Advanced English Reading and Comprehension

Answer key 241

13·8 Suggested answers:

1. he invention of the steam engine—and later, the train, automobile, telephone, radio, and television—
   revolutionized the economy, human society, and long-distance communication.


2. Early attempts at creating mechanical creatures became museum exhibits.


3. Alan Turing and John McCarthy were responsible for opening up research into Artiicial Intelligence
   ater World War II.


4. A British neurophysiologist built the irst mobile robots that could react to light and sound stimuli, and
   later to whistles in a conditioned response.


5. SAIL researchers pioneered the development of a robotic vehicle for space exploration. Despite their
   attempts to achieve automatic performance, it could operate only under controlled conditions.


6. Developed mostly in Japan, PUMA robots became commonplace in mass production, where they carried
   out dangerous, high-precision, and routine tasks on an around-the-clock basis.


7. A Japanese professor developed the irst walking, talking, and piano-playing robots. Later, Honda built
   a small humanoid robot to perform basic, but limited, humanlike functions in amusement parks.


8. Obstacles to creating an intelligent, autonomous robot include overcoming a lack of balance,
   coordination, and natural movement, as well as constructing an independently functioning brain with
   suicient capacity to process and store information like humans.
   13·9 Answers will vary.
   13·10 Answers will vary.

14 Voluntary simplicity: Making more out of less

14·1 Suggested answers: happiness, life, liberty, money, fame, power, family, relationships, work, adventure, creative,
peace of mind, simplicity, aluence, well-being, consumerism, lifestyle, counterculture, nature, priorities,
community, fashion
14·2 Consult a dictionary for denitions.

1. equation, equal


2. publication/publishing


3. release


4. utility/utilization


5. index


6. stressful, stress


7. error, err


8. individuality, individual, individualize


9. accompaniment


10. conformity


11. denotation


12. rejection/reject


13. —


14. bond


15. prioritize


16. formulaic


17. major


18. compatibility


19. —
    20 —
    14·3 1. stress 11. denote


20. Index 12. welfare


21. utilize 13. equate


22. bond 14. priorities


23. conform 15. individual


24. majority 16. formula


25. accompanied 17. seeking


26. erroneous 18. rejected


27. published 19. release


28. straightforward 20. compatible