A

　　A new study from the Georgia Institute of Technology finds that older and younger people have varying preferences about what they would want a personal robot to look like. And they change their minds based on what the robot is supposed to do.

　　Participants were shown a series of photos portraying either robotic, human or mixed human­robot faces and were asked to select the one that they would prefer for their robot's appearance. Most college­aged adults in the study preferred a robotic appearance. However, nearly 60 percent of older adults said they would want a robot with a human face, and only 6 percent of them chose one with a mixed human­robot appearance. But the preferences in both age groups were different when participants were told the robot was assisting with personal care, chores (杂务), social interaction or for helping to make decisions.

　　Preferences were less strong for helping with chores, although the majority of older and younger participants chose a robot with a robotic face. But for decision­making tasks, such as getting advice for where to invest money, younger participants tended to select a mixed human­robot appearance. A robotic face was their least favored choice for this task. Older adults generally preferred a human face.

　　Personal care tasks such as bathing provoked (激起) the most divisive (区分的) preferences within both age groups. Those who chose a human face did so because they associated the robot with human­like care capabilities - such as nursing and trustworthy traits. Many others didn't want anything looking like a human to bathe them due to the private nature of the task.

　　In the final category, assistance with social tasks, both age groups preferred a human face.

　　Based on this early research, Prakash, a researcher who led the study, says that if a robot is designed to help only with a specific task, its appearance should be decided by the features of the task. For instance, if the robot is designed to specifically assist the user with critical decisions, the robot should be given an intelligent look instead of a funny one. Prakash plans to expand the study to other age groups and more diverse educational backgrounds.

　　1．The underlined word "them" in Paragraph 2 refers to ________.

　　A．participants B．college­aged adults

　　C．older adults D．robots

　　2．When will the preferences be less strong?

　　A．When people are choosing the robots to do chores.

　　B．When people are choosing the robots to make decisions.

　　C．When people are choosing the robots with personal care.

　　D．When people are choosing the robots with social interaction.

　　3．While getting investment advice from robots, the older may chose a ________.

　　A．robotic appearance

　　B．human face

　　C．mixed human­robot look

　　D．funny appearance

　　4．What does the passage mainly talk about?

　　A．The preferences while people are choosing a face of a robot.

　　B．A new study from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

　　C．How to select the appearance of a robot.

　　D．The development of the robot.

　　B

　　Some 30,000 years ago, artists living in caves in Europe painted pictures of the animals around them: panthers (豹), rhinoceroses (犀牛), lions and other creatures now long extinct. The paintings were highly realistic, some of which even showed movement.

The artwork, more than a thousand drawings, is considered the oldest group of human cave drawings ever discovered. They were well preserved for the cave was sealed for 23,000 years.