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?

任务型阅读。阅读短文，并回答问题。（10分）

　　The Wilsons decided to go overseas for vacation. They had a family meeting(会议) to plan the vacation. “First,” Mr Wilson said, “we should decide where we are going.”

　　“I don’t agree,” Mrs Wilson said, “I think we should decide when we are going first. We don’t want to go to places when they are cold.” Mr Wilson agreed, so the family’s first decision was when to go on vacation. They decided to go in July.

　　“Now we can decide where to go,” said Mr Wilson.

　　“But, Dad,” Ben said, “don’t you think that where we go depends on how we go? If we plan to fly, we can go a long way. If we plan to drive, we can’t go far.”

　　Again, Mr Wilson agreed, and they discussed this. At last they agreed to travel by plane.

And so the planning meeting went on. The next day, one of Mr Wilson’s friends at work asked, “Where are you going for vacation?”

　　“Well,” Mr Wilson told him, “we are going in summer by plane, but I don’t know where we are going!”

根据短文内容回答下列问题。

1.Why did the Wilsons have a family meeting?

2.What did they decide first?

3.When did they decide to go?

4.How did the Wilsons decide to travel?

5.What they didn’t decide？

阅读理解填词（10分）

Jack is a twenty-year-old young man. Two years ago, when he f1.     middle school, he found work in a shop. Usually he works u2.    ten o'clock in the evening. He is very tired when he gets home. After a quick supper he goes to bed and soon falls asleep. His grandma who lives downstairs(楼下) is satisfied with (满意) him.

　　One day, on his way home, he m3. Mary. They were both happy. He asked the girl to his house, she agreed h4. . He bought some fruit and drinks for her. And they talked about their schools, t5.  , classmates and their future (未来). They talked f6. a long time.

　　“Have a look at your w7. , please,” said the girl. “What time is it now?”

　　“Sorry, something is wrong with my watch,” said Jack. “Where's y8. ?”

　　“I left it at home.”

　　Jack t9.   for a moment and found a way. He began to stamp his foot on the floor, “Bang! Bang! Bang!”

　The sound woke his grandma up. The old woman shouted downstairs,“It's twelve o'clock at night, Jack. W10.are you still jumping upstairs?”

Martin is an American boy. He is eight years old. His parents   41  _ five years ago and he is now living with his grandmother in New York.
　　One morning,  Jimmy ,  one of his classmates, came to his home with an exercises book in his hand. Jimmy lives in a house not far from Martin's. They often go to school together.
　　"Would you help me with this maths problem?" Jimmy said as soon as he came into the room. "It's too hard for me and I can't work it out."
　　"Let me try, " Martin said. "I   42  it isn't too hard for me. "
　　Martin tried his best but he couldn't work it out,   43   .
　　"If we had a small computer,  all the problems would be  44   for us to do. " Jimmy said.
　　"A small computer . . . , " Martin thought for a minute,  then he said, "I've got an idea. We can   45  one in a shop. "
　　"A computer is very   46   ,  and we don’t have enough money. "
　　"That's OK, " said Martin. "We can ask the new president (总统)   47  some money. He said he would help anyone in trouble. I' m sure he will help us. He is very rich, you know."
　　So they decided to write a letter to the new president. Soon the letter was finished and they hurried to the post office.
　　In front of the post office stood a small box. They   48   the letter into the box carefully and went home happily.
The next morning, they    49   the post office on their way to school. They found   50  ,  the box was not a post box but trash-box (果皮箱).