A
HANGZHOU—Chinese Internet giant Alibaba on Tuesday opened a hotel loaded with artificial intelligence (AI) and robots, automating a series of procedures like check-in, lights control and room service.
FlyZoo Hotel, opened in Hangzhou, capital of East China’s Zhejiang province, where Alibaba is headquartered, is known as the company’s first “future hotel”. Customers can check into the hotel by simply scanning their faces. The facial recognition system installed in the hotel also enables customers to use their faces as key cards to open doors and access other hotel service. Users can also control the lights, televisions and curtains in the room via Alibaba’s voice-activated digital assistant, while robots are deployed to serve dishes, cocktails and coffee. Hotel bookings and check-out can also be done with a few clicks on mobile through an app. “The AI-based solution can help customers save time and relieve hotel employees from repetitive work, ”said Wang Qun, CEO of FlyZoo Hotel. The hotel is the latest example of Chinese tech companies’ attempt into traditional industries such as the hotel industry.
E-commerce giant JD. com announced in October its strategy to put smart home and electronic devices sold on its platform into hotels, in an effort to improve online sales.
In July, Baidu teamed up with Intercontinental Hotels Group in Beijing to allow guests to use its voice-controlled assistant to adjust room temperature and order room service at ease.
Before that, social media giant Tencent introduced QQ family, a similar tech solution for hotel operators, in the southern city of Zhuhai last year.
“We want to install a‘smart brain’ for hotels, ”said Wang. “In the future, we will continue to make hotels smarter and more automated, as well as create more personalized experiences for consumers. ”
【文章大意】本文为说明文。叙述了阿里巴巴旗下首家“未来酒店”正式开张。酒店的房间服务都由人工智能和机器人提供。“刷脸”办入住; 机器人送餐、调酒、制作咖啡; 通过声控数字助理即可控制房间的灯、电视、窗帘等。
1. Which of the following hasn’t been realized?
A. All hotel service is provided by robots.
B. Room service can be controlled by artificial intelligence.
C. Room temperature can be adjusted by artificial intelligence.
D. Televisions can be turned off by voice-activated digital assistant.
【解析】选A。细节理解题。根据第一段“HANGZHOU—Chinese Internet giant Alibaba on Tuesday opened a hotel loaded with artificial intelligence (AI) and robots, automating a series of procedures like check-in, lights control and room service. ”及第二段中的“Users can also control the lights, televisions and curtains in the room via Alibaba’s voice-activated digital assistant, while robots are deployed to serve dishes, cocktails and coffee. ”可知, 并不是“所有的酒店服务”都是由机器人提供的。
2. How can customers check into FlyZoo Hotel?
A. By scanning their faces.
B. By clicking their mobile phones.
C. By showing hotel staff their ID cards.
D. By using voice-activated digital assistant.
【解析】选A。细节理解题。根据第二段中的“Customers can check into the hotel by simply scanning their faces. ”可知, 在FlyZoo酒店, 顾客只需“刷脸”(扫描他们的脸)就可以入住酒店。
3. What will probably happen to hotels in the future?
A. Customers will get less personalized experiences.
B. Human work will completely disappear in hotels.
C. Intelligent hotels won’t meet any difficulties in the development.
D. Just staying in your room, you can easily get many kinds of services by AI.
【解析】选D。推理判断题。根据最后一段可知未来酒店可能会发生: “只要你待在房间, 你就可以很容易地得到各种各样的人工智能提供的服务”。
4. What does the passage mainly talk about?
A. Internet giants open AI “future hotel”.
B. Artificial intelligence is used in hotels.
C. Internet giants switch to hotel industry.
D. Traditional hotels will disappear soon.
【解析】选B。主旨大意题 。 本文叙述了阿里巴巴在中国的杭州打造出首家“未来酒店”。“刷脸”办入住; 机器人送餐、调酒、制作咖啡; 只要通过声控数字助理即可控制房间的灯、电视、窗帘等。即酒店的房间服务都由人工智能和机器人提供。由此可知, 本文主要叙述的是“人工智能应用于酒店”, 故B项符合题意。
