题目内容

Which of the following statements is NOT true of robots?

A. It's difficult to prevent robots from contacting people.
B. The behavior. of robots will be more unforeseeable.
C. Robots in the future will Be more intelligent than those today.
D. Programming robots through a cramped room is the most difficult task.

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This astounding industrial accident would not have happened in a world in which robot behavior. was governed by the Three Laws of Robotics drawn up by Isaac Asimov, a science fiction writer. The laws appeared in I, Robot, a book of short stories published in 1950 that inspired a Hollywood film. But decades later the laws, designed to prevent robots from harming people either through action or inaction, remain in the realm of fiction.
With robots now poised to emerge from their industrial cages and to move into homes and workplaces, roboticists are concerned about the safety implications beyond the factory floor. To address these concerns, leading robot experts have come together to try to find ways to prevent robots from harming people. "Security, safety and sex are the big concerns," says Henrik Christensen, chairman of the European Robotics Network at the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, and one of the organisers of the new roboethics group. Should robots that are strong enough or heavy enough to crush people be allowed into homes? Should robotic sex dolls resembling children be legally allowed?
These questions may seem esoteric but in the next few years they will become increasingly relevant, says Dr. Christensen. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's World Robotics Survey, in 2002 the number of domestic and service robots more than tripled, nearly outstripping their industrial counterparts. Japanese industrial firms are racing to build humanoid robots to act as domestic helpers for the elderly, and South Korea has set a goal that 100% of households should have domestic robots by 2020. In light of all this, it is crucial that we start to think about safety and ethical guidelines now, says Dr. Christensen.
So what exactly is being done to protect us from these mechanical menaces? "Not enough," says Blay Whitby, an artificial-intelligence expert at the University of Sussex in England. This is hardly surprising given that the field of "safety-critical computing" is barely a decade old, he says. But things are changing, and researchers are increasingly taking an interest in trying to make robots safer. One approach, which sounds simple enough, is to try to program them to avoid contact with people altogether. But this is much harder than it sounds. Getting a robot to navigate across a cluttered room is difficult enough without having to take into account what its various limbs or appendages might bump into along the way.
Regulating the behavior. of robots is going to become more difficult in the future, since they will increasingly have self-learning mechanisms built into them, says Gianmarco Veruggio, a roboticist at the Institute of Intelligent Systems for Automation in Genoa, Italy. As a result, their behavior. will become impossible to predict fully, he says, since they will not be behaving in predefined ways but will learn new behavior. as they go.
The word "astounding" in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to

A. gullible.
B. awesome.
C. gruesome.
D. stupendous.

Which of the following is TRUE of the service at a bar?

A customer has to tip the waitress.
B. A customer has to pay each time he gets drinks.
C. A customer has to pay for all the drinks when he is leaving.
D. A customer has to sit at the table to wait for their turn to be served.

SECTION B INTERVIEW
Directions: In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Questions 1 to 5 are based on an interview. At the end of the interview you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following five questions.
Now listen to the interview.
听力原文:Tom: Kelvin, could you tell me something about the bars? I have never been to a bar. You see, Steve, my classmate has invited me to go to a bar tonight.
Kelvin: I see. You know, the word "bar" means a room in a pub. We say the bar when we mean the part of that room where drinks are kept. Soon after you go into the pub, you'll realize that nobody comes to the tables to take orders or money, instead, customers go to the bar to buy their drinks.
Tom: I see. People will go to the bar directly to get their drinks and don't wait for someone to come to take their orders.
Kelvin: That's right. People don't queue at the bar, but they do wait till it's their turn.
Tom: Oh, how do I pay? I mean do I pay directly after I get the drink or do I have to wait till I am ready to leave like I do in a restaurant?
Kelvin: It's not the custom to pay for all your drinks when you're ready to leave, instead you pay at the bar each time you get drinks. It helps if you're ready to pay as soon as you're served, and you'll notice that many people wait with their money in their hands.
Tom: I see. Do I have to give a tip?
Kelvin: No. It's not the custom to give a tip. It's very common for friends to buy their drinks together in rounds. This means that each person takes a turn to buy drinks for everybody in the group. It's faster and easier, both for you and for the person serving if drinks are bought in this way. Naturally you don't have to have a drink in each round if you don't want one.
Tom: That's interesting.
Kelvin: When you're looking for somewhere to sit, remember that people have to leave their seats to get drinks, etc., so an empty seat may not in fact be available to use. If you're not sure whether a seat is free, ask someone sitting near if. When it's time for another drink, people usually take their glasses back to the bar to be filled again. If you're leaving, the friendly thing to do is to take your glasses back to the bar, thank the person who's been serving you, and say "goodbye" or "goodnight".
Tom: Thank you, Kelvin. This helps me a lot. By the way, what kind of drinks are available in pubs? Kelvin, Well, you can get both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Besides alcoholic drinks such as beer and wine, there is cider, which is made from apples, usually sold in bottles, port—a type of thick, sweet wine from Portugal, sherry, which is a type of wine from Spain, and spirits—these are a kind of strong alcoholic drinks such as whisky and brandy.
Tom: What about non-alcoholic? I don't drink alcohol.
Kelvin: Well, they offer all kinds of fruit juices, such as orange and tomato. These drinks are usually sold in small bottles. And soft drinks,' we often call sweet drinks, like Coke and Fanta. They are normally sold in small bottles or cans. And lemonade, which is a clear and sweet drink made with carbonated water. They also serve cordials.
Tom: What are cordials?
Kelvin: Cordials are strong and sweet drinks tasting of fruit, such as lime cordial, black-currant cordial. ;I'hey are often added to other drinks or drunk with water.
Tom: I don't like sweet drinks. Are there any other non-alcoholic drinks?
Kelvin: Yes, mineral water, but it's not available in all pubs.
Tom: Kelvin, one more question. What is VAT? I saw this on most goods in Britain?
Kelvin: Well, VAT stands for Value Added Tax. The price shown on most goods in Britain includes a tax of 15%. If you use the Retail Export Scheme this tax can be returned to you if you take the goods with you when you leave Britain. You may have to spend a certain sum of money before you qualify for the scheme, and you

A. Customers go to the bar to buy their drinks.
B. Customers have to queue for drinks at the bar.
Customers have to wait for someone to take their orders.
D. A waitress normally comes to the tables to take orders or money.

听力原文:A researcher at the University of Rochester in New York has found that workers exposed to high levels of lead on the job have an increased risk of dying from brain cancer. Epidemiologist Edwin van Wijngaarden looked at data about more than 300, 000 people over a nine-year period, comparing the kinds of jobs they had with their causes of death, and he saw a correlation. Mechanics are among the workers more likely to develop deadly brain tumors due to occupational lead exposure. He says, automobile and heavy equipment mechanics, painters and welders-who were more likely to be exposed to lead for longer periods of time-had even higher risks of developing brain cancer than workers unexposed to lead. Most research on lead has focused on its effect on children. Van Wijngaarden says not much is known about its impact over a lifetime. Wijngaarden found only 119 brain tumor deaths. He is continuing his research, looking now at patients who already have brain tumors, to see whether they have higher levels of lead in their bones than other patients.
Who are NOT mentioned as people more likely to be exposed to lead?

Automobile mechanics.
B. Painters.
C. Waiters.
D. Heavy equipment mechanics.

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