Robots in class

    Over 600,000 children in the United States spend their long time in hospital each year．Many of them say that they have difficult in returning to school after hospital stays．Thanks to technology，kids who are sick in the hospital no longer have to miss time in the classroom．

    A program called PEBBLES makes it possible for kids in hospital to take part in classroom discussions by using robot．PEBBLES(Providing Education by Bringing Environments to Students)supplies robots to help kids who are staying in hospital keep up with their classmates．

    For Achim Nurse，a 13-yers-old patient at Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla，New York，PEBBLES helped him so much．When he first learned about the program，he wasn’t so sure it would work．    

   “When I first saw it，it looked difficult，”said Achim．

    However，after 30 minutes of working with the robot，Achim discovered that he had gotten good at operating it．

    The robots work in pairs—一one in the hospital with the student，the other in the classroom．

    The robot in the classroom gives the student in the hospital a feel of“tele-presence．”A live picture of the students is shown on a video screen in the classroom．Meanwhile，in the hospital room，the student knows clear about what is going on in the classroom．

    The robot at the school has four wheels．so it can move around from class to class．Its“face” is an auto-focus(可以自动调焦的)camera．By using a control box，the student call turn the robot’s head，raise its hand，and adjust the volume(音量)．It is even equipped with a scanner(扫描器)and printer，so if the teacher want to have an exercise or testing class，the student can participate from the hospital．

   “The robot is greeted by students in the classroom．It is also greeted by the sick student。”said Andrew Summa，national director of the robot project．

根据短文内容完成下面各题。

1．Try to use the phrase underlined in the first paragraph to make a sentence．

2．Guess the Chinese meaning of“keep up with”．

3．The robot is greeted by students in the classroom．It is also greeted by the student in the hospital．(改写为同义句)

4．According to the passage，we can know that____

  A．We can operate this kind of robot easily．   

  B．the student in hospital cannot adjust the volume by using control box．

  C．The teacher wants to have a test in the class now. Although the student in the hospital has this kind of robot，he also cannot participate it．

5．What do you think of the robot project in the United States? Do you think it can help sick students? What do you think are its limitations?

阅读下面短文，根据短文内容完成下列各题。

In the United States, it is not usual to telephone someone very early in the morning. If you telephone him early in the day, while he is taking a shower .or having breakfast, the time of the call shows the matter is very important and requires attention at once. If someone receives a call after 11: 00 p. m., he thinks it is a matter of life and death. The time chosen for the call communicates its importance.    

In social life, time plays a very important part. In the USA, guests will feel they are not highly regarded if the invitation to a dinner party is only three or four days before the party date. But it is not true in all 'countries. In other areas of the world, it may be considered foolish to make an appointment too early because plans that are made for a date more than a week away will be forgotten. The meaning of time is different in different parts of the world. Therefore, misunderstandings appear between people from different cultures that treat time differently. Being on time is thought of highly in American life.(A) If people are not on time, they may be regarded as impolite. In the USA, keeping business companies waiting for an hour is too impolite. (B) A person is expected to say sorry when he is 5 minutes late. If he is less than 5 minutes late, he will say a few words of explanation, though perhaps he will not complete the sentence.

1. What do you think of the call after l1:00 p.m. in the USA?

2. Can you make an invitation more than a week before the date in the USA?

3. What is thought of highly in American life according to the author?

4．将(A)句改为含有定语从句的同义句。

5．将(B)句改为主动语态。