ROBOTS

A. The modern world is increasingly populated by quasi-intelligent

gizmos whose presence we barely notice but whose creeping ubiquity

has removed much human drudgery. Our factories hum to the rhythm

of robot assembly arms. Our banking is done at automated teller

terminals that thank us with rote politeness for the transaction. Our

subway trains are controlled by tireless robo-drivers. Our mine shafts

are dug by automated moles, and our nuclear accidents - such as those

at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl - are cleaned up by robotic

muckers fit to withstand radiation.

Such is the scope of uses envisioned by Karel Capek, the Czech

playwright who coined the term ‘robot’ in 1920 (the word ‘robota’

means ‘forced labor’ in Czech). As progress accelerates, the

experimental becomes the exploitable at record pace.

Viii diễn đạt đồng nghĩa

- Barely notice: gần như ko nhận ra- quietly- yên lặng

B. Other innovations promise to extend the abilities of human

operators. Thanks to the incessant miniaturisation of electronics and

micromechanics, there are already robot systems that can perform

some kinds of brain and bone surgery with submillimeter accuracy -

far greater precision than highly skilled physicians can achieve with

their hands alone. At the same time, techniques of long-distance

control will keep people even farther from hazard. In 1994 a ten-

foot-tall NASA robotic explorer called Dante, with video-camera

eyes and with spider-like legs, scrambled over the menacing rim of

an Alaskan volcano while technicians 2,000 miles away in

California watched the scene by satellite and controlled Dante’s

descent.

- VI Extend-heighten : mở rộng nâng cao

C. But if robots are to reach the next stage of labour-saving utility,

they will have to operate with less human supervision and be able to

make at least a few decisions for themselves - goals that pose a

a specific error,’ says one expert, ‘we can’t yet give a robot enough

common sense to reliably interact with a dynamic world.’ Indeed the

quest for true artificial intelligence (Al) has produced very mixed

results. Despite a spasm of initial optimism in the 1960s and 1970s,

when it appeared that transistor circuits and microprocessors might

be able to perform in the same way as the human brain by the 21st

century, researchers lately have extended their forecasts by decades

if not centuries.

- IX

Phản biện : Despite

- Prediction= forecast ( dự báo )

- Revised – extended: xem xét lại, mở rộng lại dựa đoán

D. What they found, in attempting to model thought, is that the

human brain’s roughly one hundred billion neurons are much more

talented - and human perception far more complicated - than

previously imagined. They have built robots that can recognise the

misalignment of a machine panel by a fraction of a millimeter in a

rapidly changing scene and immediately disregard the 98 per cent

that is irrelevant, instantaneously focusing on the woodchuck at the

side of a winding forest road or the single suspicious face in a

tumultuous crowd. The most advanced computer systems on Earth

can’t approach that kind of ability, and neuroscientists still don’t

know quite how we do it.

- IX

- But: Phan bien

- Dien dat dong nghia: nao ng co the nhin canh nhanh chong va dot

nhien loai bo 98% nhung thu ko lien quan ngay lap tuc, he thong

may tinh hien dai hat ko co nang luc do

E. Nonetheless, as information theorists, neuroscientists, and

computer experts pool their talents, they are finding ways to get

some life like intelligence from robots. One method renounces the

linear, logical structure of conventional electronic circuits in favour

of the messy, ad hoc arrangement of a real brain’s neurons. These

‘neural networks’ do not have to be programmed. They can ‘teach’

themselves by a system of feedback signals that reinforce electrical

connections that produced errors. Eventually, the net wires itself

into a system that can pronounce certain words or distinguish certain

shapes.

- I

- Some success resulted from how barin functions

- Tổ hợp từ : finding ways to get intelligence- don’t have to be

programmed- produce corect responses- wipe out connections-

pronounce certain words and distinguish certain shapes ->

achievements

F. In other areas researchers are struggling to fashion a more natural

relationship between people and robots in the expectation that some

day machines will take on some tasks now done by humans in, say,

nursing homes. This is particularly important in Japan, where the

percentage of elderly citizens is rapidly increasing. So experiments

at the Science University of Tokyo have created a ‘face robot’ - a

life-size, soft plastic model of a female head with a video camera

imbedded in the left eye - as a prototype. The researchers’ goal is to

concentrating on the face because they believe facial expressions are

the most important way to transfer emotional messages. We read

those messages by interpreting expressions to decide whether a

person is happy, frightened, angry, or nervous. Thus the Japanese

robot is designed to detect emotions in the person it is ‘looking at’

by sensing changes in the spatial arrangement of the person’s eyes,

nose, eyebrows, and mouth. It compares those configurations with a

database of standard facial expressions and guesses the emotion.

The robot then uses an ensemble of tiny pressure pads to adjust its

plastic face into an appropriate emotional response.

- III Humanistic possibilities ( năng lực mang tính nhân văn) natural

relationship: quan hệ mang tính tự nhiên

- Humanistic- relationship between people and robots

- Tổ hợp từ : happy- angry-frightened…

G. Other labs are taking a different approach, one that doesn’t try to

mimic human intelligence or emotions. Just as computer design has

moved away from one central mainframe in favour of myriad

individual workstations - and single processors have been replaced

solved simultaneously - many experts are now investigating whether

swarms of semi-smart robots can generate a collective intelligence

that is greater than the sum of its parts. That’s what beehives and ant

colonies do, and several teams are betting that legions of mini-

critters working together like an ant colony could be sent to explore

the climate of planets or to inspect pipes in dangerous industrial

situations.

Questions 14-19

Reading Passage 277 has seven paragraphs A-G.

From the list of headings below choose the most suitable heading for each

paragraph.

Write the appropriate numbers (i-x) in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.

List of headings

i.    Some success has resulted from observing how the brain functions.

ii.    Are we expecting too much from one robot?

iii.   Scientists are examining the humanistic possibilities.

v.    Has the power of robots become too great?

vi.   Human skills have been heightened with the help of robotics.

vii.  There are some things we prefer the brain to control.

viii. Robots have quietly infiltrated our lives.

ix.   Original predictions have been revised.

x.   Another approach meets the same result.

14. Paragraph A

15. Paragraph B

16. Paragraph C

17. Paragraph D

18. Paragraph E

19. Paragraph F

Example                  Answer

Paragraph G                ii

Questions 20-24

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading

YES       if the statement agrees with the information

NO         if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage

20. Karel Capek successfully predicted our current uses for robots. No

21. Lives were saved by the NASA robot, Dante.NG

22. Robots are able to make fine visual judgements.Yes

23. The internal workings of the brain can be replicated ( nhân bản, sao

giống) by robots. No

24. The Japanese have the most advanced robot systems.NG

Questions 25-27

Complete the summary below with words taken from paragraph F.

Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 25-27 on your answer sheet.

The prototype of the Japanese ‘face robot’ observes humans through a

25 ..................... which is planted in its head. It then refers to a

26 ..................... of typical ‘looks’ that the human face can have, to decide
what emotion the person is feeling. To respond to this expression, the robot

alters it’s own expression using a number of 27 ..................... .