On April 19, 2026, the Beijing E-Town Half Marathon and Humanoid Robot Half Marathon came to an end. A humanoid robot named “Flash” made a big surprise — it broke the human half-marathon record and won the championship.

“Flash” was developed by Honor, a Chinese company. It finished the 21-kilometer race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds. The previous human record was 57 minutes and 20 seconds, set by a runner from Uganda in March this year in Lisbon, Portugal.

Compared with the first race last year, this year’s event made great progress. Last year, only about 20 teams joined the race, and just 6 of them finished it. The winning robot took 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds to finish. This year, more than 100 teams took part, including 5 international teams. The teams came from 13 provinces, while last year they were only from 5 provinces.

Another big change is that over 40 percent of the robots competed autonomously this year. They used sensors and cameras to know their surroundings and finish difficult tasks by themselves, such as avoiding obstacles (障碍). Last year, engineers had to run after robots with their computers to control them. Besides, this year’s track was more challenging with more curves and slopes.

The top three robots in the race were all made by Honor. The company’s engineers said they are still doing research and haven’t started selling these robots yet. Beijing is working hard to develop the humanoid robot industry and will hold the second world-level robot games in August this year.

1.1. What achievement did “Flash” make?

A It set a new human record.

B It raced with a runner from Uganda.

C It broke a human record.

D It won a race in Portugal.

解析：选C。C细节理解题。本题可从原文第一段直接找到关键信息 “A humanoid robot named ‘Flash’ made a big surprise — it broke the human half-marathon record and won the championship”，明确 Flash 打破了人类半程马拉松纪录。A 选项错误，原文是打破人类纪录，并非创造新的人类纪录；B 选项错误，文中仅提及乌干达选手创造了此前的人类纪录，Flash 并未与其同场竞技；D 选项错误，葡萄牙是乌干达选手创造纪录的地点，并非 Flash 参赛的地点。故选C。

2.2. Which is TRUE about this year’s race?

A 6 teams finished the race.

B 5 teams came from abroad.

C 20 teams joined the event.

D Robots came from 5 provinces.

解析：选B。B细节理解题。根据第三段第四句“This year, more than 100 teams took part, including 5 international teams.”可知，今年有超过100支队伍参赛，其中包括5支国际队伍（即来自国外的队伍），因此选项B“5 teams came from abroad.”表述正确。选项A“6支队伍完赛”是去年比赛的数据（第三段第二句），属于张冠李戴。选项C“20支队伍参赛”也是去年的数据，并非今年。选项D“机器人来自5个省份”同样是去年的信息（第三段末句“last year they were only from 5 provinces”），而今年是来自13个中国省份，故错误。故选B。

3.3. The underlined word “autonomously” means the robots moved ________.

A with human help

B at a high speed

C on their own

D in a safe way

解析：选C。C词义猜测题。划线词所在句子为“over 40 percent of the robots competed autonomously this year.”，后文对其进行了具体解释：“They used sensors and cameras to know their surroundings and finish difficult tasks by themselves, such as avoiding obstacles.”，其中“by themselves”明确表示机器人自己完成感知和避障，紧接着又对比去年工程师需要跟在后面用电脑控制，因此“autonomously”意为“自主地、独立地”，与选项C“on their own”同义。选项A“with human help”与文意相反。选项B“at a high speed”虽可能暗示表现优异，但并非该词词义所在。选项D“in a safe way”未在上下文体现。故选C。

4.4. What is the best title for this passage?

A A Robot Runner Made History.

B How to Control Robots in Races.

C The Future of Human Runners.

D Honor Plans to Sell More Robots.

解析：选A。A主旨大意题。文章开篇以机器人“Flash”打破人类半马纪录的新闻事件引入，继而对比去年与今年比赛在规模、自主性、赛道难度等方面的进步，最后提及北京正大力发展机器人产业并即将举办世界级赛事。全文始终围绕机器人参加马拉松比赛并取得突破性成绩这一核心事件展开，选项A“A Robot Runner Made History.”（一位机器人跑者创造了历史）准确概括了文章主旨。选项B“How to Control Robots in Races”仅为文章细节内容（第四段对比内容），不能统领全文。选项C“The Future of Human Runners”偏离主题，文章焦点是机器人而非人类跑者的未来。选项D“Honor Plans to Sell More Robots”与文章末句“haven’t started selling these robots yet”相悖。故选A。