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第十九篇Musical Robot Companion Enhances Listener Experience

Shimi, a musical companion developed by Georgia Tech's1 Center for Music Technology, recommends songs, dances to the beat and keeps the music pumping2 based on listener feedback. The smartphone-enabled3, 0ne-foot-tall robot is billed as4 an interactive"musical friend". "Shimi is designed to change the way that people enjoy and think about theft music, " said Professor Gil Weinberg. the robot’s creator. He will unveil the robot at the June 27th Google I/O conference in San Francisco. A band of three Shimi robots will perform for guests, dancing in sync with music created in the lab and composed according to its movements.

Shimi is essentially a docking station5 with a "brain" powered by an Android6 phone. Once docked7, the robot gains the sensing and musical generation capabilities8 of the user's mobile device. In other words, if there's an "app9" for that, Shimi is ready.For instance, by using the phone's camera and face-detecting software, Shimi can follow a listener around the room and position its "ears", or speakers. for optimal sound．Another recognition feature is based on rhythm and tempo. If the user taps a beat10, Shimi analyzes it, scans the phone’s musical library and immediately plays the song that best matches the suggestion. Once the music starts, Shimi dances to the rhythm.

"Many people think that robots are limited by their programming instructions, "said Music Technology Ph.D. candidate Mason Breran. "Shimi shows us that robots can be creative and interactive. " Future apps in the works11 will allow the user to shake their head in disagreement or wave a hand in the air to alert Shimi to skip to the next song or increase/decrease the volume. The robot will also have the capability to recommend new music based on the user's song choices and provide feedback on the music play list.

Weinberg hopes other developers will be inspired to create more apps to expand Shimi's creative and interactive capabilities. "I believe that our center is ahead of a revolution that will see more robots in homes." Weinberg said．

Weinberg is in the process of commercializing Shimi through an exclusive licensing agreement with Georgia Tech. Weinberg hopes to make the robot available to consumers by the 2013 holiday season. "If robots are going to arrive in homes, we think that they will be this kind of machines-small, entertaining and fun, " Weinberg said. "They will enhance your life and pave the way for more intelligent service robots12 in our lives."

詞匯：

Pump v, 用抽水機抽；不斷播放(音樂)

Scan v. 掃描；瀏覽 Skipv. 輕跳，跳躍

sync n.踞.同步，同時；v. 使同步

tempon. 速度；節(jié)奏

注釋：

1.Georgia Tech：全稱是Georgia Institute of Technology, 佐治亞理工學院，建于1885年，位于亞特蘭大市中心。佐治亞理工學院是美國南部最大的公立理工學院，也是全美最頂尖的理工學院之一，排名僅次于麻省理工學院(MIT)和加州理工學院（CalTecb）。

2. pump：不斷播放（音樂）。例如：This radio station recently pumps out pop music. 這家廣播電臺近來連續(xù)播放流行音樂。

3. smartphone.enabled：出智能手機系統(tǒng)支持的

4. is billed as：相當于is advertised as, 意為“被標榜為”。

5. docking station：插接站，擴充基座，擴展插口

6.Android：（科幻小說里的）機器人。本文指用于智能手機和便攜式計算機移動設(shè)備的一種以Linus為基礎(chǔ)的開放源代碼操作系統(tǒng)，通過接口和插槽連接多種外部設(shè)備。目前Android尚未有統(tǒng)一中文譯名，國內(nèi)較多人翻譯成“安卓”或“安致”。據(jù)2012年2月數(shù)據(jù)， Android占據(jù)全球智能手機操作系統(tǒng)市場52.5％的份額，中國市場占有率為68. 4％。

7. dock：對接

8. the sensing and musical generation capabilities：傳感和音樂生成能力

9. app：應(yīng)用程序（=application）

10. if the user taps a beat：如果用戶打出某個（音樂）拍子

11. in the works：正在準備階段；在進行中或準備中

12. intelligent service robots：智能服務(wù)型機器人

練習

1. Which of the following is NOT true according to the first three paragraphs?

A. Shimi is a one foot tall robot.

B. Shimi is the creator of the musical companion.

C. Shimi is a docking station with a“brain”powered by all Android phone.

D. Shimi Can gain the sensing and musical generation capabilities of the user’s mobile device

2.What does Shimi do if the user taps a beat?

A. It stores the beat in the musical library.

B. It transmits the beat to the docking station.

C. It positions its speakers for optimal sound.

D. It selects a perfectly-matched song and plays it in sync with that beat.

3. Which of the following about Shimi is true?

A. Robots are limited by their programming instructions, and Shimi is no exception.

B . Present apps allow the user to shake their head to alert Shimi to skip to the next song.

C. Exiting app allow the user to wave a hand to alert Shimi to rum up/down the volume.

D. Shimi call be creative and interactive.

4. What does the author want to tell us?

A. The research center is developing a sponger and more versatile Shimi.

B. Weinberg only expects staffs from Georgia Tech. to develop more apps for Shirni.

C. Shimi is not yet technologically ready for commercialization.

D. Robots such as Shimi are created for large corporations rather than homes.

5. Which of the following is Weinberg’s assertion?

A. Shimi as a robotic musical companion call be applied to all types of smart phones.

B. human lives will be filled with more fun if Shimi is going to arrive in homes.

C. Shimi’s creative and interactive capabilities are appreciated by most of its users.

D. Weinberg has reached all agreement with Georgia Tech to commercialize Shimi.

答案與題解：

1. B在前三段中均可找到與選項A、C、D相應(yīng)的句子，強調(diào)Shimi是一種電子設(shè)備；B與原文不符，Shimi不是該機器人的發(fā)明者，Gil Weinberg教授才是the robot's creator.

2. D選項D簡要地表述了第三段的倒數(shù)第二句 "If the user taps a beat, Shimi analyzes it, scans the phone's musical library and immediately plays the song that best matches the suggestion" 的意思，所以是答案。選項A、B. C都不符合上述句子的含義。

3. D選項A的意思與原文相反。雖然人們認為機器人受到程序指令的限制，值Shimi卻表現(xiàn)出具有創(chuàng)造能力和互動能力，所以A不是答案。選項D的意思與原文相同，因而是答案。第四段第三句指的是未來的應(yīng)用程序：future apps in the works, 而選項B, C是指目前的應(yīng)用程序，兩者的表述均與原文有出入。

4. A第三段介紹Shimi的多種功能，第四段和第五段說Weinberg還在開發(fā)更多的應(yīng)用程序來豐富Shimi的功能，還希望其他研發(fā)者也參與開發(fā)，因此，A是答案。選項B說Weinberg僅僅希望Georgia Tech員工參與開發(fā)恩多的應(yīng)用軟件，這與原文不符。文章最后一段告訴我們，Weinberg正在與Georgia Tech進行有關(guān)Shimi商業(yè)化的談判，選項C的意思與此相反，不會是答案。選項D也與原文不符。

5.B選項A、C和D的內(nèi)容Weinberg都沒有說過。第三段告訴我們，Shimi是Android smartphone的擴充基座，并不適用于所有智能手機，所以A選項不正確；Shimi尚未進入市場，還談不上公眾對Shimi欣賞與否的問題，因此選項C不符合原意；Shimi正在進行商業(yè)化運作，但絕非已經(jīng)完成，所以D也不是正確選項。本題的答案是B，依據(jù)是最后一段倒數(shù)第二句。