Q: According to Pete Singer, a researcher who wrote a number of books on the military, active involvement of robots in battles could worsen warfare by making machines do all the dirty work for humans. He says that humanity is currently at point of breakthrough in war, like the discovery of the atomic bomb. "What does it mean to go to war with US soldiers whose hardware is made in China and whose software is made in India?" The research predicts that by 2015 American soldiers will be half robots, half humans. It is worth mentioning that attack drones and bomb-handling robots are just some of the devices that armies use in battles. Besides having no mercy in battle, robots, in contrast to humans, also cut off living soldiers from horrors. "The United States is ahead in military robots, but in technology there is no such thing as a permanent advantage," Mr. Singer said, adding that currently Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran are working on the development of military robots as well. The researcher mentioned that robotics is something terrorists can take advantage of as well. "You don't have to make robots believe they are going to get 7 million dollars when they die to get them to blow themselves up," he said. In addition, Mr. Singer mentioned that military robots feature cameras that record everything a machine sees, providing digital video that is uploaded on You Tubein graphic clips, which soldiers call "war porn". "It turns war into entertainment, sometimes set to music. The ability to watch more but experience less," he said. David Hansco, who is a robotics designer, creates robots that have more features of a human. For example, his robots feature synthetic flesh faces and have the ability to read human facial expressions and copy them. The engineer states that the main idea is to create robots that can show empathy .

1. Pete Singer
2. military
3. China
4. cameras
5. record everything a machine sees
6. war porn
7. soldiers
8. unknown
9. David Hansco
10. robotics
11. software

Numbered questions:
1. who wrote books?
2. books on what?
3. Where does Hardware come from?
4. What do the robots feature?
5. for what?
6. what are the videos called?
7. by who?
8. who else is mentioned?
9. which designer is mentioned?
10. what does he design?
11. what is made in india?

Q: A parody (; also called a spoof, send-up, take-off, or lampoon) is a work created to imitate, make fun of, or comment on an original workits subject, author, style, or some other targetby means of satiric or ironic imitation. As the literary theorist Linda Hutcheon puts it, "parody is imitation, not always at the expense of the parodied text." Another critic, Simon Dentith, defines parody as "any cultural practice which provides a relatively polemical allusive imitation of another cultural production or practice." Parody may be found in art or culture, including literature, music (although "parody" in music has an earlier, somewhat different meaning than for other art forms), animation, gaming, and film.

The writer and critic John Gross observes in his "Oxford Book of Parodies", that parody seems to flourish on territory somewhere between pastiche ("a composition in another artist's manner, without satirical intent") and burlesque (which "fools around with the material of high literature and adapts it to low ends"). Meanwhile, the "Encyclopedie" of Denis Diderot distinguishes between the parody and the burlesque, "A good parody is a fine amusement, capable of amusing and instructing the most sensible and polished minds; the burlesque is a miserable buffoonery which can only please the populace." Historically, when a formula grows tired, as in the case of the moralistic melodramas in the 1910s, it retains value only as a parody, as demonstrated by the Buster Keaton shorts that mocked that genre.

1. John Gross
2. he is a writer
3. pastiche and burlesque
4. a spoof
5. a send-up
6. it can
7. imitation
8. a literary theorist
9. Denis Diderot
10. Yes
11. a miserable buffoonery
12. Buster Keaton
13. the formula grew tired
14. the populace

Numbered questions:
1. Who wrote "Oxford Book of Parodies?"
2. What Is his profession?
3. He said parody flourishes somewhere between what and what?
4. What's another word for a parody?
5. What else?
6. Does a parody make fun of someone or something?
7. By what means?
8. Who is Linda Hutcheon?
9. Who wrote "Encyclopedie"
10. Does he think a good parody is funny, even to scholars?
11. What does he call burlesque?
12. Who mocked melodramas?
13. What was basically wrong with those melodramas?
14. Who did Diderot think enjoyed burlesque?

Q: CHAPTER XVII

THREE DAYS

Lincoln awaited Graham in an apartment beneath the flying stages. He seemed curious to learn all that had happened, pleased to hear of the extraordinary delight and interest which Graham took in flying. Graham was in a mood of enthusiasm. "I must learn to fly," he cried. "I must master that. I pity all poor souls who have died without this opportunity. The sweet swift air! It is the most wonderful experience in the world."

"You will find our new times full of wonderful experiences," said Lincoln. "I do not know what you will care to do now. We have music that may seem novel."

"For the present," said Graham, "flying holds me. Let me learn more of that. Your aeronaut was saying there is some trades union objection to one's learning."

"There is, I believe," said Lincoln. "But for you--! If you would like to occupy yourself with that, we can make you a sworn aeronaut to-morrow."

Graham expressed his wishes vividly and talked of his sensations for a while. "And as for affairs," he asked abruptly. "How are things going on?"

Lincoln waved affairs aside. "Ostrog will tell you that to-morrow," he said. "Everything is settling down. The Revolution accomplishes itself all over the world. Friction is inevitable here and there, of course; but your rule is assured. You may rest secure with things in Ostrog's hands."

"Would it be possible for me to be made a sworn aeronaut, as you call it, forthwith--before I sleep?" said Graham, pacing. "Then I could be at it the very first thing to-morrow again...."

1. before he sleeps
2. Ostrog
3. to-morrow
4. Lincoln
5. in an apartment
6. to fly,
7. yes
8. trades union
9. one's learning
10. to-morrow.
11. Yes
12. all poor souls
13. dead
14. The Revolution
15. all over the world.
16. Graham
17. yes
18. Friction
19. here and there
20. Ostrog

Numbered questions:
1. when did Graham wanted to be sworn in as Aeronaut?
2. who was going to tell him about affaris?
3. when?
4. who did he ask about it to?
5. where was Lincoln waiting for Graham?
6. what did Graham want to learn?
7. was there any objection?
8. by who?
9. what did it object?
10. when did Lincoln want to swear him in?
11. Did Graham like to fly?
12. who did he feel sorry for?
13. dead or alive?
14. what accomplishes itself?
15. where/
16. whose rule is assured?
17. did Lincoln say anything was inevitable?
18. what?
19. where is it?
20. who is looking after things?