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