancer. |
| A．Came across. | B．Missed. |
| C．Passed on. | D．Required. |
| A．Videos online. | B．Scientific journals. |
| C．History textbooks. | D．Soldiers defensive clothes. |
| A．Stubborn. | B．Creative. |
| C．Selfless. | D．Considerate. |
【推荐3】Imagine taking a flying taxi to the airport, or hopping over crowded city streets at rush hour, getting where you want to go far faster than you could in a car. Believe it or not, you might be able to do these things in an electric air taxi sooner than you think.
An air taxi is a small aircraft that can carry people from place to place. Air taxis don’t need a long runway like planes do. They can go straight up and down, like a helicopter.
In June, the FAA—the government group in charge of America’s skies—agreed to allow a company called Joby Aviation to start testing their new air taxi.
Joby has been making and testing flying taxis since 2017. But this is the first time that they’re testing a taxi that’s been built in a factory. Before that, all their taxis were made by hand.
By 2025, Joby hopes to start carrying passengers for money. They’ve teamed up with Delta Air Lines to create a program to fly people from their homes to the airport. Joby also expects their air taxis to provide a ride-sharing service in the air. Just like you might use an app to order a car to pick you up, you could use an app to order an air taxi.
Compared with helicopters, Joby claims their taxis are cheaper. The company expects to charge about $3 a mile (1.6 kilometers) at first. But over time, they hope to bring the price down to less than $1 per mile.
Joby isn’t the only company to develop air taxis. Companies around the world are working on similar vehicles. France even plans to use a few air taxis in Paris during next summer’s Olympic Games.
But there’s still a lot to do before air taxis become common. For one thing, governments need to make rules about where, when, and how these taxis can fly.
Still, it seems likely that air taxis will be part of the future of travel. The FAA says, “We could see air taxis in the skies by 2024 or 2025.”
1. What do the underlined words “hopping over” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Moving below. | B．Walking across. | C．Jumping into. | D．Flying over. |
| A．They are factory-made from the start. |
| B．They were developed several years ago. |
| C．They will offer service to passengers through the FAA. |
| D．They will be used during the next Olympic Games in Paris. |
| A．Joby’s plan about air taxis. | B．The history of Joby Aviation. |
| C．Air taxi team’s service promises. | D．Instructions for using a new app. |
| A．They are more comfortable. | B．They are more intelligent. |
| C．They are cheaper. | D．They are faster. |
【推荐1】In a study in the journal Science, researchers at Northwestern University in Illinois reported that they had developed an effective and inexpensive method for breaking down chemicals called poly fluoro alkyl substances (PFAS).
PFAS, first created in the 1930s, are chemical compounds (化合物). They are used to make a wide range of everyday products, including nonstick pans, carpeting, electronics, and fast-food wrappers. Once the chemicals are in the environment, they are almost impossible to eliminate because they are designed to avoid breaking down. Researchers have linked regular levels of exposure to these chemicals with several health problems, including liver damage, an increased risk of cancer, and reduced immunity.
Scientists had previously figured out how to remove PFAS from polluted water or soil but, until now, had no safe and effective way to destroy them once they were removed. The study reported that when the team boiled PFAS molecules (分子) with two common substances, the PFAS quickly broke down and became harmless.
In 2020, William Dichtel, a chemist and professor at Northwestern, read a study in which chemists at the University of Alberta, in Canada, found an easy way to break down chains of molecules. He asked a graduate student, Brittany Trang, to try the method on PFAS molecules.
Trang had spent months in the lab unsuccessfully attempting to pull apart PFAS, and at first she thought Dichtel’s idea was too simple to work. But she tried it, boiling PFAS with a common solvent (溶剂) called dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Trang was shocked when the process destroyed the PFAS. She later mixed DMSO with a chemical called sodiumhydroxide and broke down PFAS even more quickly.
The scientists will work on ways to destroy PFAS outside the lab so large amounts of forever chemicals can be broken down at once. “It’s a huge challenge, but it’s in our grasp,” Dichtel told The New York Times. Scientists are also calling for a decrease in the amount of PFAS being released into the natural world. In June, the US government announced new plans to monitor PFAS, decrease the amount released into the environment, and address the effects of PFAS on human health.
1. What does the underlined word “eliminate” probably mean in paragraph 2?| A．Identify. | B．Destroy. | C．Remove. | D．Release. |
| A．He got information from a study of others. |
| B．He conducted the experiments on his own. |
| C．His graduate student, Brittany Trang, told him. |
| D．Chemists at the University of Alberta told him. |
| A．She tried the method from Dichtel but didn’t succeed at first. |
| B．She pulled apart PFAS with her own idea at her first attempt. |
| C．She developed a more effective method to break down PFAS. |
| D．She thought Dichtel’s idea was too simple, so she didn’t try it. |
| A．Addressing the effects of PFAS on human health and environment. |
| B．Reducing the amount of PFAS being released into the environment. |
| C．Finding more effective ways to destroy PFAS in and outside the lab. |
| D．Stopping the use of PFAS in everyday life to avoid health problems. |
【推荐2】ChatGPT, designed by OpenAI to carry on conversations just like humans, has become a viral excitement. The AI-powered tool went from zero to a million users in just five days! Its ability to provide in-depth answers to users' questions has even drawn the attention of distinguished technology companies.
The intelligent robot understands what the user says or types and then responds in a way that makes sense. Its vast body of knowledge has been gathered from the Internet and archived (存档的) books. It is further trained by humans. This makes ChatGPT a useful tool for researching almost any topic.
"We have a lot of information on the Internet, but you normally have to Google it, then read it and then do something with it," says Ricardo, chief science officer and co-founder of AI company Erudit. "Now you'll have this resource that can process the whole Internet and all of the information it contains for you to answer your questions."
However, ChatGPT cannot think on its own. It depends on the information that it has been trained on. As a result, the AI tool works well for things that have accurate data available. However, when unsure, ChatGPT can get creative and incorrect responses can flow out. OpenAI cautions users to check the information no matter how logical it sounds. Also, ChatGPT has only been trained with information till 2022. Hence, it cannot be relied upon for anything that happened after that.
Experts believe ChatGPT has limitless potential to solve real-world problems. It can translate long texts into different languages, create content on almost any topic, and even summarize books.
However, ChatGPT has received mixed reactions from educators. Some believe it could serve as a valuable tool to help build literacy skills in the classroom. It could also be used to teach students difficult science or math concepts. But other educators think ChatGPT will encourage students to cheat. They fear this will prevent them from building critical thinking and problem-solving skills. As a result, many districts are starting to ban its use in schools.
1. What does the underlined word "This" in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．The tool responds in a way that is easy to understand. |
| B．The tool collects information and then is trained. |
| C．What archived books have recorded. |
| D．What the user says or types. |
| A．It only stores real information. |
| B．It can give people an answer very quickly. |
| C．People believe that ChatGPT has a high level of creativity. |
| D．People need to Google the information to check an answer from it. |
| A．The advantages of ChatGPT. | B．The cost of ChatGPT. |
| C．The limitations of ChatGPT. | D．The development of ChatGPT. |
| A．It might not offer a logical answer. |
| B．It can't improve students' literacy skills. |
| C．It might make some students addicted to it. |
| D．It can have a bad effect on students' abilities and skills. |
【推荐3】The rapid growth in skyscrapers worldwide, most of which have large windows, has led to a high demand for window washers. Though the job is well-paid, it is dangerous and accidents are not uncommon. However, if Israel-based start-up Skyline Technologies has its way, the dangerous job may soon be done by Ozmo, an intelligent window cleaning robot, with humans supervising from the safety of the ground.
Much like humans, Ozmo, sitting on platforms hanging from the buildings, uses its arms and brushes to clean the dirt on the glass. A 3D map of the building’s surface programmed into its system allows the robot to skillfully deal with any obstacle it is likely to meet, as it moves up and down the buildings. The robot will self-correct and move around every obstacle that it might have met so as not to break a window.
Unlike present window washers, the robot cleaner does not require soap to clean the glass. Instead, it uses distilled(蒸馏的)water to do the job. Yaron Schwarcz, CEO of Skyline Robotics explains, “We are environmentally friendly.” Ozmo is also expected to be much more efficient than its human counterparts. While it presently takes three cleaners 480 hours each to clean windows of a 40-storey glass building, the robot will be able to do it in 80 hours. However, unlike other robots, Ozmo will not replace human workers, and only make their jobs safer by making them supervisors, who will be controlling the operation from the safety of the ground.
Whether Ozmo, which is still being tested, does as good a job as humans is not clear. If things go well, its creators have much bigger ambitions for Ozmo. Schwarcz told Forbes Magazine, “Window cleaning is just the tip of the iceberg. We plan to replace all tasks that are dangerous and dirty.”
1. Why is Ozmo friendly to our environment?| A．It depends on solar energy. |
| B．It uses less soap than other robots. |
| C．It makes our ecosystem more balanced. |
| D．It consumes nothing made from chemicals. |
| A．As cool as the iceberg. | B．A small part of a big plan. |
| C．The most advanced technology. | D．The leading role in the modern world. |
| A．Robots make a difference. |
| B．Supervise Ozmo, human safe. |
| C．Meet Ozmo, the window cleaning robot. |
| D．Intelligent Ozmo becomes known worldwide. |
【推荐1】What's On?
The new Cambridge Festival will take place from 26 March to 4 April 2021,with a series of free online events and activities including podcasts ,films, panel discussions,virtual tours,walks and talks for the whole family.
Wildlife Diaries
On 1 April at 5pm we will be bringing together all the most exciting diary entries into a short film so you can share the joy of discovering nesting birds,see what we have captured on our camera traps, and find which plants have already burst into blossom,and then get your questions ready for a live wildlife Q&A with our experts.
Time: 5: 00pm-5: 45pm Thursday 1 April
Science walking tours 2021
See the building where the secret of life on earth and the secret of destroying the planet were discovered. Why did the Botanical Garden lead Darwin aboard the Beagle? Which woman pioneered computer programming,and why is a phycisist remembered with a crocodile? Cambridge has so many scientists to celebrate,and lots of quirky stories to enjoy.
Time: 11: 30am-1: 00pm on Wednesday 7 April
Online Talk-about Kettle's Yard
Join Andrew Smith,one of our long-serving Visitor Assistants and our resident furniture enthusiast,for a talk on the often-overlooked pieces of furmiture and hidden objects in the Kettle's Yard House. The talk will look at some of the fascinating stories behind these pieces and why they are so important to Kettle's Yard.
Time: 6: 00pm-7: 00pm Thursday 15 April
University social club swimming
Each week one lane is opened for the more enthusiastic swimmer. We also set aside a second lane for families,with children who use floats,etc. The middle area is set aside for general swimming,but at a more reasonable pace. If you fancy stopping for a chat,then you can. Please note: this event has been CANCELLED.
Time: 7: 15pm-8: 15pm Tuesday every week
1. What will you do in the Wildlife Diaries?| A．Figure out how plants burst into blossom. |
| B．Consult experts about a live wildlife. |
| C．Set camera traps to capture wildlife. |
| D．Discover nesting birds in the wild. |
| A．On Thursday 15 April. | B．On Thursday 1 April. |
| C．On Tuesday every week. | D．On Wednesday 7 April. |
| A．Wildlife Diaries. | B．Science walking tours 2021. |
| C．University social club swimming. | D．Online Talk-about Kettle's Yard. |
【推荐2】Assistant Dog Minder needed for small Doggie Day Care
We look after dogs in West London - Hounslow. An assistant dog minder is needed at our Day Care Centre to play games, train and entertain dogs actively and lively all the time. Please bear in mind this is a physically demanding job. The right person will have the opportunity to get a dog first aid and dog training courses. This position starts with a 1 month trial period and possibly it will be a permanent position.
Requirements:
- Be over 18 and speak fluent English;
- Be 100% reliable and punctual;
- Really LOVE dogs;
- Be Not allergic to animals;
- Be comfortable outdoors under any weather condition, especially when raining/windy;
- Be comfortable with cleaning up after dogs;
- Be a keen phone photographer and enjoy keeping clients up to date about the well-being of their pet(s)
- Be available at least 2 fixed days per week;
Opening Time: 11:00-15:00 (You will work as a self-employed basis.)
Part-time hours: Up to 20 per week according to flexible schedule
Job Types: Part-time
Salary: £10~ £25/hour (Being paid weekly)
Benefits:
●On-site parking
●Training provided
●Dog First Aid Course paid for
Please send your CV and write a cover letter with a few sentences about your experience with dogs and also a bit about yourself. Please confirm that you are non-smokers; without this, your application is not considered.
1. What do we know about the assistant dog minder’s job?| A．It provides flexible working hours. | B．It’s mentally challenging. |
| C．It has a three-month trial period. | D．Its payment is made every month. |
| A．Having a comfortable pet house. |
| B．Completing given training sessions. |
| C．Enjoying the outdoors in any weather. |
| D．Acquiring excellent photography skills. |
| A．£ 200 | B．£ 300 | C．£ 400 | D．£ 500 |
【推荐3】Gap Year Sailing Programs
A gap year spent sailing will show you more of the world than most people see in their whole lives. So hoist the anchor, throw off the bowlines, catch the following wind, and set sail on a voyage of discovery to create memories that will last a lifetime.
Where to Go
The beauty of a sailing gap year is that you don’t just visit a single place. These unique adventures can take you across oceans and whole regions to experience dozens of countries in a single gap year. Some programs combine several regions including the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, etc. while others stick to just one.
Costs
How much a sailing gap year costs varies greatly depending on the type of program and the length of the voyage. A program lasting a few weeks may cost S$ 5,000 or more. Months long adventures may be as much as $20.000, especially if they involve college credit or other coursework.
Visa
Visa requirements will vary depending on where your voyage takes you. Your program will inform you of which visas you’ll need. Make sure you obtain your visas well in advance.
Housing
Housing will consist of a berth (铺位) aboard your boat. Don’t expect anything fancy. You’ll likely have little more than a bed and a small storage locker in a two-or three-person cabin. Given the limited size of your living space, expect to stay close to your crewmates at all times with little real privacy.
Health & Safety
Living aboard a ship means that you can’t always count on having medical facilities (设施) nearby. You may be asked to provide a note from your doctor confirming that you are in good health before being accepted into your program. Most programs include medical emergency insurance as part of their fees. See what it covers and what it doesn’t when making your decisions.
1. What do the sailing programs provide for participants?| A．Journeys by land. |
| B．Chances to study abroad. |
| C．Courses of famous universities. |
| D．Opportunities to travel around the world. |
| A．Ask parents for advice. | B．Save as much as $ 20,000. |
| C．Obtain your proper visa. | D．Have a medical examination. |
| A．Tough. | B．Fancy. | C．Noisy. | D．Comfortable. |
