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Last weekend, 20 000 people gathered in the state of Georgia to watch students from 28 countries
compete with robots they built. More than ten thousand students and more than five hundred robots took
part in the competition.
The students and their robots competed at the FIRST Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
FIRST is the short way of saying the organization's complete name: For Inspiration and Recognition of
Science and Technology.
Almost 1 700 high school teams entered a level of competition called LUNACY.
In January, the organization sent supplies for robots to each team. The teams had six weeks to build
robots that could compete in the LUNACY game. The playing area had six robots, three on each team.
Each robot had another vehicle, or trailer (拖车), connected to it. The robots had to pick up large balls
and throw them into the trailers of opposing robots. The robots were moving on a surface where they
could slide. An alliance (联盟) of teams from California, Illinois and Michigan won the LUNACY
competition.
A second competition involved building a robot that could travel on uneven surfaces, move objects
with unusual shapes and resist physical stress. Another competition was for younger students, aged 9
to 14. They had to design, build and program robots to explore the Earth's climate.
American inventor Dean Kamen started FIRST in 1989. The organization holds robotics competitions
around the world. It offers programs that help young people learn more about science, technology,
engineering and mathematics, while building life skills. Many companies provide support to the organization.
Mister Kamen says the goal is about more than building robots. He says the student competitors showed
they could deal with difficult technological problems. And, he says that is good news because the world
needs creative thinkers to help with increasingly complex (复杂) problems in the future.
1. The Robot Competition was organized by _____.
A. the State of Georgia
B. an organization named FIRST
C. American inventor Dean Kamen
D. some companies from California
2. The robots in the LUNACY game are able to _____.
A. travel on uneven surfaces
B. explore the Earth's climate
C. throw balls into the trailers
D. move objects with different shapes
3. The main purpose of FIRST is to _____.
A. attract more companies to support them
B. help students under 8 to be interested in science
C. teach students how to build the robots on the spot
D. help young people learn science as well as life skills
4. The underlined word "that" in the last paragraph refers to _____.
A. the goal of building robots
B. the students' ability to deal with problems
C. the goal of the student competitors
D. something about technological problems
