PASSAGETWO(1)Sincethedawnofhumaningenuity,peoplehavedevisedevermorecunningtoolstocopewithworkthatisdangerous,boring,burdensome,orjustplainnasty.Thatcompulsionhasresultedinrobotics—thescienceofconferringvarioushumancapabilitiesonmachines.Andifscientistshaveyettocreatethemechanicalversionofsciencefiction,theyhavebeguntocomeclose.(2)Asaresult,themodernworldisincreasinglypopulatedbyintelligentgizmoswhosepresencewebarelynoticebutwhoseuniversalexistencehasremovedmuchhumanlabor.Ourfactorieshumtotherhythmofrobotassemblyarms.Ourbankingisdoneatautomatedtellerterminalsthatthankuswithmechanicalpolitenessforthetransaction.Oursubwaytrainsarecontrolledbytirelessrobot-drivers.Andthankstothecontinualminiaturizationofelectronicsandmicro-mechanics,therearealreadyrobotsystemsthatcanperformsomekindsofbrainandbonesurgerywithsubmillimeteraccuracy—fargreaterprecisionthanhighlyskilledphysicianscanachievewiththeirhandsalone.(3)Butifrobotsaretoreachthenextstageoflaborsavingutility,theywillhavetooperatewithlesshumansupervisionandbeabletomakeatleastafewdecisionsforthemselves—goalsthatposearealchallenge.“Whileweknowhowtotellarobottohandleaspecificerror,”saysDaveLavery,managerofaroboticsprogramatNASA,“wecan'tyetgivearobotenough‘commonsense’toreliablyinteractwithadynamicworld.”(4)Indeed,thequestfortrueartificialintelligencehasproducedverymixedresults.Despiteaspellofinitialoptimisminthe1960sand1970swhenitappearedthattransistorcircuitsandmicroprocessorsmightbeabletocopytheactionofthehumanbrainbytheyear2010,researcherslatelyhavebeguntoextendthatforecastbydecadesifnotcenturies.(5)Whattheyfound,inattemptingtomodelthought,isthatthehumanbrain'sroughlyonehundredbillionnervecellsaremuchmoretalented—andhumanperceptionfarmorecomplicated—thanpreviouslyimagined.Theyhavebuiltrobotsthatcanrecognizetheerrorofamachinepanelbyafractionofamillimeterinacontrolledfactoryenvironment.Butthehumanmindcanglimpsearapidlychangingsceneandimmediatelydisregardthe98percentthatisirrelevant,instantaneouslyfocusingonthemonkeyatthesideofawindingforestroadorthesinglesuspiciousfaceinabigcrowd.ThemostadvancedcomputersystemsonEarthcan'tapproachthatkindofability,andneuroscientistsstilldon'tknowquitehowwedoit.27.Theword“gizmos"(line1,paragraph2)mostprobablymeans
【答案】 C 【考点】 词义题。 【分析】 本题虽然考查的是词义，但是显然不是希望考生通过储备更大的词汇来回答，而是希望考生能够利用文中出现的细节来推断这个单词的意思。第二段第一句的意思说“由此引起的结果是，现代世界已经充斥着越来越多的...