Nexi is one of a new generation of robots. It moves on wheels and can pick up objects. But robots like Nexi are more than just entertaining toys.
Nexi, a social robot created by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT), can express human emotions. Roboticists at MIT call Nexi a “social robot”. A social robot is a robot that can communicate like a human. Nexi can look sad, mad, and even bored. Some social robots can also “read” our facial expressions. Roboticists believe that it won’t be long before we have social robots in our homes, helping us live better lives.
Autom is another social robot developed at MIT. Autom is a robot health coach. It has a screen where you enter information about what food you eat that day or how much you exercised. Autom has a face with eyes that move. It speaks with a synthesized（合成的）voice. Autom gives you advice about your diet and exercise and drives you to do better.
In a test, Autom helped people lose weight better than other ways of recording diet information. Roboticists think this is because Autom used facial expressions and words of encouragement. In other words, Autom communicated like a real person. In fact, many people who used Autom gave the robot a new name and talked to it. When robots use human expressions and body languages, people reply to them a lot like they reply to people.
In the future, humans may communicate with social robots just like they do with other people. Let’s wait and see what will happen in the future!
1. What can Nexi do according to the passage?2. What does the underlined word “emotions”mean in Chinese?
3. Is it possible or impossible that Autom can communicate with us?
4. Why did Autom help people lose weight better than other ways?
5. What will our life be like if we have a social robot at home?
相似题推荐
The COVID-19 may have slowed down our lives. But people never stop thinking and bringing new inventions to the world. Time magazine has listed 100 Best Inventions of 2020 as it does every year. Let’s have a look at three of them!
The fitness app Supernatural.
Can you imagine exercising in the virtual (虚拟的) world?
The app Supernatural launched (上线) in April 2020 by an American company Within can take you on an adventure. According to Time, the app users just need to follow the instructions of the trainer to swing their bodies, and then different tasks will be done. Is that all? Actually, the users have to be always in the triangles while swinging. But there is still something fun—the instructions from the earphone can take users to their choice of places in the virtual world, whether it’s the Galapagos Islands, or a volcano in Ethiopia, or even the surface of Mars.
The Hunter Board skateboard
This beginner-friendly board has caught people’s attention and it is for everyone.
Compared with ordinary boards, it provides users with more stability (稳定性) and safety. It has a special system (系统) that makes the influence of vibrations (振动) much less before they reach skaters’ feet. It makes road with some stones light work. In the end, the skaters will have a better feeling of skating, even the beginners feel good to learn it well.
The electronic board is also made for a long ride with quick speed. It can speed up to about 55 kilometers per hour. When it comes to a long journey, the users can fix a new battery (电池) easily.
The dual-screen mobile phone of Microsoft
According to Time magazine, the dual-screen (双屏幕的) Android mobile phone opens like a book, showing a pair of screens. When you open it, it’s a digital (电子的) notebook. You can move the apps anywhere on the screen, a single app can fill both screens, which is perfect for reading. Or you can use a Surface Pen to get some writing done on one screen while chatting on the other. You can also fold the device back and use the single screen as a traditional mobile phone.
Although it cannot take the place of the mobile phones yet, but it’s easy to see how one day it might.
| Inventions | Features | Good points |
| The fitness app Supernatural | The users: have to stay in the triangle when swinging the body to finish the tasks. can be transported to different places | It brings users a special exercise experience in different virtual scenes. |
| The Hunter Board skate-board | The special system inside helps The board can speed up to 55 km per hour. It’s easy to fix the battery during a long ride. | Its stability and safety can give users, even beginners, a sense of |
| The dual-screen mobile phone of Microsoft | The phone seems like a book with a pair of screens. allows the apps to move anywhere. | It can meet users’ |
| works as a traditional mobile phone when folded. |
【推荐2】China is called the Kingdom of Fans（扇子）. Fans can be symbols of Chinese culture. It is said that fans were first used to cool the air during the Shang Dynasty. ①At that time, they were ________ of feathers（羽毛）, bamboos or silk. Silk fans were much loved by ladies. ②Because ________. Many people, including Su Dongpo and Tang Bohu of the Song Dynasty, even painted and wrote poems on fans. This made the fans into artworks. Today, fans are popular Chinese gifts. For example, during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, folding fans were given to leaders from other countries. While they were u-sing their fans to get cool air, they were also experiencing Chinese culture.
1. 请根据文意在①句空白处填入一个合适的单词，使句意完整，符合逻辑。At that time, they were
2. 请结合文意和生活常识，补全②句空白处。
Because
3. Who painted and wrote poems on fans in the Song Dynasty?
4. Why did Chinese people give foreign leaders folding fans as gift according to the passage?
5. 请给本文拟一个合适的标题。
As winter comes, hands can easily get cold. Thick gloves might be a good choice. But sometimes wearing them is not convenient, especially when people want to do something with their hands. However, cold hands were not a problem for ancient Chinese. They had a lovely tool to keep their hands warm—handwarmers.
There is no exact written record of this invention, but there are some stories about it. One folk story is about Emperor Yangdi from the Sui Dynasty who visited Jiangsu in winter. Because of the cold weather, the local officers asked workers to make a small warmer for the emperor that could be held in his hands. And the handwarmer was created. By the Song Dynasty, the tool had been widely used in China. Skills for producing the tool were greatly improved in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Many poems or books from the Qing Dynasty recorded people using handwarmers. Take the Dream of the Red Chamber, the classic novel written by Cao Xueqin as an example. It described a servant sent a handwarmer to Lin Daiyu in one chapter (章).
Made of bronze (铜) or ceramics (陶瓷), ancient handwarmers came in different designs. Round shapes were typical, with some fashioned to look like pumpkins and flowers.
1. The handwarmer was invented in the
2. From the passage, we know
3. Skills for producing the handwarmer
4.
5. The passage mainly tells us
【推荐1】The British Industrial Revolution (1760—1840) brought innovative mechanisation and deep social change. The process saw the invention of steam-powered machines, which were used in factories in ever-growing urban centres. Agriculture remained important, but cotton textiles became Britain’s top export, capital replaced land as an indicator of wealth, and the labour force diversified to include many more women and children.
The Steam Engine
Water, wind, and muscle power had long been harnessed for heavy machinery such as windmills and waterwheels. These early machines allowed business owners to replace the old cottage industry model, where, for example, skilled weavers worked in their own homes, with a factory system where a number of unskilled workers lived on the premises and operated the machines. The catalyst for even greater change was the invention of the steam engine. Steam power was first developed so that pumps could drain mine shafts and allow deeper mining. The steam pump was patented in 1698 by Thomas Savery (1650—1715). In 1710, Thomas Newcomen (1664—1729) adjusted Savery’s design and made the machine more efficient. Newcomen’s machine could suck 5,000 gallons (22.7 K litres) every hour out of a 153-foot (46.6 metres) deep mine shaft. The problem was the amount of fuel needed for the machine. In 1769, the Watt steam engine, designed by James Watt (1736—1819) with developments added by Matthew Boulton (1728—1809), answered the market’s demand for a powerful engine that could be used anywhere. By 1800, Britain boasted over 2,500 steam engines, most of them used in mines, cotton mills, and factories. This compares to 200 engines in France and fewer than 10 in the USA. Other inventors came along and added to the power capabilities of the steam engine so that, by the 1830s, they could be used to drive trains and steamships.
Transportation
The steam-powered railways revolutionised travel and Britain itself. On 27 September 1825, the Locomotion 1 train invented by George Stephenson (1781—1848) transported the first railway passengers from Stockton to Darlington in the northeast of England. In 1829, George Stephenson’s son, Robert Stephenson (1803—1859), created the Rocket, and he entered it in the Rainhill Trials. The Trials were competitions designed to find the best locomotive for use on the railway line connecting Manchester to Liverpool, which opened in 1830. In 1838, Birmingham was connected to London; in 1841, passengers could take the Great Western Railway line from the capital to Bristol. By 1845, there was a line from Manchester to London, which took eight hours of travel (the old stagecoaches would have taken 80 hours). The railways were booming. By the 1870s, there were over 15,000 miles (24,000 km) of rail lines, with trains carrying over 300 million passengers and over 150 million tonnes of goods each year.
The British Industrial Revolution | |
Introduction | ·Great changes have |
| ·Many new machines and factories made an | |
| ·Agriculture was | |
The Steam Engine | ·These early machines allowed business owners to be in |
| ·In 1769, the Watt steam engine was made. James Watt (1736—1819) came up with the | |
| ·By 1800, Britain boasted over 2,500 steam engines, most of them used in mines, cotton mills, and factories. This | |
Transportation | ·The Trials were competitions designed to find the best locomotive for use on the railway line connecting Manchester to Liverpool, which was not open |
| ·By 1845, there was a line from Manchester to London. The passengers needed to | |
| ·The number of the railways was | |
| ·The British Industrial Revolution greatly strengthened the ties between the worlds and | |
【推荐2】Many people know glasses. Today, I will introduce a new kind of glasses — Google glasses. They are the latest technology from Google Company and have many exciting features.
If you wear the glasses, you will be able to shoot videos or pictures and others can watch shows on the Internet.
Google glasses are like a clever friend. You can talk to them through voice activation (语音激活) if you get lost. You can say “Glasses, where am I?” Then the built-in GPS system will find you and tell you where you need to go. There is also a computer screen in the top-right corner for you to look up and then you will know where you are. Actually, Google glasses look like a smartphone. But they save you the trouble of having to pull it out of your pocket.
Google glasses are like a secretary. You can tell them what you want to write in an email and they will type it for you.
Three years ago, there were only a few volunteers wearing Google glasses. Google was testing on them before they were officially released (发布) at the end of 2013. A lot of the volunteers complained the glasses made them look silly. You could buy Google glasses in the market for about $1, 500 by the end of 2015. In July 2017 it was announced that the second iteration, the Google Glass Enterprise Edition, was in the US for companies such as Boeing. Google Glass Enterprise Edition has already been successfully used to help children with autism(自闭症) to learn social skills.
回答下面5个问题，每题答案不超过6个单词。
1. By which company are Google glasses made?
2. What do Google glasses look like?
3. What part of the Google glasses will find you and tell you where you need to go?
4. Who wore Google glasses three years ago?
5. What can the new Google glasses help children with autism to do?
【推荐3】The twenty-first century is already turning out to be the century of modern technologies. The technological revolution (革命) that started after World War II is now developing more quickly. Computing and other technological development is beginning to reach into influence and take over nearly every part of our lives. The two main influences modern computing has had on our lives are in the areas of economics (经济学) and communications.
Technology has led to big changes in economic and business systems and operations (经营). Businesses now have to be using cloud services or machine learning or risk failure. As a result, every big company bases its operations on computing. For example, Coca Cola, Huawei and Tencent sell different products and services, yet they all share one basic feature—without modern computing services, their operations would break down. New technologies play an important role in economies. China and many other developing countries have large IT industries, which drive their economies. What’s more, developed countries, including Germany and the United States, are moving from an industrial-based economy to a computing and IT-based one.
The other important influence of technological change is in the way of communication. For example, in the past, people wrote letters or talked on fixed phones, which slowed down the communication process. Now they send e-mails and text messages, or chat using mobile phones. Instead of waiting weeks for a letter or spending time finding a fixed phone, we can communicate right away. New forms of communication are cheaper or free. As a result, now people who live thousands of kilometres away from each other can communicate as much as they want at any time.
In conclusion, computing and new technologies have had a great influence on our lives in many ways. And they have had the greatest influence in business and communication. In the future, if technology continues developing at such speed,our business practices and methods of communication will have even greater changes. It is already starting to bring changes to other parts of our lives, such as transportation and health.
What influence has technology had on our lives? | |
| Introduction | > Great changes have taken place in technologies >Computing has made a great |
influences | >Operations of big companies >Large IT industries >New technologies have > Technological change makes communication >We spend >People can communicate with each other |
| Conclusion | The more |
【推荐1】Each different part of China has its own special forms of traditional art.
Sky lanterns were first used by Zhuge Kongming. They were used to ask for help when people were in trouble in the past and they are used at festivals and celebrations today. They are made of bamboo and paper. When they are lit, they slowly rise into the sky like balloons. They are seen as symbols of happiness and good wishes.
Paper cutting has been around for more than 1,500 years. The red paper is folded before it is cut with scissors. It turns a simple thing into a beautiful piece of art. It is put on the walls, widows and is prepared succeed ton that care possible deal Asia doors to celebrate the Spring Festival. It is the symbol of wishes for good luck and a happy new year.
Chinese clay art is famous because the clay pieces are small but look very real. The lively characters are from a Chinese fairy tale or stories about history. The pieces are carefully shaped by hand and then allowed to air-dry.After drying ,they are fired at a high heat. They are then polished and painted. The pieces show the love for life and beauty.
根据短文内容填空，每空一词
Special Forms of
Sky lanterns
1.Made of paper and
2.When people
Paper cutting
1.Made of paper.
2.Paper cutting has been around for
Chinese clay art
1.Made of clay
2.Lively characters from a Chinese fairy or
3.Being shaped by hand then allowed to air-dry ;fired then polished and painted.
【推荐2】Footprint means the influence that a person’s or organization’s activities have on the environment. Simply understanding it is very useful to us. (Let’s take the example of Mr. Brown’s footprints. )
Food | Water footprint | Mr. Brown’s Water footprint |
an apple | 70 liters (升) | breakfast: a hamburger, a cup of coffee lunch: a cup of coffee, a hamburger, an apple dinner: vegetable salad, 0.2 kilo of beef |
a cup of coffee | 140 liters | |
a kilo of beef | 15.500 liters | |
one hamburger | 2.400 liters |
Water footprint
Water is the source of life. We use water directly for drinking, cooking and washing, but we also use water indirectly for producing things such as food, paper and cloth. A water footprint tells us how much water is being used. It can help us come up with ways to save water. You can learn about how your daily habits influence your water use through the food you eat, the things you buy and even the energy you use.
Carbon Footprint (Each of the following activities adds 1 kilo of CO2) | Mr. Brown’s Carbon Footprint |
| travel 10 to 12 km by train or bus; drive 6 km by car; produce 5 plastic bags; use your computer for 32 hours | drive to work 24 km; drive to the supermarket 5 km; use 5 plastic bags for shopping; use his computer for about 8 hours |
Carbon (碳) footprint
A carbon footprint is the total amount of CO2 a person or organization produces. We can use it to understand the influence of personal behavior on global warming (全球变暖). Most people are surprised when they see how much CO2 their activities create. Then they begin to think about changing their daily habits to reduce their carbon footprints. For example, they can walk instead of using a car.
How to reduce your water footprint and carbon footprint to be greener?
Tip 1: Save water and electricity
When you are at home, don’t leave the water or lights on when you don’t need it.
Tip 2: ________
Meatless Monday is popular with people who want to eat less meat. The production of meat uses lots of energy and produces lots of CO2.
Tip 3: Buy less
The more we buy, the more we throw away later. Before you buy something, think about whether you really need it.
Everyone plays a role in making a greener Earth. If you know about your footprints well, you can think up more ways to protect the environment.
1. 根据文章上下文猜测“footprint” 的汉语意思。2. 根据文章内容填空。
Water use: directly: drinking, cooking, ①
②
3. 根据文章回答问题。
①How many liters of water does Mr. Brown use every lunch?
②How many kilos of CO2 does Mr. Brown add if he drives to work 24 km?
4. 给 Tip 2 拟一个合适的小标题。
iPanda is an online channel. It provides a 24-hour live streaming (视频直播) of giant pandas.
In August 2013, China Network Television (CNTV) started this panda broadcast together with Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and China Conservation and Research Centre for Giant Panda. They hope to provide people with a window to watch giant pandas’ real life and to solve problems about endangered animals. This panda broadcasting is shown mainly on the official (官方的) website ipanda.com and it is in English, Chinese and German.
CNTV has set up more than 30 high definition (清晰度) video cameras in Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and also Wolong National Nature Reserve. Through those cameras, a group of program directors (导演) in the control room can watch pandas, and they will choose about 20 cameras for online live streaming. On the website, people can watch pandas in different stages of life including adult pandas, young pandas and baby pandas. Registered users can also make comments (评论) below the live streaming.
Program directors will make 30-minute videos every day as well including panda wiki, panda introductions and panda stories. Those videos will be shown on the YouTube iPanda Channel and also on other social media including Facebook and Instagram.
Knowing iPanda | |
| What iPanda is | It is an online channel |
| It | |
| Where to watch panda broadcasting | People are |
| How to observe pandas | ※Program directors watch pandas through ※People can ※People can |
