B
随着时代的发展,越来越多的工业机器人和家用机器人进入我们的生活,你是否也非常期待你的家里有一个机器人?
Not long ago, the only time you could see a robot was when you were reading a novel or watching a movie such as Star Wars. Today, however, a lot of things in science stories have been science facts. More and more robots are starting to appear in factories and our homes. These robots have different sizes, shapes, and colours. But they all have the same type of man-made "brain". Leading the robot revolution are industrial robots that work in factories. Industrial robots can do different kinds of jobs that are often boring and sometimes dangerous. Robots are also coming to American homes, though not as quickly as they are entering factories. These robots aren't as friendly and bright as those you saw in Star Wars. But, their makers say, today's home robots "walk", sense objects in their way (and sometimes knock into them), and even carry objects (which they sometimes drop). Well, nobody is perfect.
We may laugh at home robots today, but some day they may see and hear better than humans do. We humans can only see certain wavelengths of light, and hear certain sounds. That's because the abilities of our eyes and ears are limited. Robots, however, need not have the same limits as we have. Robots may also be equipped with devices that pick up information humans can't. To understand what their sensing devices pick up is a hard job. Remember, man-made brains handle information, including all kinds of data, as zeroes and ones. Imagine the difficulty in trying to explain to a robot what a football looks like—using only zeroes and ones.
WORD BOX ＞＞
| revolution | [ˌrevə'luːʃn] | n. 革命 | industrial | [ɪn'dʌstriəl] | adj. 工业的 |
| sense | [sens] | vt. 感知 | wavelength | ['weɪvleŋθ] | n. 波长 |
| limited | ['lɪmɪtɪd] | adj. 有限的 | equip | [ɪ'kwɪp] | vt. 配备;装备 |
| handle | ['hændl] | vt. 处理 | data | ['deɪtə] | n. 数据 |
COMPREHENSION CHECK UP ＞＞
Choose the best answer according to the passage.
(
D
) 1. What can we know about factory robots from the passage?
A. They are the tallest type among robots.
B. They help improve other types of robots.
C. They are most active in industrial revolution.
D. They are playing a more important role than other types of robots.
(
A
) 2. What is TRUE about home robots?
A. They're less common than factory robots.
B. They're able to do any kind of housework.
C. They're more widely used than factory robots.
D. They're free from making mistakes while carrying out duties.
(
C
) 3. Robots may deal with information that humans can't. Which of the following is NOT one of the reasons?
A. They have man-made brains.
B. They do not have so many limits as humans do.
C. They handle information by using zeroes and ones.
D. They may be equipped with a special kind of sensing device.
(
B
) 4. What does the development of robots suggest?
A. Robots can be very interesting.
B. Science and technology are developing fast.
C. People are interested in new inventions.
D. Machines are more able to do things than humans.
(
A
) 5. According to this passage, what can we infer about present home robots?
A. They sometimes do things wrongly.
B. They are as bright as those in Star Wars.
C. They are better than humans in seeing and hearing.
D. They can pick up objects more quickly than humans.
