Zu Chongzhi was one of the greatest mathematicians in ancient China. He was born during the Northern and Southern dynasties. From a young age, Zu     1     (teach) natural science, astronomy (天文学), math and so on. The little boy was interested in all of these subjects,     2     [ɪˈspeʃəli] in math.

Zu was best known for his calculation (计算) of pi (π). According to the record, he did all the work     3     (use) nothing but wooden sticks. It took him lots of time to work out the value—     4     3. 1415926 and 3. 1415927. No one at that time was able     5     (do) better than Zu. And now the achievement is still praised by people around the world. In order to remember Zu, some mathematicians suggest calling pi “ZuLv”.

Zu was     6     (succeed) not only in math, but also in astronomy. He worked out that a year should be 365. 24281481 days long and     7     (create) the Daming Calendar. However, government officials at that time did not agree with Zu. The great mathematician never saw his calendar put     8     use. Almost ten years after his     9     (die), the new calendar was finally accepted.

Zu was an inventor, too. He once made a vehicle (车辆) which carried a pointer (指针). No matter     10     the vehicle turned, the pointer always pointed to the south.

Science and technology is developing these days. It’s hard to imagine what     1     (happen) in the future. When someone comes up with a new idea, inventors may use the idea     2     (create) a new invention. Can you imagine that you can play table tennis with a robot one day? And how interesting it is!

Recently, a scientist     3     (invent) a special robot that can be a table tennis coach. That means people can practice table tennis not only with     4     (human), but also with robots.

The robot can know the players’ skill levels when studying the speeds of the ball. While playing, it encourages players to try their best with words like “Good job!”, “Come on!” and so on. At the same time, it     5     (give) some good advice to improve skills. So it is both a good partner and a clever coach.

【推荐2】Robot Pepper

Have you ever felt like no one really understood you? Well, a robot called Pepper may help you, because Pepper is the f     1    robot that can read human feelings.

What does a Pepper look like? It has a human-like b    2    and a baby-like voice. It can do lots of things. It can recognize human sounds and some word m    3    and then respond to them. It can make jokes, dance and sing to make people l    4    when they are sad. What’s more, it can help people in n    5    disasters.

Peppers will go on sale in Japan f    6    about $2,000. For now，several Peppers are at Softbank stores in Tokyo for people to visit. If you’ re i    7    in Peppers, you can go there to have a look. The makers say b    8    selling Peppers, they want the robot to get m    9    knowledge so that it can serve people better.

The makers b     10    that Peppers, like computers and mobile phones, will make people’s life better than now.

Lin Chaodai is a 52-year-old top cook at a five-star restaurant. Before last year, he     1     (not think) about that he could take robots as his students. Last year, Lin and 10 other cooks were invited     2     (study) a menu and teach the robot students to cook.

“A good and traditional taste of dishes     3     (depend) on perfect cooking standards,” said Lin.

So before engineers     4     (begin) their tests, they recorded the recipes and other important information on the computers.

Customers     5     (make) their orders through a touch screen inside the restaurant. Sometimes they can also talk to the screen. Then the system chooses the food before     6     (send) them to 32 robots to cook. After the dishes are completed, the machines then     7     (clean) themselves, using less water.

“The cooking time of a dish is between three and five minutes,” said Yan Weixin, the inventor of robots.

Restaurants with robots     8     (become) more and more popular in China now. “Robotic kitchens can greatly improve the cooking speed and cut the cost,” said Qiu Mi, manager of one restaurant. “The robotic kitchens     9     (bring) a great changes in the dining business in the future.” said Lin. That shows his confidence in the cooking skills of robot cooks and tells us people like the food     10     (cook) by robots.