While the start of a new school year is always exciting, this year was even more so for some primary school students in Auckland, New Zealand. They became the world’s first kids to be “taught” by a digital(数码的) teacher, Siri. Before you start imagining a human-like robot walking around the classroom, Siri is just an avatar(化身) that turns up on the students’ desktop, tablet, or smart phone screen when called.

Thanks to a web cam(网络摄像头) and microphone, the avatar not only answer the questions the kids may have, but also picks up non-verbal signals(无声信号). For example, if a student smiles at Siri, he will smile back. This two-way interaction not only helps draw the students’ attention, but also allows the program’s developers to monitor their engagement(参与) and make changes if needed.

Vector’s Chief Digital Officer, Nikhil Ravishankar believes that Siri-like avatars could be a new way to attract   the attention of the next generation. He says, “Using a digital human is a very popular method to send new information to people, and I have a lot of hope in this technology as a way to offer rich and educational experience in the futures.” Greg Cross, the Chief Business Officer for Soul Machines, states that kids who have grown up in this digital time adapt(适应) to new technology quickly, and he hopes to develop the idea of digital humans in the area of education further.

The program, in place since August 2018, has been a great success so far. However, no matter how popular it becomes, Siri is unlikely to replace human educators any time soon. For one, the avatar’s knowledge base is severely limited. But more importantly, even the smartest digital avatars could never predict(预测) and react to all the unexpected situations that educators have to deal with on a daily basis. However, it could come in handy as a “personal teacher”, providing kids with one-on-one help on certain subjects or even topics.

【小题1】What is mentioned about Will in the first paragraph?

A．He is a human-like robot teacher.	B．He is the first robot teacher in the world.
C．He is a digital teacher teaching in the school.	D．He will walk across the classroom to you when called.

【小题2】In what way does the digital teacher help the students?

A．By taking part in discussion.	B．By changing teaching methods.
C．By communicating with students.	D．By monitoring students’ behavior.

【小题3】What is the benefit of this two-way interaction?

A．It can smile back.	B．It can use microphone.
C．It can change if necessary.	D．It can talk any topic for free.

【小题4】What can be inferred about the digital teacher from the last paragraph?

A．It has entered many homes as kids’ private teacher.

B．It will teach in class in place of human educators.

C．It’s good at dealing with unexpected situations.

D．It remains to be improved.