题目内容
Although the dream of the home robot has not died, robots have had their greatest impact in factories. Unimate, the first industrial robot, went to work for General Motors in 1961. Even at a time when computing power was costly, robots made excellent workers and proved that machines controlled by computers could perform some tasks better than humans. In addition, robots can work around the clock and never go on strike. There are now about 800 000 industrial robots around the world, and orders for new robots in the first half of 2007 were up a record 26% from the same period in 2006, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). Demand is increasing as prices fall: a robot sold in 2007 cost less than a fifth of an equivalent robot sold in 1990, for example. Today, in car factories in Japan, Germany and Italy, there is more than one robot for every ten production workers. Similarly, agricultural robots harvest billions of tones of crops every year. There are six-legged timber cutters, tree-climbing fruit-pickers, robots that milk cows, and others that wash windows, trucks and aircraft. Industrial robotics is a 5.6 billon industry, growing by around 7% a year. But the UNECE report predicts that the highest growth over the next three years will be in domestic rather than industrial robots. Sales of such devices, it predicts will grow ten-fold between 2007 and 2010, overtaking the market for industrial robots. The broader application of robotics is becoming possible thanks to the tumbling (暴跌) cost of computing power, says Takeo Kanade. This lets programmers write more sophisticated software that delivers more intelligent robotic behavior. At the same time, he notes, the cost of camera and sensor chips has tumbled, too. "The processing power is so much better than before that some of the seemingly simple things we humans do, like recognizing faces, can begin to be done", says Dr. Kanade. While prices drop and hardware improves, research into robotic vision, control systems and communications have jumped ahead as well. America’s military and its space agency, NASA, have poured billions into robotic research and related fields such as computer vision. The Spirit and Opportunity Rovers (漫游者) exploring Mars can pick their way across the surface to reach a specific destination. Their human masters do not specify the route; instead, the robots are programmed to identify and avoid obstacles themselves. The sales of robots have been on the rise chiefly because______.
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Scientific research has revealed that throughout the animal world, communication is just as important as it is to human beings. Countless animals lack the(67) for human speech, yet they employ entirely different methods in order to communicate (68) each other. Some of the most dramatic examples of this are provided by birds. There are roughly 10 000 (69) of birds in the world, each of which has its own miraculous features. (70) you may live, you can see a great number of these feathered creatures and can (71) different and extraordinary properties. In addition to their flawless flight mechanisms, expertise (72) the routes and timing of migrations, and ability to build nests, their methods to communicate is (73) wonder. At critical times in birds’ lives, their (74) of hearing becomes particularly important. Experiments have shown that in order for birds to learn the (75) song of their own species, they need an auditory feedback system. (76) this system, young birds learn to (77) the sounds they produce with the song they have memorized. If they were (78) , it wouldn’t normally be (79) for them to recognize songs. Birds’ extremely sensitive hearing functions perfectly. Clearly, if this sense failed to (80) properly, the bird would not be able to hear any sounds (81) Moreover, birds also produce (82) communications by their facial expressions, beak movements, feather ruffling, and (83) their wings. Although each species has its own body language, many different species (84) movements in the same way. Via facial expression, birds can (85) a variety of messages to those around them--negative feelings such as dislike and resentment, as well as (86) ones like pleasure, enthusiasm and curiosity.
Questions 11 to 18 are based on the conversation yon have just heard.
Japan is going through a complex national identity crisis. That may be no bad thing, says a new book by an American researcher. The economy is ceased making progress, but the society is in motion. Japan is a difficult country to report on and analyze because things do not change in big, noticeable ways. They change in an increasing process, generally of small steps but which, over time, can add up to big movements. And just such a big movement seems to be taking place. Mr. Nathan has been observing Japan since the 1960s. Whereas most people look at economic data or the comings and goings of prime ministers, he is more interested in schools, novels, comic books, and the minds of young entrepreneurs and maverick (持不同意见的) local politicians. In particular, his focus is on whether Japan’s famously cohesive, conformist society may be breaking under the strain of economic stagnation (停滞), and on how such strains have been affecting the country’s sense of purpose and of national identity. Fractures arc what he looks for and fractures are what he finds. On balance, they are neither obviously dangerous nor obviously positive, but they are, as he says, signs of motion which could, in time, lead in unpredictable directions. The most worrying fractures he writes about are in the schools where violence and truancy (逃学) have risen remarkably. Old Japan hands shrug wearily at such things, for worries about bullying (暴力行为) have long existed but have never really seemed terribly serious. Now, though, Mr. Nathan’s numbers do make the situation look grave. Such trends appear to be symptoms of two related phenomena: a widespread feeling of disillusionment, alienation, uncertainty or plain anger, which has spread to children, too; and a gradual breakdown of old systems of discipline--part familial, part social, part legal which, appear to prevent schools and parents from dealing effectively with errant children. Japan is, in short, passing through a national identity crisis. However, there are plenty of positive aspects to it, too. One is a considerable increase in the number of actual or budding young entrepreneurs. The numbers remain modest, but are nevertheless surprisingly high given the state of the economy in recent years. Another is a new eagerness among popular writers and maverick politicians to try to define and encourage a new national pride. We can infer from the second paragraph that______.
Japan is going through a complex national identity crisis. That may be no bad thing, says a new book by an American researcher. The economy is ceased making progress, but the society is in motion. Japan is a difficult country to report on and analyze because things do not change in big, noticeable ways. They change in an increasing process, generally of small steps but which, over time, can add up to big movements. And just such a big movement seems to be taking place. Mr. Nathan has been observing Japan since the 1960s. Whereas most people look at economic data or the comings and goings of prime ministers, he is more interested in schools, novels, comic books, and the minds of young entrepreneurs and maverick (持不同意见的) local politicians. In particular, his focus is on whether Japan’s famously cohesive, conformist society may be breaking under the strain of economic stagnation (停滞), and on how such strains have been affecting the country’s sense of purpose and of national identity. Fractures arc what he looks for and fractures are what he finds. On balance, they are neither obviously dangerous nor obviously positive, but they are, as he says, signs of motion which could, in time, lead in unpredictable directions. The most worrying fractures he writes about are in the schools where violence and truancy (逃学) have risen remarkably. Old Japan hands shrug wearily at such things, for worries about bullying (暴力行为) have long existed but have never really seemed terribly serious. Now, though, Mr. Nathan’s numbers do make the situation look grave. Such trends appear to be symptoms of two related phenomena: a widespread feeling of disillusionment, alienation, uncertainty or plain anger, which has spread to children, too; and a gradual breakdown of old systems of discipline--part familial, part social, part legal which, appear to prevent schools and parents from dealing effectively with errant children. Japan is, in short, passing through a national identity crisis. However, there are plenty of positive aspects to it, too. One is a considerable increase in the number of actual or budding young entrepreneurs. The numbers remain modest, but are nevertheless surprisingly high given the state of the economy in recent years. Another is a new eagerness among popular writers and maverick politicians to try to define and encourage a new national pride. How are the school violence and truancy in Japan
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