单选题 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 human 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 ______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 题意是：人类的创造力最初展示在……A使用机器产生科学幻想；B制造业广泛使用机器；C发明工具以应付艰险的工作；D精英人才机智地应付危险和枯燥的工作。本题考生只要正确理解文章首段第一句活的含义即可找到答案，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AB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, Para. 2)most probably means ______.

单选题 According to the text, what is beyond man"s ability now is to design a robot that can ______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 题意为：人类现在还无法设计一个能……的机器人。A强调“fulfill delicate tasks”，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AB。强调与人进行言语上的交流，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；C强调“have a little common sense”，从第三段Dave Lavery的话可以看出，机器人不是没有commonsense，而是没有足够的commonsense，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 ______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 题意为：机器人除了能减少人的劳力之外，还可以……A自己做一些决定；B在人工干预下处理某些错误；C改善工厂环境；D培养人的创造力。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ACD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是正确选项。

单选题 The author uses the example of a monkey to argue that robots are ______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 题意为：作者举猴子一例，意在证明机器人……A被期望能在内部结构上与人脑相似；B能立即感知异常；C在关注相关信息上跟人脑能力差很多；D最好用于可控的环境。
本题需要考生能迅速在文章中找到相关细节，“monkey”一词出现在第五段第三句，由“the human mind can ... immediately disregard the 98 percent that is irrelevant, instantaneously focusing on the monkey ...”，可以看出，这里谈的是人脑能迅速捕捉相关信息，而忽略无关信息，再由第四句“the most advanced computer systems on earth can"t approach that kind of ability”，可以得出，既然最先进的计算机系统都没有这样的能力，则正确答案应选C。文中虽然出现“in a controlled factory environment”以及“recognize the error…”这样的字眼，A项也符合事实，但ABD三项都与猴子一例无关，可排除ABD。