阅读理解
A good-looking robot is seriously hard to find. Robots can be pretty, some even handsome, but as soon as they get too realistic they start to creep us out. A new system for helping robots to generate more realistic expressions might go some way to help. Many years ago, roboticists realised that as you morph an abstract robot into a human you generate a peak of unease—the 'uncanny valley principle'—that makes people feel uncomfortable when a robot looks realistic but not realistic enough. Some say it's because they remind us of a corpse. However, research has shown that if you manipulate the robotic images so that they are more attractive, you can bypass this feeling of unease. To create a robot we are more likely to accept, life-like expressions are vital. That's why Nicole Lazzeri at the University of Pisa, Italy, and her colleagues have designed a 'Hybrid Engine for Facial Expressions Synthesis' (HEFES)—a facial animation engine that gives realistic expressions to a humanoid robot called FACE. To mimic the myriad expressions that facial muscles are capable of achieving, the team placed 32 motors around FACE's skull and upper torso that manipulate its polymer skin in the same way that real muscles do. To create expressions they used a combination of motor movements based on the Facial Action Coding System (FACS)—a system created over 30 years ago which codes facial expressions in terms of organic muscle movements. HEFES is used to control FACE's expressions. It is essentially a mathematical programme that creates an 'emotional space' which a person can use to choose an expression for FACE that exists anywhere between one or more basic emotions, including anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise. The algorithm then works out which motors need to be moved to create that expression or transition between two or more. The team evaluated the accuracy of their expressions by asking five autistic and 15 non-autistic children to identify a set of expressions performed first by FACE and then by a psychologist. Both groups were able to identify happiness, anger and sadness but less able to identify fear, disgust and surprise. So is it more attractive? I'm not convinced. But FACE's ability to smoothly transition between one emotion and another is pretty remarkable. And not too creepy.
单选题
From the first paragraph, we know the author tends more to discuss ______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】推理判断题。第一段提到A new system for helping robots to generate more realistic expressions“帮助机器人产生更真实表情的一种新系统”，推测下去就是D选项，而且下文也多次提到表情系统，故D选项正确。强干扰项是A选项，但原文提到的“困难”是“难以找到好看的机器人”，而不是“产生真实脸部表情有困难”，A项与文意不符，故排除。B选项是不具体的，不是作者在首段谈论的内容。C选项中的go a longer way来自原文go some way“在一定程度上”，但是曲解了文意，并且“机器人的英俊”也非作者谈论的重点，排除C选项。
单选题
The word 'morph' in Paragraph 2 seems to mean ______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】词汇理解题。“morph”位于第二段第一句中，该句提到，当你把抽象机器人morph，你就制造了一个不安定高峰______恐怖谷理论——即一个机器人看起来像人而又不够真实的时候就使人感觉不舒服。这里的morph指从机器人到人之间的转变，故B选项“把……改变成”符合文意，并且transform同morph一样，都能用于...sb./sth. into sb./sth.结构，指完全改变某人或某物的外观或特性。A选项指“修改某事物使其适用于新的用途、情况等”，不符合文意，故排除。C选项指“以一物交换另一物”；D选项意为“混合”，也排除。
单选题
Paragraphs 3, 4, and 5 are devoted to a discussion of ______.
单选题
According to the author, 'emotional space' (Paragraph 6) suggests ______.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】推理判断题。根据题干中的emotional space定位到第六段的第二句。本句包含三个从句。该句主句提到HEFES是一种数学程序，之后的定语从句that creates an 'emotional space'说这种程序能创造出“情感空间”，之后which引导的定语从句是理解这一“情感空间”的关键：人们能用这个情感空间来为FACE选择表情，而该表情可在一个或多个基本情感之间的任何地方(介于各种情感之间的过渡表情)，A选项与原文相吻合，为正确答案，同时排除D选项。B选项和C选项将“emotional space”归为一种程序，文中是说IIEFES是一种程序，但是还提到选择的是一个介于basic emotions之间的expression，故排除这两项。
单选题
In the author's view, FACE's ability is ______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】观点态度题。根据最后一段But转折句的内容“FACE那种从一种表情向另一种表情的流畅过渡是相当出色的”及最后一句“且没有那种毛骨悚然的感觉”可以看出，作者对FACE的能力持肯定的态度，故C选项为正确答案。A选项是根据最后一段I'm not convinced设置的干扰项，但该句是说“对FACE能够准确地做出几种基本表情是否更吸引人不确信”，而不是怀疑FACE的能力，故排除A选项；B选项“令人厌恶的，讨厌的”和D选项“可怕的”与作者态度相反，故排除B、D选项。