第十五篇   winged robot learns to fly

1. which of the following is not true of what is mentioned about the winged robot in the second paragraph?

2. how did the robot behave（表现） at the beginning of the test?

3. which of the following is nearest to peter bentley’s view on the winged robot?

4. what measured how much lift the robot produced?

5. what does “the process” appearing in the last paragraph refer to?

一、learning how to fly took nature millions of years of trial（试验） and error（错误，过失） -but a winged robot has cracked（使破裂，打开---突破障碍） it in only a few hours, using the same evolutionary（进化的；发展的） principles（原理，原则）. 自然界中的飞行学习经历了几百万年的反复实践和磨练，而安装机翼的机器人仅在数小时内就成功实现突破，用的是同样的进化原理。

二、krister wolff and peter nordin of chalmers university of technology (cut) in gothenburg , sweden, built a winged（带翼的，飞行的） robot and set about（开始做，着手） testing whether it could learn to fly by itself, without any pre-programmed data on what flapping（拍动，摇摆运动） is or how to do it.瑞典gc科技大学的k 和p研制出带翼的机器人，着手测试它能否在不预设振翅数据程序的条件下自行学会飞行。

三、（1）to begin with, the robot just twitched（抽动） and jerked（急扭） erratically（飘忽不定地）.首先，机器人只是飘忽不定地振动盘桓。 but, gradually, it made movements that gained height. 不过它的运动逐渐获得了上升高度。 at first, it cheated--simply standing on its wing tips was one early short cut. 起初，它想走走捷径，试图仅用翅尖保持直立。

三、（2）after three hours, however, the robot abandoned such methods in favor of（赞成；支持） a more effective flapping technique where it rotated（旋转） its wings through 90 degrees and raised them before twisting（扭动） them back to the horizontal（n.水平面 a.水平的） and pushing down.然而三小时后，它放弃了这种方法，转用更有效的振翅技术，90度角旋转两翼，并在它们恢复到水平位置前将其拉起。

四、（1）“this tells us that this kind of evolution（n. 进化） is capable of coming up with flying motion,” says peter bentley, who works on evolutionary（a. 进化的） computing at university college london.事实告诉我们，飞行装置有可能实现这种进化，p说。他现正在伦敦大学研究进化计算技术。

四、（2）but while the robot had worked out how best to produce lift, it was not about to take off.

虽然机器人可以摸索出上升飞行的、最佳方式，却不会起飞。

四、（3）there’s only so much that evolution can do,”bentley says.  进化升级所做的只有这么多。 “this thing is never going to fly because the motors will never have the strength to do it,” he says. 这东西不可能自行起飞，因为发动机不能产生足够动力。

五、（1）the robot had metre-long wings made from balsa（一种轻质木材） wood and covered with a light plastic film.机器人的两翼由轻木制成，长约一米，覆有一层轻塑胶。

五、（2）small motors on the robot let it move its wings forwards or backwards, up or down or twist them in either direction.它的小马达使机翼可以前后上下运动，并能在这两个方向上任意旋转。 六、（1）the team attached the robot to two vertical rods, so it could slide up and down（研究小组将机器人附着在两根竖直标杆上，它便能上下滑动）. at the start of a test, the robot was suspended by an elastic band（实验刚开始的时候，机器人悬挂在一根弹性带上）. a movement detector measured how much lift, if any, the robot produced for any given movement（一旦它升高，运动探测器就能测量它任何运动的高度）.

六、（2）a computer program fed the robot random（随意的） instructions, at the rate of 20 per second, to test its flapping abilities（每过20秒，计算机程序就给机器人输入任意设定的指令，以检测其振翅能力）. each instruction told the robot either to do nothing or to move the wings slightly in the various directions（每个指令或是让机器人停止运动或是在各种方向上转动机翼）.

七、（1）feedback from the movement detector let the program work out which sets of instructions were best at producing lift（通过来自运动探测器的反馈，程序测算出哪几组指令能最有效地产生高度）.

七、（2）the most successful ones were paired up and “offspring” sets of instructions were generated（使形成） by swapping（交换） instructions randomly between successful pairs.

最成功的几组进行配对，而其“后代”指令则通过在成功组合间随意交换指令产生。

七、（3）these next-generation instructions were then sent to the robot and evaluated（评估） before breeding（产生） a new generation, and the process was repeated.在产生下一代组合之前，这些第二代指令被发往机器人并进行评估，然后这一过程反复进行。

1. which of the following is not true of what is mentioned about the winged robot in the second paragraph?

a  the two professors of cut built the winged robot.

b  the two professors of cut tested whether the winged robot could learn to fly.

c  the two professors of cut programmed the data on how the robot flapped its wings.

d  the two professors of cut tried to find out if the robot could fly by itself.

2. how did the robot behave（表现） at the beginning of the test? （三）

a  it rotated its wings through 90 degrees.

b  it twitched but gradually gained height.

c  it was twitched and broke down.

d  it landed not long after the test.

3. which of the following is nearest to peter bentley’s view on the winged robot? （四）

a the winged robot could never really fly.

b the winged robot did not have a motor.

c the winged robot should go through further evolution before it could fly.

d the robot could fly if it were lighter.

4. what measured how much lift the robot produced? （六-3）

a  two vertical rods.

b  a movement detector.

c  an elastic band.

d  both b and c.

5. what does “the process” appearing in the last paragraph refer to? （七）

a  pairing up successful instructions. 成功的指令配对

b  sending instructions to the robot. 指令输入机器人

c  generating new sets of instructions for evaluation. 产生新一代的指令

d  all the above.

important words review：

flap 振翅；拍打，拍动

twitch 猛抽；抽动

jerk 猛拉；急扭

rotate 旋转，转动

offspring 后代

swap 交换；交流

generate---generation 

使形成，发生，繁殖---产生，一代人

evolutionary---evolution

进化的，发展的---进展，进化