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.

   In the modern world，there is an unfortunate tendency to value profit over intelligence. People may know a practice is harmful，but continue to do it anyway because it produces an in-demand product. Fortunately，there are inventors who work tirelessly to develop more responsible solutions. Sally Fox is one such individual.

Before Fox's invention of Foxfibre cotton，naturally colored cotton could only be spun（纺线）by hand，which was such a long and laborious process that businesses chose to take white cotton，bleach（漂白）it，dye it and spin it on a machine. This produced the colored fabrics people wanted，but also created a lot of pollution through the bleaching and dying processes. Sadly，there weren't really any practical choices available until Sally Fox came along in the late 1980s and revolutionized the industry.

While working as a pollinator（传花粉者）for a cotton breeder looking to develop more pest-resistant plants，Fox began breeding brown and green cotton，picking out the best seeds that produced the longest fibres and replanting them year after year. Finally，she created two kinds of colored cotton that could be spun on a machine，and she purchased a small lot of land to grow them. Sally even received Plant Variety Protection Certificates for the new cotton.

By the early 1990s，Sally Fox had had a 10-million-dollar business that produced naturally colored cotton for major companies like Levi's，Esprit，Land's End and L. L. Bean. It was a more environmentally friendly product that was also turning a profit. After globalization forced most of the spinning mills（工厂）to South America and Southeast Asia，Fox's business took a hit，but she continues to make new naturally colored cotton to this day. Each new color takes about 10 years to produce—but，for Sally Fox，the patience is worth the payoff.

【小题1】Sally Fox was famous because she invented __________.

A．colored cotton that can fight against the attack of pests

B．colored cotton that can be spun by machine

C．how to dye white cotton into colorful cotton

D．naturally colored cotton that can grow for 10 years

【小题2】According to the passage，at first Sally Fox was __________.

A．an inventor	B．a breeder
C．a farmer	D．a pollinator

【小题3】One advantage of Foxfibre colored cotton is that __________.

A．it has the longest fibre

B．it can protect itself against pests

C．it is environmentally friendly

D．it can grow into various colors

【小题4】The underlined phrase“took a hit”may mean“__________”.

A．survived	B．benefited
C．suffered	D．expanded

   A solar-powered car that can be charged as it runs is being tested in Germany.

Munich-based manufacturer（制造商）Sono Motors has built the new type, named Sion, and will likely help the European powerhouse hit its national target of 1 million electric cars on the road by 2020.

Sono Motors has solar cells fixed into Sion’s bodywork, with a total of 330 solar cells built into the roof, bonnet and sides of the vehicle. These enable the vehicle’s battery to be charged when sunlight is hitting the solar cells, whether it is on the road，or parked in the sunny spot in a car park.

The solar-powered vehicle is set to be launched in Germany in 2019.

Sono Motors wants Sion to be universal and allows the car to be charged using solar energy as well as conventional outlets（电源插座）, so car owners aren’t left on cloudy days.

The firm has made a 2019 date for mass production，which will be undertaken by a European manufacturer. Some 6,500 people have already placed orders for the electric vehicle. Prices for Sion tend to start from € 16,000 next year. The all-electric vehicle will offer a range of around 250 km before the battery runs out completely and it needs recharging either by solar power or using a wall plug, the company said.

Sion was designed originally as an environmentally conscious car，but will also include a number of features designed around comfort to help it compete with other modern vehicles.

“We have a seat heater, air conditioning, and a large entertainment system where I can also connect my phone, which means I really have a full vehicle,” Laurin Hahn, co-founder of the company told Reuters.

【小题1】From the third paragraph we can know that ______.

A．the car is popular on the road

B．the car has a very large battery

C．there are 330 solar cells on the car

D．where there is sunlight, Sion can be charged

【小题2】What does the underlined word in Paragraph 4 “launch” mean?

A．design	B．release
C．improve	D．recall

【小题3】Why does the car not break down when it is cloudy?

A．Because it is made from the rainproof material.

B．Because it can be charged by clouds on cloudy days.

C．Because it can store a great deal of energy.

D．Because it can be charged by conventional power outlets.

【小题4】What are the features of the car?

A．Modern, powerful and popular.

B．Environmental, comfortable and competitive.

C．Environmental, cheap and simple.

D．Expensive, fashionable and energy-saving.

   Blind people can read. They do so by running their fingers along a line of raised points or dots on paper. Of course, they first have to learn the code（代码）. Here are some examples of it. One dot stands for the letter “A”. Two dots side by side mean “C”. Four dots arranged to look like a box（：：） stand for the letter “G”. By placing the dots in special patterns, all the letters of the alphabet can be formed.

This code was made up by a Frenchman called Louis Braille. Though he could see at birth, he became sightless when he was only three. Braille was cutting leather in his father’s shop. His knife slipped and cut his eye. Infection（感染）spread to both eyes, and he became blind.

At 10, he was placed in a home for the blind. But young Braille had great talent. He became a skilled musician and soon got a job as a church organist（风琴弹奏者）in Paris.

Because he had talent and was quick, he became a teacher at a school for the blind. While there, he heard that a captain had sent messages to his soldiers that they could read at night without light. His messages were in the simple form of raised dots and dashes. This was the clue Braille needed. At the age of 15, he worked out his own six-dot code. Each group of dots is called a cell. The cells are three dots high and two dots wide. For the rest of his life, Braille taught his young flock to read both written and musical works using his code.

For the last 17 years of his life, Braille was ill with tuberculosis. He died at the age of 43.

【小题1】What is the text mainly about?

A．Different reading methods.	B．Blind people around the world.
C．How blind people communicate.	D．Louis Braille and his six-dot code.

【小题2】Louis Braille developed an alphabet for blind people after he __________.

A．worked as an organist	B．became blind as a young child
C．became a skilled musician in a church	D．was inspired by a captain’s messages

【小题3】The underlined word “flock” in Paragraph 4 probably refers to “____________”.

A．soldiers	B．blind students
C．famous teachers	D．skilled musicians

【小题4】The text is developed ______________.

A．in time order	B．in space order
C．by listing examples	D．by making comparisons

   As vending machines (投币式自动售货机) have a bad reputation generally, they are particularly not allowed to be used in schools. That is because most of them are filled with foods that are thought to be unhealthy for both kids and adults. However, no one will be against JetBlue’s vending machines. That is because they are installed (安装) to give out free books!

The U.S. airline’s program was launched in early July in one of Washington, D. C. ’s historic neighborhoods. It was picked because JetBlue’s research showed that kids in the area had access to only one age-appropriate book for every 830 children. To turn the situation for the better, the company has installed three vending machines in locations that are visited frequently by the locals, and soon they gain their popularity there.

The machines are filled with twelve age-appropriate books for children from birth to fourteen years old. A total of 42 titles are being offered, and the selection is changed every two weeks. Kids can help themselves to as many books as they wish and return for more books as many times as they desire. Maybe you will ask what the best part is. Unlike a library, the books are theirs to keep.

JetBlue and its partners Random House Children’s Books and Magic Tree House’s author Mary Pope Osborne, say they are committed to giving away 100,000 books. As of August 25, about 16,000 books have been claimed. So far, JetBlue has made its plans to extend (扩大) its vending machine program to more poor neighborhoods in Los Angeles, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Houston and New York City.

Though the book vending machines are new, this is not the first time that JetBlue and its partners have given away books. Since 2011, the company’s “Soar with Reading” program has collected over one million dollars’ worth of books to kids in need！

【小题1】People’s attitude towards vending machines is usually_____________.

A．positive	B．serious
C．concerned	D．negative

【小题2】Why are JetBlue’s vending machines becoming popular?

A．Because they offer kids in need free books to read.

B．Because they are located in the center of busy streets.

C．Because they help kids develop the good habit of reading.

D．Because they are aimed at bringing a brighter future for kids.

【小题3】What is the best news for the kids about JetBlue’s vending machines?

A．More libraries will be open to the kids.

B．The books will be kept by the kids themselves forever.

C．Kids can exchange these books they keep with each other.

D．Kids under fourteen years old have access to these free books.

【小题4】It is implied in the passage that book vending machines __________.

A．will change the way the books are sold worldwide

B．are going to be installed in economically advanced areas

C．will benefit more kids who have little access to books

D．begin JetBlue’s time to give away books to kids in need