Saya, the teacher doesn’t mind being pinched(掐), or if the students play in class: she’s a robot designed to show children that science and technology can be fun subjects．

Saya, a life – like female who started her career as a robot receptionist at Japanese companies and was then reprogrammed to teach, gave a lesson to fifth – graders at Tokyo’s Kudan Elementary School after being carried to the podium in the classroom．

Professor Hiroshi Kobayashi, who built Saya, says she’s not meant to replace human teachers, but to bring the joy of technology to children. “We’re not looking at making something that will take over from teachers. Our main reason for building this robot is to use new technology to teach children about technology,” he said. “But Saya may be able to help in schools where there’s a shortage of teachers,” he added. “In the countryside and in some small schools, children don’t have the chance to come into contact with new technology and also few teachers there can teach these lessons．So we hoped to be able to develop this robot to be remotely controlled to teach these classes.”

Many of the children were attracted by Saya, and didn’t take their eyes off her throughout the lecture. When class was over, some students pinched her. “ It’s so much more fun than regular classes,” said10 – year – old Nanako Iijima．

The children’s human teacher, however, was not as impressed with the robot as her students. “I am impressed that they’ve got robots to go this far, but on the other hand they still have a long way to go before they can make it a truly robotic teacher.” Akito Fukuda, the school’s science teacher said．

Japan, home to almost half of the world’s 800,000 industrial robots, expects the industry to expand to $10 billion in the future including models that will be able to care for its fast – growing elderly population．

1.Saya was first designed to         ．

       A．be touched by students                        B．teach children about science

       C．work as a robot receptionist                  D．work together with scientists

2.The underlined word “podium” in Paragraph 2 probably means “        ”.

       A．a surface for teachers to stand on          B．a board for teachers to write on

       C．a toy for students to play with               D．a video for students to watch

3.What can we learn from Paragraph 3?

       A．Saya needn’t be remotely controlled while having classes.

       B．Robots like Saya will replace human teachers in the future.

       C．Some children in the countryside know little about new technology.

       D．It’s difficult for most Japanese teachers to teach children about technology.

4.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

       A．Saya is the first life – like female robot in history.

       B．Robots like Saya will replace human teachers in the future.

       C．Some children in the countryside know little about new technology.

       D．It’s difficult for most Japanese teachers to teach children about technology.

5.In which section of a newspaper can you find this passage?

       A．Entertainment.     B．Technology.        C．Politics.               D．Opinion.