Lesson: Xian’er the Robot Monk: Spirituality Meets Artificial Intelligence
II. While Reading Activities
Word Inference
- fascination |ˌfasəˈnāSHən| noun-the power to fascinate someone; the quality of being fascinating: television has always held a fascination for me.
- commercialize |kəˈmərSHəˌlīz| verb [ with obj. ] manage or exploit (an organization, activity, etc.) in a way designed to make a profit: the museum has been commercialized.
- collaboration |kəˌlabəˈrāSHən| noun-the action of working with someone to produce or create something: he wrote on art and architecture in collaboration with John Betjeman.
- combination |ˌkämbəˈnāSHən| noun-a joining or merging of different parts or qualities in which the component elements are individually distinct: a combination of blackberries, raspberries, and rhubarb | this color combination is stunningly effective.
- artificial intelligence |ˌɑrdəˈfɪʃəl ɪnˈtɛləʤəns| (abbr.: AI) noun-the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.
- Buddhism |ˈbo͞odizəm, ˈbo͝od-| noun-a widespread Asian religion or philosophy, founded by Siddartha Gautama in northeastern India in the 5th century bc . (Buddhist noun & adjective)
- expectation |ˌekspekˈtāSHən| noun-a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future: reality had not lived up to expectations | an expectation that the government will provide the resources | he drilled his men in expectation of a Prussian advance.
- generations |ˌjenəˈrāSHən| noun-a single stage in the development of a type of product: a new generation of rear-engined sports cars.
- queries verb (queries, querying, queried) [ reporting verb ] ask a question about something, esp. in order to express one’s doubts about it or to check its validity or accuracy: [ with clause ] : many people queried whether any harm had been done
- amazing |əˈmāziNG| adjective-causing great surprise or wonder; astonishing: an amazing number of people registered | it is amazing how short your memory is.
Source: New Oxford American Dictionary
Reading Comprehension
Fill-ins
Many visitors to Longquan Temple on Wednesday, however, expressed doubt as to whether Xian’er could really help people with their problems, though some said they expected technology to advance so quickly that future generations of robot monks might. A second, smarter Xian’er is already in development, a center employee said.
Grammar Focus: Structure and Usage
I-1-Its
Its development was for the public welfare.
II-1-a
As a robot, Xian’er has expanded his repertoire.
III-1-been
Po would have been envious of Xian’er.
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