单选题 Text 1
Since the dawn of human ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning tools to cope with work that is dangerous, boring, burdensome, or just plain nasty. That compulsion has resulted in robotics — the science of conferring various human capabilities on machines. And if scientists have yet to create the mechanical version of science fiction, they have begun to come close.
As a result, the modern world is increasingly populated by intelligent gizmos whose presence we barely notice but whose universal existence has removed much hum an labor. Our factories hum to the rhythm of robot assembly arms. Our banking is done at automated teller terminals that thank us with mechanical politeness for the transaction. Our subway trains are controlled by tireless robo-drivers. And thanks to the continual miniaturization of electronics and micro-mechanics, there are already robot systems that can perform some kinds of brain and bone surgery with submillimeter accuracy—far greater precision than highly skilled physicians can achieve with their hands alone.
But if robots are to reach the next stage of laborsaving utility, they will have to operate with less human supervision and be able to make at least a few decisions for themselves — goals that pose a real challenge. "While we know how to tell a robot to handle a specific error," says Dave Lavery, manager of a robotics program at NASA, "we can't yet give a robot enough 'commonsense' to reliably interact with a dynamic world."
Indeed the quest for true artificial intelligence has produced very mixed results. Despite a spell of initial optimism in the 1960s and 1970s when it appeared that transistor circuits and microprocessors might be able to copy the action of the human brain by the year 2010, researchers lately have begun to extend that forecast by decades if not centuries. What they found, in attempting to model thought, is that the human brain's roughly one hundred billion nerve cells are much more talented — and human perception far more complicated—than previously imagined. They have built robots that can recognize the error of a machine panel by a fraction of a millimeter in a controlled factory environment. But the human mind can glimpse a rapidly changing scene and immediately disregard the 98 percent that is irrelevant, instantaneously focusing on the monkey at the side of a winding forest road or the single suspicious face in a big crowd. The most advanced computer systems on Earth can't approach that kind of ability, and neuroscientists still don't know quite how we do it.

单选题 Human ingenuity was initially demonstrated in ______.
A. the use of machines to produce science fiction
B. the wide use of machines in manufacturing industry
C. the invention of tools for difficult and dangerous work
D. the elite's cunning tackling of dangerous and boring work
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】本题只要正确理解文首第一句话的含义即可,文中并没有强调“the elite(精 英人才)”,只提到“people have devised cunning tools”,因此排除D,而A、B两项都不符 合题中“initially(最初、最早)”这一要求,故而选C。
单选题 The word "gizmos" (Line 1, Paragraph 2) most probably means ______.
A. programs B. experts C. devices D. creatures
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】本题要判断“gizmos”这一单词的含义,由第一段提到“robotics”,而“conferring human capabilities on machines”与修饰gizmos的定语从句中“remove,much human labor” 相照应,联系上下文句意,gizmos应该是与机器人有关,因此排除A、B、D,选C。这也 从gizmos的下面四句举例论述可以看出。
单选题 According to the text, what is beyond man's ability now is to design a robot that can ______.
A. fulfill delicate tasks like performing brain surgery
B. interact with human beings verbally
C. have a little common sense
D. respond independently to a changing world
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】文章第二段最后一句指出,已经有机器人系统,能完成某些大脑或骨科外科 手术,因此排除A。第二段第三句则指出“automated teller terminals”可以“thank US with mechanical politeness”,因此B亦被排除。从第三段Dave Lavery的话可以看出,机器人不 是没有common sense,而是没有“enough”足够的common sense,排除C。只有D符合第 三段原意,机器人尚不能“reliably interact with a dynamic world”。
单选题 Besides reducing human labor, robots can also ______.
A. make a few decisions for themselves
B. deal with some errors with human intervention
C. improve factory environments
D. cultivate human creativity
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】由第三段第一句可以看出,机器人尚不能“make at least a few decisions for themselves”,故排除A。C、D在文中根本没有出现这样的字眼,可不予考虑,而在第三段 中,由“We know how to tell a robot to handle a specific error.”即可推断B项是正确选项。
单选题 The author uses the example of a monkey to argue that robots are ______.
A. expected to copy human brain in internal structure
B. able to perceive abnormalities immediately
C. far less able than human brain in focusing on relevant information
D. best used in a controlled environment
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】本题需要在文章中找到相关细节,“Monkey”一词出现在第五段,由“the human mind can…immediately disregarld the 98% that is irrelevant.instantaneously focusing on the monkey…”,可以看出,人脑能迅速捕捉相关信息,而忽略无关信息,再由“the most advanced computer systems on。Earth can't approach that kind of ability”,看出最先进的计算机系统都不 能有这样的能力,所以正确答案应选C。A、B、D三项都与猴子一例无关,可排除。