1、While the start of a new school year is always exciting, this year was even more so for some elementary school students in Auckland, New Zealand. They became the world’s first kids to be “taught” by a digital teacher. Before you start imagining a human-like robot walking around the classroom, Will is just an avatar that appears on the student’s desktop, or smartphone screen, when ordered to come.
The autonomous animation platform has been modeled after the human brain and nervous system, allowing it to show human-like behavior. The digital teacher is assigned to teach Vector’s “Be sustainable with energy”— a free program for Auckland elementary schools.
Just like the humans it replaced, Will is able to instantly react to the students’ responses to the topic. Thanks to a webcam and microphone, the avatar not only responds to questions the kids may have, but also picks up non-verbal cues. For instance, if a student smiles at Will, he responds by smiling back. This two-way interaction not only helps attract the students’ attention, but also allows the program’s developers to monitor their engagement, and make changes if needed.
Nikhil Ravishankar believes that Will-like avatars could be a novel way to catch the attention of the next generation. He says, “I have a lot of hope in this technology as a means to deliver cost-effective, rich, educational experience in the future.”
The program, in place since August 2018, has been a great success thus far. Ravishankar says, “ What was fascinating to me was the reaction of the children to Will. The way they look at the world is so creative and different, and Will really captured their attention.” However, regardless of how popular it becomes, Will is unlikely to replace human educators any time soon. 1.What was special for some elementary school students in Auckland? A.A digital teacher taught them. C.This was the start of a new school year.
B.They first saw something digital.
D.They could get close to smartphone screen.
2.What is the benefit of this two-way interaction? A.It can smile back.
B.It can use microphone. D.It can change if necessary.
C.It can talk any topic for free.
3.What’s Ravishankar’s attitude to Will’s replacing Human educators soon? A.Optimistic.
B.Doubtful.
C.Unclear.
D.Disapproving.
4.What might be the best title for the passage?
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A.New High-tech Contributes to Education
B.The World’s First Digital Teacher Appears in Classroom. C.The World’s First Digital Teacher, a Help to Students D.New Zealand Will Replace Teachers in Classrooms
2、Riding on an exercise bike at home may keep you in physical shape, but it can get pretty boring after a while. Aaron Puzey had been on his exercise bike for half an hour a day for years when he decided to look for a way to make it a bit more fun.
With virtual reality technology widely available nowadays, all he needed to do was find a way of applying it to his needs. So he set out to build an app for the Samsung Galaxy Gear VR headset(头戴式视图器) which would allow him to hook it up to Google Street view and make it seem like he's cycling through different real-life locations.
Building the app to download the 3D data from Street View and make it viewable in the VR headset was the toughest part of his project. Other than that, all he needed to do was tape a Bluetooth monitor to his exercise bike. Although the quality of the images sometimes leaves a lot to be desired, leaving complex scenes like trees looking like a mess, Aaron has been having a lot of fun on his journey.
Aaron's project is obviously no substitute(替代品) for real outdoor cycling as it lacks things like the wind blowing in your face or the pain of battling an uphill climb, but it has given him a goal, as well as the chance to take in the beauty of places he might have otherwise never seen. It definitely beats staring at a wall or at the TV for 30 minutes, anyway.
Obviously, Aaron's set up the oretically allows him to ride a bike anywhere around the world. He says he has always wanted to see Japan, so once his ride comes to an end, he plans to start another one across the Land of the Rising Sun. 1.Why did Aaron Puzey build the app? A.To invent a new kind of bicycle C.To satisfy the needs of the public.
B.To participate in a competition. D.To add fun to his exercise bike routine
2.Which of the following can best describe Aaron Puxey? A.Creative.
B.Ambitious.
C.Funny.
D.Boring.
3.What was the challenge for Puzey in his project? A.Changing the 3D data into pictures.
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B.Downloading the software from the Internet. C.Making the 3D data viewable in the headset. D.Taping a Bluetooth monitor to his exercise bike. 4.What might be the best title for the text? A.Cycling Across the World at Home C.A New Way of Cycling Without Effort
B.The Lazy Man and His Crazy Idea D.A Substitute for Real Outdoor Cycling
3、Many Android and iPhone owners use Google services on their mobile phones or tablets. One of the most widely used location(位置)services is Google Maps. When someone uses Google Maps, information about times and locations are recorded and stored.
Google also uses tracking tools with other services. Weather apps, for example,are designed to identify a user's location to provide local weather information. Even some Google Internet searches can result in the collection of information about exactly where a person was when the search was made.
Google says it collects the data to improve users' localized experiences. But such practices have also raised privacy concerns. Privacy activists have called on Google and other major technology companies to make it easier for users to turn off location services if they do not want to be tracked. In some ways, Google is clear about asking permission to use location information. For instance, Google Maps will seek approval from a user to give the app access to locations. If a user agrees to let Google collect location information over time, Google Maps will show this history in a \
Google also has a \Location History at any time. And when Location History is turned off for a users account, it is turned off for all equipment linked to that Google account. But the AP (Associated Press) found this does not appear to be true, finding that Google continued to save location history even if a user had turned off Location History.
Google states users can stop the saving of all location markers by turning off another setting, however, which is not clearly identified as being connected to location tracking. The setting is called \websites to a users Google account.
1.Why does the author mention Weather apps?
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2020届高考英语二轮复习题型专练：阅读理解(科技类)
