【课堂新坐标】（教师用）2013-2014学年高中英语 Unit 3 Life in the future同步备课参考 .docVIP

Unit 3　Life in the future 【美文阅读】　 Robotic age draws closer 随着科技的发展，机器人时代的到来已经指日可待。 These days，robots are more common than you might think.Consider the Roomba，a robotic vacuum(吸尘器)which cleans floors on its own. “We wanted to make something simple that people could use every day，”says Greiner，co-founder of IRobot，the company that makes the smart vacuum.“And thats what inspired us to build the Roomba.” Some robots like the Roomba are already very common in many US households. IRobot makes everything from the Roomba to robots that someday might become a part of us. “You can have robotics equipped into your body，to get back that arm or leg that youve lost，either in some accident or disease，”says Greiner. Although robots have been developed mainly for military(军用的)applications，civilian uses for the technology are growing，according to Michael Toscano，president of the Association for Unmanned(自控的)Vehicles International. “Unmanned systems allow human beings to do their task with an extension of their hands，their eyes and their ears.” “We can put them in the ocean and theyll swim for eight or nine months，collecting data and monitoring ocean pollution，”says Hudson of IRobot. Recently the US Governments Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)displayed a “robotic man”． Instead of depending on remote-control，DARPAs “robotic man” can actually look at some blocks，find one with a special pattern，and move it to a new location.Mandelbaum，DARPAs project manager，says more challenging tasks lie ahead. Some day，a DARPA robot might find a hidden bomb or help a disabled person select a shirt and button it. To advance the technology，DARPA plans to let members of the pubic write software for the “robotic man”，then sign onto the Internet and watch a model of “robotic man” perform the task. Its one of the ways that robots will help humankind to extend its reach. 【诱思导学】　 1．The example of the Roomba shows that