2017英语专八阅读100篇高级篇附答案解析（14）

2017英语专八阅读100篇高级篇附答案解析（14）

　　Since the dawn ofhuman ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning tools to cope with workthat is dangerous, boring, burdensome, or just plain nasty. That compulsion hasresulted in robotics—the science of conferring various human capabilities on machines.And if scientists have yet to create the mechanical version of science fiction,they have begun to come close。

　　As a result, the modern world is increasingly populated byintelligent gizmos whose presence we barely notice but whose universalexistence has removed much human labor. Our factories hum to the rhythm ofrobot assembly arms. Our banking is done at automated teller terminals thatthank us with mechanical politeness for the transaction. Our subway trains arecontrolled by tireless robot-drivers. And thanks to the continualminiaturization of electronics and micro-mechanics, there are already robotsystems that can perform some kinds of brain and bone surgery withsubmillimeter accuracy—far greater precision than highly skilled physicians can achievewith their hands alone。

　　But if robots are to reach the next stage of laborsaving utility,they will have to operate with less human supervision and be able to make atleast a few decisions for themselves—goals that pose areal challenge. “While we know how to tell a robot to handle a specific error,” says DaveLavery, manager of a robotics program at NASA, “we can't yet give arobot enough ‘common sense’ to reliably interact with a dynamic world。”

　　Indeed the quest for true artificial intelligence has produced verymixed results. Despite a spell of initial optimism in the 1960s and 1970s whenit appeared that transistor circuits and microprocessors might be able to copythe action of the human brain by the year 2010, researchers lately have begunto extend that forecast by decades if not centuries。

　　What they found, in attempting to model thought, is that the humanbrain's roughly one hundred billion nerve cells are much more talented—and humanperception far more complicated—than previously imagined. They have built robots that can recognizethe error of a machine panel by a fraction of a millimeter in a controlledfactory environment. But the human mind can glimpse a rapidly changing sceneand immediately disregard the 98 percent that is irrelevant, instantaneouslyfocusing on the monkey at the side of a winding forest road or the singlesuspicious face in a big crowd. The most advanced computer systems on Earthcan't approach that kind of ability, and neuroscientists still don't know quitehow we do it。

　　26. Human ingenuity was initially demonstrated in

　　[A]the use of machines to produce science fiction。

　　[B]the wide use of machines in manufacturing industry。

　　[C]the invention of tools for difficult and dangerous work.

　　[D]the elite's cunning tackling of dangerous and boring work.

　　27. The word “gizmos" (line 1, paragraph 2) most probably means

　　[A]programs.

　　[B]experts.

　　[C]devices.

　　[D]creatures。

　　28. According to the text, what is beyond man's ability now is todesign a robot that can

　　[A]fulfill delicate tasks like performing brain surgery。

　　[B]interact with human beings verbally。

　　[C]have a little common sense。

　　[D]respond independently to a changing world。

　　29. Besides reducing human labor, robots can also

　　[A]make a few decisions for themselves。

　　[B]deal with some errors with human intervention。

　　[C]improve factory environments。

　　[D]cultivate human creativity。

　　30. The author uses the example of a monkey to argue that robotsare

　　[A]expected to copy human brain in internal structure。

　　[B]able to perceive abnormalities immediately。

　　[C]far less able than human brain in focusing on relevantinformation。

　　[D]best used in a controlled environment。

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