专题 18 芦笋收割机器人--2023年高考英语外刊时文精读精练

2023年高考英语外刊时文精读精练 (18) Asparagus,Getting picky 芦笋, 越来越难伺候 主题语境：人与社会 主题语境内容：科技发明 【外刊原文】（斜体单词为超纲词汇，认识即可；下划线单词为课标词汇，需熟记。） Asparagus（芦笋） is a very odd vegetable. It can grow up to 2cm in an hour. Cut a field one afternoon, return the next morning, and with almost frightening speed it will be back. Whereas other vegetables spend time producing leaves, asparagus grows as single spears（嫩茎）, making it superbly suited to robotic pickers. In late June a small white object slowly makes its way along a field of asparagus in Gloucestershire. When it passes over a group of spears it pauses, whirrs then clunks: the asparagus has been sliced. This robot called Sprout is being developed by a London startup called Muddy Machines. It is more inflexible on wheels than Ex Machina android. However John Chinn, Britain’s largest asparagus producer, regards it with enthusiasm. For him, he says, it could be “fantastic”. The world is suffering from a shortage of seasonal workers.