Using a raised eyebrow or smile, people with speech or physical disabilities can now operate their Android-powered smartphones without using their hands, Google said on Thursday.

Two new tools put machine learning and front-facing cameras on smartphones to work, identifying face and eye movements. Users can look at their phone screens and select a task by smiling, raising eyebrows, opening their mouths, or looking to the left, right or up.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that 61 million adults in the United States live with disabilities, which has pushed Google, Apple and Microsoft to make products and services more accessible to them. “Every day, people use voice instructions, like ‘Hey Google’, or their hands to operate their phones,” the tech giant Google said in a blog post. “However, that’s not always possible for people with serious physical or speech disabilities.”

The changes are the result of two new features: One is called “Camera Switches”, which lets people use their faces instead of taps to interact with smartphones. The other is Project Activate, a new Android application which allows people to use those gestures to start an action, like having a phone play a recorded phrase, send text, or make a call. The free Activate app is available in Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States at the Google Play Store.

Apple, Google and Microsoft have kept rolling out inventions that make Internet technology more accessible to people with disabilities or who find that age has made some tasks, such as reading, more difficult. Voice-instructed digital assistants built into speakers and smartphones can enable people with sight or movement challenges to tell computers what to do. There is software that identifies text on web pages or in images and then reads it aloud, as well as automatic generation of captions that display what is said in videos. Apple built “AssistiveTouch” into the software powering its smartwatches. It lets touchscreen displays be controlled by sensing movements such as finger pinches or hand clenches.

【小题1】What is the main role of the two new tools?

A．Taking sharper photographs with a phone.	B．Using smartphones with face gestures.
C．Curing people’s speech or physical disabilities.	D．Increasing the fun of playing with smartphones.

【小题2】What do we know about the Project Activate app?

A．It’s sold at a high price.	B．It’s mainly used to send texts.
C．It’s instructed by voice.	D．It’s being used in a few countries.

【小题3】What does the underlined part “rolling out” in Paragraph 5 probably mean?

A．Picking out.

B．Referring to.

C．Bringing out.

D．Reacting to.

【小题4】What’s the author’s purpose in writing the last paragraph?

A．To promote Android-powered smartphones.

B．To encourage more movements suitable for the disabled.

C．To explain the problems disabled smartphone users have.

D．To introduce some other inventions benefiting the disabled.