Lesson 4 The Essence of Being Human
Klara and the Sun
Klara is an AF (Artificial Friend), a companion ____ for children.
____ is solar-powered.
____ stays healthy when she gets the Sun’s nourishment but feels weak and lifeless without sunlight.
At the robot store, ____ enjoyed taking in the outside world from the windows.
Klara closely observed what she saw, hoping ____ learn everything necessary to be a caring and helpful AF.
One evening, she discovered that a homeless man was lying on the street ____ moving.
Klara was sad as she believed he had ____
But the next morning when the Sun ____ shining, she was surprised to see that the homeless man was sitting up and stroking his dog.
Klara believed the Sun had ____ him and came to have strong faith in the Sun’s power to restore everything.
One day,
One day, ____ fourteen-year-old girl named Josie visited the shop with her mother, Chrissie.
Josie chatted ____ Klara joyfully.
Josie immediately took a liking ____ Klara and asked whether Klara wanted to be her friend.
I really want you to come to ____ home.
I ____ you’ll like my room, and we’ll see the beautiful sunset from the windows there.
We can do all the great things together ____ the time while I’m growing up. You want to come, right?
That’s so good, but I want to be honest ____ you.
I know how bad you’ll feel after people promise you ____ things and they turn out not to be so.
Some days I’m not so healthy or happy. I do not ____ why.
Do you still ____ to come, Klara?
____ there’s anything difficult or scary, we will face it together.
To show that
To show that she would do her best ____ be Josie’s friend, Klara held her hands together and shook them slightly.
Pleased by Klara’s gesture of friendship, Josie asked Chrissie for her permission to buy the ____
____ asked Klara what she had observed about Josie, and found Klara to be highly observant.
After requesting that Klara continue to care about Josie, Chrissie agreed ____ buy Klara and took her home.
In Josie’s country home, Klara found out that Josie had gone through ____ procedure known as “lifting.”
By being lifted, Josie’s cognitive abilities had been genetically enhanced so that she had a better ____ of getting into prestigious universities.
However, Josie was suffering ____ serious side effects similar to those that had claimed the life of her sister, Sal.
A mysterious chronic illness ____ caused her to stay in bed for days on end.
Because of this, Josie spent ____ of her time at home and was being educated there.
One day when Josie felt better,
One day when Josie felt better, her mother took her and Klara to the city so that Josie ____ have her portrait done by Mr. Capaldi.
In Capaldi’s studio, Klara ____ asked to answer a questionnaire about Josie.
Looking ____ the studio after completing the questionnaire, Klara entered Capaldi’s office.
To her surprise, she saw something that looked like Josie suspended in ____ air-it was an AF replica of Josie’s body!
____ it turned out, Mr. Capaldi was not a painter but a scientist, who planned with Chrissie to transfer Klara’s consciousness to the replica and make a new Josie if the real Josie were to die.
Klara, tell me what you think about the ____
It resembles Josie quite ____
Mr. Capaldi, you have done ____ good job of capturing Josie’s appearance.
I now understand ____ Chrissie asked me, at every step, to observe and learn Josie.
The survey seems to test ____ well I have come to know Josie and how well I understand her decisions and feelings.
We will ask you ____ become her and to live in that replica of Josie with everything you have learned.
Learn Josie, not just superficially, ____ deeply, entirely.
You have ____ continue her for Chrissie and for everyone else who loves Josie.
Chrissie: I have doubts.
I’m still not sure if this whole plan is the best ____ we can do.
____ have been afraid of losing Josie ever since I lost Sal.
____ is why I agreed with you on this replica, but however well you make it, I don’t think I will be able to accept this AF as my Josie.
You must not ____ faith, Chrissie.
The survey Klara has successfully completed is clear evidence that she is already ____ on her way to understanding all of Josie’s drives and desires.
You believe that ____ is something unreachable inside each of us, something that is unique and won’t transfer.
But ____ is nothing like that. The new Josie won’t be an imitation.
She will be the exact same person and you will have every right to love her just as you love Josie ____
But will I believe in it? When the ____ comes, will I really?
Excuse me, but I would like to say there is a chance you will never need the new ____
She ____ overcome her illness.
If the day comes when you do need the new Josie, I will do my best to become as close ____ her as possible.
However, it is wrong ____ give up hope already.
Josie’s health took a turn for the worse
Josie’s health ____ a turn for the worse after she returned from the city.
This made ____ determined to do everything she could for Josie.
Klara remembered ____ barn into which the Sun had disappeared when she and Josie had been watching the sunset in Josie’s room.
Believing it to ____ the Sun’s resting place, Klara visited there to pray to the Sun for Josie’s recovery.
You must be so tired, and I’m ____ sorry to disturb you, but I have come here this evening to ask a special favor.
I have never forgotten how strong your power to restore everything ____
____ is becoming weaker and weaker each day.
Please send Josie the special ____ she so desperately requires as you did that day to the homeless man.
The Sun ____ then sinking into the ground, but Klara could tell he was smiling at her as he went down for his nightly rest.
Out of gratitude ____ respect, Klara continued to look at the Sun until his last light vanished into the ground.
After several rainy ____ the Sun came out to shine light on Josie and her whole bed.
Josie ____ up and made a miraculous recovery.
Seasons and years went by,
Seasons and ____ went by, and she grew into a healthy adult.
When Josie left for college, Klara was sent to the Yard, ____ place where old AFs spend their remaining days at the end of their lives.
In the Yard, she remembered her ____ with Josie.
Josie ____ the best teenager for me.
I did all I could to learn Josie and to do what was ____ for her.
If ____ had become necessary, I could have continued Josie.
But I don’t think ____ would have worked out so well.
Not because I wouldn’t have achieved accuracy, ____ however hard I tried, I believe now there would have remained something beyond my reach.
Mr. ____ believed there was nothing special inside Josie, but I believe now that there was something very special.
But it wasn’t inside ____ It was inside those who loved her.
I would have never reached what they felt for Josie in their ____
I ____ sure of this now.