李蓉蓉

德國的許多游泳池沒有足夠的訓練有素的救生員，因此，許多游泳館不得不關閉。針對這一問題，研究人員在水上救援服務的幫助下，開發(fā)了一款水下自主航行器，它可以用來拯救溺水者。

1Because of a lack of trained lifeguards to watch over swimming pools， a team ofscientists from Germany has developed an underwater robot， intending to assist life?guards in rescuing swimmers in emergencies.

2According to scientists， there are some typical postures that you can use to recognizewhen someone is in danger. The robot has been tested in a variety of settings including in?door pools and open water. If swimmers movements are consistent with drowning， the infor?mation of the drowning person will be sent out， which is stored in a docking station on thepool floor， and it will be released by a signal from the monitoring cameras. Once the robotreceives the signal and reaches its destination， it will carry the endangered person to thesurface. What‘s more， the robot is designed with a mechanism to keep the lifeless personfrom sliding down as the robot surfaces.

3When the robot is tested at lakes andother outdoor settings， drones took on the taskof the monitoring cameras. For rescues inswimming lakes where the visibility is re?stricted， the underwater vehicle must beequipped with acoustic sensors （聲傳感器）.Sound wave echoes can be used to determinepeoples positions so precisely that the robot?can autonomously head for the target person and pick them up. When the robot is informed of an emergency， a signal will alert the team immediately.

4The current system is 90 centimeters long， 50 centimeters high， and 50 centimeterswide and looks like an underwater submersible that might be used for exploring ship?wrecks. The central innovation of the system is the side folding wings that fix lifelesspeople on a stretcher without injuring them. To bring them to the surface of the water， bal?loons are filled with a total of 15 to 20 kilos of buoyancy （浮力）.

5The research team are still doing research on the robot， aiming to make future ver?sions smaller， lighter and less expensive. At present， a patent has already been filed for theaquatic robot. In modified versions， it can take on further tasks—such as offshore and damwall inspections or being used to monitor the health of fish in fish farms.

Reading Check

Detail

1. Why did German researchers invent an underwater robot？

A. To prevent swimmers practising.

B. To assist lifeguards to rescue.

C. To check if there are emergencies.

D. To watch over the swimming pools.

Gist

2. What does paragraph 2 mainly talk about？

A. The mechanism that the robot has.

B. The procedures of the robots rescue.

C. Different typical postures of drowners.

D. The great success of the underwater robot.

Detail

3. How can the robot locate drowning people？

A. Through the special drones.

B. Through the docking station.

C. Through the sound sensors.

D. Through the monitoring cameras.

Detail

4. What can we know about the robot according to the last paragraph？

A. It will get further improved.

B. It can help to build dam walls.

C. It will be widely used in each field.

D. It wont take long to receive a patent.

Language Study

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence in the text

Because of a lack of trained lifeguards to watch over swimming pools， a team of scien?tists from Germany has developed an underwater robot， intending to assist lifeguards in res?cuing swimmers in emergencies. 由于缺乏訓練有素的救生員來看管游泳池，德國一組科學家研發(fā)了一種水下機器人，旨在幫助救生員在緊急情況下營救游泳者。

【點石成金】本句中，Because of a lack of trained lifeguards to watch over swimmingpools為介詞短語作狀語;intending to assist lifeguards in rescuing swimmers in emergen?cies為現(xiàn)在分詞短語作伴隨狀語的結構，表示主動。

Ⅱ. Text?centered chunks

watch over 看管

in danger 處于危險中

a variety of 各種各樣的

be consistent with 和……一致

be equipped with 配備……

be informed of 知道

take on further tasks承擔進一步的任務