A
(2020·福建省质量检查测试)At England's University of Plymouth，Professor Eduardo Miranda has been programming pairs of robots to compose music.Miranda's robots have simple “vocal cords” (声带) and are programmed to sing and listen to each other.The robots' unique warbling sounds (颤音) do not perfectly match the human voice，but each machine is exactly sharing music with the other in a new and unique way.
Each robot is equipped with speakers，software that mimics the human voice，a mouth that opens as it “sings”，a microphone for ears，and a camera for eyes.The robots also move.Miranda hopes that by studying his robot vocalists，he can discover something about how and why humans create，perform，and listen to music.
When the robots sing，the first robot makes six random sounds.Its partner responds with more sounds.The first robot analyzes the sounds to see if their sequences (顺序) are similar.If they are，it nods its head and commits the sounds to memory，and the second robot notices and “memorizes” the musical sequence，too.If the first robot thinks the sounds are too different，it shakes its head and both robots ignore the sounds.Then the process continues.
Miranda set up an experiment in which he left the two robots alone in his study for two weeks.When he returned，his little warblers had，by imitating each other，not only shared notes but combined them.The product of their cooperation was far from symphonic，but the robots had begun to combine the notes into their own selfdeveloped “songs”．
With the help of his warbling robots，one of Miranda's goals is to create music that no human would ever compose.Miranda believes the robots are ideal for this purpose because they would not be influenced by any existing musical styles or rules.
【语篇解读】 普利茅斯大学的教授Eduardo Miranda通过编写程序让一对机器人创作音乐。本文介绍了Miranda的实验过程以及他的目标等。
1．Which is closest in meaning to the underlined word “mimics” in Paragraph 2?
A．Substitutes. B．Interrupts.
C．Controls. D．Copies.
D [词义猜测题。根据画线词所在句中的“a mouth that opens as it‘sings’，a microphone for ears，and a camera for eyes”可知，“唱歌”时嘴张开、麦克风用作耳朵、摄像头用作眼睛。由此可推知，此处表示用来模仿人声的软件，故D项正确。A项意为“代替，取代”。]
2．What did the two robots do during Miranda's experiment?
A．They interacted with each other.
B．They ignored the unique sound.
C．They learned to sing better than humans.
D．They committed random sounds to memory.
A [细节理解题。根据第三段第一、二句“When the robots sing，the first robot makes six random sounds.Its partner responds with more sounds”可知，当机器人唱歌时，第一个机器人发出六个随机的声音；它的同伴会发出更多的声音来回应。并结合该段其他内容可知，在唱歌时，机器人之间会互动，故A项正确。]
3．What does Miranda want his robots to do?
A．Sing as well as humans do.
B．Create new styles of music.
C．Memorize a variety of music.
D．Promote traditional musical forms.
B [细节理解题。根据尾段第一句“With the help of his warbling robots，one of Miranda's goals is to create music that no human would ever compose”可知，Miranda的目标之一就是凭借机器人的帮助创作出人类永远无法创作出的音乐，即创造出新风格的音乐，故B项正确。]
4．What is the text mainly about?
A．Future robots.
B．Special songs.
C．Music by robots.
D．Experiments by Miranda.
C [主旨大意题。通读全文可知，根据第一段第一句“At England's University of Plymouth，Professor Eduardo Miranda has been programming pairs of robots to compose music”为全文的主题句，结合下文内容可知，本文主要介绍了Eduardo Miranda教授用机器人创作音乐的实验过程。故C项正确。]
