Computers might not be clever enough to trick adults into thinking they are inte

     Computers mightnot be clever enough to trick adults into thinking they are intelligent yet,but a new study, led by Javier' Movellan at the University of Califomia SanDiego, shows that a giggling (咯咯笑的) robot is clever enough to get toddlers (初学走路者) to treat it as a peer (同龄人).

     The researchersstationed a 2-foot-tall robot Called QRIO in a classroom of a dozen toddlersaged between 18 months and two years. QRIO stayed in the middle of the roomusing its sensors (传感器) to avoid bumping (碰撞) into the kids. It was programmed to giggle when the kids touchedits head, to occasionally sit down, and to lie down when its batteries died.

     "We expectedthat after a few hours, the magic was going to disappear," Movellansays.  "That's what was found with earlier robots." But, infact, the kids remained interested in the robot over several weeks, eventuallycommunicating with QRIO in much the same way they did with other toddlers.

     The researchersmeasured the relationship between the children and the robot in several ways.Firstly, as with other toddlers,  they touched QRIO mostly on the arms andhands, rather than on the face or legs. For this age group, "the amount oftouching is a good predictor of how you are doing as a social being,"Movellan says.

     The childrenhelped the robot up when it fell, and when QRIO's batteries ran out and it laydown, a toddler would come up and cover it with a blanket and say "night,night". However, when QRIO was programmed to spend all its time dancing,the kids quickly lost interest. When the robot went back to its old self, thekids treated it like a peer again.

     "The studyshows that current technology is very close to being able to produce robotsable to develop a special relationship with toddlers," says Movellan. But,he adds, it is not clear yet whether robots can interest older children oradults in the same way.

1. What does the underlined word "stationed" in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

    A.Hid.     B. Observed. C. Placed.   D. Named.

2. At the beginning of the experiment,researchers          .

    A. feared that the robotwould harm the toddlers

    B. programmed the robotto move freely about the classroom

    C. expected the robot tocommunicate with the toddlers

    D. thought the toddlers'interest in the robot wouldn't  last long

3. Kids aged between 18 months and twoyears behave

    as social beings by.

    A. giggling  B:touching  C. toddling  D. dancing

4. What would be the best title for thepassage?

    A. Giggling robotbecomes one of the kids

    B. Giggling robot usedas a classroom assistant

    C. Giggling robot makeskids more active in class

D. Gigglingrobot attracts more attention from kids

试题答案

【答案】

 C

 D

 B

 A

【解析】