Question

When Noah Ready-Campbell was a young adult, he worked for his father’s construction company. Back then, he dreamed of a day when robots might take over the dirty, repetitive（重复的）parts of his job, such as earth moving. Years later, Ready-Campbell left his job as an engineer with Google to make that dream come true.

Ready-Campbell formed a company called Built Robotics, which develops technology to produce self-driving heavy equipment. Ready-Campbell says the company’s goal is to make construction safer, faster and less costly. The construction industry struggles to find skilled workers and faces a growing number of unfinished projects. But self-operating machines are changing the nature of building.

Workers at Berich Masonry in Englewood, Colorado, recently spent several weeks learning how to operate a robot called SAM, or the Semi-Automated Mason. SAM is a $400,000 machine from the company Construction Robotics, It can lay 3,000 bricks in eight hours. That’s several times more than a human bricklayer can do in the same period. But humans are still needed to load bricks into the SAM and make sure it works right. Bricklayer Michael Walsh says the SAM lessens the load on his body. But he doesn’t think it will take his job.

Brian Kennedy agrees, too. His organization supports the rights of construction workers in the United States and Canada. Kennedy says the union is not worried that machines will replace human workers any time soon.

The rise of construction robots comes as the building industry faces a severe decrease in labor supply. One recent study showed that 70 percent of construction businesses have a difficult time finding skilled workers. Mike Moy heads a mining operation for the building materials supplier Lehigh Hanson. He says it’s difficult to find people who even know how to operate some of the necessary equipment. “Nobody wants to get their hands dirty any more. They want a nice, clean job in an office,” he noted.

1.What does the first paragraph say about Noah Ready-Campbell?

A. He enjoys doing repetitive work.

B. He is now an employee of Google.

C. He used to work in construction field.

D. He joined Google to realize that dream.

2.Which of the following is one of the aims of Built Robotics?

A. Increasing construction speed.

B. Enlarging construction quantity.

C. Improving construction designs.

D. Changing construction steps.

3.What can be inferred about SAM from the text?

A. It can totally replace human bricklayers.

B. It is complexly built but easy to operate.

C. It is unable to work completely automatically.

D. It is cheap but works much faster than humans.

4.In Mike Moy’s opinion, what prevents many construction businesses from finding skilled workers?

A. Their low pay.    B. Their potential risks.

C. Their heavy work loads.    D. Their poor working conditions.

Answer

1.C

2.A

3.C

4.D

【解析】本文是一篇记叙文。当Noah Ready-Campbell还是个年轻人的时候，他为他父亲的建筑公司工作。那时候，他梦想有一天机器人可以接管他工作中肮脏、重复的部分。几年后，坎普坎贝尔辞去了谷歌工程师的工作，让梦想成真。Ready-Campbell成立了一家名为“制造机器人”的公司，该公司开发生产自动驾驶重型设备的技术。公司的目标是让建筑更安全、更快、更便宜。

1.细节理解题。根据第一段第一句When Noah Ready-Campbell was a young adult, he worked for his father’s construction company.可知，从第一段可知Noah Ready-Campbell以前在建筑工地工作。故选C。

2.细节理解题。根据第二段中Ready-Campbell says the company’s goal is to make construction safer, faster and less costly.可知，提高施工速度是制造机器人的目标之一。故选A。

3.推理判断题。根据第三段中But humans are still needed to load bricks into the SAM and make sure it works right. Bricklayer Michael Walsh says the SAM lessens the load on his body. But he doesn’t think it will take his job.可知，SAM不能完全自动地工作。故选C。

4.推理判断题。根据最后一段最后一句“Nobody wants to get their hands dirty any more. They want a nice, clean job in an office,”可知，以Mike Moy看来，可怜的工作条件阻止了许多建筑企业寻找熟练工人。故选D。