历年考研英语阅读理解mp3(02-2)

[00:00.00]在线英语听力室(www.tingroom.com)友情制作
[00:03.77]2002 Text2
[00:07.50]Since the dawn of human ingenuity,
[00:10.22]people have devised ever more cunning tools
[00:13.05]to cope with work that is dangerous,
[00:15.66]boring, burdensome, or just plain nasty.
[00:20.83]That compulsion has resulted in robotics
[00:24.27]--the science of conferring various human
[00:26.59]capabilities on machines.
[00:29.12]And if scientists have yet to create
[00:31.54]the mechanical version of science fiction,
[00:34.27]they have begun to come close.
[00:37.09]As a result, the modern world
[00:39.51]is increasingly populated by intelligent gizmos
[00:43.16]whose presence we barely notice
[00:45.27]but whose universal existence
[00:47.60]has removed much human labor¹.
[00:50.42]Our factories hum to the rhythm of robot assembly arms.
[00:54.87]Our banking² is done at automated³ teller⁴ terminals
[00:58.00]that thank us with mechanical politeness for the transaction.
[01:03.24]Our subway trains are controlled by tireless robot-drivers.
[01:07.98]And thanks to the continual miniaturization of electronics
[01:12.22]and micro-mechanics,
[01:14.03]there are already robot systems
[01:15.94]that can perform some kinds of brain
[01:17.97]and bone surgery with submillimeter accuracy
[01:22.01]--far greater precision than highly skilled physicians
[01:25.02]can achieve with their hands alone.
[01:28.08]But if robots are to reach the next stage of
[01:30.72]laborsaving utility,
[01:32.53]they will have to operate with less human supervision
[01:35.96]and be able to make at least a few decisions
[01:38.48]for themselves--goals that pose a real challenge.
[01:42.62]"While we know how to tell a robot
[01:44.19]to handle a specific error,"
[01:46.50]says Dave Lavery, manager of a robotics program at NASA,
[01:51.34]"we can't yet give a robot enough 'common sense'
[01:54.77]to reliably interact with a dynamic world."
[01:58.41]Indeed the quest for true artificial intelligence
[02:02.25]has produced very mixed results.
[02:05.67]Despite a spell of initial optimism in the 1960s and 1970s
[02:10.91]when it appeared that transistor⁵ circuits
[02:13.23]and microprocessors⁶ might be able to copy the action
[02:16.47]of the human brain by the year 2010,
[02:19.99]researchers lately have begun to extend
[02:22.71]that forecast by decades if not centuries.
[02:25.73]在线英语听力室(www.tingroom.com)友情制作
[02:26.95]What they found, in attempting to model thought,
[02:30.17]is that the human brain's roughly one hundred billion
[02:33.09]nerve cells are much more talented
[02:36.12]--and human perception far more complicated
[02:38.94]--than previously⁷ imagined.
[02:41.26]They have built robots
[02:42.67]that can recognize the error of a machine panel
[02:45.29]by a fraction of a millimeter in a controlled
[02:48.22]factory environment.
[02:50.43]But the human mind can glimpse a rapidly changing scene
[02:54.16]and immediately disregard the 98 percent that is irrelevant,
[02:58.70]instantaneously focusing on the monkey
[03:01.02]at the side of a winding⁸ forest road
[03:04.05]or the single suspicious face in a big crowd.
[03:07.77]The most advanced computer systems on Earth
[03:10.50]can't approach that kind of ability,
[03:12.82]and neuroscientists still don't know quite how we do it.

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

3 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。

4 teller   

n.银行出纳员；(选举)计票员

参考例句：

• The bank started her as a teller.银行起用她当出纳员。
• The teller tried to remain aloof and calm.出纳员力图保持冷漠和镇静。

5 transistor   

n.晶体管，晶体管收音机

参考例句：

• This make of transistor radio is small and beautifully designed.这半导体收音机小巧玲珑。
• Every transistor has at least three electrodes.每个晶体管至少有三个电极。

6 microprocessors   

微（信息）处理机( microprocessor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This sort of work would have been inconceivable before the advent of microprocessors. 在微处理机问世之前这种工作是难以想象的。
• In microprocessors, the name used for the IEEE interface bus standard. 微处理机中，IEEE接口总线标准的名字。

7 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

8 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。