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1. Can the Computer Learn from Experience
计算机会总结经验吗
1 Computers have been taught to play not only checkers, but also championship
chess, which is a fairly accurate yardstick for measuring the computer"s progress
in the ability to learn from experience.
2 Because the game requires logical reasoning, chess would seem to be perfectly
suited to the computer .all a programmer has to do is give the computer a program
evaluating the consequences of every possible response to every possible move,
and the computer will win every time. In theory this is a sensible approach; in
practice it is impossible. Today, a powerful computer can analyze 40 000 moves a
second. That is an impressive speed. But there are an astronomical number of
possible moves in chess—literally trillions. Even if such a program were written
(and in theory it could be ,given enough people and enough time), there is no
computer capable of holding that much data.
3 Therefore, if the computer is to compete at championship levels, it must be
programmed to function with less than complete data. It must be able to learn
from experience, to modify its own programm, to deal with a relatively
unstructured situation—in a word, to “think” for itself . In fact, this can be done.
Chess-playing computers have yet to defeat world champion chess players, but
several have beaten human players of only slightly lower ranks. The computers
have had programs to carry them through the early, mechanical stages of their
chess games. But they have gone on from there to reason and learn, and
sometimes to win the game.
4 There are other proofs that computers can be programmed to learn, but this
example is sufficient to demonstrate the point. Granted , winning a game of chess
is not an earthshaking event even when a computer does it . But there are many
serious human problems which ban be fruitfully approached as games. The
Defense Department uses computers to play war games and work out strategies
for dealing with international tensions. Other problems—international and
interpersonal relations , ecology and economics , and the ever-increasing threat of
world famine—can perhaps be solved by the joint efforts of human beings and
truly intelligent computers .
Notes
1. check:a game played on a checkerboard by two players ,each using 12 pieces
2. ecology:the relationship between organisms and their environment 生态关系，
生态学
Reading comprehension
1 The purpose of creating chess-playing computers is __________
A to win the world chess champion
B to pave the way for further intelligent computers
C to work out strategies for international wars
D to find an accurate yardstick for measuring computer progress
2 Today , a chess-playing computer can be programmed to ________
A give trillions of reponses in a second to each possible move and win the game
B function with complete data and beat the best players
C learn from chess-playing in the early stage and go on to win the game
D evaluate every possible move but may fail to give the right response each time
3 For a computer to “think” , it is necessary to ________
A mange to process as much data as possible in a second
B program it so that it can learn from its experiences
C prepare it for chess-playing first
D enable it to deal with unstructured situations
4 The author"s attitude towards the Defense Department is____
A critical B unconcerned C positive D negative
5 In the author"s opinion,______
A winning a chess game is an unimportant event
B serious human problems shouldn"t be regarded as playing a game
C ecological problems are more urgent to be solved
D there is hope for more intelligent computers
1 b 2 c 3 b 4 c 5 d
2 You Call This a Good Economy
这能称之为上佳经验
1 You have to have lived in the 1950s and 1960s to have experienced a good
economy. In the period between 1950 and 1970 it was the rule—rather than the
exception—that an ordinary family, without higher education, could sustain itself
decently on the income of a single breadwinner（养家糊口的人）. In 1955, when
I was 19 and living in Brooklyn, N. Y., my father, who had a sixth-grade
education, maintained our family of five on a wage of $82 a week as a
bookbinder. My mother taught us fairness and compassion; my father, discipline
and enterprise.
2 The U. S. economy in those years was good. Then where did this good economy
go? It was inflated away. The price of gold, which I take as proxy for the prices
of all goods, was $35 an ounce in those years. It is at roughly ten times that price
today.
3 There is another answer, though: inflation caused the entire work force to be
moved into higher tax groups, thus reducing after-tax purchasing power. That is,
my father"s bindery job in1954 paid $82 a week, with $80 after deductions; today,
at $ 820 per week the net would be $662.
4 To ordinary people, the economy doesn"t look very good at all. After-tax incomes
continue to decrease in purchasing power. The jobs offered in the employment
ads pay only a little more than the minimum wage, maybe $5 an hour, which,
after payroll deductions, yields $4 an hour. Compare that with minimum-wage
jobs of the early 1950s, when 75 cents was worth today"s $7.50 before and after
taxes.
Notes
1 Brooklyn: a district of New York city
2 inflate:通货膨胀
3 proxy: the authority to act for another
4 payroll: a list of employees and the wages due to each
Reading Comprehension
1 In the author"s opinion, a good economy, to ordinary people can be
expressed in terms of ______
a. the amount of wage
b. after-tax income
c. the actual purchasing power
d. the minimum wage per hour
2 In the period between 1950 and 1970,_______
a. there was not much difference in the living standards between people of
higher and lower education
b. an ordinary family of five without exception could live on one person
income
c. the income of an ordinary family was more than enough for buying food
d. for an average family the income was sufficient to support all the
members
3 Today a bookbinder"s wage is ten times that of the 1950"s but its income tax
rate has increased ______
a.50 times b.60times c. 70 times d. 80 times
4 The worsening of a bookbinder"s livelihood results from _____
a. his low education and the amount of wage
b. the high-taxation and the income deductions
c. the high taxation and cost of living
d. thelow wage and higher prices
5 The passage implies that while the cost of living is getting higher______
a. the value of labor actually is shrinking
b. the minimum wage level is increasing likewise
c. the income tax rate is rising along
d. the employment ads naturally offer a higher minimum wage
6 The author"s tone in writing the article is_____
a. ironical b. subjective c. high-sounding d. convincing
7 the article aims to _________.
a. help control the rapidly increasing prices
b. give some advice to the policy-makers
c.impress the younger generation with some basic facts
d.call upon the societys attention against inflation
1 c 2 b 3 d 4 c 5 a 6 d 7 c
3 Are Experts Always Right
专家总是对的吗
1 The world has become so complicated that we"ve lost confidence in our
ability to understand and deal with it. But common sense is useful now as it
ever was. No amount of expertise substitutes for an intimate knowledge of a
person or a situation. At times you just have to trust your own judgement.
2 It almost cost me my life to learn that. I was reading a book one day, idly
scratching the back of my head, when I noticed that, in one particular spot,
the scratching echoed inside my head like fingernails on an empty cardboard
carton, I rushed off to my doctor.
3 “Got a hole in your head, have you?” he teased. “It"s nothing—just one of
those little scalp nerves sounding off.”
4 Two years and four doctors later, I was still being told it was nothing. To the
fifth doctor. I said, almost in desperation,”But I live in tis body. I know
something"s different.”
5 “If you won"t take my word for it,I"ll take an X-ray and prove it to you,” he
said.
6 Well, there it was, of course, the tumor that had made a hole as big as an eye
socket in the back of my skull. After the operation, a young resident paused
by my bed. ”It"s a good thing you"re so smart,” he said.” Most patient die of
these tumors because we don"t know they"re there until it is too late.”
7 I"m really not so smart. And I"m too docile in the face of authority. I should
have been more aggressive with those first four doctors. It"s hard to question
opinions delivered with absolute certainty.
8 Experts always sound so sure. Nevile Chamberlain, the British prime
minister, was positive, just before the start of World War II, that there would
be “peace for our time.” Producer Irving Thalberg did not hesitate to advise
Louis B. Mayer against buying the rights to Gone With the Wind because “no
Civil War picture ever made a nickel.” Even Abraham Lincoln surely
believed it when he said in his Gettysburg Address:” The world will little
note, nor long remember, what we say here…”
9 We should not, therefore, be intimidated by experts. When it"s an area we
really know about—our bodies, our families, our houses—let"s listen to what
the experts say, then make up our own minds.
Notes
1 cardboard carton:a box or container made of a stiff pasteboard of paper
2 scalp: the skin covering the head
3 tumor:肿瘤
4 eye socket: the opening or cavity in which the eye fits
5 docile: easily managed or taught
reading comprehension
1. “It” in “…deal with it”(para.1) refers to ______
a. confidence b. the world c. ability d. complication
2. “Expertise” in para.1 means______
a. common sense b. expert skill or knowledge c. unusual ability to appreciate
d. personal experience
3. We have to trust our own judgement since ____
a. not all of us have acquired reliable expertise
b. experts often lose their common sense
c. experts may sometimes fail to give good advice
d. intimate knowledge of a person is not to be substituted for by expertise
4 “That” in “it almost cost me my life to learn that”(para. 2)
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