Contestants from around the world met in Pomona, California, this month to test their skills at things like driving a car, walking down stairs, and opening doors. Sounds easy, right? But the competitors weren’t people—they were robots!

The bots were participating in(参加) the final round of the US’s DARPA(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Robotics Challenge. This event, which took place on June 5-6, tested robots on how well they could respond during a disaster and the winning team finally took home a $2 million grand prize.

The DARPA challenge was created after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. An earthquake caused a tsunami, which damaged a nuclear power plant. Workers at the plant needed to shut off an important valve(阀门), but it was too dangerous for humans to reach it. The US scientists at DARPA wondered whether the disaster could have been avoided if a robot had been sent to do the job. So they set up the robotics competition.

Turning a valve was just one task a robot might have to perform when entering a disaster zone. In addition to doing this, robots participating in the challenge had to navigate a course containing several other tasks: driving and exiting a vehicle, opening a door, walking over or clearing objects, cutting a hole in a wall, plus climbing a flight of stairs.

Teams had to complete the challenge in one hour, and points were awarded based on how quickly the robots completed a task. They didn’t have to attempt all the tasks. To make things even more realistic, challenge organizers caused short computer-system blackouts(断电) that prevented robots and the human operators controlling them from communicating. That means teams had to program their robots to be partially autonomous(独立的). Robots also couldn’t be attached to anything that could keep them from falling down, which happened a lot.

1.What do we know about this year’s DARPA challenge?

A. It lasted five days.

B. It was held in Japan.

C. Its winner got a cash prize.

D. Its winner will work in Fukushima.

2.What does the underlined part “the job” in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A. To open a door. B. To close a valve.

C. To predict a tsunami. D. To rebuild a nuclear power plant.

3.The robots that participated in the US’s DARPA challenge were required to _____.

A. challenge all the tasks

B. have a good sense of smell

C. complete their tasks in an hour

D. act in the dark in the whole process

4.What is the text mainly about?

A. A nuclear disaster. B. A research program.

C. A robotics competition. D. A scientific organization.

完形填空

阅读下面短文,从短文后各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。

When l was in the 8th grade in Ohio, a girl named Helen in my class had a terrible accident.As she was ________to the bus in order not to miss it,she slipped on some ice and fell under the rear wheels of the bus.She ________ the accident,but was paralyzed from the waist________ .1 went to see her,in my 13-year-old mind thinking she wouldn’t live ________ from then on.

Over the years,I moved and didn’t think ________ about Helen after that.Three years ago,in Florida,my oldest son was ________by a car while riding his bike, ________ a terrible brain injury. ________ I was looking after him,a lady who said she was the hospital’s social worker called.It was a(n) ________ trying(难受的)day.I burst into tears for no________ and hung up.

A short time later,a beautiful woman,in a wheelchair, ________ into my son’s room with a box of tissues.After 16 years, I still recognized Helen. She smiled, handed me the tissues and hugged me. I told her ________ I was, and after we both went through the shock of that, she began to tell me about her ________ since we last saw each other. She had married, had children and gotten her degree so that she could ________ the path for those less________ than her. She told me that if there was anything she could give me, it would be ________ .

Looking at this wonderful, giving person, I felt ________ . But I also felt the first hope I had felt since learning that my son was hurt. From this person that I thought would have no________of life, I learned where there is life, there is hope. My son miraculously ________ and we moved back north, but I owe Helen a ________ that I can never repay.

1.A. walking B. riding C. running D. driving

2.A. escaped B. resisted C. sacrificed D. survived

3.A. down B. up C. in D. out

4.A. normally B. comfortably C. seriously D. optimistically

5.A. many B. much C. less D. little

6.A. collapsed B. driven C. drawn D. hit

7.A. making B. causing C. resulting D. leading

8.A. Before B. While C. After D. Since

9.A. unnormally B. eventually C. particularly D. necessarily

10.A. reason B. excuse C. matter D. account

11.A. ran B. walked C. rolled D. moved

12.A. how B. where C. what D. who

13.A. son B. life C. mother D. work

14.A. build B. smooth C. take D. follow

15.A. fortunate B. healthy C. powerful D. wealthy

16.A. hope B. dream C. fancy D. ideal

17.A. confident B. selfish C. small D. depressed

18.A. ability B. way C. quality D. standard

19.A. worsened B. recovered C. disappeared D. overcame

20.A. life B. bill C. success D. debt

My father was always a good gardener. One of my earliest memories is standing without shoes in the freshly tilled(翻耕的)soil, my hands blackened from digging in the ground.

As a child, I loved following Dad around in the garden, I remember Dad pushing the tiller(耕作机)ahead in perfectly straight lines. Dad loved growing all sorts of things: yellow and green onions, watermelons almost as big as me, rows of yellow com, and our favorite --- red tomatoes.

As I grew into a teenager, I didn't get so excited about gardening with Dad. Instead of magical land of possibility, it had turned into some kind of prison. As Dad grew older, his love for gardening never disappeared. After all the kids were grown and had started families of their own, Dad turned to gardening like never before. Even when he was diagnosed with cancer, he still took care of his garden.

But then, the cancer, bit by bit, invaded his body. I had to do the things he used to do. What really convinced me that Dad was dying was the state of his garden that year. The rows and rows of multicolored vegetables were gone. Too tired to weed them, he simply let them be. He only planted tomatoes.

For the first few years after he died, I couldn't even bear to look at anyone's garden without having strong memories pour over me like cold water from a bucket. Three years ago, I decided to plant my own garden and started out with just a few tomatoes. That morning, after breaking up a fair amount of soil, something caught the comer of my eye and I had to smile, It was my eight-year-old son Nathan, happily playing in the freshly tilled soil.

1.Why did the author like the garden when he was a child?

A. The garden was planted with colorful flowers.

B. The garden was just freshly tilled by his father.

C. He loved what his father grew in the garden.

D. He enjoyed being in the garden with his father.

2.When all the kids started their own families, the author's father .

A. devoted more to gardening

B. turned to other hobbies

C. stopped his gardening

D. focused on planting tomatoes

3.What happened to the garden when the author's father was seriously ill?

A. The author's son took charge of it.

B. No plant grew in the garden at all.

C. The garden was almost deserted.

D. It brought the author a great harvest.

4.We can infer from the last paragraph that .

A. the author's son played happily in the garden

B. the author's son reminded him of his own father

C. the author's son was very glad to help the author

D. the author's son will continue gardening as well

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