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At the Museum of Sex in New York City, artificial-intelligence researcher David Levy projected a mock image on a screen of a smiling bride in a wedding dress holding hands with a short robot groom. "Why not marry a robot Look at this happy couple," he said to a laughing crowd. When Levy was then asked whether anyone who would want to marry a robot was deceived, his face grew serious. "If the alternative is that you are lonely and sad and miserable, is it not better to find a robot that claims to love you and acts like it loves you" Levy responded. "Does it really matter, if you"re a happier person" In his 2007 book, Love and Sex with Robots, Levy contends that sex, love and even marriage between humans and robots are coming soon and, perhaps, are even desirable. "I know some people think the idea is totally peculiar," he says. "But I am totally convinced it"s inevitable." The 62-year-old London native has not reached this conclusionon a whim. Levy"s academic love affair with computing began in his last year of university, during the vacuum-tube era. That is when he broadened his horizons beyond his passion for chess. "Back then people wrote chess programs to simulate human thought processes," he recalls. He later became engrossed in writing programs to carry on intelligent conversations with people, and then he explored the way humans interact with computers, a topic for which he earned his decorate last year from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands. Over the decades, Levy notes, interactions between humans and robots have become increasingly personal. Whereas robots initially found work, say, building cars in a factory, they have now moved into the home in the form of Roomba the robotic vacuum cleaner and digital pets such as Tamagotchis and the Sony Aibo. Science-fiction fans have witnessed plenty of action between humans and characters portraying artificial life-forms, such as with Data from the Star Trek franchise or the Cylons from the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. And Levy is betting that a lot of people will fall in love with such devices. Programmers can tailor the machines to match a person"s interests or render them some what disagreeable to create a desirable level of friction in a relationship. "It"s not that people will fall in love with an algorithm but that people will fall in love with a convincing simulation of a human being, and convincing simulations can have a remarkable effect on people," he says. In Levy"s view, why should the robots be made somewhat disagreeable

A. To match the interests of human beings.
B. To make them as sentimental as human beings.
C. To vividly imitate a relationship.
D. To improve the accuracy of their performances.

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As college seniors hurtle into the job hunt, little lies on the resume—for example, claiming a degree when they"re three credits shy of graduation—seem harmless enough. So new grads ought to read this memo now: those 20-year-old falsehoods on cream-colored, 32-lb. premium paper have ruined so many high-profile executives that you wonder who in the business world hasn"t got the message. A resume listing two fabricated degrees led to the resignation of David Edmondson, CEO of RadioShack, in February. Untruthful resume have also hindered the careers of executives at the U.S. Olympic Committee. The headlines haven"t dented job seekers" desire to dissemble even as employers have grown increasingly able to detect deception. InfoLink Screening Services, a background-checking company, estimates that 14% of job applicants in the U.S. he about their education on their resumes. Employees who lie to get in the door can cause untold damage on a business, experts say, from staining the reputation and credibility of a firm to upending co-workers and projects to igniting shareholder wrath—and that"s if the lie is found out. Even when it isn"t, the falsified resume can indicate a deeply rooted inclination toward unethical behavior. "There"s a lot of evidence that those who cheat on job applications also cheat in school and in life," says Richard Griffith, director of the industrial and organizational psychology program at the Florida Institute of Technology. "If someone says they have a degree and they don"t, I"d have little faith that person would tell the truth when it came to financial statements and so on." Employers" fears have sparked a boom in the background-screening industry. But guarding the henhouse does little good if the fox is already nestled inside. To unmask the deceivers among them, some employers are conducting checks upon promotion. Verified Person markets its ability to provide ongoing employee screening through automated criminal checks. With this increased alertness comes a thorny new dilemma: figuring out whether every lie is really a fireable offense. Many bosses feel that a worker"s track record on the job speaks more strongly than a stretched resume, says John Challenger of the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Rather than booting talented workers, Challenger suggests, employers should offer a pardon period "A moratorium would let anyone who needs to come clean," he says And the culprit could always go back to school and finish that degree—maybe even on company time. Falsehood on resume shows that the job seeker may

A. have extreme views towards working.
B. be more likely to cheat in other fields.
C. stay honest in financial statements.
D. seek other ways to convey the truth.

As college seniors hurtle into the job hunt, little lies on the resume—for example, claiming a degree when they"re three credits shy of graduation—seem harmless enough. So new grads ought to read this memo now: those 20-year-old falsehoods on cream-colored, 32-lb. premium paper have ruined so many high-profile executives that you wonder who in the business world hasn"t got the message. A resume listing two fabricated degrees led to the resignation of David Edmondson, CEO of RadioShack, in February. Untruthful resume have also hindered the careers of executives at the U.S. Olympic Committee. The headlines haven"t dented job seekers" desire to dissemble even as employers have grown increasingly able to detect deception. InfoLink Screening Services, a background-checking company, estimates that 14% of job applicants in the U.S. he about their education on their resumes. Employees who lie to get in the door can cause untold damage on a business, experts say, from staining the reputation and credibility of a firm to upending co-workers and projects to igniting shareholder wrath—and that"s if the lie is found out. Even when it isn"t, the falsified resume can indicate a deeply rooted inclination toward unethical behavior. "There"s a lot of evidence that those who cheat on job applications also cheat in school and in life," says Richard Griffith, director of the industrial and organizational psychology program at the Florida Institute of Technology. "If someone says they have a degree and they don"t, I"d have little faith that person would tell the truth when it came to financial statements and so on." Employers" fears have sparked a boom in the background-screening industry. But guarding the henhouse does little good if the fox is already nestled inside. To unmask the deceivers among them, some employers are conducting checks upon promotion. Verified Person markets its ability to provide ongoing employee screening through automated criminal checks. With this increased alertness comes a thorny new dilemma: figuring out whether every lie is really a fireable offense. Many bosses feel that a worker"s track record on the job speaks more strongly than a stretched resume, says John Challenger of the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Rather than booting talented workers, Challenger suggests, employers should offer a pardon period "A moratorium would let anyone who needs to come clean," he says And the culprit could always go back to school and finish that degree—maybe even on company time. By saying "The headlines haven"t dented job seekers" desire to dissemble"(Line 1, Paragraph 2), the author means that

A. the news hasn"t prevented job applicants from being dishonest.
B. the headings have made job seekers more eager to hide their true feelings.
C. the news hasn"t any kind of impacts on job applicants at all.
D. the headings have succeeded in persuading job seekers to give up lying.

As college seniors hurtle into the job hunt, little lies on the resume—for example, claiming a degree when they"re three credits shy of graduation—seem harmless enough. So new grads ought to read this memo now: those 20-year-old falsehoods on cream-colored, 32-lb. premium paper have ruined so many high-profile executives that you wonder who in the business world hasn"t got the message. A resume listing two fabricated degrees led to the resignation of David Edmondson, CEO of RadioShack, in February. Untruthful resume have also hindered the careers of executives at the U.S. Olympic Committee. The headlines haven"t dented job seekers" desire to dissemble even as employers have grown increasingly able to detect deception. InfoLink Screening Services, a background-checking company, estimates that 14% of job applicants in the U.S. he about their education on their resumes. Employees who lie to get in the door can cause untold damage on a business, experts say, from staining the reputation and credibility of a firm to upending co-workers and projects to igniting shareholder wrath—and that"s if the lie is found out. Even when it isn"t, the falsified resume can indicate a deeply rooted inclination toward unethical behavior. "There"s a lot of evidence that those who cheat on job applications also cheat in school and in life," says Richard Griffith, director of the industrial and organizational psychology program at the Florida Institute of Technology. "If someone says they have a degree and they don"t, I"d have little faith that person would tell the truth when it came to financial statements and so on." Employers" fears have sparked a boom in the background-screening industry. But guarding the henhouse does little good if the fox is already nestled inside. To unmask the deceivers among them, some employers are conducting checks upon promotion. Verified Person markets its ability to provide ongoing employee screening through automated criminal checks. With this increased alertness comes a thorny new dilemma: figuring out whether every lie is really a fireable offense. Many bosses feel that a worker"s track record on the job speaks more strongly than a stretched resume, says John Challenger of the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Rather than booting talented workers, Challenger suggests, employers should offer a pardon period "A moratorium would let anyone who needs to come clean," he says And the culprit could always go back to school and finish that degree—maybe even on company time. If a lie is found out, one consequence will probably be

A. the increased number of laid-off coworkers.
B. the interference of stakeholders.
C. the possibility of more unethical behaviors.
D. the ruined image of the company.

Despite its name, Smugglers" Gulch is one of the toughest places to sneak into America The narrow valley near San Diego is divided by a steel wall and watched day and night by agents of the border patrol, who track would-be illegal immigrants with the help of helicopters and underground pressure sensors. Rafael, a cement worker, has already been caught jumping over the fence five times. Yet he still wanders on the Mexican side of the fence, waiting for nightfall and another chance to cross. How much longer will he keep trying "Until I get through," he says. Last week the Senate tried, and failed, to deal with the problem of illegal immigration. After much debate it abandoned a bill that would have provided more money for border security but also allowed many illegal immigrants to obtain visas. Yet the collapse of the Senate bill does not mean illegal immigration will go away, either as a fact or as an urgent political issue. Indeed, one likely consequence will be an outbreak of ad hoc law-making in cities and states. One such place is Arizona, where the governor, signed a bill this week imposing rigid penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants. Those who are caught once will have their licenses suspended; a second offence will put them out of business. Even the governor admits the bill is too broadly drawn and will be hard to enforce. She signed it, she explained, because the federal government has shown itself to be incapable of dealing with illegal immigration. One in ten workers in Arizona is illegal, according to the Pew Hispanic Centre. So the law, if rigorously enforced, could disrupt the state"s economy, which suggests it will not be. One landscape gardener in Scottsdale who worked illegally for three decades and now pays illegal workers $7 an hour thinks the measure is ridiculous. "Who else is going to pick lettuces and trim trees in this heat" he asks, pointing to the sun on a 47°C day. He has no plans to change his ways, and says he will simply move if he is caught. Laws such as Arizona"s will make life more unpleasant and unpredictable for illegal workers. But they will not curtail either illegal immigration or illegal working as much as supporters claim. In any case, the border has been so porous for so long that people now have plenty of reasons to steal across it other than work. Of five aspiring immigrants who spoke to the correspondent in Smugglers" Gulch earlier this week, three were trying to join their families. We can learn from the opening paragraph that

A. people are misled by the name Smugglers" Gulch.
B. Smuggler"s Gulch is the toughest entrance to steal into USA.
C. Rafael will continue his risky attempt to jump the fence.
D. Smuggler"s Gulch is secured by advanced tracking tools.

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