Controlling Robots with the Mind
Belle, our tiny monkey, was seated in her special chair inside a chamber at our Duke University lab. Her right hand grasped a joystick (操纵杆) as she watched a horizontal series of lights on a display panel. She knew that if a light suddenly shone and she moved the joystick left or right to correspond to its position, she would be sent a drop of fruit juice into her mouth.
Belle wore a cap glued to her head. Under it were four plastic connectors, which fed arrays of microwires-each wire finer than the finest sewing thread- into different regions of Belle's motor cortex (脑皮层), tile brain tissue that plans movements and sends instructions. Each of the 100 microwires lay beside a single motor neuron (神经元). When a neuron produced an electrical discharge, the adjacent microwire would capture the current and send it up through a small wiring bundle that ran from Belle's cap to a box of electronics on a table next to the booth. The box, in turn, was linked to two computers, one next door and the other half a country away.
After months of hard work, we were about to test the idea that we could reliably translate the raw electrical activity in a living being's brain-Belle's mere thoughts-into signals that could direct the actions of a robot. We had assembled a multijointed robot arm in this room, away from Belle's view, which she would control for the first time. As soon as Belle's brain sensed a lit spot on the panel, electronics in the box running two real-time mathematical models would rapidly analyze the tiny action potentials produced by her brain cells. Our lab computer would convert the electrical patterns into instructions that would direct the robot arm. Six hundred miles north, in Cambridge, Mass, a different computer would produce the same actions in another robot arm built by Mandayam A. Srinivasan. If we had done everything correctly, the two robot arms would behave as Belle's arm did, at exactly the same time.
Finally the moment came. We randomly switched on lights in front of Belle, and she immediately moved her joystick back and forth to correspond to them. Our robot arm moved similarly to Belle's real arm. So did Sriniwlsan's. Belle and the robots moved in synchrony (同步), like dancers choreographed (设计舞蹈动作) by the electrical impulses sparking in Belle's mind.
In the two years since that day, our labs and several others have advanced
neuroscience, computer science and microelectronics to create ways for rats, monkeys and eventually humans to control mechanical and electronic machines purely by
\who has been unable to move by a neurological (神经的) disorder or spinal cord (脊髓) injury, but whose motor codex is spared, to operate a wheelchair or a robotic limb. 41 Belle would be fed some fruit juice if she A grasped the joystick.
B moved the joystick to the side of the light. C sat quietly in a special chair.
D watched lights on a display panel.
42 The wires fixed under Belle's cap were connected to A a plastic box next door.
B a computer at Cambridge University, C a box of electronics in the booth.
D a box which, in turn, was linked to two computers
43 Which of the following is NOT true of the robot built by Srinivasan?
A It was directed by signals converted from the electrical activity in Belle's brain B It converted the electrical patterns into instructions for the other robot. C It was six hundred miles away from where Belle was. D It could perform the same function as Belle did.
44 Which of the following statements indicates the success of the experiment? A Belle responded to the robots successfully. B Belle and the robots danced beautifully.
C Belle and the robots responded to the lights at the same time. D The two robots moved the joysticks successively. 45 The short-term goal of the research is to help a person A whose motor cortex is seriously damaged.
B who can operate a wheelchair but not a robotic limb. C who has spinal cord injury but is able to move a wheelchair. D who is unable to move but whose motor cortex is not damaged
参考答案：41 B 42 D 43 B 44 C 45 D
Why is it that flying to New York from London will leave you feeling less tired than flying to London from New York? The answer may be a clear case of biology not being able to keep up with technology.
Deep inside the brain there is a clock that governs every aspect of the body's functioning: sleep and wake cycles, levels of alertness, performance, mood, hormone levels, digestion, body temperature and so on. It regulates all of these functions on a 24-hour basis and is called the biological clock.
This body clocks programmes us to be sleepy twice a day, between 3-5am and again between 3-5pm. Afternoon tea and nap are all cultural responses to our natural biological sleepiness in the afternoon.
One of the major causes of the travelers’ malady known as jet lag is the non-alignment of aperson's internal body clock with clocks in the external world. Crossing different time zones confuses thebiological clock, which then has to adjust to the new time and patterns of light and activity. To make matters more complex, not all internal body functions adjust at the same rate. So your sleep/wake may adjustto a new time zone at one rate, while your temperature adjusts at a different pace. Your digestion may beon a different schedule altogether.
Though we live in a 24-hour day, the natural tendency of the body clock is to extend our day beyond 24 hours. It is contrary to our biological programming to \
That is why traveling in a westward direction is more body-clock friendly than flying east. NASA studies of long haul pilots showed that westward travel was associated with significantly better sleep quantity and quality than eastward flights. When flying west, you are \direction of your internal clock. Flying eastward will involve \your day and is in direct opposition to your internal clock's natural tendency. One of the more common complaints of travelers is that their sleep becomes disrupted. There aremany reasons for this: changing time zones and schedules, changing light and activity levels, trying tosleep when your body clock is
programmed to be awake, disruption of the internal biological clock andworking longer hours.
It is often suggested that you adjust your watch as soon as you board a plane, supposedly to try to help you adjust to your destination’s schedule as soon as you arrive. But it can take the body clock several days to several weeks to fully adjust to a new time zone.
So, our body clock truly can \31.The role of the body clock is to. A. enable us to sleep 6 hours a day B. help us adapt to a 24-hour cycle C. regulate the body's functions
D. interfere with the body's functions
32. The word \A. \B. \C. \D. \
33. Flying in a westward direction will . A. help you sleep better B. increase the degree of jet lag C. shrink your day D. make you overeat
34. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a reason for the disrupted sleep of
travelers? A. Crossing different time zones. B. Changing light and activity levels. C. Working longer hours.
D. Watching out of the plane for a long time. 35. It can be seen from the lasttwo paragraphs that . A. you can control your own body clock B. it is not difficult to adjust to a new time zone C. adjusting your watch can help you avoid jet lag D. there isn’t much you can do to avoid jet lag
参考答案：31. C 32. B 33. A 34. D 35. D
After two decades of discredit, Keynes' prescriptions for state intervention when free markets stumble have returned to dominate the national agenda. For example, any solution to the problem of federal budget deficits will probably involve raising tax revenues and also stimulating employment, the traditional Keynesian priority.
Another of the economic blueprints calls for hiking income taxes while encouraging investment through restored tax breaks for business. To offset higher taxes,
neo-Keynesians revise the old remedy by lowering interest rates, spending less on public works and boosting productivity through the development and application of high technology. \federal budgets and create jobs.”
To some extent, Keynesianism has come back into favor almost by default. Monetarists, let by University of Chicago Professor Emeritus Milton Friedman, espoused their single-minded program; Fend offinflation by strictly controlling the money supple and leave everything else to the free-market which on itsown produces as much growth and employment as an economy can sustain. While supply-siders like Arthur Laffer suggested deep tax cuts in the belief that they would unleash
entrepreneurial energy and easeWashington’s stranglehold on the free market. But the two doctrines have proved unable either to staveoff or to explain the recession during the George Bush administration. Freemarket theories just failed tobuild a viable set of models.
Keynes also owes his comeback to an articulate group of young academics. Among the rising-star disciples are Harvard economist Jeffrey Sachs now knows as \President Bill Clinton. \merely by pumping up spending,\balancing the federal budget and raising investment primarily by increasing taxes. Sachs also argues that more than half of the deficit gap should be closed by tax increases. Both of them urge greater coordination among the G-7 on fiscal and monetary policy as the only way to head off a global recession.
词汇：intervention n.调停、干涉；espouse vt.信奉、采纳；fiscal adj.财政的、会
计的 36. What is the main subject of the topic? A. The celebrated neo-Keynesians. B. The discredit of Keynesianism.
C. The predominance of free-market theories. D. The retroboon of Keynesianism.
37. According to the passage, what is NOT mentioned as the major point of
neo-Keynesianism? A. Slashing tax revenues. B. Lowering interest rates.