学位英语

Musical Robot Companion Enhances Listener Experience

Shimi, a musical companion developed by Georgia Tech’s Center for Music Technology, recommends songs, dances to the beat and keeps the music pumping based on listener feedback. The smartphone-enabled, one-foot-tall robot is billed as an interactive “musical friend”.

“Shimi is designed to change the way that people enjoy and think about their music，” said Professor Gil Weinberg, the robot’s creator. He will unveil the robot at the June 27th Google I/O conference in San Francisco. A band of three Shimi robots will perform for guests, dancing in sync with music created in the lab and composed according to its movements.

Shimi is essentially a docking station with a “brain” powered by an Android phone. Once docked, the robot gains the sensing and musical generation capabilities of the user’s mobile device. In other words, if there’s an “app” for that, Shimi is ready. For instance, by using the phone’s camera and face-detecting software，Shimi can follow a listener around the room and position its “ears”，or speakers, for optimal sound. Another recognition feature is based on rhythm and tempo. If the user taps a beat, Shimi analyzes it, scans the phone’s musical library and immediately plays the song that best matches the suggestion. Once the music starts，Shimi dances to the rhythm.

“Many people think that robots are limited by their programming instructions, said Music Technology Ph. D. candidate Mason Bretan. “Shimi shows us that robots can be creative and interactive. ’’Future apps in the works will allow the user to shake their head in disagreement or wave a hand in the air to alert Shimi to skip to the next song or increase/decrease the volume. The robot will also have the capability to recommend new music based on the user’s song choices and provide feedback on the music play list.

Weinberg hopes other developers will be inspired to create more apps to expand Shimi’s creative and interactive capabilities. “I believe that our center is ahead of a revolution that will see more robots in homes.” Weinberg said.

Weinberg is in the process of commercializing Shimi through an exclusive licensing agreement with Georgia Tech. Weinberg hopes to make the robot available to consumers by the 2013 holiday season. “If robots are going to arrive in homes, we think that they will be this kind of machines一small, entertaining and fun，Weinberg said. “They will enhance your life and pave the way for more intelligent service robots in our lives.”

练习：

1.Which of the following is NOT true according to the first three paragraphs?

A Shimi is a one-foot tall robot.

B Shimi is the creator of the musical companion.

C Shimi is a docking station with a“ brain” powered by an Android phone.

D Shimi can gain the sensing and musical generation capabilities of the user’s mobile device.

2.What does Shimi do if the user taps a beat?

A It stores the beat in the musical library.

B It transmits the beat to the docking station.

C It positions its speakers for optimal sound.

D It selects a perfectly-matched song and plays it in sync with that beat.

3.Which of the following about Shimi is true?

A Robots are limited by their programming instructions, and Shimi is no exception.

B Present apps allow the user to shake their head to alert Shimi to skip to the next song.

C Existing apps allow the user to wave a hand to alert Shimi to turn up/down the volume.

D Shimi can be creative and interactive.

4.What does the author want to tell us?

A The research center is developing a stronger and more versatile Shimi.

B Weinberg only expects staffs from Georgia Tech. to develop more apps for Shimi.

C Shimi is not yet technologically ready for commercialization.

D Robots such as Shimi are created for large corporations rather than homes.

5.Which of the following is Weinberg’s assertion?

A Shimi as a robotic musical companion can be applied to all types of smart phones.

B human lives will be filled with more fun if Shimi is going to arrive in homes.

C Shimi's creative and interactive capabilities are appreciated by most of its users.

D Weinberg has reached an agreement with Georgia Tech to commercialize Shimi.

答案与题解：

1.B在前三段中均可找到与选项A、C、D相应的句子，强调Shimi是一种电子设备;B与原文不符, Shimi不是该机器人的发明者,Gil Weinberg教授才是the robot’s creator。

2.D选项D简要地表述了第三段的倒数第二句“If the user taps a beat, Shimi analyzes it, scans the phone’s musical library and immediately plays the song that best matches the suggestion”的意思,所以是答案。选项A、B、C都不符合上述句子的含义。

3.D选项A的意思与原文相反。虽然人们认为机器人受到程序指令的限制，但Shimi却表现出具有创造能力和互动能力，所以A不是答案。选项D的意思与原文相同，因而是答案。第四段第三句指的是未来的应用程序: future apps in the works,而选项B,C是指目前的应用程序，两者的表述均与原文有出入。

4.A第三段介绍Shimi的多种功能，第四段和第五段说Weinberg还在开发更多的应用程序来丰富Shimi的功能，还希望其他研发者也参与开发，因此，A是答案。选项B说Weinberg 仅仅希望Georgia Tech员工参与开发更多的应用软件，这与原文不符。文章最后一段告诉我们,Weinberg正在与Georgia Tech进行有关Shimi商业化的谈判,选项C的意思与此相反，不会是答案。选项D也与原文不符。

5.B选项A、C和D的内容Weinberg都没有说过。第三段告诉我们，Shimi是Android smart phone的扩充基座，并不适用于所有智能手机，所以A选项不正确；Shimi尚未进入市场，还谈不上公众对Shimi欣赏与否的问题，因此选项C不符合原意；Shimi正在进行商业化运作，但绝非已经完成，所以D也不是正确选项。本题的答案是B,依据是最后一段倒数第二句。

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