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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

admin2016-03-04  42
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.
Which of the following is not mentioned as one of the roles the robots can play?
选项 A、Helpful instruments.
B、Friendly companions.
C、Entertaining machines.
D、Instructive educators.
答案D
解析 利用查阅式阅读法，我们不难找出文章的第四段是与本题有关的部分。这段指出，这就是现代的日本。在这个充满小发明的国家，甚至年逾古稀的老奶奶都和身边的机械小玩意儿交朋友。半个世纪以来，日本人一直将研制一系列外形酷雅、人性化极强的人工智能机器视为一种文化使命。现在有哪些新鲜玩意儿?艺妓机器人；可以将计算机屏幕投射到戴用者眼前半空中的头饰；可以测量人体重、脂肪含量以及尿糖指标的洁具。这个曾将晶体管收音机、随身听以及手持视频游戏机奉献给世界的国家，现正准备再次将其对小玩意儿的挚爱转变为可以赢利的民族企业。这里艺妓机器人与答案C相符；将计算机屏幕投射到戴用者眼前半空中的头饰以及可以测量人体重、脂肪含量以及尿糖指标的洁具与答案A相关；而文章主要在介绍家用机器人对解决老年人孤独问题有什么帮助，这一点与答案B有关。因此，本题的正确答案应是D，具有指导性的教育者。
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