The summer before I went off to college, Mom stood me in her usual 1 behind the ironing board (烫衣板)and said, “Pay attention: I’m going to teach you to 2 .”
Mom clearly explained her 3 for this lesson. I was going to be 4 and needed to learn this vital skill. Also, I would be meeting new people, and properly ironed clothes would help me make a good 5 .
“Learn to iron a shirt,” Mom said, “and you can iron anything.”
But ironing shirts was not 6 work. It didn’t make use of long muscles we used to throw a baseball, and it wasn’t a 7 operation like ice-skating. Ironing was like driving a car on a street that has a stop sign every 10 feet, Moreover, an iron produced steam and it carried an element of 8 . If you touched the wrong part of it, you’d get burnt. If you forgot to turn it off when you 9 , you might burn down the house.
As for technique, Mom 10 me to begin with the flat spaces outward, always 11 the iron forward into wrinkled (有褶皱的）parts. Collars had to be done right. Mom said they were close to your face, where everyone would 12 them.
Over the years, I’ve learned to iron shirts skillfully, which gives me a sense of 13 . Whatever failures I suffer in my life, an ironed shirt tells me I am good at something. 14 , through ironing I’ve learned the method for solving even the most troublesome problems. “ 15 wrinkles one at a time,” as Mom might have said, “and before long everything will get ironed out.”
1. A. room B. spot C. chair D. passage
2. A. iron B. mend C. sew D. dress
3. A. reasons B. rules C. emotions D. methods
4. A. helpful B. confident C. powerful D. independent
5. A. conclusion B. suggestion C. impression D. observation
6. A. useful B. easy C. special D. suitable
7. A. direct B. single C. smooth D. strange
8. A. doubt B. pressure C. surprise D. danger
9. A. went away B. fell down C. jumped off D. looked up
10. A. taught B. chose C. forced D. sent
11. A. remove B. dragging C. pushing D. pulling
12. A. touch B. design C. see D. admire
13. A. honesty B. freedom C. justice D. pride
14. A. Instead B. Besides C. Otherwise D. However
15. A. Make up B. Deal with C. Ask for D. Rely on
If you feel stressed by responsibilities at work, you should take a step back and identify(识别) those of 16____ (great) and less importance. Then, handle the most important tasks first so you’ll feel a real sense of achievement.. 17 (leave) the less important things until tomorrow is often acceptable.
Most of us are more focused 18 our tasks in the morning than we are later in the day. So, get an early start and try to be as productive 19 possible before lunch. This will give you the 20 (confident) you need to get you through the afternoon and go home feeling accomplished.
Recent 21 (study) show that we are far more productive at work if we take short breaks 22 (regular). Give your body and brain a rest by stepping outside for 23 while, exercising, or doing something you enjoy.
If you find something you love doing outside of the office, you’ll be less likely 24 (bring) your work home. It could be anything — gardening, cooking, music, sports — but whatever it 25 (be), make sure it’s a relief from daily stress rather than another thing to worry about.
Whether in the home or the workplace, social robots are going to become a lot more common in the next few years. Social robots are about to bring technology to the everyday world in a more humanized way, said Cynthia Breazeal, chief scientist at the robot company Jibo.
While household robots today do the normal housework, social robots will be much more like companions than mere tools. For example, these robots will be able to distinguish when someone is happy or sad. This allows them to respond more appropriately to the user.
The Jibo robot, arranged to ship later this year, is designed to be a personalized assistant. You can talk to the robot, ask it questions, and make requests for it to perform different tasks. The robot doesn’t just deliver general answers to questions; it responds based on what it learns about each individual in the household. It can do things such as reminding an elderly family member to take medicine or taking family photos.
Social robots are not just finding their way into the home. They have potential applications in everything from education to health care and are already finding their way into some of these spaces.
Fellow Robots is one company bringing social robots to the market. The company’s “Oshbot” robot is built to assist customers in a store, which can help the customers find items and help guide them to the product’s location in the store. It can also speak different languages and make recommendations for different items based on what the customer is shopping for.
The more interaction the robot has with humans, the more it learns. But Oshbot, like other social robots, is not intended to replace workers, but to work alongside other employees. “We have technologies to train social robots to do things not for us, but with us,” said Breazeal.
26. How are social robots different from household robots?
A. They can control their emotions. B. They are more like humans.
C. They do the normal housework. D. They respond to users more slowly.
27. What can a Jibo robot do according to Paragraph 3?
A. Communicate with you and perform operations. B. Answer your questions and make requests.
C. Take your family pictures and deliver milk. D. Obey your orders and remind you to take pills.
28. What can Oshbot work as?
A. A language teacher. B. A tour guide. C. A shop assistant. D. A private nurse.
29. We can learn from the last paragraph that social robots will ______.
A. train employees B. be our workmates
C. improve technologies D. take the place of workers
30. What does the passage mainly present?
A. A new design idea of household robots. B. Marketing strategies for social robots.
C. Information on household robots. D. An introduction to social robots.
答案：1-5 BAADC 6-10 BCDAA 11-15 CCDBB
16. greater 17. Leaving 18. on/upon 19. as 20. confidence 21. studies 22. regularly
23. a 24. to bring 25. is
26-30 BDCBD
Mom clearly explained her 3 for this lesson. I was going to be 4 and needed to learn this vital skill. Also, I would be meeting new people, and properly ironed clothes would help me make a good 5 .
“Learn to iron a shirt,” Mom said, “and you can iron anything.”
But ironing shirts was not 6 work. It didn’t make use of long muscles we used to throw a baseball, and it wasn’t a 7 operation like ice-skating. Ironing was like driving a car on a street that has a stop sign every 10 feet, Moreover, an iron produced steam and it carried an element of 8 . If you touched the wrong part of it, you’d get burnt. If you forgot to turn it off when you 9 , you might burn down the house.
As for technique, Mom 10 me to begin with the flat spaces outward, always 11 the iron forward into wrinkled (有褶皱的）parts. Collars had to be done right. Mom said they were close to your face, where everyone would 12 them.
Over the years, I’ve learned to iron shirts skillfully, which gives me a sense of 13 . Whatever failures I suffer in my life, an ironed shirt tells me I am good at something. 14 , through ironing I’ve learned the method for solving even the most troublesome problems. “ 15 wrinkles one at a time,” as Mom might have said, “and before long everything will get ironed out.”
1. A. room B. spot C. chair D. passage
2. A. iron B. mend C. sew D. dress
3. A. reasons B. rules C. emotions D. methods
4. A. helpful B. confident C. powerful D. independent
5. A. conclusion B. suggestion C. impression D. observation
6. A. useful B. easy C. special D. suitable
7. A. direct B. single C. smooth D. strange
8. A. doubt B. pressure C. surprise D. danger
9. A. went away B. fell down C. jumped off D. looked up
10. A. taught B. chose C. forced D. sent
11. A. remove B. dragging C. pushing D. pulling
12. A. touch B. design C. see D. admire
13. A. honesty B. freedom C. justice D. pride
14. A. Instead B. Besides C. Otherwise D. However
15. A. Make up B. Deal with C. Ask for D. Rely on
If you feel stressed by responsibilities at work, you should take a step back and identify(识别) those of 16____ (great) and less importance. Then, handle the most important tasks first so you’ll feel a real sense of achievement.. 17 (leave) the less important things until tomorrow is often acceptable.
Most of us are more focused 18 our tasks in the morning than we are later in the day. So, get an early start and try to be as productive 19 possible before lunch. This will give you the 20 (confident) you need to get you through the afternoon and go home feeling accomplished.
Recent 21 (study) show that we are far more productive at work if we take short breaks 22 (regular). Give your body and brain a rest by stepping outside for 23 while, exercising, or doing something you enjoy.
If you find something you love doing outside of the office, you’ll be less likely 24 (bring) your work home. It could be anything — gardening, cooking, music, sports — but whatever it 25 (be), make sure it’s a relief from daily stress rather than another thing to worry about.
Whether in the home or the workplace, social robots are going to become a lot more common in the next few years. Social robots are about to bring technology to the everyday world in a more humanized way, said Cynthia Breazeal, chief scientist at the robot company Jibo.
While household robots today do the normal housework, social robots will be much more like companions than mere tools. For example, these robots will be able to distinguish when someone is happy or sad. This allows them to respond more appropriately to the user.
The Jibo robot, arranged to ship later this year, is designed to be a personalized assistant. You can talk to the robot, ask it questions, and make requests for it to perform different tasks. The robot doesn’t just deliver general answers to questions; it responds based on what it learns about each individual in the household. It can do things such as reminding an elderly family member to take medicine or taking family photos.
Social robots are not just finding their way into the home. They have potential applications in everything from education to health care and are already finding their way into some of these spaces.
Fellow Robots is one company bringing social robots to the market. The company’s “Oshbot” robot is built to assist customers in a store, which can help the customers find items and help guide them to the product’s location in the store. It can also speak different languages and make recommendations for different items based on what the customer is shopping for.
The more interaction the robot has with humans, the more it learns. But Oshbot, like other social robots, is not intended to replace workers, but to work alongside other employees. “We have technologies to train social robots to do things not for us, but with us,” said Breazeal.
26. How are social robots different from household robots?
A. They can control their emotions. B. They are more like humans.
C. They do the normal housework. D. They respond to users more slowly.
27. What can a Jibo robot do according to Paragraph 3?
A. Communicate with you and perform operations. B. Answer your questions and make requests.
C. Take your family pictures and deliver milk. D. Obey your orders and remind you to take pills.
28. What can Oshbot work as?
A. A language teacher. B. A tour guide. C. A shop assistant. D. A private nurse.
29. We can learn from the last paragraph that social robots will ______.
A. train employees B. be our workmates
C. improve technologies D. take the place of workers
30. What does the passage mainly present?
A. A new design idea of household robots. B. Marketing strategies for social robots.
C. Information on household robots. D. An introduction to social robots.
答案：1-5 BAADC 6-10 BCDAA 11-15 CCDBB
16. greater 17. Leaving 18. on/upon 19. as 20. confidence 21. studies 22. regularly
23. a 24. to bring 25. is
26-30 BDCBD
