第二篇

Musical Robot Companion Enhances Listener Experience

Shimi, a musical companion developed by Georgia Tech's Center for Music Technology, recommends songs, dances to the beat and keeps the music pumping based on listener feedback.The smartphone-enabled (智能手機(jī)支持的), one-foot-tall robot is billed as an interactive"musical friend".

"Shimi is designed to change the way that people enjoy and think about their music," said Professor Gil Weinberg, the robot's creator. He will unveil the robot at the June 27th Google I/O conference in San Francisco. A band of three Shimi robots will perform for guests, dancing in sync with music created in the lab and composed according to its movements.

Shimi is essentially a docking station with a "brain" powered by an Android phone. Once docked the robot gains the sensing and musical generation capabilities of the user's mobile device. In other words, if there's an "app" for that, Shimi is ready. For instance, by using the phone's camera and face-detecting software, Shimi can follow a listener around the room and position its "ears", or speakers, for optimal sound. Another recognition feature is based on rhythm and tempo. If the user taps a beat, Shimi analyzes it, scans the phone's musical library and immediately plays the song that best matches the suggestions. Once the music starts, Shimi dances to the rhythm.

"Many people think that robots are limited by their programming instructions," said Music Technology Ph.

D. candidate Mason Bretan, "Shimi shows us that robots can be creative andinteractive. " Future apps in the works will allow the user to shake their head in disagreement or wave a hand in the air to alert Shimi to skip to the next song or increase/decrease the volume. The robot will also have the capability to recommend new music based on the user's songchoices and provide feedback on the music play list.

Weinberg hopes other developers will be inspired to create more apps to expand Shimi's creactive and interactive capabilities. "I believe that our center is ahead of a revolution that will see more robots in homes. " Weinberg said.

Weinberg is in the process of commercializing Shimi through an exclusive licensing agreement with Georgia Tech. Weinberg hopes to make the robot available to consumers by the 2013 holiday season. "If robots are going to arrive in homes, we think that they will be this kind of machines -- small, entertaining and fun," Weinberg said. "They will enhance your life and pave the way for more intelligent service robots in our lives.

Which of the following is NOT true according to the first three paragraphs____?

A．Shimi is a one-foot tall robot.

B．Shimi is the creator of the musical companion.

C．Shimi is a docking station (對(duì)接站) with a "brain" powered by an Androidphone.

D．Shimi can gain the sensing and musical generation capabilities of the user‘s mobile device.

37、What does Shimi do if the user taps a beat____?

A．It stores the beat in the musical library.

B．It transmits the beat to the docking station.

C．It positions its speakers for optimal sound.

D．It selects a perfectly-matched song.

38、Compared with those robber limited the programming, Shimi is____

A．same

B．similar

C．identical

D．different,

39、What is the prediction of Weinberg about Shimi____?

A．Shimi can be applied to all types of smart phones.

B．Shimi will bring more fun to the human lives.

C．himi will be appreciated by all users.

D．Shimi will be commercialized by the end of 2012.

40、What can we infer from the last paragraph____?

A．The research center is developing a stronger and more versatile Shimi.

B．Georgia Tech. will develop more apps for Shimi.

C．Shimi is not yet technologically ready for commercialization.

D．Robots such as Shimi are created for large corporations rather than homes.

41、根據(jù)材料，回答41-46問題。

第三篇

Researchers Discover Why Humans Began Walking Upright

Most of us walk and carry items in our hands every day. These are seemingly simpleactivities that the majority of us don't question. But an international team of researchers, including Dr. Richmond from GW's Columbian College of Arts and Sciences have discovered that human walking upright, may have originated millions of years ago as an adaptation to carrying scarce, high-quality resources. The team of researchers from the U. S. , England, Japan and Portugal investigated the behavior of modem-day chimpanzees as they competed for food resources, in an effort to understand what ecological settings would lead a large ape–one that resembles the 6 million-year old ancestor who shared in common with living chimpanzees --to walk on two legs.

"These chimpanzees provide a model of the ecological conditions under which our earliest ancestors might have begun walking on two legs," said Dr. Richmond.

The research findings suggest that chimpanzees switch to moving on two limbs instead of four in situations where they need to monopolize a resource. Standing on two legs allows them to carry much more at one time because it frees up their hands. Over time, intense bursts of bipedal activity may have led to anatomical changes that in turn became the subject of natural selection where competition for food or other resources was strong.

Two studies were conducted by the team in Guinea, The first study was conducted by the team in Kyoto University's " outdoor laboratory" in a natural clearing in Bossou Forest. Researchers allowed the wild chimpanzees access to different combinations of two different types of nut -- the oil palm nut, which is naturally widely available, and the coula nut (可樂果), which is not. The "chimpanzees" behavior was monitored in three situations: (a) when only oil palm nuts were vailable, (b) when a small number of coula nuts were available, and (c)when coula nuts were the majority available resource.

When the rare conla nuts were available only in small numbers, the chimpanzees transported more at one time. Similarly, when coula nuts were the majority resource, the chimpanzees ignored the oil palm nuts altogether. The chimpanzees regarded the coula nuts as a more highly-prized resource and competed for them more intensely.

In such high-competition settings, the frequency of cases in which the chimpanzees started moving on two legs increased by a factor of four. Not only was it obvious that bipedal movement allowed them to carry more of this precious resource, but also that they were actively trying to move as much as they could in one go by using everything available -- even their mouths.

The second study, by Kimberley Hockings of Oxford Brookes University was a 14-month study of Bossou chimpanzees crop-raiding, a situation in which they have to compete for rate and unpredictable resources. Here, 35 percent of the chimpanzees' activity involved some sort of bipedal movement, and once again, this behavior appeared to be linked to a clear attempt to carry as much as possible at one time.

Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the first two paragraphs?

A．Many people question the simple human activities of walking and carrying items.

B．Chimpanzee's behaviors may suggest why humans walk on two legs.

C．Human walking upright is viewed as an adaptation to carrying precious resources.

D．Our ancestors have something in common with those modern-day chimpanzees.

42、 Dr. Richmond conducted the experiment with the purpose of finding____

A．when humans began walking on two legs

B．what made our ancestors walk upright

C．what benefits walking upright brought to our ancestors

D．how walking upright helped chimpanzees monopolize resources

43、Kyoto Universitry's study discovered that chimpanzees___

A．regarded both types of nut as priced resources

B．preferred oil palm nuts to coula nuts

C． liked coula nuts better than oil palm nuts

D． ignored both types of nut altogether

44、 Why did the chimpanzees walk on two limbs during Kyoto University's experiment____?

A．Because they imitated the humnan way of walking just for fun.

B．Because they wanted to please the researchers to get more coula nuts fromthem.

C．Because they wanted to get to the nut-rich forest faster-by walking that way.

D．Because they wanted to carry more nuts with two free limbs.

45、What can we infer from the reading passage____?

A．Chimpanzees are in the same process of evolution as our ancestors were.

B．Chimpanzees are similar to humans in many behaviors.

C．Walking on two limbs and walking on four limbs each have their advantages.

D．Human walking on two legs developed as a means of survival.

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