One day, a farmer was walking along a road with his son Thomas when they saw a horseshoe (马蹄铁) on the ground. The father said to his son, “Look at the horseshoe on the ground. Go and the horseshoe and put it in your bag, my son.” But Thomas said, “If I do so, it will waste my time.” His father said nothing but picked it up himself. When they a nearby town, they had a rest. There the farmer sold the horseshoe and some strawberries with the money.

The father and the son went on walking. The sun was well up in the . They soon drank up all their water and there was not a house or even a tree for them to have a rest. Thomas felt thirsty to walk on. At this time, his father gave him a strawberry and he quickly ate it. After a while, his father gave him strawberry and once again, his son got it quickly and put it in his mouth.

And so they . The old farmer gave the strawberries and the son ate them. When Thomas had eaten up all the strawberries, his father said to him, “My dear son, ____ you picked up that horseshoe, you would have your own to eat. Always remember the lesson: if you don't worry about the little things, you will find it difficult ____ the great things.

1.A. give up B. put up C. pick up D. take up

2.A. got on B. got to C. got off D. got down

3.A. threw B. bought C. sold D. found

4.A. sky B. sea C. river D. ground

5.A. so B. very C. quite D. too

6.A. another B. other C. else D. the other

7.A. carried on B. turned on C. went on D. worked on

8.A. Or B. If C. Unless D. Until

9.A. water B. money C. horseshoe D. strawberries

10.A. to do B. to use C. to eat D. to drink

In some science fiction movies, evil robots refuse to die, no matter how hard people fight back.

Now science fiction has become science fact. For the first time, scientists have made a robot that can take a beating (挨打) and keep on going. Scientists from Cornell University made the robot, which looks like a spider with four legs.

Until now, even the most advanced (先进的) robot was almost certain to break down when it was damaged. That is because its computer inside simply doesn’t know how to make the machine work after its shape has changed.

To deal with this problem, the scientists put eight motors (发动机) and two sensors (传感器) that read how the machine is working. They all give signals to the machine’s software. Using this information, the computer can then figure out the machine’s shape at any moment.

The new technology is a big advance in robot-making, scientists say, and it’s far from scary. It may someday help scientists create better artificial (假的) arms and legs and give new freedom to people who lose them. It might also help scientists understand how people and animals figure out their own sense of place in space.

“It has been difficult to design robots that can work well when the environment changes or when it’s damaged,” says Olaf Sporns of Indiana University in US. “With this work, we are nearer to solving this problem.”

1.Why do robots easily break down when they are damaged?

A. They cannot repair themselves.

B. The computer has changed a lot.

C. They have no computers inside.

D. The computer cannot work if the robot changes.

2.The new technology allows the robot to _________.

A. do house work for humans

B. keep working after being damaged

C. remember a lot of information

D. tell people where it is

3.The underlined word “them” in Paragraph 5 refers to ________.

A. sensors

B. robots

C. arms and legs

D. scientists

4.How do the sensors in the robot work?

A. They can replace the computer when it’s broken.

B. They can find out where the damage comes from.

C. They help the computer learn the robot’s condition.

D. They can send signals to the person who uses the robot.

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