I log onto a computer at the doctor's office to say I have arrived and then wait until a voice calls me into the examination room. There, a robotic nurse directs me onto a device and then takes my blood pressure. Some time later, in steps the doctor, who is also a robot. He notes down my symptoms and gives me a prescription . I pay for my visit using a credit card machine and return home without having met another human being. When I call my dentist's office and actually get a human being on the line, I am thrilled. And when I see the introduction of yet more self-service checkout stations at the grocery store, I feel like shouting, "When it comes to cashiers, make mine human, please!" After all, human cashiers sometimes give you a store coupon for items you are buying. Even more than that, real-life cashiers often take an interest in particularly cute children, which can brighten a young mother's day. A cashier may also show compassion for an elderly person struggling to get that last penny out of her purse. What technological device would do any of this? I don't want to go back to the Stone Age, but I'm also worried about a world run by machines. Sometimes when you're chatting with someone, you discover things you need to know. Maybe a receptionist needs prayers said for a sick child. Maybe a salesperson can offer a bit of encouragement to a customer who is feeling tired. Machines can be efficient and cost-effective and they often get the job done just fine. But they lack an element so important to everyday life. Call it the spirit, the soul or the heart. It is something no machine will ever have. It is being human that prompts us to smile at others, which may be what they need at that moment. Why does the author prefer being served by humans rather than by robots? A) Robots are indifferent and emotionless. B) Robots can't provide efficient services. C) Robots don't offer to give store coupons. D) Robots are unable to do a job as well as humans.
A
If you've ever seen the way dog people interacted with their pets, it comes as no surprise that there's some germ-exchanging going on there. A new study indicates that dog ownership specifically may be one of the biggest single contributors to what kinds of microbes live on your skin. A team of researchers led by Se Jin Song at the University of Colorado, Boulder, took swabs of the tongues, palms, forehead and feces of members of 60 family households. Some of the families had children or household pets and some did not; dogs were the only pets swabbed. Researchers then analyzed the DNA of the bacteria they found to determine how diverse the bacteria populations were. Not surprisingly, family members who lived together had more bacteria in common than members of separate households. Bacteria on the skin were especially similar within households, probably because we pass microbes through the air, through direct contact, and via the surfaces we touch. The most surprising finding, however, was the large bacteria contribution Fidonad made. The skin bacteria of dog owners from different households was almost as similar as if they'd cohabited without a dog. Put another way, you and a friend across town who both own dogs share a skin ecosystem as alike as a married couple does. The reason for this appears to be that dogs harbor some kinds of bacteria that are rare on human skin. One in particular, a family of bacteria called Methylophilaceae, was abundant in the mouths of dogs sampled as well as the skin of their owners--indicating "a common occurrence of oral-skin transfer between dogs and their owners," according to the results published in the journal eLife. If both you and your friend who live on the other end of your neighborhood have dogs, you may probably _ . A) have lived together without a dog. B) share similar skin ecosystem. C) be married couples before. D) shared the same dog.
B
Q: Teacher's Day around the world is not celebrated on the same day. In some countries, Teacher's Day is celebrated on working days. However, in other countries, it is celebrated on holidays. Here we are giving you a list of countries that celebrate Teacher's Day on holidays. China Teacher's Day was proposed at National Central University in 1931. It was adopted by the central government of Republic of China in 1932. In 1939, the day was set on August 27, Confucius's birthday. The government of the People's Republic of China called it off in 1951. It was reestablished in 1985, and the day was changed to September 10. Now more and more people are trying to celebrate Teacher's Day back to Confucius's birthday. India In India, Teacher's Day is celebrated on September 5, in honor of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the second President of India,because his birthday was September 5. Russia In Russia, Teacher's Day is on October 5. Before 1994, this day was set on the first Sunday of September. The USA In the United States, Teacher's Day is a holiday on the Tuesday of the first full week of May. Thailand January 16 was adopted as Teacher's Day in Thailand by a resolution of the government on November 21, 1956. The first Teacher's Day was celebrated in 1957. Iran In Iran, Teacher's Day is celebrated on May 2 every year. It is in honor of the famous Iranian professor Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari who died on May 2, 1980. Although different countries celebrate Teacher's Day on different days, the activities people take to celebrate it just stay the same. The best title for the passage is _ . A) Teacher's Day around the world B) The history of Teacher's Day C) Activities on Teacher's Day D) How to celebrate Teacher's Day
A: A
*Question*
"When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood. The happy childhood is hardly worth your while. "Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood. And worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." That was Frank McCourt reading the opening lines of his book Angela's Ashes, released in nineteen ninety-six. This Irish American author best known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography Angela's Ashes that recorded his poor upbringing, died of cancer on Sunday, The New York Times reported. He was 78. Born in New York City, he was the eldest of seven children born to Irish immigrant parents. Angela's Ashes was a memoir that captured an irresponsible, drunkard father with a gift for story-telling. When not drunk, his father was absent, turning his back on a family so poor, McCourt wrote, that they were reduced to burning the furniture in their rented hut to keep warm. His mother struggled to raise her many children after his father left the family. Already struggling when the Great Depression hit, the family moved back to Limerick, where they slipped ever deeper into poverty in the 1930s. Three of McCourt's siblings died of diseases worsened by hunger and the wretchedness of their surroundings. McCourt himself almost died of typhoid fever as a child. In Angela's Ashes, he wrote of hunger, a home flooded with rainwater and the unbearable humiliation of seeking handouts from charities in the Irish city. But he told the story in a way that is expressive, warm and light-hearted. Frank McCourt left Ireland at the age of nineteen to return to New York City where he was born. He earned a degree in- English education and taught creative writing for nearly thirty years. After retiring in nineteen eighty-seven, he decided to write about his childhood. "Angela's Ashes" became a huge success and brought McCourt a 1997 Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award and other honors. Millions of copies of the book were... By saying "The happy childhood is hardly worth your while", the writer really means that_. A) a lot of readers don't deserve happy childhood B) his childhood is not worth of others' sympathy C) his childhood is mixed with happiness and misery D) smooth childhood surely will not draw readers' attention
**Answer**
D