The dancers stand motionless at their position and the room grows silent. But as the music starts, they began to move, bending, turning and waving their fans gracefully as they perform. a traditional Japanese dance. Yoshihiro Kuroki watches in silence, occasionally making notes. But as the dance ends, he beams with happiness. The performance has been flawless.

　　There have been many performances of traditional Japanese dances over the centuries, but this one is unique,because it is performed not by human dancers but by robots. And the performance takes place not in a dance studio but in a laboratory of Sony Corp.'s Entertainment Robot Co. in Shinagawa, Japan, where Kuroki isgeneral manager. He is the mastermind behind a series of even more capable humanoid entertainment robots,starting with the Sony Dream Robot, or SDR, in 1997, up to the current QRIO in 2003.

　　These delightful machines are only 58 cm tall, about the size of a newborn infant, weigh about 7 kg, and move with 38 degrees of freedom, each with its own servomotor(輔助馬達(dá)).

　　QRIO's predecessor, the SDR4X, announced in 2002, can walk, dance, sing, speak, recognize faces, and understand continuous speech. Each robot has two charge-coupled-device cameras to detect color and position andcan locate a colored ball, move toward it, and kick it into a goal. It also has contact sensors in severaljoints to avoid pinching real human fingers. Seeing the robot perform, it is difficult to remember that there is no sentience(知覺)behind those glass eyes.

　　練習(xí)題：

　　Choose correct answers to the question:

　　1.Which of the following is the most suitable title of this passage?

　　A.New Entertainment Robots Produced in Japan.

　　B.QRIO the Robot Dancers.

　　C.Robots Man's Best Friend.

　　D.An Extraordinary Performance in Sony's Lab.

　　2.Yoshihiro Kuroki ______.

　　A.is excited when the robots are performing a traditional Japanese dance

　　B.keeps silent because he is a little unsatisfied with the new product

　　C.witnesses the creation of a series of entertainment robots

　　D.is an executive manager of Sony Corp.

　　3.Which aspect of the robots is NOT mentioned in the passage?

　　A.The vividness of their motion.

　　B.Their pleasant appearance.

　　C.Their smart designing principles.

　　D.Their communicative ability.

　　4.The Sony Dream Robot was___

　　A.the first human-like entertainment robot developed by the Sony Corp

　　B.as capable as the QRIO of speaking,dancing,singing and walking

　　C.largest among all the entertainment robot developed by the Sony Corp

　　D.the first entertainment robot sold at the market by the Sony Corp

　　5.The robot can locate colored balls by mens of ____

　　A.a charge-coupled device

　　B.two cameras

　　C.two contacts sensors

　　D.a digital detector