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Robots have taken over many of America’s factories. But can they pick a strawberry? “It’s really hard for robots to match what humans can do,” says Bob Pizter, an expert on robots.
Any 4-year-old kid can pick a strawberry, but machines can’t seem to figure it out. Pizter says the hardest thing for them is finding the fruit. Pizter’s strawberry-picking robot is rolling into a strawberry field. This well-designed device drives itself. It’s as big as a bus, long enough to straddle (跨越) a dozen rows of strawberries at once. Powerful computers are sitting on top. Underneath, there are high-definition cameras to find the berries, and robotic claws ready to pick them.
“Nobody’s telling it what to do,” explains Paul Bissett, the chief operating officer of Harvest CROO Robotics. “It’s remembering its path down the row. It’s remembering where all these plants are.” It knows all this, thanks to the super-accurate GPS. Its computer brain contains a map showing the locations of every strawberry plant in the field. The action of machinery is truly impressive, but the baskets are still practically empty. Pitzer says the robots are able to find and pick more than 50 percent of ripe berries. That’s not yet up to human standards. A typical worker, he says, manages to pick anywhere from 60 to 90 percent of the berries. Also, he admits, the machine is slower than human hands. On the other hand, it has some advantages. It can work right through the night. Two years later, he says, this machine will be in the fields working for real. “There are weaknesses to work out, but it’s getting there. We’re close.” he says.
Strawberry companies are putting millions of dollars into this project. The reason, Gary Wishnatzki, the owner of Wish Farms says, is that it’s getting more and more difficult to find enough people to pick his berries. “The fact of the matter is, if we don’t solve the problem of this labor shortage with automation, the industry is facing a big challenge ahead. The price of fruit is going to be much higher,” Jose Santos, the leader of the farm, says.
Jose is pretty convinced, though, that picking strawberries will always require people. The machines will break down, he points out. In fact, he’s looking on the bright side. “You could afford to give people a day off if you have machines behind you,” he says.
1.According to the passage, the strawberry-picking robot __________.
A.can work extra hours B.relies on GPS only to find berries
C.runs on petrol just like a bus D.picks both ripe and unripe berries
2.What do people mentioned in the passage think of the strawberry-picking robot?
A.It will lead to the price of strawberries rising.
B.It keeps human workers working through night.
C.It is not very efficient at the moment but promising.
D.It will completely take the place of human workers.
3.We know from the article that __________.
A.robots have been widely used in farming
B.it seems hard for robots to exactly locate strawberries now
C.robots can surely perform any work better than human workers
D.with the help of robots, strawberry companies have already earned much
4.What does the passage mainly talk about?
A.The working principle of strawberry-picking robots.
B.Farmers’ expectations for strawberry-picking robots.
C.The present state of strawberry-picking robots.
D.The differences between humans and strawberry-picking robots.
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If you live in a place where most people speak the language you are learning, you may use the language for several hours each day. So it may become part of your “inner speech.” In other words, you start thinking in that language. Your mind stops trying to translate things from your native language into the second language. But most of the English learners live in places where English is not the main language. This may be true for you. You may not have many chances to practice English. You may even be self-taught.
Thinking in English really helps! It is not very difficult, but it does need practice. Here we will share some mental exercises. A good first step is to think in words. Look around you. What do you see? In your head, try to name each object in your surroundings. Charles Thomas has taught English for over 10 years. He tells his students to name the things that they see around them, wherever they are.
Another exercise Thomas suggest is describing in your mind objects you don’t know the words for. An example would be if you couldn’t think of the word “garage”. Thomas says, “If you’re looking at your house and you see your garage, but you can’t think of the name in English. You can say, ‘The place inside where I put my car’ or you can say, ‘It’s next to my house. I keep things there.’”
The next exercise is thinking in simple sentences. For example, if you are sitting in a park, you can tell yourself things like, “It’s such a beautiful day” and “People are playing sports with their friends.” You can also describe your daily activities. Thomas asks his students to describe their day using the simple present verb form. So, they would think to themselves things like, “I put on my shirt” and “He drives the bus.”
How much time should you spend on these exercises? Thomas says you do a little every day. “When you make things a habit, then it just pops up into your mind without thinking and then, before you know it, really, you’re thinking in English.”
1.When a second language becomes part of your “inner speech”, ________.
A.most people around you speak the language
B.you start thinking in the language
C.you translate things from your native language into it
D.you learn the language by yourself
2.“The place inside where I put my car” is an example for ________
A.naming objects in your surroundings
B.thinking in simple sentences
C.describing objects you don’t know the words for
D.describing your daily activities
3.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A.Spend your time on exercises
B.Teach yourself a second language
C.Train your brain to think in English
D.Practice English wherever you are
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Rumors (谣言): we've all heard some and we've all spread some. In more traditional times they shook entire families. Today, they travel differently because the way we share information has also changed.
The fact is that rumors have great potential to upset things, whether socially or personally. We don't enjoy being on the receiving end of one, since they usually don't have good intentions. They are somewhat veiled (掩饰的) messages.
Normally rumors are oral messages: word of mouth. The paradox (自相矛盾) is that there is no evidence to support rumors, but the more people share it, the more they see it as true. To finish explaining rumors, we think that they follow certain very clear laws. Secrecy: The source is unknown. There is also a proven phenomenon that human beings usually forget the source of a message before they forget its content. Certainty: We hardly question rumors simply because of the mental effort involved. On the other hand, no one likes to doubt a person who convinces us that the information they spread is true. Change: It acts like a tree. New rumors branch out to fill in the gaps left by the first rumor.
Another property (属性) of rumors is that they tend to become viral. Each receiver is at the same time a potential transmitter (传输者) of the information. The receiver often adds their own opinion. Their manner and tone of transmitting it also changes it.
How can we end rumors? The answer is as simple as it is impossible: preventing people from communicating. A more realistic response is equally difficult, although less than the first one. It is that we should be critical of the information we receive. We should ask ourselves if the source is reliable. Ask (if possible) the person you heard it from whether they also trust the information. We should also think about if the rumor benefits someone, and if that someone started the rumor.
One rumor to be especially cautious of is a rumor about groups relatively unable to defend themselves. That's why we say, "History is always told by the winners." The first payment the defeated must make is to accept the victor's version of the story.
1.What can we learn about rumors?
A.We have all heard some and believed them.
B.We're happy to be the receiving end of them.
C.They may have negative influence on society.
D.They often hide good intentions in the messages.
2.How are rumours like a tree?
A.Rumours keep changing, just as trees change their colour.
B.Rumours are deeply rooted in reality, like tree roots in the earth.
C.New rumours have gaps, like the space between tree branches.
D.New rumours grow out of the original, like branches out of a trunk.
3.What does the underlined word ‘viral’ in Para 4 probably mean?
A.Something easily spread.
B.Something acceptable.
C.Something easily defended.
D.Something beneficial.
4.Which of the following may the author agree with?
A.It is easy to prevent people from spreading rumors.
B.People are often active in judging the rumors critically.
C.We should think about the hidden message of the rumors.
D.Stories told by the victors are usually better worth trusting.
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Slowly but surely, we’re moving closer and closer to 5G world. From smart-home security to self-driving cars, all the internet-connected devices in your life will be able to talk to each other at lightning-fast speeds with reduced delay, Objectively speaking, the fastest 4G download speeds in the U. S. top out at an average of 19.42 Mbps. But by comparison 5G promises gigabit (千兆) speeds.
“5G is one of those signs, along with artificial intelligence, of this coming data age,” said Steve Koenig, senior director of market research for the Consumer Technology Association. “The self-driving vehicle is a great emblem of this data age, and that is to say, it is a sign of time, because with one single task, driving, you have massive amounts of data coming from the vehicle itself, and a variety of sensors are collecting a lot of information to model its environment as it moves. It’s pulling in data from other vehicles about road conditions down the lane. It could be weather information, but also connected infrastructure (基础设施) construction. There’s lots of data behind that task, which is why we need high speed.
Augmented reality glasses and virtual headset haven’t yet broken the mainstream, but tech companies are joyfully betting that these devices will eventually replace our smartphones. With 5G, that could actually happen. This is notable because companies such as Apple are reportedly developing AR glasses to assist — or perhaps even replace — smartphones.
Ericsson stated at February’s Mobile World Congress how smart glasses could become faster and lighter with a 5G connection, because instead of being weighed down with components, the glasses could rely on hardware for processing power.
But don’t get too excited. There’s still a lot of work to be done in the meantime, including various trials to make sure the radios play nicely with hardware and infrastructure construction so 5G isn’t concentrated only in big cities.
1.What does the author want to stress in Paragraph 1?
A.The lighting-fast speed of 5G.
B.The expectation of 5G world.
C.The difference between 4G and 5G.
D.The internet-connected devices in our life.
2.What does the underlined word “emblem” in Paragraph 2 mean?
A.Exhibition. B.Success.
C.Symbol. D.Explanation.
3.We can infer from the text that ________.
A.5G world won’t come without AR glasses
B.5G helps to create the artificial intelligence vehicle
C.Apple company is developing AR glasses worldwide
D.Tech companies will face the fact that smartphones may be replaced
4.What will the author probably tell us next?
A.How to fully expand 5G coverage.
B.Smart glasses will become faster and lighter.
C.Why 5G isn’t concentrated in big cities.
D.The importance of infrastructure construction.
