A start-up company in California, called Zume, is testing machines that make pizza. The robot takes and shapes dough to create the base of the pizza. It then adds tomato sauce, cheese, meat or other toppings. Next, the robot places the uncooked pizza into a hot oven. A few minutes later, the pizza is ready. The pizza comes out the same each time. Zume says the robots work quickly and do not get sick. The robots do not get paid either.

Julia Collins is the company’s founder and chief executive officer (CEO) . Her business can spend money on better food products because it does not have to pay the robots. Zume is using robots to make pizza.

Charity Suzuki has bought the robot-made pizza. She likes its taste. “It’s delicious. It’s always hot and fresh when it comes. I mean it’s great that they’re making it, but I can’t tell the difference that it’s made by a robot versus a human.”

Other companies say they are developing robots so people can get higher quality food faster. But what about the jobs the robots are taking from humans?

Ken Goldberg is a professor at the University of California in Berkeley. He also directs the school’s automation laboratory. Goldberg says researchers have been working with robots for 50 years. He says that, while there has been progress, the jobs are not going to disappear right away. “I want to reassure (使放心) restaurant workers that the skills that they have are still going to be of value,” Goldberg said.

“We’re going to get rid of boring, repetitive, dangerous jobs and we’re going to free up people to do things that have higher value. There’s going to be amazing new ways of working that don’t exist yet but are going to be created.”

【小题1】Why can Zume devote more money to better food products?

A．It earns a lot by selling pizza.	B．It wants to create more robots.
C．It can save a lot by using robots.	D．It hopes to attract more customers.

【小题2】What can we know about the robot-made pizza according to Suzuki?

A．It really agrees with her.	B．It is hot and fresh all the time.
C．It is tastier than the man-made.	D．It is delicious and free of charge.

【小题3】What’s the benefit of robots’ making pizza?

A．They work efficiently.	B．They help sick people.
C．They need few payments.	D．They produce more food.

【小题4】What does Goldberg think of the jobs of restaurant workers?

A．Interesting.	B．Boring.
C．Dangerous.	D．Necessary.

Internet use appears to cause a decline in psychological well-being（安康）, according to research at Carnegie Mellon University.
Even people who spent just a few hours a week on the Internet experienced more depression and loneliness than those who logged on less frequently, the two-year study showed. And it wasn’t that people who were already feeling bad spent more time on the Internet, but that using the Net actually appeared to cause the bad feeling.
Researchers are puzzling over the results, which were completely contrary to their expectations. They expected that the net would prove socially healthier than television, since the Net allows users to choose their information and to communicate with others.
The fact that Internet use reduces time available for family and friends may account for the drop in well-being, researchers suggested. Faceless, bodiless “virtual”（虚拟的）communication may be less psychologically satisfying than actual conversation, and the relationship formed through it may be shallower. Another possibility is that exposure to the wider world via the Net makes users less satisfied with their lives.
“But it’s important to remember this is not about the technology  per se; it’s about how it is used,” says psychologist Christine Riley of Intel, one of the study’s sponsors. “It really points to the need for considering social effects in terms of how you design applications and services for technology.”
【小题1】The best title for this passage would be ________.

A．Internet may Cause Depression

B．The Dark Side of Internet

C．How to Use Technology Properly

D．The Importance of Psychological Well-being

【小题2】Internet use may cause a decline in psychological well-being because ________.

A．people who were already feeling bad spend more time on the Internet

B．Internet users thought the world was wider than it really was

C．people were too eager to turn the “virtual” communication into reality

D．people have less time for actual communication with their family and friends

【小题3】What does the underlined Latin word “per se” (in Para. 5) mean?

A．probably	B．absolutely
C．oneself	D．itself

【小题4】What’s the tone of the passage?

A．Optimistic.	B．Critical.
C．Objective.	D．Pessimistic.

   A new study says that the faces on Lego minifigures have become less happy and more often mad or sad. The study was designed to find out if the Lego characters have become grumpier over the years.

Christoph Bartneck works at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. He loves Lego and even worked for the company in the 1990s. He worked with another researcher on the project. They looked at all of the 6,000 figures made between 1975 and 2010. They made a note of each figure’s facial expression: happy, grumpy, afraid, surprised or satL They discovered that while in 1980, all of the figures were described as “smiley”, and that by 1990, only about 80 per cent of them had been “smiley” . And by 2010, just 50 per cent of the figures had had a smile on their little plastic faces.

The researchers are wondering how the increasingly sad, angry and unhappy faces on the Lego figures will affect the children who play with them. “Children’s toys can have an important influence on children,” said Bartneck on the university’s website. While Lego hasn’t issued an official response to the study, Bartneck said he thought the reason why Lego was producing angrier-faced characters was that children wanted them. He said it was likely that people wanted Lego characters to have different expressions, rather than just being sunny all the time. He said most of the unhappy faces were on characters based on a specific theme such as Harry Potter or pirates (海盗).

Bartneck will present his findings at the International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction in Sapporo.

【小题1】What does the underlined word “grumpier” probably mean?

A．Happier.	B．Angrier.
C．Smarter.	D．Prettier.

【小题2】It can be learned that since 1980 ________.

A．Bartneck has been studying Lego figures

B．the quality of Lego figures has gone from bad to worse

C．more and more Lego figures have lost their smiles

D．Lego figures’ facial expressions have become less rich

【小题3】What can we learn about Bartneck?

A．He likes to design different Lego figures.

B．He is a professor who studies facial expressions.

C．He wants to know the influence of unhappy figures on children.

D．He writes to the government to explain why children love angry Lego figures.

【小题4】The text mainly tells the readers ________ .

A．the history of the development of Lego figures

B．Lego characters are getting angrier

C．how Bartneck carried out his study

D．the angrier expressions on Lego figures do great harm to children

短文改错

Our clothes are things that can affect our moods. Wear colorful clothes shows and affects our feelings. When we're sadly, we will wear dark clothes. So when happy, we often choose wear brightly-colored clothes. Orange makes us happier. Beside, white makes us helpful. Their choice of color shows what we are feeling. So remember, if you are not feeling about your best, you can try out some clothes of different color. If one color had no effect on your feelings, maybe another will.

   We all know the keys to living longer：eating healthily，exercising daily，and avoiding bad lifestyle habits，but do you know that practicing these simple steps when you’re 50 and older can add more years to your life？

According to a new research conducted by Harvard University scientists，adults who follow five healthy habits which include never smoking，maintaining a body mass index（BMI）（体重指数）below 30，exercising for at least 30 minutes a day，drinking alcohol only reasonably，and following a well-balanced diet，can add a decade or more to their lifespan.

The study，published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation，suggests that men over age 50 who follow these five lifestyle habits can add up to 12 years to their lives while women who follow these healthy habits can add 14 years to their lifespan. While the method of living a longer and healthier life hasn’t changed much over the years，this new information regarding the benefits of working out and eating healthily later in life is a bit of a breakthrough in terms of how we look at aging.

Modern medicine often treats the elderly with a more reactive approach，focusing on discovering and creating medicines and therapies to combat（防止）life-threatening illnesses like cancer and especially heart disease. According to scientists who conducted this study，the focus should be on preventative（预防的）measures，making sure aging adults are adapting healthy habits before they reach a stage in life when health issues normally arise.

It is very important to put prevention through diet and lifestyle changes first. Heart disease and cancer are the leading causes of death in the United States，while heart disease in particular can arise because of certain lifestyle habits. One of those habits is smoking，which scientists said was the biggest determining factor in a person’s lifespan. Researchers found that there was a direct connection between an adult’s risk of early death and his lifestyle habits，with those following all five of the healthy habits enjoying significantly longer lives.

【小题1】What is the question in the first paragraph intended to do?

A．To provide some advice for readers.

B．To predict the following paragraphs.

C．To introduce the topic of discussion.

D．To offer some background information.

【小题2】What is the most important in fighting against life-threatening illnesses?

A．Developing new therapies.

B．Discovering new medicines.

C．Applying effective prevention.

D．Following a well-balanced diet.

【小题3】Which of the following is the biggest threat to a person’s lifespan?

A．Smoking.	B．Lack of exercise.
C．Drinking heavily.	D．Unbalanced diets.

【小题4】What is the text mainly talking about?

A．A healthy lifestyle determines humans’health.

B．Healthy lifestyles help the older lengthen their lifespan.

C．How to live a healthy lifestyle.

D．Bad lifestyles increase people’s risk of early death.