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Reading - Part 3
a. Youaregoingto readan articleabout artificial intelligence.Beforereading, in pairsdiscuss the following questions.
1 Whattasks canrobotsdo now? 2 What famous robots do you know from science fictionbooksor films? 3 Do you believethat we will ever create machines that are ableto think aswe do? Should we try to?
TheSearch for
Artificial Intelligence
Robert Matthews, a leading UK researcher, outlines his mission
It is one of the most evocativephrases in the lexicon of scienc. artificialintelligence,'AI', the creation of machinesthat can thic. Just the mention of it conjures up images of HAL, the allot. intelligent computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and C3PO, :. chatty, batty robot from Star Wars. For over half a century, computer scientists nave been workI.-_
Herbert Simon AM
Christian Goldbach
Deep Blue
research: Alan Turing. During the 1930s, Turing showed, in theory at least, the.. 'universal machine' could be built, capable of performing all tasks of any special-purpose computing machine. After war-t;..work OD. code-breaking, Turing helpe.d to turn his discovery ::' the reality of an electronic computer. But he MsOb~leVe(hllS pr meant that computers could mimic the action of the human mir:-_ In 1951, Turing published a prediction: by the end of century, computers would be able to hold a five-mm_
intelligence' A ismissing fromsome scientific dictionaries. B makesus think of machines from sci-fi films. C D isoverused amongcomputer scientists. implies that computers canbetoo clever.
--
2 AlanTuring A builta 'universal machine' in the 1930s. B C D usedhis research work to developan electronic computer. usedcode-breaking techniques to build an electronic computer. created the first artificially intelligent computer. 3 Turingbelievedthat A computerscould copy humanthought processes. B computer research needed morefunding. C computers would eventually replace humanbeings. D computersmight be used for immoral purposes. 4 Computerscientists today A donotdistinguish between sci-fi andreality. B aremakingour dreams cometrue. C do not agree about the aims of AI development. D arespending fartoo longon AI research.
believing they were dea\ing with aD.otherhuman be.ing. It is a deadline that has come and gone, along with :amounts of funding. Yet no computer is remotely close to pa:.
100 --.
What is the writer's view of the Microsoft Paperclip assistant? A It is a veryhelpfuldevice. B It is not to be trusted. ( It isan impressivedevelopment. D It is rather annoying.
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Ice
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:on of sc.~ .
The discovery made by lenat's computer program A went against 18th centurymathematical theory. B was greeted with excitement by AI researchers. ( showed predictionsabout AIto be false. D enabledit to wingameslikechess.
7 According to the writer,what do many think is most mainstreamAI researchers 'important? A inventinga computer to beat the Turing Test B developingcomputers to become chess champions
(
forming ::..
After wa:discove~
doubt, it is the visionaries who have done most to get -_.:: on TV shows such as TomolTow's World. It is the _ however, who have g\Jt AI out of the door and into -pplications: the neural network cooking controls of _ :;,'ens, for example, or the expert system that vets credit _~nt AI technology is pushed closer to its sci-fi image, .:an be more irritating than impressive: witness ? ..perclip Assistant, and the AI-based 'help-desks' of ~..l:companies. Even now, 50 years after work began on
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Vocabulary Practice
Matchthe highlightedwords in the passage with their synonyms below. time limit disputes groups publicity. imitate trick achieved creates in the mind
~:hines,
_
It may nm
tory of real~ grant-grab'-
isionary AI researchers working away from the ...:: have pulled off some striking achievements.Herbert .957 prediction that a computer would make a - ~ricaldiscoverycame to pass 20 years later, when a logicprogram named AM, developed by Douglas Lenat at ":i University, discovere.dthat every even number greater .lI seemedto be the sum of twoodd primes.In fact,AM had ;.:pped to this discovery by the Prussian mathematician ~ Goldbach in the 18th century; nevertheless the ery of 'Goldbach's Conjecture' by AM caused a stir within
_ ~unity.
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3
Text Analysis
What do the underlinedphrases in the text mean?Discuss in pairs.
="J Discussion
e.
uing's cha:"'" 1, AI is all ... r probleffi5 'e are some workings ~
- ':.S prediction that a computer would become world chess ::ialso came to pass - in a manner of speaking - in -1997, :B~.rs Deep Blue computer beat Garry Kasparov, the ::~man exponent of the game. -1ely it will be one of the AI visionaries who finally creates ~r that passes Turing's 50-year-old test. For many in the ...m AI community, however, beating the Turing Test is _ tittle more than a party trick. They are hard at work ~ far more basic issues in AI - like convincing computers er the cinema tickets you've paid for.
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Language Focus
:> Computers
3
a. What do the following words meanin an
everyday context, and what do they mean in the context of computing? Make sentences showing each usage.
wizard
crash: Alan crashed his car into a
lamp post.
The computer crashed unexpectedly and Mike lost all of his work.
Supermarkets of the future will make use of (scanners, smart cards, personal organisers) to read the contents of your trolley and total up your bill.
Factorieswhich relyon humans working on (assembly lines, conveyor belts, processing equipment) are becoming a thing of the past.
b. Now, in pairs, ask and answer the questions Do you own a computer? Do you have access ~: Internet? 2 3
4
Youwould be quite astounded by the number of (satellites, space capsules, landing craft) orbiting the Earth.
Not only would a (nuclear, solar, diesel) powered vehicle be safe, it would also make use of one of the planet's greatest natural ~sources.
Howoften do you use your computer? What do ): it for? Do you know how to download/delete files? ~ the procedureto your partner.
Have you ever crashed your computer? What hap..~
5 6
Hasyourcomputereverhad a virus?What didYOl., J Doyou think computers are a good or bad thing'
.. .,
Look at the pictures. In pairs, discusswhich of them will become obsolete over the next twenty years. What do you think they will have been replaced by?
traffic congestion
nuclearpower fastfood
unemployl""'= impersonal service biological weapons space junk GMfoods consumer s~"
I'm terribly sorry I'm late but traffic conges:
around the city just keeps getting worse. The recent increasein ...............................
After little more than forty years, we ra ~ polluted the final frontier with .............. and other debris. We livein a...............................................
find it easier to
friendsfor
A: I feel that over the next twenty years,
...
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I agree and I think that they will have been replaced by...
...
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may
there keepsme
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6. fxp(afnthe following verbs,then use them in sentences. outdistance outdo outsmart outrun outgrow outsell
ocaI "larket.
rTlustbe clearly marked.
-,~
couldbe extremely dangerous '=:' -:; -a ''1tothe wronghands. :~ ~ ~.scuss which of the problems described ! question
lYe access
-.: sertences from Ex. 4a are caused directly =<!"''''ology.Which are caused indirectly? : :asons. :?"! -'Jot traffic congestionis a direct cause of :;q t>ecause it hasgivenus the meansto mass=::::'"eao vehicles. J2.~.it...
te
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es- ::
Collocations
badtr "~
.: ~~ your Word
Power
.~ :::eg:l"mingwith 'out')
- ..
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Inew age scientific
technological automated
p ..
18"
(harg~
"1Pa ~:: '1erscc::
c::-
__:::'!le of the heated debate on technology in the Ai: Nas not what I had expected. ';s continue as they are, the outlook for the .. S" space programme doesn't appear to be _Co" positive.
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b. Now, use the collocations to complete the sentences. Use the remaining collocations to make up sentences of your own.
Originally, the Russian , MIR, was supposedto last for five years, but in fact it remained in operationfor fourteen. 2 Professor Smithhasrecently hadhisfindingspublished in a prominent ..................................... 3 Thisisthe productprototype;asyoucansee,it isstill at the . 4 ~~~~~~~ of conventional weapons andtraditionalbattlestrategies. 5 Supposedly, , or DVDs astheyare called,arefar moreresistant to scratching thanrecords. 6 People lookingfor meaning in today'sconfusing modern worldoften immerse themselves in .
2'=' "we can get some informationfrom the -~ oeforewe planour outingto the LakeDistrict. --Ie outset, Bill Gates was confident that his
e' language, BASIC, wouldbea success. ='~,g of outragewasfurtherincreased by the fact '" -ad brokenoff theirengagement viaemail. _-.="eal< of a newstrainof flu hasmedical experts -=r"Jsedandworried.
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Language Focus 7
Fillin: make, hold,haveor do, then makesentences.
1 experimental work;2 advances in one's field;3 a successful mission; 4 an important discovery; 5 an importantobservation; 6 .............. ground-breakingresearch;7 a life changing experience; 8 evidence of sth;9 a 'demonstration; 10 a changefor the better; 11 a scientificproject; 12 an international conference
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10
Idioms
a. Matchitemsfromcolumns A andBto formidioms. guesswhatthe idiomsmightmean.Do In pairs, youhavesimilaridioms in yourlanguage?
break
blind someone
. .
movewith
be somebody's once in a turn the come down reinvent it doesn't take stand the test
a rocket scientist clock back with science of time guinea pig blue moon to earth the wheel the mould the times
...
:) Ambiguous Words
8
Theuseof the underlinedwords in the sentences below is ambiguous.In pairs,providetwo alternativesfor eachsentence to showthe possible differencesin meaning.
Thisistoo hard. I'llleave it outof thefreezer forhalfonhourbefore weeat it. 2 3 4 5 6 7 I'llnever beabletodoit onmyown. Helen isveryfair. Theydid not recognise th~ newchairman. Michael isaverycurious man. My uncleisa verypowerfulman. Helookedverysuspicious. I loveentertaining people.
...
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newprogram I designed?
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modernlcontempQl'aryllatest years.
2 Operate/PushNibrate/Effect the machinery carefully. 3 Thecompany offersa group/collection/cluster/range of word processing packages. the owners'policy.
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4 Thecompany's mottoreflects/conveys/infers/proves
1 Personally, I believethat what someonedoes=
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'~ 8 Please keep/hold/take/carry in mind that you must answer all questions. 9 Thismachinery is ratherelderly/unfashionable/aged/ outdated. 10 Following hisadvice willdoyoualot of advantage/good/
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eventually everybody got usedto doingit. 5 To put it in as few words as Dossible, I've OC'.
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~ain/benefit.
104