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WW3000 Pass L2 L3

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53 views3 pages

WW3000 Pass L2 L3

Uploaded by

2017 Rose
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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WORDLY WISE 3OOO ONLINE

Level 2 • Passage
Lesson 3

Greetings from Mars


You have probably seen pictures of robots. Imagine that a
robot could talk to you about itself. It might say something like this.

Hello, my name is Spirit. I didn’t grow from a seed or an egg, as


plants and animals do. People made me to explore Mars. Mars is a
planet that humans hope to visit one day. That’s where I am now. I
set off in June 2003. I got here seven months later.
You and I do many of the same things, but we do them in
different ways. When you move around or pick things up, you use
your muscles. The power they have comes from the food you eat.
Each move I make is caused by a little motor. I have many inside
me. Their power comes from electricity. My computer controls all
of them.
I don’t have eyes. In their place I have television cameras.
They send pictures to my computer. I can look to the right or left,
up or down, wherever the computer tells me to. If I am exploring
a place with many boulders, my television cameras tell my
computer. Then it helps me go around them. If I get too close to a
cliff, my computer again helps me to move out of danger. I don’t
have ears either. Instead my antenna picks up messages sent by
humans back in the United States. It also sends messages back
to them.
I do all kinds of work. Some jobs I do better than humans. This
is because I never get tired. As long as I have electricity, I keep on
working. I can also work in places where it is difficult for people
to go. On Mars, there is no air and very little water. Humans need
both. I get along just fine without them.

© SSI • May be copied for single-classroom use only. 1  


®
Wordly Wise 3000®Online Level 2 • Passage • Lesson 3

Some robots stay in one place. I move around on six wheels.


If I find myself going down a slope, my computer keeps me from
falling over. If that were to happen, I wouldn’t be able to get back
on my wheels again. Just like people, I have to keep my balance. I
don’t want to have an accident while I’m moving about.
You have two arms. I have only one. It has joints in it, like your
wrist and elbow, but my arm is made of metal. It has a scoop at
the end of it that I can use to dig into the ground. Everything I
learn goes into my computer. Humans built me to find out what it
is like here on Mars. They will use what they learned when the first
humans come here.
I will never return home to Earth. How do I feel about that? Well,
I don’t have feelings. I’m never sad, but I’m also never happy. That’s
because I’m a machine. So staying here on Mars doesn’t bother
me at all.

Answer each of the questions with a sentence.

1. What happens to the motor of a robot if the electricity is shut off?

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________
2. How do you know that Spirit will probably not fall off a cliff?
antenna
______________________________________________________________________
balance
boulder ______________________________________________________________________

cliff 3. What might happen to Spirit if its antenna breaks off?

joint ______________________________________________________________________
machine
______________________________________________________________________
motor
4. What would happen if Spirit did not have joints in its arm?
muscle
planet ______________________________________________________________________
slope
______________________________________________________________________

© SSI • May be copied for single-classroom use only. 2  


®
Wordly Wise 3000®Online Level 2 • Passage • Lesson 3

5. How does Spirit know when a boulder is in its path?

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________
6. Why do robots never have sore muscles?

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________
7. What might happen if Spirit fell down a slope?

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________
8. What helps Spirit to keep its balance?

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________
9. What are some important differences between machines and
humans?

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________
10. Would you like to visit another planet someday? Explain your answer.

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

• Do you know the difference between muscle and mussel?


These two words are pronounced the same but have different
spellings and meanings. A mussel is a kind of shellfish with a
long, slender, dark blue shell.

© SSI • May be copied for single-classroom use only. 3  


®

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