A
If you live in Washington, D. C. , or Redwood, Calif. , you may have glimpsed a small, boxy robot rolling along a local sidewalk, minding its own business, but attracting the attention of many a curious onlooker. The autonomous machines were part of a pilot program last year by Starship Technologies focused on delivering meals from local restaurants in dozens of cities around the world.
“Today, more than ever, people lead a busy and diverse life, ” Lex Bayer, Starship’s CEO, said in a statement online. “The hassle of needing to rearrange your life for a delivery will become a thing of the past. You don’t have to switch your working from home day, reschedule meetings, visit a locker, drive to a post office or contact a deliveryman all because of a missed delivery. ”
The package delivery service is not available to everyone just yet. The company said it’s rolling out the service in Milton Keynes, England. The wheeled robots have a top speed of 4 mph and can detect obstacles from as far as 30 feet away. “The robot can operate through just about anything, ” Nick Handrick, head of operations for Starship’s D. C. office, told The Washington Post’s Maura Judkis last year. “If you had something in the way—a stick—it’s able to climb the edges of a road. ”
By giving customers control of when deliveries occur, Starship Technologies is offering its service as a way to battle package theft. In its announcement, the company cited statistics from a Wakefield Research Poll for Comcast last year that found that 3 in 10 Americans who live in houses or townhouses have had packages stolen.
To sign up for the service, which costs a little more than $10 per month, customers need to download the company’s app. Customers then create a “Starship Delivery Address”, a unique address inside a Starship facility, instead of a residence, where they can have packages sent from places such as Amazon. com. Once a package is delivered to the Starship address, customers receive a text that allows them to schedule a home delivery via robot.
【文章大意】本文是一篇说明文, 主要介绍了一项新科技发明——世界上第一个机器人包裹递送服务。
1. Which can best replace the underlined word “hassle” in Paragraph 2?
A. Failure. B. Expectation.
C. Safety. D. Trouble.
【解析】选D。词义猜测题。根据画线词后的内容介绍的人工投递的不便之处可知, 此处指为快递而重新安排生活的麻烦将成为过去, 由此可知画线词词义为“麻烦”, 故D项正确。
2. What problem is the delivery robot facing?
A. There is a limit to its service area.
B. It takes longer to deliver packages.
C. It covers a short distance each time.
D. It can’t sense the barriers 20 feet away.
【解析】选A。细节理解题。根据第三段中“The package delivery service is not available to everyone just yet. ”可知, 快递机器人面对的问题是包裹递送服务还不能提供给每一个人, 也就是说它的服务范围有限, 故A项正确。
3. How does the package by a robot avoid being stolen?
A. The company shortens the delivery hour.
B. The package is delivered to the house directly.
C. Its delivery time is in the control of customers.
D. The customers are informed of its delivery time in advance.
【解析】选C。细节理解题。根据第四段中的“By giving customers control of when deliveries occur, Starship Technologies is offering its service as a way to battle package theft. ”可知, 通过让客户控制送货时间, 该公司将其服务定位为打击包裹盗窃的一种方式, 故C项正确。
4. What can be inferred about Starship Delivery Address in the last paragraph?
A. It offers service to the customers free of charge.
B. It can arrange delivery robots for the customers.
C. It is a cheaper solution to the delivery of packages.
D. It sends the packages mainly to some shopping platforms.
【解析】选B。推理判断题。根据文章最后一句“Once a package is delivered to the Starship address, customers receive a text that allows them to schedule a home delivery via robot”可知, 一旦包裹被送到Starship Delivery Address, 客户就会收到一条短信, 允许他们通过机器人安排一次家庭递送。由此可知, 它能够为顾客准备好递送机器人, 故B项正确。
【知识拓展】长难句分析
1. By giving customers control of when deliveries occur, Starship Technologies is offering its service as a way to battle package theft.
分析: by引导方式状语; when引导宾语从句; to battle作定语, 修饰名词way。
翻译: 通过让顾客控制送货时间, “Starship”科技使自己的服务成为了一种打击包裹盗窃的方式。
2. Customers then create a “Starship Delivery Address”, a unique address inside a Starship facility, instead of a residence, where they can have packages sent from places such as Amazon. com.
分析: a unique address是同位语; where引导定语从句。
翻译: 然后顾客就可以创建一个 “Starship”送货地址, 这个地址在 “Starship”设备中是一个独一无二的地址, 而不是一个居住地(地址)。这样顾客就可以让机器人把来自像亚马逊网站这样地方的包裹送到这个地址。
