题目内容

30、A Japanese toy maker says that they've developed a gadget(小器具) that translates(翻译) dog barks into human languages and plan to begin selling the gadgets--under the name of Bowlingual--in the US pet stores and present shops this summer.

People laughed when the Japanese toy maker Takara company made the world's first dog-human translation machine last year. But about 300,000 of them have been sold since it was on sale in Japan last year. Far bigger sales will be expected once an English language translation machine for dogs comes to America in August. The United States is home to about 67 million dogs, more than six times the number in Japan.

"We know that the Americans love their dogs so much, so we don't think they' 11 mind spending$ 120 on this gadget," the Takara marketing manager said before the journalists at a meeting in Atlanta. Bowlingual, one of US Time magazine's coolest inventions of 2002, has two parts. A microphone is tied to the dog's collar and sends out sound information to the gadget held by the owner. Then the translation is done in the gadget by a database with every kind of barks. Those barks show six feelings - happiness, sadness, disappointment, anger, declaration and desire. Each of the feelings is then translated into words like "Let's play." "Look at me!" or "Spend more time with me."

Takara says it has spent millions of dollars developing the gadget. One thing that seems certain is that the markets for animal translation machines will probably be a dog's world since Takara has no plans to develop such a gadget for cats. "They are too changeable," the marketing manager said.

1. The first three paragraphs(段落) of the passage mainly tell us that Bowlingual_________

A. was invented in Japan                     B. has developed quickly

C. wi11 be sold in America                 D .sells well for its price

2. When was this passage most probably written?

A. In the autumn of 2002.                  B. In the spring of 2003.

C. In the summer of 2002.                   D. In the winter of 2003.

3. We can learn from the passage that_________.

A. people need to talk to dogs

B. there are more dogs in America than in Japan

C. Japanese people don't like dogs

D. the company will soon make a gadget for kids

4. The underlined word "they" in the last sentence refers to_________

A. markets            B. dogs              C. plans                 D. cats

5. From the passage, we can see that Takara is_________ the sale of its new gadget in the US    A. proud of             B. pleased with          C. confident of         D. worried about