Text 2 Since the dawn of human ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning tools to

Text2Sincethedawnofhumaningenuity,peoplehavedevisedevermorecunningtoolstocopewithworkthatisdangerous,boring,burdensome,orjustplainnasty.Thatcompulsionhasresultedinrobotics--thescienceofconferringvarioushumancapabilitiesonmachines.Andifscientistshaveyettocreatethemechanicalversionofsciencefiction,theyhavebeguntocomeclose.

Asaresult,themodernworldisincreasinglypopulatedbyintelligentgizmoswhosepresencewebarelynoticebutwhoseuniversalexistencehasremovedmuchhumanlabor.Ourfactorieshumtotherhythmofrobotassemblyarms.Ourbankingisdoneatautomatedtellerterminalsthatthankuswithmechanicalpolitenessforthetr ansaction.Oursubwaytr ainsarecontr olledbytirelessrobo-drivers.Andthankstothecontinualminiaturizationofelectr onicsandmicro-mechanics,therearealreadyrobotsystemsthatcanperform.somekindsofbrainandbonesurgerywithsubmillimeteraccuracy--fargreaterprecisionthanhighlyskilledphysicianscanachievewiththeirhandsalone.

Butifrobotsaretoreachthenextstageoflaborsavingutility,theywillhavetooperatewithlesshumansupervisionandbeabletomakeatleastafewdecisionsforthemselves--goalsthatposearealchallenge."Whileweknowhowtotellarobottohandleaspecificerror,"saysDaveLavery,managerofaroboticsprogramatNASA,"wecan'tyetgivearobotenough'commonsense'toreliablyinteractwithadynamicworld."

Indeedthequestfortr ueartificialintelligencehasproducedverymixedresults.Despiteaspellofinitialoptimisminthe1960sand1970swhenitappearedthattr ansistorcircuitsandmicroprocessorsmightbeabletocopytheactionofthehumanbrainbytheyear2010,researcherslatelyhavebeguntoextendthatforecastbydecadesifnotcenturies.

Whattheyfound,inattemptingtomodelthought,isthatthehumanbrain'sroughlyonehundredbillionnervecellsaremuchmoretalented-andhumanperceptionfarmorecomplicated--thanpreviouslyimagined.Theyhavebuiltr obotsthatcanrecognizetheerrorofamachinepanelbyafractionofamillimeterinacontr olledfactoryenvironment.Butthehumanmindcanglimpsearapidlychangingsceneandimmediatelydisregardthe98percentthatisirrelevant,instantaneouslyfocusingonthemonkeyatthesideofawindingforestr oadorthesinglesuspiciousfaceinabigcrowd.ThemostadvancedcomputersystemsonEarthcan'tapproachthatkindofability,andneuroscientistsstilldon'tknowquitehowwedoit.

第46题：Humaningenuitywasinitiallydemonstr atedin

Atheuseofmachinestoproducesciencefiction.

Bthewideuseofmachinesinmanufacturingindustr y.

Ctheinventionoftoolsfordifficultanddangerouswork.

Dtheelite'scunningtacklingofdangerousandboringwork.