Since the dawn the human ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning tools to cope with work that is dangerous, boring, burdensome, or just plain nasty. That compulsion has resulted in robotics-the science of conferring various human capabilities on machines. And if scientists have yet to create the mechanical version of science fiction, they have begun to come close.
As a result, the modern world is increasingly populated by intelligent gizmos whose presence we barely notice but whose universal existence has removed much human labor. Our factories hum to the rhythm of robot assembly arms. Our banking is done at automated teller terminals that thank us with mechanical politeness for the transaction. Our subway trains are controlled by tireless robot-drivers. And thanks to the continual miniaturization of electronics and micro-mechanics, there are already robot systems that can perform some kinds of brain and bone surgery with sub-millimeter accuracy-far greater precision than highly skilled physicians can achieve with their hands alone.
But if robots are to reach the next stage of laborsaving utility, they will have to operate with less human supervision and be able to make at least a few decisions for themselves-goals that pose a real challenge.
“While we know how to tell a robot to handle a specific error,” says Dave Lavery, manager of a robotics program at NASA, “we can’t yet give a robot enough ‘common sense’ to reliably interact with a dynamic world.”
Indeed the quest for true artificial intelligence has produced very mixed results. Despite a spell of optimism in the 1960s and 1970s when it appeared that transistor circuits and microprocessors might be able to copy the action of the human brain by the year 2010, researchers lately have begun to extend that forecast by decades if not centuries.
What they found, in attempting to model thought, is that the human brain’s roughly one hundred billion nerve cells are much more talented-and human perception far more complicated-than previously imagined. They have built robot that can recognize the error of a machine panel by a fraction of a millimeter in a controlled factory environment. But the human mind can glimpse a rapidly changing scene and immediately disregard the 98 percent that is irrelevant, instantaneously focusing on the monkey at the side of a winding forest road or the single suspicious face in a big crowd. The most advanced computer systems on earth can’t approach that kind of ability, and neuroscientists still don’t know quite how we do it.
1. Human ingenuity was initially demonstrated in _____.
2. The word “gizmos” (Line 1, Para.2) most probably means _____.
3. According to the passage, what is beyond man’s ability now is to design a robot that _____.
4. Besides reducing human labor, robots can also _____.
5. The author uses the example of a monkey to argue that robots are _____.
问题1选项
A.the elite’s cunning tackling of dangerous and boring work
B.the wide use of machines in manufacturing industry
C.the use of machines to produce science fiction
D.the invention of tools for difficult and dangerous work
问题2选项
A.creatures
B.experts
C.programs
D.devices
问题3选项
A.can respond independently to a changing world
B.can interact with human beings verbally
C.can fulfill delicate tasks like performing brain surgery
D.can have a little common sense
问题4选项
A.cultivate human creativity
B.deal with some errors with human intervention
C.make a few decisions for themselves
D.improve factory environments
问题5选项
A.best used in a controlled environment
B.able to perceive abnormalities immediately
C.expected to copy human brain in internal structure
D.far less able than human brain in focusing on relevant information
第1题:D
第2题:D
第3题:A
第4题:B
第5题:D
第1题:
【选项释义】
Human ingenuity was initially demonstrated in _____. 人类的创造性最初在_____上得到了展示。
A. the elite’s cunning tackling of dangerous and boring work A. 精英们巧妙地处理危险而枯燥的工作
B. the wide use of machines in manufacturing industry B. 机器在制造业中的广泛应用
C. the use of machines to produce science fiction C. 用机器创作科幻小说
D. the invention of tools for difficult and dangerous work D. 用于困难和危险的工作而发明的工具
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据题干定位到原文第一段第一句“从人类产生智慧（human ingenuity）初期至今，人们一直在设计越来越巧妙的工具（cunning tools）来应付那些危险的（dangerous）、枯燥的（boring）、繁重的（burdensome）或者直接就是肮脏的（plain nasty）工作”，由此可知，选项D正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“精英们巧妙地处理危险而枯燥的工作”，原文提到的是“人们设计工具处理危险而枯燥的工作”，并不是“精英们”，所以该选项表述错误，属于曲解原文；
B选项“机器在制造业中的广泛应用”，原文没有提及，属于无中生有；
C选项“用机器创作科幻小说”，与原文第一段最后一句提到的“科幻小说的机械版本”不符，属于曲解原文。
第2题:
【选项释义】
The word “gizmos” (Line 1, Para. 2) most probably means _____. 单词“gizmos”（第二段第一行）最有可能的意思是_____。
A. creatures A. 动物，生物
B. experts B. 专家，人才
C. programs C. 程序
D. devices D. 装备，设置
【考查点】词义推测题。
【解题思路】根据题干定位到原文第二段第一句“由此引起的结果是，现代世界已经充斥着越来越多的智能……，尽管我们几乎都注意不到它们，但它们的普遍存在却节省了许多人类劳力。”接下来作者提到了“工厂机械手（robot assembly arms）”、“自动柜员机（automated teller terminals）”以及“机器人驾驶员（robot-drivers）”等。由此可知这些都是对“gizmos”的解释，它们的共同特征是“工具/设备”，选项D符合。
【干扰项排除】
A、B、C选项不符合词义，属于曲解原文。
第3题:
【选项释义】
According to the passage, what is beyond man’s ability now is to design a robot that _____. 根据文章，现在超越人类能力的是设计一个_____的机器人。
A. can respond independently to a changing world A. 能独立应对不断变化的世界
B. can interact with human beings verbally B. 能与人类进行口头交流
C. can fulfill delicate tasks like performing brain surgery C. 能完成像脑部手术这样的精细任务
D. can have a little common sense D. 能有一点常识
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据题干定位到原文第四段最后一句话“we can’t yet give a robot enough ‘common sense’ to reliably interact with a dynamic world.我们还不能给机器人足够的‘常识’来可靠地与动态世界互动。”其中“we can’t yet give”可理解为题干中“beyond man’s ability”，“interact with”可理解为“respond”，“dynamic”可理解为“changing”，由此可知，选项A符合。
【干扰项排除】
B、C、D选项原文没有提及，属于无中生有。
第4题:
【选项释义】
Besides reducing human labor, robots can also _____. 除了减少人力，机器人还可以_____。
A. cultivate human creativity A. 培养人的创造力
B. deal with some errors with human intervention B. 通过人工干预处理一些错误
C. make a few decisions for themselves C. 为自己做一些决定
D. improve factory environments D. 改善工厂环境
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据题干定位到第四段第一句“虽然我们知道如何让机器人去纠正一个特定的错误（tell a robot to handle a specific error）”，由此可知，选项B符合原文。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“培养人的创造力”，原文是说“人创造机器人”，该说法反了，属于曲解原文；
C选项“为自己做一些决定”，原文第三段第一句“但是如果（if）机器人要进入节省劳力的下一个阶段，他们必须能够在更少的人工监控下运行，并且至少能够独立地做一些决定（make at least a few decisions）”由此可知，机器人还不能独立做一些决定，该选项属于曲解原文；
D选项“改善工厂环境”，原文提到“机器人受环境控制”，选项说法是反的，属于曲解原文。
第5题:
【选项释义】
The author uses the example of a monkey to argue that robots are _____. 作者用猴子的例子来说明机器人_____。
A. best used in a controlled environment A. 最好在受控环境中使用
B. able to perceive abnormalities immediately B. 能立即察觉异常
C. expected to copy human brain in internal structure C. 被希望能复制人脑的内部结构
D. far less able than human brain in focusing on relevant information D. 在关注相关信息方面远不如人类大脑
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】最后一段作者提到了“猴子（monkey）”这个例子，是为了说明计算机虽然功能强大，但是仍然无法和人脑的复杂性（complicated）相比，因为人脑看一眼迅速变化的场景（glimpse a rapidly changing scene）就能够迅速排除（disregard）不相干的信息，立即把注意力集中到蜿蜒的森林小路边的一只猴子，这一点计算机是做不到的，因此，D选项正确。
【干扰项排除】
A、B、C选项都不符合举例的意图，属于曲解原文。
