51. What is the best title of this passage?

　　　 A. “Thank You” Will Never Be Needed in Japan

　　　 B. Monitoring Technologies Are Widespread in Japan

　　　 C. Robot Is Designed to Care for the Elderly.

　　　 D. Robot technologies are widespread in Japanese daily life.

50. It can be concluded from the passage that _______.

　 A. we should not believe what we see or hear.

　 B. things moving downward are more noticeable.

　 C. people sometimes may have wrong ideas about ordinary phenomena.

　 D. adults are not as good as children in observing certain natural phenomena.

C

TOKYO, Japan (AP) – Japan is very serious about robotics (机器人技术). If the droids are going to fit in, they probably need to learn the Japanese custom of serving tea. Fortunately, researchers at the University of Tokyo are exploring just that. In a show this week, a humanoid(有人特点的)with camera eyes made by Kawada Industries Inc. poured tea from a bottle into a cup.Then another robot on wheels delivered the cup of tea in an experimental room that has sensors embedded in the floor and sofa as well as cameras on the ceiling, to simulate(模仿)life with robot technology.

“A human being may be faster, but you’d have to say ‘Thank you,’” said University of Tokyo professor Tomomasa Sato. “That’s the best part about a robot. You don’t have to feel bad about asking it to do things.”

Sato believes Japan, a rapidly aging society where more than a fifth of the population is 65 or older, will lead the world in designing robots to care for the elderly, sick and bedridden(卧床不起的).

Already, monitoring technologies, such as sensors that automatically turn on lights when people enter a room, are becoming widespread in Japan.

The walking, child–size Asimo from Honda Motor Co. greets people at showrooms. NEC Corp. has developed a smaller companion robot–on –wheels called Papero. A seal robot available since 2004 can entertain the elderly and others in need of fuzzy companionship.

Sato says his experimental room is raising awareness about privacy questions that may arise when electronic devices(设备)monitor a person’s movements down to the smallest detail.

On the bright side, the tea – pouring humanoid has been programmed to do the dishes.

49. The underlined word “activity” is most closely related to the word(s) _____.

　 A. cloud　　　　　　 B. lightning strikes　　　　 C. lightning flashes　　　　 D. thunderstorms

48. What is TRUE about lightning according to the passage?

　 A. Only a small number of lightning flashes occur on earth.

　 B. Lightning flashes usually jump from one cloud to another.

　 C. Lightning travels 5 times faster than thunder.

　 D. There are far more lightning strikes occurring on earth than we can imagine.

47. We believe that lightning is a downward motion because_______.

　 A. we were taught so by our parents from our childhood.

　 B. we are taken in by our sense of vision.

　 C. it is a common natural sight.

　 D. it is a truth proved by science.

46. Accodring to the author, in the area of the Central Valley____.

　 A. rains usually come without thunder and lightning.

　 B. it is usually dry in April

　 C. children pay no attention to the two natural wonders.

　 D. parents are not interested in thunder an lightning.

45. It can be concluded from the passage that ________.

　 A. safety screens are of poor quality　　　

B. working at a VDU for a long time is good for one’s health

　 C. more and more British offices will use word processors

　 D. British companies will need fewer and fewer managers

B

Although April did not bring us the rains we all hoped for, and although the Central Valley doesn’t generally experience the sound and lightning that can go with those rains, it’s still important for parents to be able to answer the youthful questions about thunder and lightning.

The reason these two wonders of nature are so difficult for many adults to explain to children is that they are not very well understood by adults themselves. For example, did you know that the lightning we see flashing down to the earth from a cloud is actually flashing up to a cloud from the earth? Our eyes trick us into thinking we see a downward motion when it’s actually the other way around. But then, if we believed only what we think and we see, we’d still insist that the sun rises in the monring and sets at night.

Most lightning flashes take place inside a cloud, and only a relative few can be seen jumping between two clouds or between earth and a cloud. But, with about 2,000 thunderstorms taking place above the earth every minute of the day and night, there’s enough activity to produce about 100 lightning strikes on earth every second.

Parents can use thunder and lightning to help their children learn more about the world around them. When children understand that the light of the lightning flashing reaches their eyes almost at the same moment, but the sound of the thunder takes about 5 seconds to travel just one mile, they can begin to time the interval(间隔) between the flash and the crash to learn how close they were to the actual spark(闪光).

44. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

　 A. There are both advantages and disadvantages in using a word processor.

　 B. The British companies care much for the health of the people using word processors.

　 C. The technology in the field of computers has been greatly advanced over the last ten years.

　 D. Using word processors, secretaries can get more time to do more interesting work for their bosses.

43. It is implied but not directly stated in the passage that with the use of word processors _________.

　 A. some secretaries will lose their jobs　

　 B. daily jobs can be done automatically outside office hours

　 C. medical problems related to work with a VDU have increased greatly

　 D. the British companies will make less money

42. According to the writer, the main feature of the revolution in office work over the last　ten years is __________.

　　 A. the saving of time and money

　　 　 B. the use of computers in small companies

　 　 C. the wide use of word processors　　　　　　

D. the decreasing number of secretaries