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  3. The idea of humanoid robots is not new. They have been part of the imaginative landscape ever since Karl Capek, a Czech writer,

The idea of humanoid robots is not new. They have been part of the imaginative landscape ever since Karl Capek, a Czech writer,

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问题     The idea of humanoid robots is not new. They have been part of the imaginative landscape ever since Karl Capek, a Czech writer, first dreamed them up for his 1921 play "Possum’s Universal Robots".(The word "robot" comes from the Czech word for drudgery, robota.)Since then, Hollywood has produced countless variations on the theme, from the sultry False Maria in Fritz Lang’s silent masterpiece "Metropolis" to the withering C-3PO in "Star Wars" and the ruthless assassin of " Terminator". Humanoid robots have walked into our collective subconscious, coloring our views of the future.
    But now Japan’s industrial giants are spending billions of yen to make such robots a reality. Their new humanoids represent impressive feats of engineering: when Honda introduced Asimo, a four-foot robot that had been in development for some 15 years, it walked so fluidly that its white, articulated exterior seemed to conceal a human. Honda continues to make the machine faster, friendlier and more agile. Last October, when Asimo was inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame in Pittsburgh, it walked on the stage and accepted its own plaque.
    At two and a half feet tall, Sony’s QRIO is smaller and more toy-like than Asimo. It walks, understands a small number of voice commands, and can navigate on its own. If it falls over, it gets up and resumes where it left off. It can even connect wirelessly to the Internet and broadcast what its camera eyes can see. In 2003, Sony demonstrated an upgraded QRIO that could run. Honda responded last December with a version of Asimo that runs at twice the speed.
    In 2004, Toyota joined the fray with its own family of robots, called Partner, one of which is a four-foot humanoid that plays the trumpet. Its fingers work the instrument’s valves, and it has mechanical lungs and artificial lips. Toyota hopes to offer a commercial version of the robot by 2010. This month, 50 Partner robots will act as guides at Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan.
    Despite their sudden proliferation, however, humanoids are still a mechanical minority. Most of the world’s robots are faceless, footless and mute. They are bolted to the floors of factories, stamping out car parts or welding pieces of metal, making more machines. According to the United Nations, business orders for industrial robots jumped 18% in the first half of 2004. They may soon be outnumbered by domestic robots, such as self-navigating vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers, and window-washers , which are selling fast. But neither industrial nor domestic robots are humanoid.
Judging from the context, this passage is probably written______.
选项 A、in 2004
B、in 2005
C、between 2003 ~ 2004
D、between 2004 ~ 2005
答案B
解析 细节推断题。要求考生选出文章可能的书写时间，从文章全文来看，两次出现时间2004年句子使用的均为过去时，可判定此文的写作时间不会早于2004年，排除选项C。同时，根据原文第四段尾句This month，…at Expo 2005 in Aichi，Japan的信息，不难确定文章的写作时问就是2005年，故答案为B。
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