he 98 percent that is irrelevant, instantaneously focusing on the monkey at the side of a winding forest road or the single suspicious face in a big crowd. The most advanced computer systems on Earth can't approach that kind of ability, and neuroscientists still don't know quite how we do it.
46. Human ingenuity was initially demonstrated in ________.
[A] the use of machines to produce science fiction
[B] the wide use of machines in manufacturing industry
[C] the invention of tools for difficult and dangerous work
[D] the elite's cunning tackling of dangerous and boring work
47. The word "gizmos" (line 1, paragraph 2) most probably means ________.
[A] programs
[B] experts
[C] devices
[D] creatures
48. According to the text, what is beyond man's ability now is to design a robot that can ________.
[A] fulfill delicate tasks like performing brain surgery
[B] interact with human beings verbally
[C] have a little common sense
[D] respond independently to a changing world
49. Besides reducing human labor, robots can also ________.
[A] make a few decisions for themselves
[B] deal with some errors with human intervention
[C] improve factory environments
[D] cultivate human creativity
50. The author uses the example of a monkey to argue that robots are ________.
[A] expected to copy human brain in internal structure
[B] able to perceive abnormalities immediately
[C] far less able than human brain in focusing on relevant information
[D] best used in a controlled environment
passage 3
Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return? Since OPEC agreed to supply-cuts in March, the price of crude oil has jumped to almost $26 a barrel, up from less than $10 last December. This near-tripling of oil prices calls up scary memories of the 1973 oil shock, when prices quadrupled, and 1979-1980, when they also almost tripled. Both previous shocks resulted in double-digit inflation and global economic decline. So where are the headlines warning of gloom and doom this time?
The oil price was given another push up this week when Iraq suspended oil exports. Strengthening economic growth, at the same time as winter grips the northern hemisphere, could push the price higher still in the short term.
Yet there are good reasons to expect the economic consequences now to be less severe than in the 1970s. In most countries the cost of crude oil now accounts for a smaller share of the price of petrol than it did in the 1970s. In Europe, taxes account for up to four-fifths of the retail price, so even quite big changes in the price of crude have a more muted effect on pump prices than in the past.
Rich economies are also less dependent on oil than they were, and so less sensitive to swings in the oil price. Energy conservation, a shift to other fuels and a decline in the importance of heav
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