2015年新版职称英语教材新增文章.docx

2015年新版职称英语教材新增文章系列之理工类 补全短文 第十三篇Affectionate AndroidsComputers are now powerful enough to allow the age of humanoid robots to dawn1. And it wont be long before we will see realistic cyber companions, complete with skin, dexterity, and intelligence. They will be programmed to tend to your every need.Will we ever want to marry robots? Artificial intelligence researcher David Levy has published a book claiming human-robot relationships will become popular in the next few decades. _1_Will humans really be able to form deep emotional attachments to machines? It will, in fact, be relatively easy to form these strong attachments because the human mind loves to anthropomorphize: to give human attributes to other creatureseven objects.For example, researchers in San Diego recently put a small humanoid robot in with a toddler playgroup for several months. _2_ The children ended up treating it as a fellow toddler. When it lay down because its batteries were flat，the kids even covered it with a blanket.In a few decades, when humanoid robots with plastic skin look and feel very real, will people want to form relationships with them? What if the bots could hold a conversation? And be programmed to be the perfect companionssoul mates, even? _3_ And like those toddlers in the experiment, they will be very accepting of them.The next question, then, is whether there is anything wrong with having an emotional relationship with a machine. Even today there are people who form deep attachments to their pets and use them as substitutes for friends or even children. Few consider that unethical._4_ For those who always seem to end up marrying the wrong man or woman, a robotic Mr. or Ms. Right could be mighty tempting. As the father of artificial intelligence, Marvin Minsky, put it when asked about the ethics of lonely older people forming close relationships with robots: “If a robot had all the virtues of a person and was smarter and more understanding, why would the elderly bother talking to other grumpy old people?”A robot could be programmed to be as dumb or smart, as independent or subservient, as an owner desired. And thats the big disadvantage. Having the perfect robot partner will damage the ability to form equally deep human-human relationships. People will always seem imperfect in comparison. When youre behaving badly, a good friend will tell you. _5_People in relationships have to learn to adapt to each other: to enjoy their common interests and to deal with their differences. It makes us richer, stronger, and wiser. A robot companion will be perfect at the start. However, there will be nothing to move the relationship to grow to greater heights.【练习】AIts easier to have a robot companion instead of a human friend.BBut a sophisticated robot will probably be even more attractive.CAnd if you want to go ahead and tie the knot with your special electronic friend，Levy said that such marriages will be socially acceptable by around 2050.DHowever, few owners will program their robots to point out their flaws. （第1页）1995 when 17 players on a football pitch were hit simultaneously. The most extraordinary aspect of the strike was the fact that 11 of the victimsseven adults and four childrenhad burn patterns of tiny holes at 3 centimetre intervals on each toe and around the soles of their feet.Harold Deal, a retired electrician from South Carolina, USA, was struck by lightning 26 years ago. He was apparently unhurt, but it later emerged that the strike had damaged the part of the brain which controls the sensation of temperature. _5_Animals are victims of lightning too2Hundreds of cows and sheep are killed every year, largely because they go under trees. In East Anglia in 1918, 504 sheep were killed instantaneously by the same bolt of lightning that hit the ground and travelled through the entire flock. Lightning is also responsible for starting more than 10,000 forest fires each year world-wide.【练习】ANo wonder the ancient Greeks thought it was Zeus, father of the gods, throwing thunderbolts around in anger.BIn fact, a golf course is one of the most dangerous places to be during a thunderstorm.CLightning has long been hailed as one of the most impressive displays of natures power.DWhen I picked myself up, the roof and the entire upper storey of the house had been demolished.EOccasionally there are warning signs.FSince then the freezing South Carolina winters havent bothered Harold, since he is completely unable to feel the cold.【答案与题解】1D 2A 3E 4B 5F 2015年新版职称英语教材新增文章系列之理工类 补全短文 第五篇A Record-Breaking RoverNASAs Mars rover Opportunity has boldly gone where no rover has gone beforeat least in terms of distance. _1_On July 27, after years of moving about on Martian ground, the golf-cart-sized Opportunity had driven more than 24 miles, beating the previous record holdera Soviet rover sent to the moon in 1973.“This is so remarkable considering Opportunity was intended to drive about 1 kilometer and was never designed for distance,” says John Callas, the Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager._2_ “But what is really importantly is not how many miles the rover has racked up, but how much exploration and discovery we have accomplished over that distance.”OPPORTUNITY （第4页）Bthe formation of glucose.Cglobal warming.Dwater getting to the roots of plants.4This passage is primarily developed byAexplaining a process.Btelling a story.Ccomparing and contrasting.Dconvincing the reader of plants importance.5Another good title for this passage would beAOxygen and Carbon Dioxide.BPlants and Their Roots.CHow Photosynthesis Works.DWhy Our Earth Needs Water.【答案与题解】1B 2D3A4A 5C 2015年新版职称英语教材新增文章系列之理工类 补全短文 第九篇Lightening StrikesThree years ago a bolt of lightning all but destroyed Lyn Millers house in Aberdeenwith her two children inside. “There was a huge rainstorm,” she says, recalling the terrifying experience. “My brother and I were outside desperately working to stop floodwater from coming in the house. Suddenly I was thrown to the ground by an enormous bang. _1_ The door was blocked by rubble, but we forced our way in and found the children, thankfully unharmed. Later I was told to be struck by lightning is a chance in a million.” In fact, its calculated at one chance in 600,000. Even so, Dr Mark Keys of AER Technology, an organisation that monitors the effects of lightning, thinks you should be sensible. “I wouldnt go out in a stormbut then Im quite a careful person.” He advises anyone who is unlucky enough to be caught in a storm to get down on the ground and curl up into a ball, making yourself as small as possible.Lightning is one of natures most awesome displays of sheer power. _2_ 250 years ago, Benjamin Franklin, the American scientist and statesman，proved that lightning is a form of electricity, but scientists still lack a complete understanding of how it works._3_ Positive electrical charges streaming upwards from trees or church spires may glow and make a buzzing noise, and peoples hair can stand on end. And if you fear lightning, youll be glad to know that a company in America has manufactured a hand-held lightning detector which can detect it up to 70 kms away, sound a warning tone and monitor the storms approach.Nancy Wilder was playing golf at a club in Surrey when she was hit by a bolt of lightning. Mrs Wilders heart stopped beating, but she was resuscitated and, after a few days in hospital, where she was treated for bums to her head, hands and feet, she was pronounced fit again. Since that time, she has been a strictly fair weather golfer1. _4_ The best place to be is inside a car!The largest number of people to be struck by lightning at one time was in September （第3页）EMaybe your generation could resist, but eventually there will be a generation of people who grow up with humanoid robots as a normal part of life.FThe bot knew each child because it was programmed with face and voice recognition，and it giggled when tickled.【答案与题解】1C 2F 3E 4B 5D 2015年新版职称英语教材新增文章系列之理工类 阅读理解 第九篇An Essential Scientific ProcessAll life on the earth depends upon green plants. Using sunlight, the plants produce their own food. Then animals feed upon the plants. They take in the nutrients the plants have made and stored. But thats not all. Sunlight also helps a plant produce oxygen. Some of the oxygen is used by the plant, but a plant usually produces more oxygen than it uses. The excess oxygen is necessary for animals and other organisms to live.The process of changing light into food and oxygen is called photosynthesis. Besides light energy from the sun, plants also use water and carbon dioxide. The water gets to the plant through its roots. The carbon dioxide enters the leaves through tiny openings called stomata. The carbon dioxide travels to chloroplasts, special cells in the bodies of green plants. This is where photosynthesis takes place. Chloroplasts contain the chlorophylls that give plants their green color. The chlorophylls are the molecules that trap light energy. The trapped light energy changes water and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and a simple sugar called glucose.Carbon dioxide and oxygen move into and out of the stomata. Water vapor also moves out of the stomata. More than 90 percent of water a plant takes in through its roots escapes through the stomata. During the daytime, the stomata of most plants are open. This allows carbon dioxide to enter the leaves for photosynthesis. As night falls, carbon dioxide is not needed. The stomata of most plants close. Water loss stops.If photosynthesis ceased, there would be little food or other organic matter on the earth. Most organisms would disappear. The earths atmosphere would no longer contain oxygen. Photosynthesis is essential for life on our planet.【练习】1 In the first paragraph，the word “excess” meansAheavy. Bextra. Cgreen. Dliquid.2Which of the following does not move through a plants stomata?ACarbon dioxide.BWater vapor.COxygen.DFood.3In the title, the term Essential Scientific Process refers toAphotosynthesis. （第2页） The solar-powered Opportunity and its twin rover, Spirit, landed on Mars 10 years ago on a mission expected to last 3 months. _3_Spirit stopped communicating with Earth in March 2010, a few months after it got stuck in a sand pit. But Opportunity has continued to collect and analyze Martian soil and rocks.During its mission, Opportunity has captured, and sent back to Earth, some 187,000 panoramic and microscopic images of Mars with its cameras. _4_MARATHON ROVERThe rover doesnt seem to be ready to stop just yet. If Opportunity can continue on, it will reach another major investigation site when its odometer hits 26.2 miles. _5_Researchers believe that clay minerals exposed near Marathon Valley could hold clues to Marss ancient environment1. Opportunitys continuing travels will also help researchers as they plan for an eventual human mission to the Red Planet.【练习】AIt has also provided scientists with data on the planets atmosphere, soil, rocks, and terrain.BHe works at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.CScientists call this site Marathon Valley, because when the rover reaches the area, it will have traveled the same distance as the length of a marathon since its arrival on Mars.DOpportunity has been working on Mars since January 2004.EThe objective of the rovers was to help scientists learn more about the planet and to search for signs of life，such as the possible presence of water.FSince arriving on the Red Planet in 2004, Opportunity has traveled 25.01 miles, more than any other wheeled vehicle has on another world.【答案与题解】1F2B 3E 4A 5C 2015年新版职称英语教材新增文章系列之理工类 阅读理解 第二十二篇Real World RobotsWhen you think of a robot, do you envision a shiny, metallic device having the same general shape as a human being, performing humanlike functions, and responding to your questions in a monotone voice accentuated by high-pitched tones and beeps? This is the way many of us imagine a robot, but in the real world, a robot is not humanoid at all. Instead a robot often is a voiceless, box-shaped machine that efficiently carries out repetitive or dangerous functions usually performed by humans. Todays robot is more than an automatic machine that performs one task again and again. A modern robot is programmed with varying degrees of artificial intelligencethat is, a robot contains a computer program that tells it how to perform tasks associated with human intelligence, such as reasoning, drawing conclusions, and learning from past experience. （第5页）A robot does not possess a human shape for the simple reason that a two-legged robot has great difficulty remaining balanced. A robot does, however, move from place to place on wheels and axles that roll and rotate. A robot even has limbs that swivel and move in combination with joints and motors. To find its way in its surroundings1, a robot utilizes various built-in sensors. Antennae attached to the robots base detect anything they bump into. If the robot starts to teeter as it moves on an incline, a gyroscope or a pendulum inside it senses the vertical differential. To d