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  After moving to the United States,immigrant groups trying to fit in tend to choose highcalorie and fatty foods in an attempt to appear more American―a new study finds. That's one reason why immi?grants approach US levels of obesity within 15 years of moving to America.

  The researchers also did an experiment that measured whether or not the threat of appearing un-American influenced respondents' food choices. After being questioned about their ability to speak English,75 per cent of Asian-Americans identified a kind of typical American food as their favourite. Only25 per cent of Asian-Americans who had not been asked if they spoke English did the same.

  When their American identity was called into question during a followup study,Asian-American participants also tended to choose typical American dishes,such as hamburgers and cheese sandwiches. In that experiment,55 Asian-Americans were asked to choose a meal from a local Asian or American restaurant. Some pari ticipants were told that only Americans could participate in the study. Those who i chose the more typical American fare ended up consuming an extra182 calories,ini eluding 12 grams of fat and 7grams of saturated fat (饱和脂肪) .

  "People who feel like they need to prove they belong to a culture will change i their habits in an attempt to fit in," said Sauna Cheryan,an author of the study and I assistant professor of psychology at the University of Washington. "If immigrants I and their children choose unhealthy American food over healthier traditional food 1 across their lives?this process of fitting in could lead to poorer health," Cheryan added.

  Social pressure,the study concluded,is at the heart of the problem. "In Ameri?can society today,being American is associated with being white. Americans,who don't fit this image even if they were born here and speak English,feel that pressure to prove that they're American," said Cheryan.

1. The author wants to show that      .

   A. more and more Asians enjoy highcalorie snacks

   B. immigrants tend to eat American junk food to fit in

   C. most Americans are at the risk of heart disease

   D. all the American people have a bad eating habit

2. According to the survey,      

   A. Asian-Americans care less about their health

   B. 25 per cent of Americans like junk food

   C. choosing food is related to Asian-Americans' situation

   D. immigrants are forced to eat junk food

3. The underlined word"fare" in Paragraph 3 most probably means"         

   A. food offered as a meal

   B. a person taking a taxi

   C. money spent on food,

   D. an arranged thing to do

4. According to Sauna Cheryan,      .

   A. what immigrants have done is ridiculous

   B. American traditional food is healthier

   C. immigrants risk their health in order to fit in

   D. American culture affects immigrants deeply

  Scientists have created a way to control a robot with signals from a human brain.

By generating the proper brainwaves―picked up by a cap with e-lectrodes (电极) that sense the signals and reflect a person's instruc?tions―scientists can instruct a humanoid robot to move to specific locations and pick up certain objects.

  The commands are limited to moving forward,picking up one of two objects and bringing it to one of two locations. The researchers have achieved 94 per cent of accuracy between the thought commands and the robot's movements.

  "This is really a proof-of-concept demonstration,"said Rajesh Rao,a researcher from the University of Washington who leads the project. "It suggests that one day we might be able to use semi-autonomous robots for such jobs as helping disabled peo?ple or performing routine tasks in a person's home.” The person wearing the electrode cap watches the robot's movement on a com?puter screen through two cameras installed on and above the robot.

  When the robot's cameras see the objects that are to be picked up,they pass on the information to the user's computer screen. Each object lights up randomly on the computer screen. When a person wants something to be picked up and i[ hap?pens to light up,the brain registers surprise and sends this brain activity to the com?puter and then to the robot. The robot then proceeds to pick up the object.

  A similar programme is used to decide where the robot will go.

  "One of the important things about this demonstration is that we're using a 'noisy' brain signal to control the robot, "Rao said. "That means we can only obtain brain signals indirectly from sensors on the surface of the head,and not where they are generated deep in the brain. As a result,the user can only generate high-level commands such as indicating which object to pick up or which location to go to,and the robot needs to be autonomous enough to be able to execute such commands.” In the future,the researchers hope to make the robot more adaptive to the en?vironment by having them carry out more complex commands.

1. What is special about the robot introduced in the passage?

   A. It is controlled by human thoughts.

   B. It can be made humanoid,

   C. It can be used to help the disabled.

   D. It has high intelligence itself.

2. Which of the following is TRUE about the robot?

   A. It can move forward and backward and pick up two objects at the same time.

   B. It can move forward,pick up both objects and bring them to either location.

   C. It can only move forward,pick up one object and put it in one location.

   D. It can read all human thoughts and do as instructed.

3. What Rao says in the eighth paragraph suggests that the new robot      .

   A. is still at its early stage of development

   B. will be widely used in our daily routines soon

   C. is autonomous enough to complete complex commands

   D. is only limited to doing routine work at home

4. The sixth paragraph mainly describes         .

   A. how the robot controls a person's action

   B. how the robot picks up the right object

   C. how the person controls the robot

   D. how the robot finds out where to go

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