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

Thanks to a digital camera and microphone, the avatar not only responds to questions the kids may have ,but also picks up non-verbal signals. For example, if a student smiles at Will, he responds by smiling back. This two-way communication not only helps draw the students’ attention, but also allows the program’s developers to monitor their involvement(参与) and make changes if needed.

Vector’s Chief Digital Officer, Nikhil Ravishankar, believes that Will-like avatars could be a novel way to attract the attention of the next generation. He says, “Using a digital human is a very popular method to deliver new information to people, and I have a lot of hope in this technology as a means to deliver rich and educational experience in the future.” 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 educate further.

The program, in place since August 2018, has been a great success so far. However, no matter how popular it becomes, Will is unlikely to replace human edueators any time soon. For one, the avatar’s knowledge base is severely limited. But more importantly, even the smartest digital avatars could never predict 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 the 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 a 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 Greg Cross’s attitude toward the digital teacher?

A．Supportive.	B．Doubtful.
C．Uncaring.	D．Dissatisfied.

【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 handling unexpected situations.

D．It remains to be improved.