Question

The lights dimmed，the musical hall grew quiet and out walked the conductor (指揮) shiny and white and 4 feet and 3 inches tall.

ASIMO, a robot designed by Honda Motor Co., met its latest challenge Tuesday evening: Conducting the Detroit Symphony (底特律交響樂團), in a performance of “The Impossible  Dream” from “Man of La Mancha”．

“Hello, everyone，” ASIMO said to the audience in a childlike voice, then waved to the orchestra. As it conducted, it perfectly mimicked (模仿) the actions of a conductor,

nodding its head at various sections and gesturing with one or both hands. ASIMO took a final bow to excited shouts from the audience. Later, cellist Yo－Yo Ma joined ASIMO onstage to receive an award for his efforts in music education.

Honda spokeswoman Alicia Jones says it is the first time ASIMO has conducted an orchestra, and it may be the first time any robot has conducted a live performance. But ASIMO has its  limits. ASIMO's engineers programmed the robot to mimic Charles Burke, the Detroit Symphony's education director, as he conducted the piece in front of a pianist about six months ago. But it can't respond to the musicians.

“It's not a communicative device. It simply is programmed to do a set of gestures，” said Leonard Slatkin, the orchestra's musical director. “If the orchestra decides to go faster, there's nothing the robot can do about it. Hopefully, I keep that under control.”

But several musicians also said ASIMO was more realistic than they expected. “The movements are still a little stiff (僵硬的), but very humanlike, much better than I thought，” Hutchinson said.

1.What's the audience's response to ASIMO's performance?

A．Disappointed.	B．Moved.
C．Excited.	D．Astonished.

2.Whose conducting was ASIMO made to copy?

A．Yo－Yo Ma's.	B．Charles Burke's.
C．Leonard Slatkin's.	D．Alicia Jones's.

3.We can learn from the passage that ASIMO ________.

A．was designed and trained by Yo－Yo Ma

B．can communicate with the audience freely

C．only performs according to the designed programs

D．can change its conducting style freely

4.What would be the best title for this passage?

A．Detroit Symphony gives a good performance

B．Honda robot conducts Detroit Symphony

C．“The Impossible Dream” from Detroit Symphony

D．Cooperation between Honda and Detroit Symphony

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.C

2.B

3.C

4.B

【解析】

1.推斷題。根據(jù)第3段中“ASIMO took a final bow to excited shouts from the audience”可推知，觀眾們對機器人ASIMO 的指揮感到非常興奮。可知選C

2.細節(jié)題。根據(jù)第4段“ASIMO's engineers programmed the robot to mimic Charles Burke”可知，機器人ASIMO 模仿的是Charles Burke 的指揮。可知選B

3.細節(jié)題。根據(jù)第5段Leonard Slatkin 的話可以看出，ASIMO 只是一個不具備交際能力的機器，它只能按設(shè)定好的程序完成一套動作。可知選C

4.主旨題。全文主要講述了本田公司的機器人ASIMO 成功指揮底特律交響樂團的演出，B項緊扣中心，可作題目。可知選B