Why should we explore space? Perhaps the best answer lies in our history. What made our ancestors move from the trees onto the plains? 【小题1】 In exploring, the surrounding areas may be identified and prepared for. Without knowledge, these dangers have the ability to harm us.

While many resources are spent on what seems a small return, the exploration of space allows new resources to be created. 【小题2】 Knowledge or techniques acquired in exploring or preparing to explore always filter (慢慢传开) from the developers to the general population. Techniques may be medical applications, such as new drugs or ways of living to increase the quantity or the quality of time lived.

By studying alien worlds, we can place our own world in content. While space may hold many wonders and explanations of how the universe was formed or how it works, it also holds dangers. The chance of a large asteroid (小行星) hitting the Earth is small. 【小题3】

Some explanations for extinctions and evolution include strikes by asteroids. Our technology is reaching the point where we can detect such a threat and might be able to do something about it.

【小题4】 Without the ability to reach out across space, the chance to save ourselves might not exist. Earth is the only planet known to maintain life, but our ability to adapt could eventually allow us to inhabit other planets and moons.

Our lifestyles would be different, but human life and cultures have adapted in the past and surely could in the future.【小题5】

Imagine a cat that does not need someone to clean up after it keeps an older people company and helps them remember to take their medicine. That is the shared dream of the toy maker Hasbro and scientists at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The researchers received a 3-million-dollar from the National Science Foundation for a special project. They want to find ways to add artificial intelligence, or AI, to Hasbro’s “Joy for All” robotic cat.

The cat has already been for sale for two years. Though priced at over 1, 000 dollars, it sold quite well. It was meant to act as a “companion” (陪伴) for older people. Now the project is aimed at developing additional abilities for the cat. Researchers are working to decide which activities older adults may need the most. They hope to make the cat perform a small number of activities very well. Such activities include finding lost objects and reminding the older people to take medicine or visit their doctor. They also want to keep the cost down to just a few hundred dollars.

It is an idea that has appealed (有吸引力) to Jeanne Elliott. Her 93-year-old mother Mary Derr lives with her in South Kingstown. Derr has dementia (痴呆) The Joy for All cat that Elliot bought this year has become a true companion for Derr. The cat stays with Derr and keeps her relaxed while Elliott is at work. Elliot said a robotic cat that helps her mother to remember to take her medicine and be careful when she walks would be greater.

The researchers are trying to learn how the improved cats will complete helpful activities and how they will communicate. They say that they do not want a talking cat, however. Instead they are trying to design a cat that can move its head in a special way to successfully communicate its message. In the end, they hope to create an exchange between the human and the cat in which the human feels the cat needs them. By doing so, the researchers hope they can even help prevent feelings of loneliness and sadness among elderly people.

It was time for Macy to move. She booked a few house viewings and after looking at three places, she fell in love with one house. But that night a feeling of doubt and uncertainty entered her head.【小题1】Will the others be cheaper?

We’ve all found ourselves in such situations, whether we’re considering job offers or buying a new car. It’s a problem that involves mathematics and psychology. And it’s got a name: the optimal (最优的) stopping problem.【小题2】It’s asking how long we spend sampling options to give the optimal chances of a successful final decision .

Mathematicians have given us an answer: 37%. The basic idea is that, if we need to make a decision from 100 different options, we should sample and give up the first 37.【小题3】It’s a period during which we identify what works and what does not. From the rejected 37%, we choose the best and keep that information in our heads moving forward.

Mathematics offers us the best answer to the “optimal stopping problem”. But there’s just one big issue: Humans are not rational probability-calculating machines. In fact, the opposite is usually true.【小题4】In the psychological and economics field, there is an “explore/ exploit trade-off”. This asks whether we should go with a guaranteed “win” (exploit) or risk going somewhere else for an unknown outcome(explore). The degree to which someone will explore or exploit depends on various factors.【小题5】Of course, different people are more explorative or exploitative at different times. Teenagers and traders tend to explore more. Adults and managers exploit more.