Text 2
Since the dawn of human ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning tools to cope with work that is dangerous, boring, burdensome, or just plain nasty. That compulsion has resulted in robotics-the science of conferring various human capabilities on machines. And if scientists have yet to create the mechanical version of science fiction, they have begun to come close.
As a result, the modern world is increasingly populated by intelligent gizmos whose presence we barely notice but whose universal existence has removed much human labor. Our factories hum to the rhythm of robot assembly arms. Our banking is done at automated teller terminals that thank us with mechanical politeness for the transaction. Our subway trains are controlled by tireless robo-drivers. And thanks to the continual miniaturization of electronics and micro-mechanics, there are already robot systems that can perform some kinds of brain and bone surgery with submillimeter accuracy-far greater precision than highly skilled physicians can achieve with their hands alone.
But if robots are to reach the next stage of laborsaving utility, they will have to operate with less human supervision and be able to make at least a fewdecisions for themselves-goals that pose a real challenge. While we know howto tell a robot to handle a specific error, says Dave Lavery, manager of a robotics program at NASA, we can't yet give a robot enough 'common sense' to reliably interact with a dynamic world.
Indeed the quest for true artificial intelligence has produced very mixed results. Despite a spell of initial optimism in the 1960s and 1970s when it appeared that transistor circuits and microprocessors might be able to copy the action of the human brain by the year 2010, researchers lately have begun to extend that forecast by decades if not centuries.
What they found, in attempting to model thought, is that the human brain's roughly one hundred billion nerve cells are much more talented-and human perception far more complicated-than previously imagined. They have built robots that can recognize the error of a machine panel by a fraction of a millimeter in a controlled factory environment. But the human mind can glimpse a rapidly changing scene and immediately disregard the 98 percent that is irrelevant, instantaneously focusing on the monkey at the side of a winding forest road or the single s uspicious face in a big crowd. The most advanced computer systems on Earth can't approach that kind of ability, and neuroscientists still don't know quite how we do it.
46. Human ingenuity was initially demonstrated in .
［A］ the use of machines to produce science fiction.
［B］ the wide use of machines in manufacturing industry.
［C］ the invention of tools for difficult and dangerous work.
［D］ the elite's cunning tackling of dangerous and boring work.
47. The word gizmos (line 1, paragraph 2) most probably means .
［A］ programs. ［B］ experts. ［C］ devices. ［D］ creatures.
48. According to the text, what is beyond man's ability now is to design a robot that can .
［A］ fulfill delicate tasks like performing brain surgery.
［B］ interact with human beings verbally.
［C］ have a little common sense.
［D］ respond independently to a changing world.
49. Besides reducing human labor, robots can also .
［A］ make a few decisions for themselves.
［B］ deal with some errors with human intervention.
［C］ improve factory environments.
［D］ cultivate human creativity.
50. The author uses the example of a monkey to argue that robots are .
［A］ expected to copy human brain in internal structure.
［B］ able to perceive abnormalities immediately.
［C］ far less able than human brain in focusing on relevant information.
［D］ best used in a controlled environment.
Text 3
Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return? Since OPEC agreed to supply-cuts in March, the price of crude oil has jumped to almost $26 a barrel, up from less than $10 last December. This near-tripling of oil prices calls up scary memories of the 1973 oil shock, when prices quadrupled, and 1979-80, when they also almost tripled. Both previous shocks resulted in double-digit inflation and global economic decline. So where are the headlines warning of gloom and doom this time?
The oil price was given another push up this week when Iraq suspended oil exports. Strengthening economic growth, at the same time as winter grips the northern hemisphere, could push the price higher still in the short term.
Yet there are good reasons to expect the economic consequences now to be less severe than in the 1970s. In most countries the cost of crude oil now accounts for a smaller share of the price of petrol than it did in the 1970s. In Europe, taxes account for up to four-fifths of the retail price, so even quite big changes in the price of crude have a more muted effect on pump prices than in thepast.
Rich economies are also less dependent on oil than they were, and so lesssensitive to swings in the oil price. Energy conservation, a shift to other fuels and a decline in the importance of heavy, energy-intensive industries have reduced oil consumption. Software, consultancy and mobile telephones use far less oil than steel or car production. For each dollar of GDP (in constant prices) rich economies now use nearly 50% less oil than in 1973. The OECD estimates in itslatest Economic Outlook that, it oil prices averaged $22 a barrel for a full year, coMPAred with $13 in 1998, this would increase the oil import bill in rich economies by only 0.25-0.5% of GDP. That is less than one-quarter of the income loss in 1974 or 1980. On the other hand, oil-importing emerging economies-to which heavy industry has shifted-have become more energy-intensive, and so could bemore seriously squeezed.
One more reason not to lose sleep over the rise in oil prices is that, unlike the rises in the 1970s, it has not occurred against the background of general commodity-price inflation and global excess demand. A sizable portion of the world is only just emerging from economic decline. The Economist's commodity price index is broadly unchanging from a year ago. In 1973 commodity prices jumped by 70%, and in 1979 by almost 30%.
51. The main reason for the latest rise of oil price is .
［A］ global inflation. ［B］ reduction in supply.
［C］ fast growth in economy. ［D］ Iraq's suspension of exports.
52. It can be inferred from the text that the retail price of petrol will go up dramatically if .
［A］ price of crude rises. ［B］ commodity prices rise.
［C］ consumption rises. ［D］ oil taxes rise.
53. The estimates in Economic Outlook show that in rich countries .
［A］ heavy industry becomes more energy-intensive.
［B］ income loss mainly results from fluctuating crude oil prices.
［C］ manufacturing industry has been seriously squeezed.
［D］ oil price changes have no significant iMPAct on GDP.
54. We can draw a conclusion from the text that .
［A］ oil-price shocks are less shocking now.
［B］ inflation seems irrelevant to oil-price shocks.
［C］ energy conservation can keep down the oil prices.
［D］ the price rise of crude leads to the shrinking of heavy industry.
55. From the text we can see that the writer seems .
［A］ optimistic. ［B］ sensitive. ［C］ gloomy. ［D］ scared.
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2003年全国硕士研究生考试英语试卷及答案
2008年考研英语真题大小作文及范文
