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  3. The simple wooden house sits in an unremarkable old neighborhood in an Osaka suburb, the kind of place people forget still exist

The simple wooden house sits in an unremarkable old neighborhood in an Osaka suburb, the kind of place people forget still exist

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问题     The simple wooden house sits in an unremarkable old neighborhood in an Osaka suburb, the kind of place people forget still exists in modern Japan. There are no pachinko parlors or cyber cafes—no shops of any kind, really. It’s an unlikely place to encounter the next version of Japan’s technological evolution. But listen to what happens when a gray-haired septuagenarian named Kazuko Komiyama returns after visiting friends, "Welcome home," a voice chirps. "Isn’t it a nice day?"
    The high-pitched greeting belongs to a robot. It’s a simple machine, to be sure. This isn’t a thoughtful robotic character like those found in a Star Wars movie, or like Japan’s own popular creation Astro Boy. But it’s a robot nonetheless: a chocolate-brown wombat that eventually will be able to flutter its eyes when Komiyama, 77, enters the room and giggle when she scratches its fuzzy little head. It tells her what the weather is like. It reminds her when it’s time to take her medicine. It sings sweet songs to her.
    For Komiyama, a mechanical companion is a guard against the dreadful loneliness many elderly Japanese must endure. She saw one such tragic story on a TV news show recently. "An old man’s death went unnoticed because he lived alone," she says. "Day after day, his diary read, ’I didn’t meet anybody today. Again. ’I don’t want to end up like that. " So when welfare workers from the Osaka suburb of Ikeda asked for volunteers to test the prototype of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.’s pet robot, she jumped at the chance. She keeps the robot sitting in her living room. After a month, she’s starting to warm up to the thing, despite one irritating habit. "It speaks with a childish voice," she complains. "That makes me feel like I’m treated as an old person. I would rather have an equal relationship with a robot. "
    This is modern Japan, a Gizmo Nation where even grandmothers make friends with their gadgets. For half a century, the Japanese have made it a cultural mission to turn out a succession of cool, elegant and increasingly human machines. And what machines they have become: robotic geishas; headgear that projects computer screens in midair in front of wearers’ eyes; toilets that measure a person’s weight, body fat and urine sugar levels. The country that gave the world transistor radios, the Walkman and hand-held videogames is now positioned to turn its love of gadgetry into a profitable national enterprise once again.
Who giggles after Komiyama comes into the room according to the passage?
选项 A、The old woman Komiyama herself.
B、Komiyama’s fantastic pet robot.
C、A mechanical companion in Star Wars.
D、A naughty Japan’s creation Astro Boy.
答案B
解析 问题题干中有关键词giggle，因此我们可以利用查阅式阅读法，在第二段中找到与此相关的信息。文中指出，原来这尖细的问候声是一个机器人发出的。当然，这机器人不很复杂，不像电影《星球大战》中的那些机器人一样可以思考，也不像日本自己创作的受欢迎的形象铁臂阿童木一样。然而这的确是一个机器人。这个外形酷似澳洲袋熊的巧克力色机器人会在77岁的小宫山进门后向她眨眼睛，会在她微笑着用手抚摸了一下它那毛茸茸的小脑袋时咯咯地笑。它会向主人报告天气情况，提醒她吃药，还会为她唱几首动听的歌曲。因此，本题的正确答案应为B，小宫山的奇异的宠物机器人。
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