Programming pain (P35)

河北省邯郸市第一中学  李 松
Lead-in 
If you were to design a household robot, what special features would you like it to have?

Pre-reading 
Please read the title and Paragraph One , and predict what the passage is about. 

Programming pain 
 
Robots are useful because they never get tired and can’t feel pain. Why program robots to feel pain? Some researchers, however, believe it’s a good idea. 

Fast reading 
Please read the text and answer the following questions. 
1. What is the function of feeling pain for human beings?
Pain is a system that protects us. Feeling pain helps us not get hurt. 

2. What does the sentence “The same will be true for robots.” in Paragraph 3 mean?
It means a robot that can feel pain can protect itself or people in a similar way.

3. How do the sensors developed by Minoru Asada “help” a robot show pain or see it in others?
Those sensors pick up many types of touch signals. These touch and pain signals can turn into emotions and expressions on a robot’s face. Asada believes that these systems could eventually lead to robots recognize the pain on human faces.

4. How does Antonio Damasio comment on the new technology? Is he positive or negative? 
He holds a positive attitude toward the new technology. He argues that programming robots with a sense of pain (or something similar) may cause an artificial sense of feeling to develop. It’s a device for communication from the machine to a human. 

Close reading 
Fill in the chart according to the text.
 

After reading 
After reading the text, can you give it another title?
Possible ones:
Development in robots: feeling pain
Feeling pain-new feature of future robots
Technologies help robots feel pain

Language
写出下列句子中红色部分的意思。
1. Parents can program the machine not to turn on at certain times.     __________ 
2. A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.       __________
3. I felt really nervous before the interview.     __________
4. Physically, the benefits come from the relaxation of your nervous system.  __________ 
5. It was an expression used about four hundred years ago by British writer William Shakespeare in his play "Othello.“  __________ 
6. There was a worried expression on her face.                   __________
7. The boy was treated for a minor head wound.    __________
8. We took the kids to the zoo as a special treat.     __________

Key:
 
 

Analyze the following sentences. 
1. Asada believes that these systems could eventually allow robots to recognize the pain on human faces; an important skill for robots designed to care for elderly people, for example. 
that引导宾语从句
an important skill是指的是前面robots seeing the pain on human faces这种技能，是同位语。
翻译：浅田真央认为，这些系统最终可能会让机器人看到人类脸上的疼痛，例如，这是设计用于照顾老年人的机器人的一项重要技能。

2. A robot with touch sensors that can detect pain is “along the lines of having a robot, for example, that smiles when you talk to it”, Damasio said.
两个that都引导定语从句
along the lines of意思为：“类似...”
例句：I'm looking for a silver teapot, something along the lines of this one here. 
 我在寻找一个银茶壶，类似于这边这个。
翻译：达马西奥说，一个带有触觉传感器的机器人可以感知疼痛，“就像一个机器人一样，当你和它说话时它会微笑”。