2002年Text 2
Since the dawn of human ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning tools to cope with work that is dangerous, boring, burdensome, or just plain nasty. That compulsion has resulted in robotics-the science of conferring various human capabilities on machines. And if scientists have yet to create the mechanical version of science fiction, they have begun to come close.
As a result, the modern world is increasingly populated by intelligent gizmos whose presence we barely notice but whose universal existence has removed much human labor. Our factories hum to the rhythm of robot assembly arms. Our banking is done at automated teller terminals that thank us with mechanical politeness for the transaction. Our subway trains are controlled by tireless robo-drivers. And thanks to the continual miniaturization of electronics and micro-mechanics, there are already robot systems that can perform some kinds of brain and bone surgery with submillimeter accuracy-far greater precision than highly skilled physicians can achieve with their hands alone.
But if robots are to reach the next stage of laborsaving utility, they will have to operate with less human supervision and be able to make at least a few decisions for themselves-goals that pose a real challenge. "While we know how to tell a robot to handle a specific error," says Dave Lavery, manager of a robotics program at NASA, "we can't yet give a robot enough ‘common sense' to reliably interact with a dynamic world."
Indeed the quest for true artificial intelligence has produced very mixed results. Despite a spell of initial optimism in the 1960s and 1970s when it appeared that transistor circuits and microprocessors might be able to copy the action of the human brain by the year 2010, researchers lately have begun to extend that forecast by decades if not centuries.
What they found, in attempting to model thought, is that the human brain's roughly one hundred billion nerve cells are much more talented-and human perception far more complicated-than previously imagined. They have built robots that can recognize the error of a machine panel by a fraction of a millimeter in a controlled factory environment. But the human mind can glimpse a rapidly changing scene and immediately disregard the 98 percent that is irrelevant, instantaneously focusing on the monkey at the side of a winding forest road or the single suspicious face in a big crowd. The most advanced computer systems on Earth can't approach that kind of ability, and neuroscientists still don't know quite how we do it.
46. Human ingenuity was initially demonstrated in .
[A] the use of machines to produce science fiction.
[B] the wide use of machines in manufacturing industry.
[C] the invention of tools for difficult and dangerous work.
[D] the elite's cunning tackling of dangerous and boring work.
[答案] C
[解題思路]
本文的對(duì)應(yīng)信息為文章的第一句話"Since the dawn of human ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning tools to cope with work that is dangerous, boring, burdensome, or just plain nasty"（從人類(lèi)萌發(fā)了創(chuàng)造力，他們就一直在設(shè)計(jì)各種日益精巧的工具來(lái)處理那些危險(xiǎn)、枯燥、繁重或者只是令人討厭的工作），四個(gè)選項(xiàng)中只有C選項(xiàng)符合這句話的意思，答案非常容易定位。
[題目譯文]
人類(lèi)的創(chuàng)造力最早表現(xiàn)在 。
[A] 用機(jī)器生產(chǎn)科幻小說(shuō)
[B] 在制造業(yè)中廣泛使用機(jī)器
[C] 為應(yīng)付困難且危險(xiǎn)的工作而設(shè)計(jì)出各種工具
[D] 精英們對(duì)于危險(xiǎn)且乏味工作的巧妙處理
48. According to the text, what is beyond man's ability now is to design a robot that can .
[A] fulfill delicate tasks like performing brain surgery.
[B] interact with human beings verbally.
[C] have a little common sense.
[D] respond independently to a changing world.
[答案] D
[解題思路]
本題可以與原文進(jìn)行一一對(duì)應(yīng)。首先，文章第二段最后一句話指出"there are already robot systems that can perform some kinds of brain and bone surgery with submillimeter accuracy-far greater precision than highly skilled physicians can achieve with their hands alone"（已有一些機(jī)器人系統(tǒng)能夠進(jìn)行精確到亞毫米的腦部和骨髓手術(shù)），A選項(xiàng)的表述與這句話的意思相反，因此是錯(cuò)誤答案。B選項(xiàng)在文中沒(méi)有提及，根據(jù)常識(shí)判斷也是一個(gè)錯(cuò)誤選項(xiàng)。同時(shí)，第三段的最后一句話指出"we can't yet give a robot enough ‘common sense' to reliably interact with a dynamic world"（我們?nèi)匀徊荒苜x予機(jī)器人以足夠的‘常識(shí)'，使它們能夠與不斷變化的動(dòng)態(tài)世界進(jìn)行可靠的交流），因此，C選項(xiàng)不正確。D選項(xiàng)之所以正確來(lái)可以從這句話中判斷，機(jī)器人無(wú)法對(duì)外界變化做出可靠的反應(yīng)，但是卻是可以獨(dú)立作出反應(yīng)的。
[題目譯文]
根據(jù)本文，人類(lèi)現(xiàn)在還沒(méi)有能力做到的是設(shè)計(jì)出一種機(jī)器人能夠 。
[A] 完成像腦外科手術(shù)那樣的艱巨任務(wù)
[B] 與人類(lèi)進(jìn)行語(yǔ)言交流
[C] 有一些常識(shí)
[D] 能對(duì)變化的世界作出獨(dú)立的反應(yīng)
49. Besides reducing human labor, robots can also .
[A] make a few decisions for themselves.
[B] deal with some errors with human intervention.
[C] improve factory environments.
[D] cultivate human creativity.
[答案] B
[解題思路]
文章第三段第一句話說(shuō)"But if robots are to reach the next stage of laborsaving utility, they will have to operate with less human supervision and be able to make at least a few decisions for themselves"（但是如果機(jī)器人要進(jìn)入幫助人們節(jié)省勞力的下一個(gè)階段，它們的運(yùn)行就應(yīng)該在更大程度上無(wú)需受人監(jiān)控，并且至少能夠獨(dú)立地做一些決定）。由于這是一個(gè)假設(shè)的條件，倒推過(guò)來(lái)就是說(shuō)現(xiàn)在機(jī)器人還不能自己做決定，還需要受人們的控制，因此A選項(xiàng)錯(cuò)誤，B選項(xiàng)正確。文章最后一段提到了"a controlled factory environment"，但也不是C選項(xiàng)中"improve"的意思。而D選項(xiàng)在原文并沒(méi)有涉及。
[題目譯文]
除了減少人類(lèi)勞動(dòng)，機(jī)器人還能夠 。
[A] 為自己做一些決定
[B] 在人類(lèi)的干預(yù)下應(yīng)付一些問(wèn)題
[C] 改善工廠環(huán)境
[D] 培養(yǎng)人類(lèi)的創(chuàng)造力
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