Section D This section consists of one passage
followed by a summary. Read the passage carefully and complete the summary below
by choosing no more than three words front the passage for each blank Remember
to write the answers on the answer sheet. Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following
passage. Taking a page from science fiction, engineers
at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Ames Research Center at
Moffett Field, in California, are developing small robot "buddies" that could
tag along with astronauts and act as personal assistants.
Developers envision little round robots about the size of grapefruit that
are propelled by tiny fans through the weightlessness of a space station or
shuttle. Hovering over the astronauts’ shoulders and responding to voice
commands, the devices, equipped with cameras, speaker, microphones and a variety
of sensors, could serve as additional sets of eyes, ears and noses for the crew
in space and the support staff on the ground, engineers say. As
an astronaut works on an experiment with both hands in a glove box, for
instance, the mechanical assistant could serve as a communications link with a
researcher watching from Earth. The devices also could patrol
the corridors of the space station, checking for gas leaks, smoke and unusual
bacterial growth, or remind astronauts about the next tasks on their daily to do
lists or of the need to send a birthday message to a loved one at
home. Yuri Gawdiak, the principal engineer on the project, said
the idea of the personal satellite assistant, or PSA, came to him after an
experiment between the American space shuttle Atlantis and the Russian Mir space
station in 1996. That mission showed that laptop and palmtop computers
could use radio signals to exchange information on a wireless network without
interfering with other electronic systems aboard the spacecraft.
Afterward, astronauts told engineers that they wanted wireless palmtops,
or even smaller portable data assistants, that could record and monitor data
like the fictional tricorder devices popularized by the television series "Star
Trek," Mr. Gawdiak said. "I took it a step further when I noticed that crews on
missions left equipment to float around when they got busy," he said. "I thought
they would like a device that would always face them when floating, perhaps
something stabilized by gyroscopes. He said the idea evolved
further when he saw astronauts on a shuttle mission demonstrate toys in
weightlessness during an educational program. Small wind-up toys hopped
and flew around the cabin with startling speed and ease, he said, spurring ideas
of practical mobile devices. "Then I saw ’Star Wars’ and there
was a scene in the movie when the characters used a remote robot object--a fast
moving ball--to practise with their light sabers, "he said. "And that gave me
more ideas. " The device, as now envisioned, is a ball about
five inches ( 12.5 centimeters) in diameter that is studded with sensors for
rangefinders, motion detectors and position trackers to keep it from running
into things or getting lost. The battery-powered PSA could move in any direction
using six tiny enclosed propeller fans and have a flat-screen video panel on one
side to display data. "This is small enough to be unobtrusive,
and big enough to hold the technology that will be available in the next couple
of years to do the job," Mr. Gawdiak said. It would be
impossible for each PSA to carry the computing power and instruments for all the
things people suggest these helpers could do, which is where the wireless data
network comes into play. The robots would operate from a base
station that would contain powerful computers for analy-sing sensor data,
running speech-recognition and voice-synthesizer software, relaying
communications and tracking the devices. The station also would
contain docking ports for recharging the PSA’s batteries and a variety of
sensors that could be snapped onto the robots, depending on tasks assigned to
them. Engineers at Ames completed a crucial test of the robots’
components this month by mounting them on a hover plate and guiding them around
a test table on a cushion of air. And the team has received financing to develop
a prototype. "We hope to launch a personal satellite assistant
in about two years aboard a space shuttle and in about three years aboard the
International Space Station, "Mr. Gawdiak said. The space
station, a $ 60 billion project involving 17 countries, will eventually house up
to seven astronaut-researchers. Developers would like to use at least three PSAs
on the station to demonstrate the technology, allowing the devices to work in
formation to zero in on environmental problems. Summary
: Grapefruit-sized robots may serve as personal
assistants for astronauts. This idea came to Yuri Gawdiak after an experiment
between (61) astronauts. Scientists envision that the small
robots shall perform tasks that range from patrolling to reminding astronauts to
send a birthday message. The robots, or (62) is powered by
battery and (63) by tiny fans. Equipped with (64)
, it can move with ease and shall not run into things. Since these
robots cannot carry all the necessary instruments, wireless data network will
enable the robots to operate from a base station. Researchers hope that PSAs
shall operate on the (65) in about 3 years’ time and help
solve environmental problems.