Japan is experiencing record heat. Last week, the temperature in eastern Japan
Japan’s heat wave is set to continue. The weather agency said that the country’s
2 . Life expectancy (寿命) in Africa rose by nearly 10 years in the first two decades of this century, according to the World Health Organization. “This rise is greater than in any other region of the world during the same period,” the WHO said.
In the year 2019, the average African could expect to live to be 56. However, that is still well below the global average of 64 years. WHO official Lindiwe Makubalo warned the life expectancy gains could easily be lost unless countries strengthen and make greater investments in the development of health care systems.
Makubalo said Africa has made a good start over the past two decades. On average, she said, access to essential services like basic health care improved to 46% in 2019 compared with 24% in 2000. “Other factors include improvements in reproductive, newborn and child health care, as well as advances in fighting infectious (传染的) diseases, such as TB, malaria and HIV.”
While progress has been made in preventing and treating infectious diseases, the report found health services for non-infectious diseases are lagging. It says the great rise in diabetes, cancer and other non-infectious diseases could jeopardize (危害) health gains if those conditions continue to be ignored.
The report says the COVID-19 outbreak has brought about greater damages to essential health services in Africa compared to other regions of the world, which might affect healthy life expectancy.
“It is important that significant improvements are made in health services, and governments ensure quality, equal and accessible services for all,” Makubalo said.
According to the report, some progress has been made in achieving universal health coverage, but it is far from enough. Health officials say one of the key measures to improve access to health services is for governments to increase their public health budgets. That, they say, would reduce the huge out-of-pocket expenses by families that are pushing millions of people into poverty.
1. What was the average life expectancy of people in Africa in 2000?| A．46. | B．54. | C．56. | D．64. |
| A．Plenty of food supplies. |
| B．Improvement in basic health services. |
| C．Easier access to clean drinking water. |
| D．Progress in fighting against non-infectious diseases. |
| A．Unique. | B．Independent. | C．Informal. | D．Underdeveloped. |
| A．Positive. | B．Uncertain. | C．Concerned. | D．Pessimistic. |
3 . Robots are now being employed not just for dangerous tasks, such as discovering mines or rescuing people in disasters. They are also finding application as household helps and as nursing assistants. As the number of machines increases, which are equipped with the latest artificial intelligence and take on a growing variety of specialized and everyday tasks, the question of how people see them and behave towards them becomes ever more urgent.
A team led by Sari Nijssen of Radboud University and Markus Paulus, Professor of Developmental Psychology at Ludwig-Maximilians- Universitat (LMU), have carried out a study to determine the degree to which people show concern for robots and behave toward them based on moral principles.
According to Sari Nijssen, the study set out to answer the following question: "Under what circumstances would adults be willing to sacrifice robots to save human lives?" The participants were faced with a hypothetical (假设的) moral dilemma:Would they be prepared to put a single person at risk in order to save a group of injured persons? The intended victim presented in the situations was either a humanoid robot that had been humanized (人性化的) to various degrees or a robot that was clearly recognizable as a machine.
The study suggested that the more the robot was humanized, the less likely participants were to sacrifice it. Situations that included vivid stories in which the robot was described as a merciful being or as a creature with its own understandings, experiences and thoughts, were more likely to stop the study participants from sacrificing it in the interests of anonymous (无名的) humans.
"This result indicates that our study group attached a certain moral status to the robot," says Paulus. "One possible suggestion of this finding is that attempts to humanize robots should not go too far. Such efforts could come into conflict with their intended function—to be of help to us."
1. What has become a concern about robots?| A．How to treat them in life. | B．How to humanize them. |
| C．How to use them effectively. | D．How to find more applications. |
| A．where to experience risks. | B．when to sacrifice a robot. |
| C．which robot to work with. | D．what robots should be like. |
| A．Humanized robots offer less help to people. |
| B．Certain moral status should be attached to robots. |
| C．Humanizing robots too much may be improper. |
| D．Conflicts often happen between humans and robots. |
| A．Robots, a Must for Future | B．Robots Saved, People Take the Hit |
| C．Humanized Robots, a New Trend | D．Humanized Robots Replace Human |
