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This is English USA, on the Voice of
America. Now, Lesson 45, Part 1. |
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MARTIN: |
Good morning. I'm Martin Learner. I'm the Voice of America
reporter. |
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BERNICE: |
Good morning. I'm Bernice Little. |
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MARTIN: |
May I ask some questions? |
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BERNICE: |
Of course. |
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MARTIN: |
May I record? |
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BERNICE: |
Certainly. |
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MARTIN: |
OK. Let's go. |
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MARTIN: |
I'm at the NewTech Robot factory. I'm talking with Bernice Little.
What do you do, Bernice? |
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BERNICE: |
I'm a supervisor. I supervise the shipping. |
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MARTIN: |
What does that mean? |
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BERNICE: |
We ship robots all over the world. I supervise the people here. We
put the robots in wooden boxes. We put addresses on the boxes.
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MARTIN: |
Tell me about the robots. What do they do? |
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BERNICE: |
We make many robots. Let's look at these. These robots are for
factories. They do the work in factories. These robots are
welders. |
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MARTIN: |
People are welders too. |
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BERNICE: |
Of course. Robots are better than people. |
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MARTIN: |
Better than people!? |
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BERNICE: |
They're better workers. They don't need food. They don't need
rest. They don't get sick. |
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MARTIN: |
I
see. But I don't like the idea. |
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BERNICE: |
People are better for some things. Robots are better workers.
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MARTIN: |
They look like people. Tell me about this one. What does it do?
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BERNICE: |
It welds cars. It has long arms. |
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MARTIN: |
It doesn't have any fingers. |
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BERNICE: |
No. But it has small hands. See this? |
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MARTIN: |
I
see some tiny holes in the hands. |
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BERNICE: |
That's right. The little holes are for the gas. The gas is for
welding. It burns. It's very hot. |
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MARTIN:
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How does it work? |
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BERNICE: |
The car moves slowly. The robot touches the car with its hands. It
welds pieces together. The car moves to the next robot. It welds
other pieces together. |
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MARTIN: |
That's very interesting. Tell what the robot looks like. |
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BERNICE: |
It's not tall. It's about five feet tall. It has no feet. It's
square. It's also very heavy. It has long arms and small hands. It
has no head. Its color is silver and black. Stand beside it.
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MARTIN: |
OK. Why? |
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BERNICE: |
It looks like you. You're taller. Look at its arms. They are long
like your arms. |
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MARTIN: |
Is it intelligent? |
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BERNICE: |
It's intelligent. But it knows only one job. It can only weld. It
can't do other work. |
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MARTIN: |
What makes it intelligent? |
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BERNICE: |
It's really a computer and a machine. The computer is intelligent.
It tells the machine its work. The computer tells the machine to
weld only those two places. See. One arm welds above, and one arm
welds below. |