2. 外语
  3. Some day there will be a robot that takes the drudgery (苦工,单调沉闷的工作) out of housework—and even cleans windows, but how soon such

Some day there will be a robot that takes the drudgery (苦工,单调沉闷的工作) out of housework—and even cleans windows, but how soon such

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问题     Some day there will be a robot that takes the drudgery (苦工,单调沉闷的工作) out of housework—and even cleans windows, but how soon such a robot will emerge is anybody’s guess. Mr. Joseph Engelberger, President of Unimation, Inc. , which makes industrial robots, says a workable domestic robot might take shape by the late 1980s, but Mr. Ben Skora, an amateur robot builder now working on his second creation, predicts household robots in about fifty years, and the Director of Stanford University’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Dr. John McCarthy, says domestic robots are anywhere from five to five hundred years away.
    Although robots are already widely used in industry—from welding (焊接) car parts to handling explosives—the gap between the industrial robot and a domestic one is great, according to Dr. McCarthy. Closing the gap will require an intellectual break-through.
    "Take the task of clearing the table and washing the dishes," he suggested. "The robots will have to be able to discriminate between rubbish and dishes that should be washed and, meanwhile, not trip over the dog or baby on the floor on its way to the dishwasher. "
    He said that the robot, which he defines as a general purpose physical action machine that is automatically controlled, probably will not end up looking anything like a human being. Instead the robot might have a central "brain" that controls a whole army of bodies, like a staff of servants, each assigned to a specific duty.
    Mr. Engelberger thinks the domestic robot is right around in corner, just waiting for an economic boost to help it over the remaining technological hurdles. He expects the household robot to be modeled after an industrial forebear (祖先).
    "But the person who wants a robot will have to build this world around it," Mr. Engelberger said. For example, a fellow building a house might spend twenty-five per cent more to have it "robotized". Such a "robotized" house probably would have to be free of stairs and other encumbrances (障碍物) that could trip a near-sighted robot, would provide special sockets (插座) for it to plug into, and would contain a "pantry" (餐具室) where the robot’s brain and tools would be stored.
    He added that the robot would probably have to use (by means of a sophisticated TV camera) and have a sense of touch to do housework. It could even be programmed for some superhuman tasks, such as acting as a smoke-detector that would alert a family to a fire and then fight it.
The day domestic robots come into being is______.
选项 A、coming very soon
B、definite
C、impossible
D、uncertain
答案D
解析 本题问家用机器人何时会诞生。文章第一段指出，也许有一天人们将研制出一种家用机器人，能帮助人们做那些辛苦而令人厌倦的家务活，甚至可以擦窗户，但具体是哪一天还尚无人知晓。许多人各抒己见，生产工业用机器人的联合自动化有限公司的董事长约瑟夫·安琪尔伯格认为可行的家用机器人可望在20世纪80年代出现；而正在研制第二个机器人的业余爱好者本·斯考拉先生，预计家用机器人在大约50年内被制造出来；而斯坦福大学人工智能实验室主任约翰·麦卡锡博士则认为家用机器人将在未来5年至500年间诞生。因此，本题的正确答案应是D“还不确定”。
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