1 . Bridging the gap between simple automation(自动化)and robots that can communicate with humans naturally is a big challenge, but major progress has been made in the past few years.
Research into social robots has shown that machines that respond to emotion(情感)can help the elderly and children, and could lead to robots becoming more widely socially acceptable.
Milo is both a robotic teacher and a student. Developers RoboKind created Milo to help children with autism(自闭症)learn more about emotional expression and empathy (共鸣) while collecting data on their progress to target learning and treatment. Milo's friendly face makes himself kind and the children are able to read his expressions.
Robots can also reduce stress in hospital settings. Expper Tech's Robin was designed as a robot to provide emotional support for children with medical treatment. Robin explains medical details to them, plays games and tells stories, and during treatment draws their attention away to reduce their feeling of pain.
Expper's robot uses Artificial Inteligence(AI) to create empathy, remembering expressions and conversations to build conversation for follow-up sessions. In trials at the Wigmore Medical Pediatric Clinic in Yerevan. Armenia, the team found that Robin led to a 34% weakening in stress and improve happiness of 26% in the 120 children who interacted(互动)with him at least once.
Today's simple systems are being trained to meet that demand. This includes ProxEmo, a little wheeled robot that can guess how you are feeling from the way you walk, and ENRICHME who helps older people to stay physically and mentally active. The problem is the fear that human jobs may be lost as robots become better at dealing with social situations.
1. What makes children feel Milo's kindness?| A．Milo's appearance. | B．Milo's speech. |
| C．Milo's hospital settings. | D．Milo's way of walking. |
| A．By listing numbers. | B．By making comments. |
| C．By following the time order. | D．By explaining the process. |
| A．Milo. | B．Robin. |
| C．ProxEmo. | D．ENRICHME. |
| A．Robots can't meet their demand. |
| B．Some people will be out of work. |
| C．A robot isn't widely acceptable. |
| D．Robots can't deal with problems. |
2 . With intelligent systems and new-age transit networks, life in the big cities will likely be happier and more efficient.
After all, more than 60 percent of the world's population is expected to live in cities by 2050, according to a UN report. The answer to making these cities more livable for so many people lies in creating "smart" cities. These cities will use 5G networks and the "internet of things" (IoT) to make everyday life safer and more convenient. Some cities are already using smart technology to improve the lives of residents.
But what exactly does a smart city do? In the United States cities of Boston and Baltimore, smart trash cans can sense how full they are inform cleaning workers when they need to be emptied. In Amsterdam, the Netherlands, traffic flow and energy usage are monitored and adjusted according to real-time data gathered from sensors(传感器)around the city. And in Copenhagen, Denmark, a smart bike system allows riders to check on air quality and traffic condition as they ride.
Smart cities will be interactive, allowing their residents to feel like they're truly shaping their environment, instead of merely existing in it. "One of the most important reasons to have a smart city is that we can actually communicate with our environment in a way that we never have in the past," said Mrinalini Ingram, head of a telecom company.
Smart cities will also allow us to save resources. By using sensors and 5G networks to monitor the use of water, gas and electricity, city managers can figure out how to distribute and save these resources more efficiently. Emissions of carbon dioxide and other air pollutants can be more closely monitored in smart cities as well.
Of course, it will take time and money to turn our current cities into the smart cities of the future. But as we've already seen, more cities around the world are already adopting smart technology in small ways. China, for instance, is making investments in big cities like Shanghai and Guangzhou to make them “smarter” It won't be long until even more cities start to develop their own smart infrastructure(基础设施).
1. What calls for the development of smart cities?| A．The rapid progress in 5G networks. |
| B．The marked increase in world population. |
| C．The growing number of residents living in cities. |
| D．The major concern over the safety of living in cities. |
| A．By making a contrast. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By listing figures. | D．By telling a story. |
| A．By interacting directly with our environment. |
| B．By keeping track of how the resources are used |
| C．By ensuring no emission of air pollutants. |
| D．By educating residents to save resources. |
| A．Positive. | B．Critical. | C．Doubtful. | D．Indifferent. |
3 . What will the future be like? Good or bad? A lot of science-fiction writing imagines a world which is dark and scary. In Blade Runner, Harrison Ford hunts robots in a chaotic (混乱的) Los Angeles. Planet of the Apes shows a hopeless future for humankind.
There's a word to describe the kind of future world which often appears in science fiction: dystopia. It means an imagined place where things are unpleasant or bad. The opposite is utopia. But does tomorrow's world have to be so disappointing?
No. A new project wants to use the power of science fiction to inspire people to create a better future. Project Hieroglyph brings together writers, scientists, engineers and artists to create optimistic stories about things which really could happen in the next 50 years.
It's just a matter of making an effort. Experts say it's easier to create a dystopia than write a feel-good story. There's more conflict in a world full of problems, and stories are interesting when there are a lot of problems to solve. No challenge, no story!
But the project produced a book with some promising plots. One of them is about environmentalists who fight to stop entrepreneurs (创业者) from building the first hotel in Antarctica. Well, there's conflict there and it seems reasonable, so it could be a good story.
But will these stories actually change anything or just keep us entertained? Ed Finn, the book's editor, thinks the former. He says: "A good science-fiction story can be very powerful. It can inspire hundreds, thousands, millions of people to do something that they want to do."
The influence of science fiction can already be seen in modern research, says Professor Braden Allenby. He asks: "Why are people working on, for example, invisibility cloaks (斗篷)? Well, it's Harry Potter, right?"
Time will tell how far we can go. Let's dream big and think outside the box. Who knows the wonderful things we can come up with?
1. The underlined word “utopia” in paragraph 2 most probably means “______’.| A．a real world where people can do anything they like |
| B．an imagined place where things are unpleasant or bad |
| C．an imaginary perfect world where everyone is happy |
| D．a wild and terrible place where no one can live happily |
| A．a dystopia needs less imagination |
| B．a feel-good story is more interesting |
| C．there is no conflict in a feel-good story |
| D．there are more problems to solve in a dystopia |
| A．to cause readers’ attention |
| B．to amuse science fiction readers |
| C．to introduce a science fiction story |
| D．to show the influence of science fiction |
| A．What is science fiction? |
| B．Can science fiction help us? |
| C．What will man do in the future? |
| D．Shall we live a better life in the future? |
4 . The auto industry, aviation (航空) giants and lots of new companies are increasingly entering the race toward producing flying cars and air taxis, many of which are said to be fully electric. On the surface, there are so many innovations happening that it’s easy to forget that the world hasn’t even seen a fully autonomous car yet, let alone an electric flying vehicle you can park in your driveway.
In fact, there are several hurdles before people are riding through the air. “They are short on technology, and they are short on regulation.” said Jennings-Bates, vice president of a car company.
Uber and Boeing, both world famous companies, have announced ambitious plans for air taxis. However, the types of vehicles they have in mind would require magical electric batteries that don’t exist yet.
Whether the United States actually needs flying cars remains relatively unclear. Aviation experts say that air vehicles help solve congestion problems in big cities. “Today, we have a lot of traffic congestion on the roadways,” said Laurie Garrow, associate director for the Center for Urban and Regional Air Mobility at Georgia Tech. “Air taxis would provide a solution for that.” Others argue that putting traffic in the skies doesn’t solve very much. “We aren’t going to change the world in terms of traffic with flying cars,” said Jennings-Bates. “At best, it may take the place of traffic in the area, which is arguably less pleasant.”
Some experts say it’s not a question of whether flying cars will take off. Instead, it’s a question of how soon the concepts would be safe enough for humans to occupy. “Everyone is very excited and they’re coming up with very different designs,” Garrow said. “But you have a lengthy certification process that will need to go through to make sure the craft and flights are safe.” She estimates that it’ll be about 20 years before the U.S. sees more than test flights.
1. What can we infer about flying cars from Paragraph 1?| A．They are fully electric. | B．They are unavailable yet. |
| C．They need special driveway. | D．They equal autonomous cars. |
| A．Ambitious plans. | B．Big problems. |
| C．Electric batteries. | D．Current innovations. |
| A．Test flights. | B．Design. |
| C．Production. | D．Safety. |
| A．Why we should produce flying cars. | B．How hard the race of making flying cars is. |
| C．How close we are to seeing flying cars. | D．What people’s opinions are about flying cars. |
5 . I don’t believe Artificial Intelligence (AI) could replace my teaching career. I have always been interested in human connection, and the ways in which I can use these connections to inspire change and make a difference.
My teaching experiences over the past several years have been creative and inspiring. I believe that the job of educators extends beyond simply teaching students a set curriculum.
| A．Since students will always need a human teacher |
| B．The benefit AI brings is far beyond my own classroom |
| C．I think AI is a powerful assistant to my future classroom |
| D．The need for students to learn how to use AI will also grow |
| E．Although human connection may never be able to be fully replaced by AI |
| F．This could be an opportunity for students everywhere to receive equal education |
| G．They must observe and get to know their students in order to individualize educational plans |
