教材试题 Unit 2 Reading Task (Workbook)

Unit 2 Robots(Workbook)READING TASKROBOTS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST LANDMINES LANDMINES KILL OR BADLY INJURE around 26,000 people every year. That is one person every 20 minutes. What is worse is that they keep causing damage for decades after wars have ended. There are about 100 million landmines buried just beneath the surface of the ground in 60 countries. Most of the victims are innocent people women, children, farmers who happen to step on them as they go about their daily lives. By Natasha WesleyWe seem to be losing the fight against landmines. While, every year, about 100, 000 landmines are removed, two million more are buried in the ground. Removing them is very slow and dangerous work that must be done by hand. Someone has to use a metal detector to find the mines. This is very inaccurate as the metal detector finds all metal objects, not just the mines, and it does not find new types of mine which are covered in plastic. Then he or she has to dig the mine out without setting it off. Using this method it could take centuries to rid the world of landmines. This is where robotics comes in. Several countries are working on technological solutions to the landmines problem. As part of Japans support for finding and removing landmines in Afghanistan, Japanese scientists and engineers have been researching into robotics. One of the most exciting projects is at Chiba University where a robot that looks something like an insect is being developed. It is 4 metres long, 1.8 metres wide, 1 metre high, and weighs 900 kilograms, about the size of a small car. It walks on six legs and when it finds a mine, it marks the spot with paint and sends data to a computer which can then map the mines. As well as being much safer than finding mines by hand, the insect robot is also much faster. The university is also experimenting with the robot so that it can use radar to search for plastic mines. The goal is for the computer to use the data it receives to determine not only whether an object is just a piece of metal or a mine but also what type of mine it is. The researchers hope that mass production of robots will start in the next year or so and they will be used in such countries as Afghanistan and Cambodia. In the 1990s world opinion built up against the use of landmines and, in 1997, 122 countries signed an agreement in Ottawa, Canada, to stop the manufacture and use of landmines. However, the task of clearing mines is still a very difficult one. Perhaps robotics will provide a solution, but as every 20 minutes goes by, one more person is killed or badly injured. 1 You can find out a lot about a text by glancing through it quickly. Before you read the magazine article about landmines, glance through it quickly and answer these questions. You do not have to write the answers down. 1 Which part of the text tells you what the main topic of the article is? What is the main topic?2 Who wrote the article?3 What do the three pictures show you?4 Where is research being done on robots that can find landmines?5 In which two countries might the robots be used?2 Now read the article more carefully and answer the questions. 1 What are the three reasons why landmines are particularly terrible?2 How are most landmines removed today?3 Why is this method so dangerous?4 What are some of the advantages of using the insect-like robot to remove landmines?5 What is the robot able to do?6 Why is Chiba University trying to develop a robot that can use radar?7 What was the result of many countries fighting against the use of landmines?8 Which sentence does the writer use to emphasize the need to find solutions quickly to removing landmines?3 Write questions for these answers. Check your work with a partner. QuestionsAnswers126,000 people. 2One person every 20 minutes. 3For decades after the wars have ended. 4100 million. 560 countries. 6100,000. 72 million. 84m long, 1.8m wide, 1m high. 9900kgs. 10Six. 111997. 12122 countries. Answer key for Exercise 1：1 The title. The main topic is the role of robots in the fight against landmines. 2 Natasha Wesley. 3 Someone using a metal detector to find landmines；the robot that can find landmines；someone who has lost his legs because of landmines. 4 Chiba University (Japan). 5 Afghanistan and Cambodia. Answer key for Exercise 2：1 Landmines kill or badly injure a lot of people；they keep injuring people for decades after wars have ended；they injure innocent people. 2 They are removed by hand and by using a metal detector. 3 Because metal detectors do not find the new kind of landmines which are covered in plastic (and therefore the person could step on one of these)；there is a great danger that the person will set the mine off while digging it out. 4 Advantages of using the robot：it is much safer and faster than finding mines by hand；the lives of the people who try to find mines are not in danger. 5 The robot can mark the spots where it detects mines with paint, and send data to a computer so a map of the mines can be drawn. 6 Because radar can be used to detect plastic mines. 7 An agreement to stop the manufacture and use of landmines (signed in 1997 in Ottawa, Canada). 8 “Perhaps robotics will provide a solution, but as another 20 minutes goes by, one more person is killed or badly injured.” Sample answer key for Exercise 3：1 How many people are killed or injured by a landmines every year?2 How often is someone killed or injured by a l