Robots have proved to be valuable tools for soldiers, surgeons and homeowners hoping to keep the carpet clean. But in each case, they are designed and built specifically for the job. Now there is a movement under way to build multipurpose machines-robots that can move about in changing environments such as offices or living rooms and work with their hands.

All-purpose robots are not, of course, a new idea. “It’s been five or 10 years from happening for about 50 years,” says Eric Berger, co–director of the Personal Robotics Program at Willow Garage, a Silicon Valley organization. The delay is in part because even simple tasks require a huge set of capabilities. For a robot to fetch a mug, for example, it needs to make sense of data gathered by a variety of sensors–laser scanners identifying potential blocking objects, cameras searching for the target, force feedback in the fingers that grasp the mug, and more. Yet Berger and other experts are confident that real progress could be made in the next decade.

The problem, according to Willow Garage, is the lack of a common platform for all that computational effort. Instead of enlarging the capabilities of a single machine, everyone is designing robots and the software to control them, from the ground up. To help change this, Willow Garage is currently producing 25 copies of its model PR2 (for “Personal Robot 2”), a two–armed, wheeled machine that can switch off the electricity, open doors and move through a room. Ten of the robots will stay in–house, but 10 more will go to outside research groups, and everyone will share their advances. This way, Berger says, if you want to build the robotic equivalent (等同物) of a Twitter (推特网站), you won’t start by constructing a computer. “you build the thing that’s new.”

31．The robots are mentioned to do some specific jobs EXCEPT in          .

       A．battle fields      B．operation room      C．people’s houses       D．wild fields

32．The multipurpose robot may be identified as a machine that            .

       A．can move about in changing environments and work with their hands

       B．can make sense of data gathered by a variety of sensors

       C．has a huge set of abilities to finish all the simple tasks

       D．has identifying laser scanners, searching cameras and force feedback

33．According to Willow Garage, we will make real progress in building all-purpose robots if ___________ .

       A．everyone is designing robots and the software to control them

       B．they can produce 25 copies of its model PR2

       C．people can enlarge the capabilities of a single machine

       D．people can start by constructing a computer

34．Willow Garage is currently producing 25 copies of its model PR2 so as to _________ .

       A．design robots and the software to control them

       B．change the way of new robot construction research

       C．open doors and go to outside research groups

       D．go through the room and stay in-house

35．Which of the following is true according to the passage?

       A．To build all-purpose robots is an absolutely new movement under way.

       B．Building all-purpose robots was delayed because of its complexity.

       C．The idea to build all-purpose robots appeared about 50 years ago.

       D．Everyone will share their advances for they are all-purpose robots.

   Have you ever played the game Hot Potato? Jon Scieszka and a team of 13 popular children’s book authors are playing a writer’s version of the game, and are having a blast.

Here’s how it works. In The Exquisite Corpse Adventure, the “hot potato” is the story, and it is passed from one author to the next. Scieszka wrote the first chapter. Then he passed the story to another author Katherine Paterson.  If Scieszka decides to introduce a roller-skating baby into the story, Paterson and the other contributing authors will have to decide what to do with the baby in later chapters. Every two weeks a new chapter, written by a different author, will be published on the Library of Congress’s read. Gov site. The high rate of hits has proved that Scieszka did not fail to make the readers laugh with his incredibly silly story.

“Working on The Exquisite Corpse Adventure was so much fun,” Scieszka says. “I got to write the first chapter so I could set up all these foolish traps for the other authors and make them have to write about clowns and ninjas(忍者).”

The story might be crazy, but all of the authors agreed that writing the story together was a whole lot of fun. “I started in the middle of the story,” author Steven Kellogg said, “That’s kind of fun.  I got to read about everyone else’s characters and then brought them into the chapter that I was writing. It’s really good to think about other authors’ ideas and connect them with my own.”

You may wonder why the book is called The Exquisite Corpse Adventure. In fact Kellogg and the other authors are playing a game that is over 100 years old. Exquisite Corpse is actually the name of an old game in which players begin a story on a sheet of paper and pass it on to the next player to continue the tale. The game ends when someone finishes the story, which is then read aloud.

1.How is the game Hot Potato played according to the passage?

A．People make up the story about the “hot potato” one by one.

B．People throw the “hot potato” to hit one another.

C．People pass the “hot potato” from one person to the next.

D．People hit by the “hot potato” must tell a funny story.

2.We can infer from the passage that           .

A．it’s the first time such a game of writing has ever been played

B．the story hasn’t been finished yet

C．the clues of the story have been decided by Kellogg

D．every chapter will be online for two weeks

3.Kellogg thinks the game is fun because            .

A．the story is very silly and crazy

B．he writes the main part of the story

C．he could continue the story by sharing it with other authors

D．there are so many different characters in the story

4.The last paragraph is mainly about            .

A．how the game ended

B．when the game stared

C．how the book was named

D．how the Exquisite corpse worked

Diamonds may be forever. But what’s a girl to do when she gets dumped (失恋) or divorced (离婚) and those rings, necklace and love gifts lose their emotional (情感) sense?

Help is just a click away on new Web sites that provide an outlet for selling jewelry(珠宝) from past relationships, sharing break-up stories and helping broken hearts heal (愈合).

“You go through a divorce. What do you do with that ring? Maybe you have a child you can pass it on to. Maybe you don’t. It just sits there, ” said Megahn Perry, who with her stepmother (继母) Marie Perry runs www.exboyfriendjewelry.com.

Three months after its start with the slogan(口号) “You Don’t Want It. He Can’t Have It Back,” the web site has 3,000 registered users and more than 600 postings of rings, bracelets and earrings for sale—all with a personal tale attached.

As one woman posting a diamond ring for $3,500 wrote:

“Beautiful ring came with a wrong man. Decided to sell to regain the money that I spent finishing payments on the ring that my ex didn’t.”

The idea was born when Megahn Perry, a Los Angeles actress and writer, was looking for a safe place to sell a wedding set after a divorce and realized others might have former boyfriends’ jewelry with memories(记忆) that make them too painful to wear.

The local pawn shop(当铺) proved an unattractive choice. So she teamed up with her stepmother Marie, researched the market and found a gap in it.

The passage is mainly about _____.

  A. how a web site is set up                             B. how sad the love stories are

  C. How much a website can make                   D. How many people like the web site

How long is it since the start of this website?

  A. Less than three months.                             B. At least three months.

  C. Less than one month.                                D. Not known.

How many people have registered on this website within three months?

  A. About 600.           B. About 3,000.            C. About 3,500.            D. Not know.

Who set up this website?

  A. Megahn herself alone.                               B. Megahn and her best friend.

  C. Megahn and her stepmother.                      D. Megahn and her exboyfriend.

What’s the meaning of the underlined word “gap” in the last sentence?

  A. Gulf between two people.                        B. Misunderstandings among each other.

  C. Differences from a pawn shop.                 D. A market worth developing.

ScienceDaily (May 28, 2010) --- Researchers at Oregon State University (OSU) have made important progress in work that should lead toward robots that can not only walk and run very well, but use little energy at the same time.

Studies are moving closer to designing robots that could do dangerous work, create prosthetic limbs（假肢）for humans that work much better than in the past, or even help some people who use wheelchairs to get “walking” abilities.

“Researchers have been working toward robot movement for a long time,” said Jonathan Hurst, a professor at OSU. “What we’ve done is to study what behavior is really possible for a robot.”

The movement of humans and other animals is difficult to copy. Using little energy, they can move easily over hard areas, and enjoy balance from muscles（肌肉）. They have different ways to deal with forces, such as holding something hard in place rigidly（牢牢地）, like the act of holding a cup of coffee level during a car ride. In their recent studies, the OSU researchers proved that these two abilities are mutually exclusive（相互排斥的）. Humans deal with this problem by using pairs of muscles. For a robot, the more it’s able to do one of these tasks, the less able it is to do the other.

Presently, robots that can walk and run must be as rigid as possible while walking. But this way uses a lot of energy. The OSU researchers are working toward something that has similar or better performance, but uses far less energy, and is closer to the abilities of animals.

“So there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to build robots with good movement ability,” Hurst said. “Clearly this might be useful in highly dangerous situations. But I could also see great improvements possible with prosthetic limbs that work much better than present technology. ”

72. The robots being studied by researchers at OSU ______.

A. are successful now

B. use little energy

C. do better than before

D. can run faster than humans

73. Which of the following have researchers been studying all the time?

A. The robots’ movement

B. The robots’ weight

C. The robots’ sizes

D. The robots’ walking speed

74. The underlined words “two abilities” in Para.4 refer to ______.

A. walking and running

B. walking and holding

C. moving and using little energy

D. moving and balancing

75. According to Jonathan Hurst, we know that robots with good movement ability ______.

A. can be used in medical science

B. are only used in highly dangerous situations

C. will hardly be created in the future

D. will have a bad influence on man

Diamonds may be forever. But what’s a girl to do when she gets dumped (失恋) or divorced (离婚) and those rings, necklace and love gifts lose their emotional (情感) sense?
Help is just a click away on new Web sites that provide an outlet for selling jewelry(珠宝) from past relationships, sharing break-up stories and helping broken hearts heal (愈合).
“You go through a divorce. What do you do with that ring? Maybe you have a child you can pass it on to. Maybe you don’t. It just sits there, ” said Megahn Perry, who with her stepmother (继母) Marie Perry runs www.exboyfriendjewelry.com.
Three months after its start with the slogan(口号) “You Don’t Want It. He Can’t Have It Back,” the web site has 3,000 registered users and more than 600 postings of rings, bracelets and earrings for sale—all with a personal tale attached.
As one woman posting a diamond ring for $3,500 wrote:
“Beautiful ring came with a wrong man. Decided to sell to regain the money that I spent finishing payments on the ring that my ex didn’t.”
The idea was born when Megahn Perry, a Los Angeles actress and writer, was looking for a safe place to sell a wedding set after a divorce and realized others might have former boyfriends’ jewelry with memories(记忆) that make them too painful to wear.
The local pawn shop(当铺) proved an unattractive choice. So she teamed up with her stepmother Marie, researched the market and found a gap in it.
【小题1】 The passage is mainly about _____.