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劍橋雅思閱讀5原文(test3)
READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
Early Childhood Education
New Zealand’s National Party spokesman on education, Dr Lockwood Smith,
recently visited the US and Britain. Here he reports on the findings of his trip
and what they could mean for New Zealand’s education policy
A
‘Education To Be More’ was published last August. It was the report of the New Zealand Government’s Early Childhood Care and Education Working Group. The report argued for enhanced equity of access and better funding for childcare and early childhood education institutions. Unquestionably, that’s a real need; but since parents don’t normally send children to pre-schools until the age of three, are we missing out on the most important years of all?
B
A 13-year study of early childhood development at Harvard University has shown that, by the age of three, most children have the potential to understand about 1000 words — most of the language they will use in ordinary conversation for the rest of their lives.
Furthermore, research has shown that while every child is born with a natural curiosity, it can be suppressed dramatically during the second and third years of life. Researchers claim that the human personality is formed during the first two years of life, and during the first three years children learn the basic skills they will use in all their later learning both at home and at school. Once over the age of three, children continue to expand on existing knowledge of the world.
C
It is generally acknowledged that young people from poorer socio-economic backgrounds tend to do less well in our education system. That’s observed not just in New Zealand, but also in Australia, Britain and America. In an attempt to overcome that educational under-achievement, a nationwide programme called ‘Headstart’ was launched in the United States in 1965. A lot of money was poured into it. It took children into pre-school institutions at the age of three and was supposed to help the children of poorer families succeed in school.
Despite substantial funding, results have been disappointing. It is thought that there are two explanations for this. First, the programme began too late. Many children who entered it at the age of three were already behind their peers in language and measurable intelligence. Second, the parents were not involved. At the end of each day, ‘Headstart’ children returned to the same disadvantaged home environment.
D
As a result of the growing research evidence of the importance of the first three years of a child’s life and the disappointing results from ‘Headstart’, a pilot programme was launched in Missouri in the US that focused on parents as the child’s first teachers. The ‘Missouri’ programme was predicated on research showing that working with the family, rather than bypassing the parents, is the most effective way of helping children get off to the best possible start in life. The four-year pilot study included 380 families who were about to have their first child and who represented a cross-section of socio-economic status, age and family configurations. They included single-parent and two-parent families, families in which both parents worked, and families with either the mother or father at home.
The programme involved trained parent — educators visiting the parents’ home and working with the parent, or parents, and the child. Information on child development, and guidance on things to look for and expect as the child grows were provided, plus guidance in fostering the child’s intellectual, language, social and motor-skill development. Periodic check-ups of the child’s educational and sensory development (hearing and vision) were made to detect possible handicaps that interfere with growth and development. Medical problems were referred to professionals.
Parent-educators made personal visits to homes and monthly group meetings were held with other new parents to share experience and discuss topics of interest. Parent resource centres, located in school buildings, offered learning materials for families and facilitators for child care.
E
At the age of three, the children who had been involved in the ‘Missouri’ programme were evaluated alongside a cross-section of children selected from the same range of socio-economic backgrounds and family situations, and also a random sample of children that age. The results were phenomenal. By the age of three, the children in the programme were significantly more advanced in language development than their peers, had made greater strides in problem solving and other intellectual skills, and were further along in social development. In fact, the average child on the programme was performing at the level of the top 15 to 20 per cent of their peers in such things as auditory comprehension, verbal ability and language ability.
Most important of all, the traditional measures of ‘risk’, such as parents’ age and education, or whether they were a single parent, bore little or no relationship to the measures of achievement and language development. Children in the programme performed equally well regardless of socio-economic disadvantages. Child abuse was virtually eliminated. The one factor that was found to affect the child’s development was family stress leading to a poor quality of parent-child interaction. That interaction was not necessarily bad in poorer families.
F
These research findings are exciting. There is growing evidence in New Zealand that children from poorer socio-economic backgrounds are arriving at school less well developed and that our school system tends to perpetuate that disadvantage. The initiative outlined above could break that cycle of disadvantage. The concept of working with parents in their homes, or at their place of work, contrasts quite markedly with the report of the Early Childhood Care and Education Working Group. Their focus is on getting children and mothers access to childcare and institutionalized early childhood education. Education from the age of three to five is undoubtedly vital, but without a similar focus on parent education and on the vital importance of the first three years, some evidence indicates that it will not be enough to overcome educational inequity.
Questions 1-4
Reading Passage 1 has six sections, A-F.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-F in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.
1 details of the range of family types involved in an education programme
2 reasons why a child’s early years are so important
3 reasons why an education programme failed
4 a description of the positive outcomes of an education programme
Questions 5-10
Classify the following features as characterising
A the ‘Headstart’ programme
B the ‘Missouri’ programme
C both the ‘Headstart’ and the ‘Missouri’ programmes
D neither the ‘Headstart’ nor the ‘Missouri’ programme
Write the correct letter A, B, C or D in boxes 5-10 on your answer sheet.
5 was administered to a variety of poor and wealthy families
6 continued with follow-up assistance in elementary schools
7 did not succeed in its aim
8 supplied many forms of support and training to parents
9 received insufficient funding
10 was designed to improve pre-schoolers’ educational development
Questions 11-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
11 Most ‘Missouri’ programme three-year-olds scored highly in areas such as listening speaking, reasoning and interacting with others.
12 ‘Missouri’ programme children of young, uneducated, single parents scored less highly on the tests.
13 The richer families in the ‘Missouri’ programme had higher stress levels.
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 on the following pages.
Questions 14-17
Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F.
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B and D-F from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number i-viii in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
I Effects of irrigation on sedimentation
Ii The danger of flooding the Cairo area
Iii Causing pollution in the Mediterranean
Iv Interrupting a natural process
V The threat to food production
Vi Less valuable sediment than before
Vii Egypt’s disappearing coastline
Viii Looking at the long-term impact
Example Paragraph A Answer vii
14 Paragraph B
Example Paragraph C Answer vi
15 Paragraph D
16 Paragraph E
17 Paragraph F
Disappearing Delta
A The fertile land of the Nile delta is being eroded along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast at an astounding rate，in some parts estimated at 100 metres per year.In the past，land scoured away from the coastline by the currents of the Mediterranean Sea used to be replaced by sediment brought down to the delta by the River Nile，but this is no longer happening.
B Up to now, people have blamed this loss of delta land on the two large dams at Aswan in the south of Egypt，which hold back virtually all of the sediment that used to flow down the river. Before the dams were built，the Nile flowed freely carrying huge quantities of sediment north from Africa’s interior to be deposited on the Nile delta.This continued for 7,000 years，eventually covering a region of over 22,000 square kilometres with layers of fertile silt.Annual flooding brought in new, nutrient-rich soil to the delta region，replacing what had been washed away by the sea，and dispensing with the need for fertilizers in Egypt’s richest food-growing area.But when the Aswan dams were constructed in the 20th century to provide electricity and irrigation，and to protect the huge population centre of Cairo and its surrounding areas from annual flooding and drought，most of the sediment with its naturaI fertilizer accumulated up above the dam in the southern, upstream half of Lake Nasser, instead of passing down to the delta.
C Now, however, there turns out to be more to the story.It appears that the sediment-free water emerging from the Aswan dams picks up silt and sand as it erodes the river bed and banks on the 800-kilometre trip to Cairo.Daniel Jean Stanley of the Smithsonian Institute noticed that water samples taken in Cairo，just before the river enters the delta，indicated that the river sometimes carries more than 850 grams of sediment per cubic metre of water — almost half of what it carried before the dams were built. ‘I’m ashamed to say that the significance of this didn’t strike me until after I had read 50 or 60 studies，’ says Stanley in Marine Geology.‘There is still a lot of sediment coming into the delta, but virtually no sediment comes out into the Mediterranean to replenish the coastline.So this sediment must be trapped on the delta itself.’
D Once north of Cairo, most of the Nile water is diverted into more than 10,000 kilometres of irrigation canals and only a small proportion reaches the sea directly through the rivers in the delta.The water in the irrigation canals is still or very slow-moving and thus cannot carry sediment, Stanley explains. The sediment sinks to the bottom of the canals and then is added to fields by farmers or pumped with the water into the four large freshwater lagoons that are located near the outer edges of the delta.So very little of it actually reaches the coastline to replace what is being washed away by the Mediterranean currents.
E The farms on the delta plains and fishing and aquaculture in the lagoons account for much of Egypt’s food supply.But by the time the sediment has come to rest in the fields and lagoons it is laden with municipal, industrial and agricultural waste from the Cairo region, which is home to more than 40 million people.’Pollutants are building up faster and faster,’ says Stanley.
Based on his investigations of sediment from the delta lagoons, Frederic Siegel of George Washington University concurs. ‘In Manzalah Lagoon, for example, the increase in mercury, lead, copper and zinc coincided with the building of the High Dam at Aswan, the availability of cheap electricity, and the development of major power-based industries,’ he says. Since that time the concentration of mercury has increased significantly. Lead from engines that use leaded fuels and from other industrial sources has also increased dramatically. These poisons can easily enter the food chain, affecting the productivity of fishing and farming. Another problem is that agricultural wastes include fertilizers which stimulate increases in plant growth in the lagoons and upset the ecology of the area, with serious effects on the fishing industry.
F According to Siegel, international environmental organisations are beginning to pay closer attention to the region, partly because of the problems of erosion and pollution of the Nile delta, but principally because they fear the impact this situation could have on the whole Mediterranean coastal ecosystem. But there are no easy solutions. In the immediate future, Stanley believes that one solution would be to make artificial floods to flush out the delta waterways, in the same way that natural floods did before the construction of the dams. He says, however, that in the long term an alternative process such as desalination may have to be used to increase the amount of water available. ‘In my view, Egypt must devise a way to have more water running through the river and the delta,’ says Stanley. Easier said than done in a desert region with a rapidly growing population.
Questions 18-23
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 18-23 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement reflects the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
18 Coastal erosion occurred along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast before the building of the Aswan dams.
19 Some people predicted that the Aswan dams would cause land loss before they were built.
20 The Aswan dams were built to increase the fertility of the Nile delta.
21 Stanley found that the levels of sediment in the river water in Cairo were relatively high.
22 Sediment in the irrigation canals on the Nile delta causes flooding.
23 Water is pumped from the irrigation canals into the lagoons.
Questions 24-26
Complete the summary of paragraphs E and F with the list of words A-H below.
Write the correct letter A-H in boxes 24-26 on your answer sheet.
In addition to the problem of coastal erosion, there has been a marked increase in the level of 24………………contained in the silt deposited in the Nile delta. To deal with this, Stanley suggests the use of 25………………in the short term, and increasing the amount of water available through 26………………in the longer term.
A artificial floods B desalination C delta waterways D natural floods
E nutrients F pollutants G population control H sediment
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.
The Return of Artificial Intelligence
It is becoming acceptable again to talk of computers performing
human tasks such as problem-solving and pattern-recognition
A After years in the wilderness, the term ‘a(chǎn)rtificial intelligence’ (AI) seems poised to make a comeback. AI was big in the 1980s but vanished in the 1990s. It re-entered public consciousness with the release of AI, a movie about a robot boy. This has ignited public debate about AI, but the term is also being used once more within the computer industry. Researchers, executives and marketing people are now using the expression without irony or inverted commas. And it is not always hype. The term is being applied, with some justification, to products that depend on technology that was originally developed by AI researchers. Admittedly, the rehabilitation of the term has a long way to go, and some firms still prefer to avoid using it. But the fact that others are starting to use it again suggests that AI has moved on from being seen as an over-ambitious and under-achieving field of research.
B The field was launched, and the term ‘a(chǎn)rtificial intelligence’ coined, at a conference in 1956, by a group of researchers that included Marvin Minsky, John McCarthy, Herbert Simon and Alan Newell, all of whom went on to become leading figures in the field. The expression provided an attractive but informative name for a research programme that encompassed such previously disparate fields as operations research, cybernetics, logic and computer science. The goal they shared was an attempt to capture or mimic human abilities using machines. That said, different groups of researchers attacked different problems, from speech recognition to chess playing, in different ways; AI unified the field in name only. But it was a term that captured the public imagination.
C Most researchers agree that AI peaked around 1985. A public reared on science-fiction movies and excited by the growing power of computers had high expectations. For years, AI researchers had implied that a breakthrough was just around the corner. Marvin Minsky said in 1967 that within a generation the problem of creating ‘a(chǎn)rtificial intelligence’ would be substantially solved. Prototypes of medical-diagnosis programs and speech recognition software appeared to be making progress. It proved to be a false dawn. Thinking computers and household robots failed to materialise, and a backlash ensued. ‘There was undue optimism in the early 1980s,’ says David Leake, a researcher at Indiana University. ‘Then when people realised these were hard problems, there was retrenchment. By the late 1980s, the term AI was being avoided by many researchers, who opted instead to align themselves with specific sub-disciplines such as neural networks, agent technology, case-based reasoning, and so on."
D Ironically, in some ways AI was a victim of its own success. Whenever an apparently mundane problem was solved, such as building a system that could land an aircraft unattended, the problem was deemed not to have been AI in the first place. ‘If it works, it can’t be AI,’ as Dr Leake characterises it. The effect of repeatedly moving the goal-posts in this way was that AI came to refer to ‘blue-sky’ research that was still years away from commercialisation. Researchers joked that AI stood for ‘a(chǎn)lmost implemented’. Meanwhile, the technologies that made it onto the market, such as speech recognition, language translation and decision-support software, were no longer regarded as AI. Yet all three once fell well within the umbrella of AI research.
E But the tide may now be turning, according to Dr Leake. HNC Software of San Diego, backed by a government agency, reckon that their new approach to artificial intelligence is the most powerful and promising approach ever discovered. HNC claim that their system, based on a cluster of 30 processors, could be used to spot camouflaged vehicles on a battlefield or extract a voice signal from a noisy background — tasks humans can do well, but computers cannot. ‘Whether or not their technology lives up to the claims made for it, the fact that HNC are emphasising the use of AI is itself an interesting development,’ says Dr Leake.
F Another factor that may boost the prospects for AI in the near future is that investors are now looking for firms using clever technology, rather than just a clever business model, to differentiate themselves. In particular, the problem of information overload, exacerbated by the growth of e-mail and the explosion in the number of web pages, means there are plenty of opportunities for new technologies to help filter and categorise information — classic AI problems. That may mean that more artificial intelligence companies will start to emerge to meet this challenge.
G The 1969 film, 2001:A Space Odyssey, featured an intelligent computer called HAL 9000. As well as understanding and speaking English, HAL could play chess and even learned to lipread. HAL thus encapsulated the optimism of the 1960s that intelligent computers would be widespread by 2001. But 2001 has been and gone, and there is still no sign of a HAL-like computer. Individual systems can play chess or transcribe speech, but a general theory of machine intelligence still remains elusive. It may be, however, that the comparison with HAL no longer seems quite so important, and AI can now be judged by what it can do, rather than by how well it matches up to a 30-year-old science-fiction film. ‘People are beginning to realise that there are impressive things that these systems can do.’ says Dr Leake hopefully.
Questions 27-31
Reading Passage 3 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
27 how AI might have a military impact
28 the fact that AI brings together a range of separate research areas
29 the reason why AI has become a common topic of conversation again
30 how AI could help deal with difficulties related to the amount of information available electronically
31 where the expression AI was first used
Questions 32-37
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 32-37 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this
32 The researchers who launched the field of AI had worked together on other projects in the past.
33 In 1985, AI was at its lowest point.
34 Research into agent technology was more costly than research into neural networks.
35 Applications of AI have already had a degree of success.
36 The problems waiting to be solved by AI have not changed since 1967.
37 The film 2001: A Space Odyssey reflected contemporary ideas about the potential of AI computers.
Questions 38-40
Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.
Write your answers in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.
38 According to researchers, in the late 1980s there was a feeling that
A a general theory of AI would never be developed.
B original expectations of AI may not have been justified.
C a wide range of applications was close to fruition
D more powerful computers were the key to further progress.
39 In Dr Leake’s opinion, the reputation of AI suffered as a result of
A changing perceptions.
B premature implementation
C poorly planned projects.
D commercial pressures.
40 The prospects for AI may benefit from
A existing AI applications.
B new business models.
C orders from internet-only companies.
D new investment priorities.
劍橋雅思閱讀5原文參考譯文(test3)
TEST 3 PASSAGE 1 參考譯文：
Early Childhood Education
New Zealand’s National Party spokesman on education, Dr Lockwood Smith, recently visited the US and Britain. Here he reports on the findings of his trip and what they could mean for New Zealand’s education policy.
新西蘭國(guó)家黨教育發(fā)言人Lockwood Smith博士最近訪問(wèn)了美國(guó)和英國(guó)。下面是他撰寫(xiě)的一份報(bào)告，文中闡述了他此行的收獲以及這些收獲對(duì)新西蘭教育政策的意義。
A
‘Education To Be More’ was published last August. It was the report of the New Zealand Government’s Early Childhood Care and Education Working Group. The report argued for enhanced equity of access and better funding for childcare and early childhood education institutions. Unquestionably, that’s a real need; but since parents don’t normally send children to pre-schools until the age of three, are we missing out on the most important years of all?
A 《教育增進(jìn)能力》是一份由新西蘭政府兒童早期關(guān)懷和教育工作小組所作的報(bào)告，于去年8月出版。該報(bào)告呼吁促進(jìn)機(jī)會(huì)均等、加強(qiáng)對(duì)兒童的關(guān)愛(ài)和對(duì)兒童早期教育機(jī)構(gòu)的資助。毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，這的確是必要的。但是一般而言，家長(zhǎng)直到孩子3歲時(shí)才把他們送到早期教育學(xué)校，這樣一來(lái)，我們是不是錯(cuò)過(guò)了教育孩子的最佳時(shí)期?
B
A 13-year study of early childhood development at Harvard University has shown that, by the age of three, most children have the potential to understand about 1000 words — most of the language they will use in ordinary conversation for the rest of their lives.
B 哈佛大學(xué)進(jìn)行了一項(xiàng)長(zhǎng)達(dá)13年的兒童早期發(fā)展的研究，結(jié)果表明：到了3歲時(shí)，大多數(shù)孩子已經(jīng)具備理解1000個(gè)單詞的能力，這些詞匯是他們?cè)谝院蟮囊簧羞M(jìn)行日常對(duì)話時(shí)會(huì)經(jīng)常用到的。
Furthermore, research has shown that while every child is born with a natural curiosity, it can be suppressed dramatically during the second and third years of life. Researchers claim that the human personality is formed during the first two years of life, and during the first three years children learn the basic skills they will use in all their later learning both at home and at school. Once over the age of three, children continue to expand on existing knowledge of the world.
該研究還表明：盡管每個(gè)孩子都有與生俱來(lái)的好奇心，但是這種好奇心卻可能在2歲到3歲時(shí)受到強(qiáng)烈的壓抑。研究人員表示，人的個(gè)性是在出生后的兩年中形成的，到了3歲的時(shí)候，孩子們已經(jīng)掌握了將來(lái)在家庭和學(xué)校中會(huì)用到的基本技能。從3歲以后，孩子們就開(kāi)始在已有知識(shí)的基礎(chǔ)上繼續(xù)拓展對(duì)世界的認(rèn)識(shí)。
C
It is generally acknowledged that young people from poorer socio-economic backgrounds tend to do less well in our education system. That’s observed not just in New Zealand, but also in Australia, Britain and America. In an attempt to overcome that educational under-achievement, a nationwide programme called ‘Headstart’ was launched in the United States in 1965. A lot of money was poured into it. It took children into pre-school institutions at the age of three and was supposed to help the children of poorer families succeed in school.
C 人們一般認(rèn)為，家庭社會(huì)地位和經(jīng)濟(jì)條件不太好的孩子往往在學(xué)校表現(xiàn)不佳。不僅新西蘭有這種情況，澳大利亞、英國(guó)和美國(guó)也都有這種情況。為了改變這種狀況，美國(guó)于1965年在全國(guó)開(kāi)展了一項(xiàng)“先發(fā)優(yōu)勢(shì)”計(jì)劃，并投人大量資金。按照該計(jì)劃，孩子在3歲時(shí)被送進(jìn)早期教育學(xué)校，以幫助家境不好的孩子在學(xué)校取得成功。
Despite substantial funding, results have been disappointing. It is thought that there are two explanations for this. First, the programme began too late. Many children who entered it at the age of three were already behind their peers in language and measurable intelligence. Second, the parents were not involved. At the end of each day, ‘Headstart’ children returned to the same disadvantaged home environment.
盡管投人了大量資金，結(jié)果卻令人失望。這可能有兩個(gè)原因。首先，該計(jì)劃所定開(kāi)始年齡太大，許多3歲時(shí)進(jìn)入早教學(xué)校的孩子此時(shí)已經(jīng)在語(yǔ)言和智力發(fā)育上落后于他們的同齡人了。其次，這些孩子的家長(zhǎng)并沒(méi)有參與進(jìn)來(lái)。每天放學(xué)后，這些孩子又回到了不利于他們成長(zhǎng)的家庭環(huán)境中。
D
As a result of the growing research evidence of the importance of the first three years of a child’s life and the disappointing results from ‘Headstart’, a pilot programme was launched in Missouri in the US that focused on parents as the child’s first teachers. The ‘Missouri’ programme was predicated on research showing that working with the family, rather than bypassing the parents, is the most effective way of helping children get off to the best possible start in life. The four-year pilot study included 380 families who were about to have their first child and who represented a cross-section of socio-economic status, age and family configurations. They included single-parent and two-parent families, families in which both parents worked, and families with either the mother or father at home.
D 由于越來(lái)越多的研究表明兒童3歲前的時(shí)間是非常重要的，而且“先發(fā)優(yōu)勢(shì)”計(jì)劃的結(jié)果又令人失望，所以，美國(guó)密蘇里州實(shí)施了一項(xiàng)試點(diǎn)項(xiàng)目，其核心就是把家長(zhǎng)作為孩子的第一任老師。研究表明：與家長(zhǎng)合作而不是繞過(guò)家長(zhǎng)，是幫助孩子獲得人生最佳起跑點(diǎn)的最有效方式。密蘇里州的這個(gè)項(xiàng)目正是以這一研究成果為基礎(chǔ)的。該項(xiàng)目為期4年，包含了380個(gè)即將迎來(lái)第一個(gè)孩子的家庭，涵蓋了不同家庭經(jīng)濟(jì)狀況、社會(huì)地位、年齡段和家庭構(gòu)成，其中包括單親家庭、雙親家庭、雙職工家庭以及父母中有一方居家的家庭。
The programme involved trained parent — educators visiting the parents’ home and working with the parent, or parents, and the child. Information on child development, and guidance on things to look for and expect as the child grows were provided, plus guidance in fostering the child’s intellectual, language, social and motor-skill development. Periodic check-ups of the child’s educational and sensory development (hearing and vision) were made to detect possible handicaps that interfere with growth and development. Medical problems were referred to professionals.
該項(xiàng)目派出受過(guò)專業(yè)訓(xùn)練的教育學(xué)家進(jìn)行家訪，與家長(zhǎng)和孩子共同合作。項(xiàng)目提供了孩子發(fā)展的相關(guān)知識(shí)，以及孩子成長(zhǎng)過(guò)程中要注意的事項(xiàng)。此外，該項(xiàng)目還提供在促進(jìn)孩子智力、語(yǔ)言、社會(huì)和運(yùn)動(dòng)技能等方面的指導(dǎo)，定期檢查孩子教育和感官(聽(tīng)覺(jué)和視覺(jué))能力的發(fā)展情況，以及時(shí)發(fā)現(xiàn)孩子在成長(zhǎng)和發(fā)育過(guò)程中的障礙，其中涉及到的醫(yī)療問(wèn)題則由專門(mén)的醫(yī)生處理。
Parent-educators made personal visits to homes and monthly group meetings were held with other new parents to share experience and discuss topics of interest. Parent resource centres, located in school buildings, offered learning materials for families and facilitators for child care.
教育學(xué)家親自進(jìn)行家訪，對(duì)家長(zhǎng)進(jìn)行培訓(xùn)，并每月召開(kāi)集體會(huì)議與那些新做爸爸媽媽的家長(zhǎng)分享經(jīng)驗(yàn)，討論他們關(guān)心的問(wèn)題。位于校內(nèi)的家長(zhǎng)資源中心則為家長(zhǎng)和資助者提供關(guān)愛(ài)孩子的學(xué)習(xí)資料。
E
At the age of three, the children who had been involved in the ‘Missouri’ programme were evaluated alongside a cross-section of children selected from the same range of socio-economic backgrounds and family situations, and also a random sample of children that age. The results were phenomenal. By the age of three, the children in the programme were significantly more advanced in language development than their peers, had made greater strides in problem solving and other intellectual skills, and were further along in social development. In fact, the average child on the programme was performing at the level of the top 15 to 20 per cent of their peers in such things as auditory comprehension, verbal ability and language ability.
E 當(dāng)密蘇里項(xiàng)目中的孩子3歲時(shí)，研究人員將這些孩子與來(lái)自相同經(jīng)濟(jì)狀況、社會(huì)地位、家庭狀況的孩子以及隨機(jī)抽取的同齡的孩子放在一起，共同進(jìn)行評(píng)估。結(jié)果是驚人的。到了3歲的時(shí)候，參與項(xiàng)目的孩子在語(yǔ)言發(fā)育方面已遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)領(lǐng)先于他們的同齡人。他們解決問(wèn)題的能力和其他的知識(shí)技能得到了更明顯的提高，在社會(huì)交往方面也取得了很大的進(jìn)步。事實(shí)上，在諸如聽(tīng)力理解、口頭表達(dá)和語(yǔ)言能力方面，參與項(xiàng)目的孩子一般都處于同齡人中前15%-20%的位置。
Most important of all, the traditional measures of ‘risk’, such as parents’ age and education, or whether they were a single parent, bore little or no relationship to the measures of achievement and language development. Children in the programme performed equally well regardless of socio-economic disadvantages. Child abuse was virtually eliminated. The one factor that was found to affect the child’s development was family stress leading to a poor quality of parent-child interaction. That interaction was not necessarily bad in poorer families.
最重要的是，結(jié)果還表明傳統(tǒng)意義上的一些不利因素，如家長(zhǎng)的年齡和受教育程度、是否是單親家庭等，與孩子所取得的進(jìn)步大小和語(yǔ)言發(fā)育幾乎沒(méi)有任何關(guān)系。無(wú)論項(xiàng)目中的這些孩子所處的經(jīng)濟(jì)條件或社會(huì)條件如何不利，他們的表現(xiàn)都毫不遜色。虐待兒童的現(xiàn)象幾乎完全消失了。人們發(fā)現(xiàn)惟一一個(gè)會(huì)影響孩子發(fā)展的因素就是由干家庭壓力所導(dǎo)致的親子交流質(zhì)量不佳，而這種交流在較為貧困的家庭倒不一定差。
F
These research findings are exciting. There is growing evidence in New Zealand that children from poorer socio-economic backgrounds are arriving at school less well developed and that our school system tends to perpetuate that disadvantage. The initiative outlined above could break that cycle of disadvantage. The concept of working with parents in their homes, or at their place of work, contrasts quite markedly with the report of the Early Childhood Care and Education Working Group. Their focus is on getting children and mothers access to childcare and institutionalized early childhood education. Education from the age of three to five is undoubtedly vital, but without a similar focus on parent education and on the vital importance of the first three years, some evidence indicates that it will not be enough to overcome educational inequity.
F 這些研究結(jié)果是令人激動(dòng)的。在新西蘭，有越來(lái)越多的例證表明家庭經(jīng)濟(jì)條件和社會(huì)背景不佳的孩子入學(xué)時(shí)的發(fā)育就不是很充分，但我們的教育體制卻在延續(xù)這種劣勢(shì)。而上述項(xiàng)目中創(chuàng)新的做法則可以打破這種惡性循環(huán)。與家長(zhǎng)在家庭、單位中進(jìn)行合作的理念與兒童早期關(guān)懷和教育工作小組的報(bào)告提出的觀念形成了鮮明的對(duì)比。該小組所關(guān)注的是使母親和孩子能得到兒童保育，并使早期教育制度化。3歲到5歲間的教育無(wú)疑是非常重要的，但某些實(shí)例表明：如果不重視對(duì)家長(zhǎng)的培訓(xùn)，不重視孩子3歲前的時(shí)間，那么這種教育將無(wú)法克服教育上的差距。
TEST 3 PASSAGE 2 參考譯文：
Disappearing Delta
日益消失的三角洲
A The fertile land of the Nile delta is being eroded along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast at an astounding rate，in some parts estimated at 100 metres per year.In the past，land scoured away from the coastline by the currents of the Mediterranean Sea used to be replaced by sediment brought down to the delta by the River Nile，but this is no longer happening.
A 尼羅河三角洲在地中海沿岸的肥沃土地正以驚人的速度遭到侵蝕。在某些地段，估計(jì)侵蝕速度會(huì)達(dá)到100米/年。過(guò)去，由地中海洋流沖刷掉的沿岸土地會(huì)得到由尼羅河帶到三角洲的土壤的補(bǔ)充，但是現(xiàn)在情況卻發(fā)生了改變。
B Up to now, people have blamed this loss of delta land on the two large dams at Aswan in the south of Egypt，which hold back virtually all of the sediment that used to flow down the river. Before the dams were built，the Nile flowed freely carrying huge quantities of sediment north from Africa’s interior to be deposited on the Nile delta.This continued for 7,000 years，eventually covering a region of over 22,000 square kilometres with layers of fertile silt.Annual flooding brought in new, nutrient-rich soil to the delta region，replacing what had been washed away by the sea，and dispensing with the need for fertilizers in Egypt’s richest food-growing area.But when the Aswan dams were constructed in the 20th century to provide electricity and irrigation，and to protect the huge population centre of Cairo and its surrounding areas from annual flooding and drought，most of the sediment with its naturaI fertilizer accumulated up above the dam in the southern, upstream half of Lake Nasser, instead of passing down to the delta.
B 到目前為止，人們一直在指責(zé)埃及南部阿斯旺的兩座大壩，認(rèn)為它們?cè)斐闪巳侵尥恋氐牧魇?，這兩座大壩幾乎將所有原來(lái)順尼羅河直下的淤泥都阻擋住了。在建壩之前，尼羅河可以自由地流動(dòng)，攜帶非洲北部?jī)?nèi)陸地區(qū)的大量泥沙、淤積到尼羅河三角洲地區(qū)，這種情況一直持續(xù)了 7000年，最終將這個(gè)22,000多平方公里的土地覆蓋上了一層又一層肥沃的淤泥。每年的洪水泛濫都會(huì)給尼羅河三角洲地區(qū)帶來(lái)新的富有營(yíng)養(yǎng)的淤泥，補(bǔ)充那些被海水沖刷走的土壤。這樣一來(lái)，盡管這個(gè)地區(qū)是埃及糧食產(chǎn)量最高的地區(qū)，卻不需施加肥料。但是，到了 20世紀(jì)，人們建造了阿斯旺水壩來(lái)提供電力和進(jìn)行灌溉，并保護(hù)開(kāi)羅這個(gè)人口大城及其周邊地區(qū)免遭洪水和干旱。自那時(shí)起，大多數(shù)淤泥連帶其中的豐富養(yǎng)分都在大壩南部，Nasser湖的上游淤積起來(lái)，而沒(méi)有被帶入尼羅河三角洲。
C Now, however, there turns out to be more to the story.It appears that the sediment-free water emerging from the Aswan dams picks up silt and sand as it erodes the river bed and banks on the 800-kilometre trip to Cairo.Daniel Jean Stanley of the Smithsonian Institute noticed that water samples taken in Cairo，just before the river enters the delta，indicated that the river sometimes carries more than 850 grams of sediment per cubic metre of water — almost half of what it carried before the dams were built. ‘I’m ashamed to say that the significance of this didn’t strike me until after I had read 50 or 60 studies，’ says Stanley in Marine Geology.‘There is still a lot of sediment coming into the delta, but virtually no sediment comes out into the Mediterranean to replenish the coastline.So this sediment must be trapped on the delta itself.’
C 然而，現(xiàn)在看來(lái)，情況似乎不這么簡(jiǎn)單。從阿斯旺水壩流出的無(wú)沉淀物的河水在到達(dá)開(kāi)羅前的800公里的路程當(dāng)中，似乎在不斷地侵蝕其流經(jīng)的河床和河岸，泥沙含量在不斷增加。Smithsonian學(xué)院的Daniel Jean Stanley注意到,從河水流人三角洲前的開(kāi)羅河段中采集的水樣表明，尼羅河攜帶的泥沙含量有時(shí)會(huì)多于850g/m3，差不多相當(dāng)于建壩前的一半。Stanley在《海洋地質(zhì)學(xué)》雜志上說(shuō)：“說(shuō)起來(lái)有些羞愧，我讀了 50到60項(xiàng)研究才驚訝地發(fā)現(xiàn)這一重大情況，仍然有大量淤泥流入三角洲地區(qū)，但卻幾乎沒(méi)有淤泥由此處流入地中海來(lái)補(bǔ)充海岸線，這就說(shuō)明這些淤泥肯定淤積在了三角洲地區(qū)?！?/p>
D Once north of Cairo, most of the Nile water is diverted into more than 10,000 kilometres of irrigation canals and only a small proportion reaches the sea directly through the rivers in the delta.The water in the irrigation canals is still or very slow-moving and thus cannot carry sediment, Stanley explains. The sediment sinks to the bottom of the canals and then is added to fields by farmers or pumped with the water into the four large freshwater lagoons that are located near the outer edges of the delta.So very little of it actually reaches the coastline to replace what is being washed away by the Mediterranean currents.
D 從前在開(kāi)羅北部，尼羅河水大部分被引入長(zhǎng)達(dá)1,000公里的灌溉渠道，只有一小部分通過(guò)三角洲地區(qū)的河流直接匯入海洋。Stanley解釋說(shuō)，因?yàn)楣喔惹乐械暮铀遣涣鲃?dòng)的或流速很慢，所以不會(huì)攜帶泥沙。泥沙會(huì)沉積到灌溉渠的底部，然后由農(nóng)民施加到田里，或者和河水一起被抽人三角洲外緣附近的四大淡水瀉湖中。所以，事實(shí)上只有很小的一部分泥沙到達(dá)海岸線，補(bǔ)充被地中海洋流沖刷走的土壤。
E The farms on the delta plains and fishing and aquaculture in the lagoons account for much of Egypt’s food supply.But by the time the sediment has come to rest in the fields and lagoons it is laden with municipal, industrial and agricultural waste from the Cairo region, which is home to more than 40 million people.’Pollutants are building up faster and faster,’ says Stanley.
E 三角洲平原的農(nóng)業(yè)和瀉湖地區(qū)的漁業(yè)和水產(chǎn)養(yǎng)殖業(yè)為埃及提供了大部分食物。但當(dāng)淤泥開(kāi)始逐漸在田里和瀉湖沉積的時(shí)候，淤泥中已經(jīng)含有大量來(lái)自開(kāi)羅這個(gè)人口超過(guò)4000萬(wàn)城市的工業(yè)和農(nóng)業(yè)廢棄物。Stanley說(shuō)：“污染物增加的速度越來(lái)越快?！?/p>
Based on his investigations of sediment from the delta lagoons, Frederic Siegel of George Washington University concurs. ‘In Manzalah Lagoon, for example, the increase in mercury, lead, copper and zinc coincided with the building of the High Dam at Aswan, the availability of cheap electricity, and the development of major power-based industries,’ he says. Since that time the concentration of mercury has increased significantly. Lead from engines that use leaded fuels and from other industrial sources has also increased dramatically. These poisons can easily enter the food chain, affecting the productivity of fishing and farming. Another problem is that agricultural wastes include fertilizers which stimulate increases in plant growth in the lagoons and upset the ecology of the area, with serious effects on the fishing industry.
喬治華盛頓大學(xué)的Frederic Siegel根據(jù)自己對(duì)尼羅河三角洲地區(qū)瀉湖沉積物的調(diào)查，對(duì)Stanley的說(shuō)法表示贊同。他說(shuō)：“以Manzalah瀉湖為例，隨著阿斯旺高壩的建設(shè)、廉價(jià)電力的使用和大型耗電工業(yè)的發(fā)展，湖中汞、鉛、銅和鋅的含量也增多了?！睆哪菚r(shí)起，汞的濃度便大幅上升。使用含鉛燃料的發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)產(chǎn)生的鉛和其他工業(yè)源產(chǎn)生的鉛也大幅度增加。這些有害物質(zhì)很容易就會(huì)進(jìn)入到食物鏈中，從而影響漁業(yè)和農(nóng)業(yè)的產(chǎn)量。另一個(gè)問(wèn)題就是包括化肥(殘留物)在內(nèi)的農(nóng)業(yè)廢棄物會(huì)刺激瀉湖中植物的迅速生長(zhǎng)，擾亂該地區(qū)的生態(tài)平衡，進(jìn)而對(duì)漁業(yè)產(chǎn)生嚴(yán)重的影響。
F According to Siegel, international environmental organisations are beginning to pay closer attention to the region, partly because of the problems of erosion and pollution of the Nile delta, but principally because they fear the impact this situation could have on the whole Mediterranean coastal ecosystem. But there are no easy solutions. In the immediate future, Stanley believes that one solution would be to make artificial floods to flush out the delta waterways, in the same way that natural floods did before the construction of the dams. He says, however, that in the long term an alternative process such as desalination may have to be used to increase the amount of water available. ‘In my view, Egypt must devise a way to have more water running through the river and the delta,’ says Stanley. Easier said than done in a desert region with a rapidly growing population.
F 據(jù)Siegel說(shuō)，國(guó)際環(huán)保組織開(kāi)始日益關(guān)注這一地區(qū)，一部分原因是因?yàn)榍治g問(wèn)題和尼羅河三角洲污染的問(wèn)題，但主要原因還是他們害怕這種情況會(huì)影響到整個(gè)地中海沿岸的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)?？墒菍?duì)于這個(gè)問(wèn)題并沒(méi)有簡(jiǎn)單的解決方案。Stanley認(rèn)為，在不遠(yuǎn)的將來(lái)，使用人工洪水，像建造大壩前自然洪水那樣沖刷三角洲的水道可能會(huì)是一種解決方案。但是，他又說(shuō)，從長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)角度來(lái)看，可能需要采取其他的作法(如海水淡化)來(lái)增加可用水的數(shù)量。Stanley說(shuō)：“我認(rèn)為，埃及必須設(shè)計(jì)出一種方案，使更多的水流入尼羅河，流經(jīng)三角洲地區(qū)。”在這樣一個(gè)人口迅速增長(zhǎng)的沙漠地區(qū)，做到這一點(diǎn)的確不是一件容易的事。
TEST 3 PASSAGE 3 參考譯文：
The Return of Artificial Intelligence
It is becoming acceptable again to talk of computers performing human tasks such as problem-solving and pattern-recognition
人工智能的回歸
談?wù)撚?jì)算機(jī)執(zhí)行人類才能執(zhí)行的任務(wù)，如解決問(wèn)題、模式識(shí)別，再一次成為受歡迎的話題。
A After years in the wilderness, the term ‘a(chǎn)rtificial intelligence’ (AI) seems poised to make a comeback. AI was big in the 1980s but vanished in the 1990s. It re-entered public consciousness with the release of AI, a movie about a robot boy. This has ignited public debate about AI, but the term is also being used once more within the computer industry. Researchers, executives and marketing people are now using the expression without irony or inverted commas. And it is not always hype. The term is being applied, with some justification, to products that depend on technology that was originally developed by AI researchers. Admittedly, the rehabilitation of the term has a long way to go, and some firms still prefer to avoid using it. But the fact that others are starting to use it again suggests that AI has moved on from being seen as an over-ambitious and under-achieving field of research.
A 在失寵數(shù)年之后，“人工智能”這個(gè)詞好像在準(zhǔn)備著東山再起。人工智能在20世紀(jì)80年代非常流行，但到了20世紀(jì)90年代卻突然消聲匿跡了。隨著《人工智能》這部關(guān)于機(jī)器男孩的電影的上映，這個(gè)詞又重新回到公眾的意識(shí)之中。雖然這部電影引發(fā)了公眾對(duì)于人工智能的辯論，但這個(gè)詞還是在計(jì)算機(jī)領(lǐng)域再次被使用。研究人員、行政管理人員和營(yíng)銷人員使用這個(gè)詞的時(shí)候不再帶有嘲諷的意味，也不再加引號(hào)。關(guān)于這個(gè)詞，也不再總是天花亂墜的宣傳?，F(xiàn)在，這個(gè)術(shù)語(yǔ)逐漸被合理地應(yīng)用到某些產(chǎn)品中，而這些產(chǎn)品正是依托原來(lái)人工智能研究人員開(kāi)發(fā)的技術(shù)。誠(chéng)然，這個(gè)詞的復(fù)活還有待時(shí)日，而且有些公司仍盡量避免使用它。但是其他人已經(jīng)開(kāi)始再次使用這個(gè)詞匯，這表明人們漸漸地不再將人工智能看作是好高騖遠(yuǎn)、無(wú)所建數(shù)的研究的代名詞。
B The field was launched, and the term ‘a(chǎn)rtificial intelligence’ coined, at a conference in 1956, by a group of researchers that included Marvin Minsky, John McCarthy, Herbert Simon and Alan Newell, all of whom went on to become leading figures in the field. The expression provided an attractive but informative name for a research programme that encompassed such previously disparate fields as operations research, cybernetics, logic and computer science. The goal they shared was an attempt to capture or mimic human abilities using machines. That said, different groups of researchers attacked different problems, from speech recognition to chess playing, in different ways; AI unified the field in name only. But it was a term that captured the public imagination.
B 1956 年，一組包括 Marvin Minsky、John McCarthy、Herbert Simon 和Alan Newell 在內(nèi)的研究人員在一次大會(huì)上創(chuàng)造了“人工智能”這一名詞，并開(kāi)創(chuàng)了這一研究領(lǐng)域。這幾位研究人員后來(lái)都成了這一領(lǐng)域的領(lǐng)軍人物，這個(gè)研究領(lǐng)域涵蓋了先前幾個(gè)毫不相關(guān)的領(lǐng)域，如工序研究、控制論、邏輯和計(jì)算機(jī)科學(xué)。而人工智能一詞為這個(gè)研究領(lǐng)域起了一個(gè)吸引人而又有實(shí)質(zhì)內(nèi)涵的名字。這些研究的共同目標(biāo)就是試圖用機(jī)器來(lái)模擬或再現(xiàn)人類的能力。說(shuō)到這，需要指出的是，不同的研究小組用不同的方法解決不同的問(wèn)題，包栝從語(yǔ)音識(shí)別到下棋等眾多方面，人工智能只是在名字上將這個(gè)領(lǐng)域統(tǒng)一了起來(lái)，但這個(gè)詞卻引發(fā)了公眾的無(wú)限遐想。
C Most researchers agree that AI peaked around 1985. A public reared on science-fiction movies and excited by the growing power of computers had high expectations. For years, AI researchers had implied that a breakthrough was just around the corner. Marvin Minsky said in 1967 that within a generation the problem of creating ‘a(chǎn)rtificial intelligence’ would be substantially solved. Prototypes of medical-diagnosis programs and speech recognition software appeared to be making progress. It proved to be a false dawn. Thinking computers and household robots failed to materialise, and a backlash ensued. ‘There was undue optimism in the early 1980s,’ says David Leake, a researcher at Indiana University. ‘Then when people realised these were hard problems, there was retrenchment. By the late 1980s, the term AI was being avoided by many researchers, who opted instead to align themselves with specific sub-disciplines such as neural networks, agent technology, case-based reasoning, and so on."
C 大多數(shù)研究人員都認(rèn)為1985年是人工智能的鼎盛時(shí)期。由科幻電影培育起來(lái)的、對(duì)計(jì)算機(jī)日益增強(qiáng)的能力激動(dòng)不已的公眾，對(duì)人工智能抱著很高的期望。多年來(lái)，人工智能的研究人員一直暗示成功近在咫尺。1967年，Marvin Minsky曾說(shuō)，建立人工智能的實(shí)質(zhì)性問(wèn)題在一代人的時(shí)間里就將得以解決。醫(yī)療診斷程序和語(yǔ)音識(shí)別軟件的雛形似乎都在取得進(jìn)展。但最終這一切卻成了一場(chǎng)空歡喜。有思維能力的計(jì)算機(jī)和家庭機(jī)器人都沒(méi)能問(wèn)世，緊接著又出現(xiàn)了強(qiáng)烈反對(duì)的輿論。印第安納大學(xué)的研究員David Leake說(shuō)：“20世紀(jì)80年代早期的人們是過(guò)于樂(lè)觀了。此后人們意識(shí)到這些問(wèn)題并不好解決，于是就紛紛退出。到了 20世紀(jì)80年代晚期，許多研究人員都避免使用人工智能這個(gè)詞，轉(zhuǎn)而稱自己從事的是一些具體分支學(xué)科的研究，如神經(jīng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)、智能主體技術(shù)和個(gè)案推理等等?！?/p>
D Ironically, in some ways AI was a victim of its own success. Whenever an apparently mundane problem was solved, such as building a system that could land an aircraft unattended, the problem was deemed not to have been AI in the first place. ‘If it works, it can’t be AI,’ as Dr Leake characterises it. The effect of repeatedly moving the goal-posts in this way was that AI came to refer to ‘blue-sky’ research that was still years away from commercialisation. Researchers joked that AI stood for ‘a(chǎn)lmost implemented’. Meanwhile, the technologies that made it onto the market, such as speech recognition, language translation and decision-support software, were no longer regarded as AI. Yet all three once fell well within the umbrella of AI research.
D 頗具諷刺意義的是，在某些方面，人工智能反而成為自己成功的受害者。每當(dāng)解決了一個(gè)現(xiàn)實(shí)世界中的問(wèn)題，如建造了一個(gè)可以無(wú)人在場(chǎng)的飛機(jī)降落系統(tǒng)，人們都不會(huì)將此歸功于人工智能。正如Leake博士所說(shuō)：“起作用的肯定不是人工智能?！边@種不斷拔高研究目標(biāo)所造成的后果使有關(guān)人工智能的研究成了一種純理論的研究，要實(shí)現(xiàn)其商業(yè)化還要很多年的時(shí)間。研究人員打趣說(shuō)人工智能就是“接近完成”的代名詞。與此同時(shí)，將人工智能推向市場(chǎng)的許多技術(shù)，如語(yǔ)音識(shí)別、語(yǔ)言翻譯和決策支持軟件，已不再被認(rèn)為是人工智能，然而這三項(xiàng)技術(shù)曾經(jīng)一度是完全屬于人工智能研究領(lǐng)域的。
E But the tide may now be turning, according to Dr Leake. HNC Software of San Diego, backed by a government agency, reckon that their new approach to artificial intelligence is the most powerful and promising approach ever discovered. HNC claim that their system, based on a cluster of 30 processors, could be used to spot camouflaged vehicles on a battlefield or extract a voice signal from a noisy background — tasks humans can do well, but computers cannot. ‘Whether or not their technology lives up to the claims made for it, the fact that HNC are emphasising the use of AI is itself an interesting development,’ says Dr Leake.
E 據(jù)Leake博士說(shuō)，現(xiàn)在這種趨勢(shì)可能要開(kāi)始扭轉(zhuǎn)了。圣地亞哥的HNC軟件得到了某個(gè)政府機(jī)構(gòu)的支持，這一軟件的研究人員認(rèn)為他們處理人工智能的新方法是迄今為止所發(fā)現(xiàn)的最有效、最具前景的方法。HNC稱，他們這一由30個(gè)處理器支持的系統(tǒng)可以在戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)上發(fā)現(xiàn)偽裝的車(chē)輛或從嘈雜的環(huán)境中提取某一聲音信號(hào)。這些任務(wù)原來(lái)都是人可以做到、但計(jì)算機(jī)做不到的。Leake博士說(shuō)：“無(wú)論他們的技術(shù)能否達(dá)到他們所宣稱的水準(zhǔn)，HNC強(qiáng)調(diào)自己在使用人工智能技術(shù)本身就是一個(gè)頗有意思的進(jìn)展?！?/p>
F Another factor that may boost the prospects for AI in the near future is that investors are now looking for firms using clever technology, rather than just a clever business model, to differentiate themselves. In particular, the problem of information overload, exacerbated by the growth of e-mail and the explosion in the number of web pages, means there are plenty of opportunities for new technologies to help filter and categorise information — classic AI problems. That may mean that more artificial intelligence companies will start to emerge to meet this challenge.
F 在不遠(yuǎn)的將來(lái)，還可能會(huì)有另外一個(gè)使人工智能前景更光輝燦爛的因素。為了突顯自己的個(gè)性，投資者不再單純地尋求一種精明的商業(yè)模式，轉(zhuǎn)而尋求與利用智能技術(shù)的公司的合作。電子郵件和網(wǎng)頁(yè)數(shù)量的激增加劇了信息超載問(wèn)題，這一特別的問(wèn)題意味著新技術(shù)在信息過(guò)濾和分類方面將大有可為，而這些其實(shí)都是人工智能要解決的典型的問(wèn)題。這就意味著更多的人工智能公司會(huì)應(yīng)運(yùn)而生。
G The 1969 film, 2001:A Space Odyssey, featured an intelligent computer called HAL 9000. As well as understanding and speaking English, HAL could play chess and even learned to lipread. HAL thus encapsulated the optimism of the 1960s that intelligent computers would be widespread by 2001. But 2001 has been and gone, and there is still no sign of a HAL-like computer. Individual systems can play chess or transcribe speech, but a general theory of machine intelligence still remains elusive. It may be, however, that the comparison with HAL no longer seems quite so important, and AI can now be judged by what it can do, rather than by how well it matches up to a 30-year-old science-fiction film. ‘People are beginning to realise that there are impressive things that these systems can do.’ says Dr Leake hopefully.
G 1969年一部名為《2001太空漫游》的電影，主要描述了一個(gè)叫HAL 9000的智能計(jì)算機(jī)的故事。HAL除了能懂英語(yǔ)和說(shuō)英語(yǔ)之外，還可以下棋甚至通過(guò)觀察人的嘴唇動(dòng)作來(lái)理解話意。因此HAL集中體現(xiàn)了 20世紀(jì)60年代的樂(lè)觀情緒，認(rèn)為到了 2001年，智能計(jì)算機(jī)將得到廣泛應(yīng)用。但2001年已成為過(guò)去，HAL那樣的智能計(jì)算機(jī)仍然沒(méi)有絲毫出現(xiàn)的跡象。單獨(dú)的系統(tǒng)可以下棋或轉(zhuǎn)換語(yǔ)音，但是仍然沒(méi)有一套關(guān)于機(jī)器智能的宏觀理論?；蛟S，與HAL之間的比較已變得不那么重要，人工智能可以憑借自己的作為得到公正的評(píng)判，而無(wú)需與一個(gè)30多年前的科幻電影中的人工智能機(jī)器進(jìn)行比照。Leake博士滿懷希望地說(shuō)：“人們開(kāi)始意識(shí)到人工智能系統(tǒng)是可以做出許多出色的工作的?！?/p>
劍橋雅思閱讀5原文解析(test3)
Test 3 Passage 1
Question 1
答案： D
關(guān)鍵詞：details / the range of / family types /an education programme
定位原文: D段第3句”The four-year pilot study included…”
解題思路: 定位句對(duì)應(yīng)題干上的the range of family。接下來(lái)作者詳細(xì)地描述了這些家庭的狀況：They included single-parent and two-parent families, families in which both parents worked，and families with either the mother or father at home.正好可以對(duì)應(yīng)題干上的details一詞。注意：盡管E段也提到了家庭，但是其論述重點(diǎn)已經(jīng)不在干表明家庭的多樣性，故不選。
Question 2
答案：B
關(guān)鍵詞：reasons /early years / important
定位原文: B段內(nèi)容
解題思路: 在這一部分怍者從兩方面論述了早教為什么重要，盡管本段并沒(méi)有直接說(shuō)出reason這個(gè)詞，但是我們足以總結(jié)出早期教育對(duì)兒童十分重要。答案是B
Question 3
答案： C
關(guān)鍵詞：reasons / failed
定位原文: C段第2小段
解題思路: 這一部分直接闡述了explanations，所以對(duì)應(yīng)題目。
Question 4
答案：E
關(guān)鍵詞：description / positive outcomes
定位原文: E段第1小段內(nèi)容
解題思路: programme were evaluated... The results were phenomenal...這些都對(duì)應(yīng)了題目的總結(jié)。
Question 5
答案：B
關(guān)鍵詞：poor/ wealthy
定位原文: D段第3句“The four-year pilot study included…”
解題思路: 其中a cross-section of socio-economic status 就證明該項(xiàng)目包含了 不同經(jīng)濟(jì)狀況的家庭。而這一點(diǎn)在Headstart計(jì)劃中并未提到。
Question 6
答案：D
關(guān)鍵詞：follow-up/ elementary schools
定位原文: C、D、E段
解題思路: 題干：哪個(gè)項(xiàng)目包括在小學(xué)中提供后續(xù)幫助?結(jié)果是：兩個(gè)頊目都沒(méi)有提到這一點(diǎn)。所以答案選D。
Question 7
答案： A
關(guān)鍵詞：did not succeed
定位原文: C段第2小段
解題思路: 定位句得知屬于Headstart 項(xiàng)目。
Question 8
答案： B
關(guān)鍵詞：support and training / parents
定位原文: D段第2小段
解題思路: 定位句得知屬于Missouri項(xiàng)目。
Question 9
答案：D
關(guān)鍵詞：insufficient funding
定位原文: C段第2小段
解題思路: C 段：Despite substantial funding...這句話證明Headstart計(jì)劃資金充足。而關(guān)干密蘇里計(jì)劃，作者根本就沒(méi)有提到資金的問(wèn)題。所以這道題目只能選D。
Question 10
答案：C
關(guān)鍵詞：pre-schoolers
定位原文: C段第1小段第3句;D段第1小段第1句
解題思路: C段定位句證明Headstart計(jì)劃的目的正是為了促進(jìn)兒童的教育;D段定位句證明密蘇里計(jì)劃是為了彌補(bǔ)Headstart計(jì)劃的不足而產(chǎn)生的新計(jì)劃，所以目標(biāo)也是為了提升兒童的教育。所以答案選C。
Question 11
答案：TRUE
關(guān)鍵詞：Missouri
定位原文: E段第1小段
解題思路: listening 等同于文中auditory comprehension;speaking 等同于文中verbal ability and language ability;reasoning 等同于文中problem solving;interacting 等同于文中social development。
Question 12
答案： FALSE
關(guān)鍵詞：Missouri / young / uneducated / single
定位原文: E段第2小段第1句
解題思路: 定位句這句話明確表明家長(zhǎng)的年齡，教育背景，或是否是單親家庭，對(duì)孩子的成績(jī)和語(yǔ)言發(fā)展都沒(méi)有太太的影響。
Question 13
答案： NOT GIVEN
關(guān)鍵詞：richer
定位原文: D段和E段
解題思路：如果回到文章通讀密蘇里計(jì)劃所在的D段和E段，我們會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)作者根本沒(méi)有提到富裕家庭所面臨的壓力問(wèn)題。作者只在E段末句提到人們發(fā)現(xiàn)的惟一一個(gè)會(huì)影響孩子發(fā)展的因素就是由于家庭壓力所導(dǎo)致的親子交流質(zhì)量不佳。而這種交流在較為貧困的家庭倒不一定差。但是從這句話我們也無(wú)法推知富裕家庭的壓力是否更大。
Test 3 Passage 2
Question 14
答案：iv
關(guān)鍵詞：篇章匹配，無(wú)題干定位詞
定位原文: B段第1句
解題思路: 文中對(duì)應(yīng)點(diǎn)這句話告訴我們由干阿斯旺水壩的修建，原本的自然過(guò)程被打亂了，阻擋了原來(lái)順流而下的淤泥，因此答案為iv。
Question 15
答案：i
關(guān)鍵詞：篇章匹配，無(wú)題干定位詞
定位原文：D段內(nèi)容
解題思路: D段詳細(xì)地描述了灌漑渠里沉淀的淤泥對(duì)于尼羅河三角洲的影響。因此答案應(yīng)該是i。
Question 16
答案：v
關(guān)鍵詞：篇章匹配，無(wú)題干定位詞
定位原文: E段倒數(shù)第2句
解題思路: 本題可能會(huì)誤選iii。本段的確講到了尼羅河沿岸的污染問(wèn)題，但是并未提到地中海，而是在段落末尾提到污染對(duì)農(nóng)業(yè)及漁業(yè)的影響。因此答案是v。
Question 17
答案：viii
關(guān)鍵詞：篇章匹配，無(wú)題干定位詞
定位原文: F段內(nèi)容
解題思路: 這段話中的確提到了污染可能對(duì)地中海沿岸生態(tài)環(huán)境造成的影響。但是如果通觀全局的話，viii是比vi更合適的答案。因?yàn)棰ǜ吒爬ㄐ院徒K結(jié)感，更適合做末段的段意。
Question 18
答案： YES
關(guān)鍵詞：Egypt's Mediterranean
定位原文: A段最后1句
解題思路: 這句話說(shuō)明，在過(guò)去，尼羅河三角洲在地中海海浪的沖刷下，已經(jīng)產(chǎn)生了部分的水土流失。scour away from 從……沖走。
Question 19
答案： NOT GIVEN
關(guān)鍵詞：before
定位原文: B段前半段
解題思路: B段前半.部分提到：到目前為止，人們一直在指責(zé)埃及南部阿斯旺的兩座大壩，認(rèn)為它們?cè)斐闪巳侵尥恋氐牧魇?。但是在這里作者并沒(méi)有提到大壩建設(shè)之前是否有人就此進(jìn)行預(yù)測(cè)，這是一個(gè)典型的完全未提及型的NOT GIVEN。
Question 20
答案： NO
關(guān)鍵詞：Nile delta
定位原文: B段最后1句
解題思路: 這句話表明建設(shè)大壩的目的并非提髙尼羅河三角洲土壤土塊的肥力，而是為了提供電力和灌溉，保護(hù)首都開(kāi)羅及周邊地區(qū)免受洪澇災(zāi)害及旱災(zāi)。文中說(shuō)做某事的目的是A，題中說(shuō)做某事的目的是B，目的不同則視為矛盾，答案為NO。
Question 21
答案： YES
關(guān)鍵詞：Stanley
定位原文: C段第3句
解題思路: 這句話表明，盡管在大壩修建之后，尼羅河水里的泥沙含量有所下降，但是相對(duì)而言還是很高的，幾乎相當(dāng)于大壩建設(shè)前的一半。所以答案應(yīng)該選YES。
Question 22
答案： NOT GIVEN
關(guān)鍵詞：irrigation canals
定位原文: D段內(nèi)容前半部分
解題思路: D段前半部分提到了灌溉渠道，但是并沒(méi)有說(shuō)明是否是由干這些渠道里的泥沙而引起了洪水。這又是一道完全未提及型的NOT GIVEN。
Question 23
答案： YES
關(guān)鍵詞：lagoons
定位原文: D段倒數(shù)第2句“The sediment…”
解題思路: 定位句說(shuō)明泥沙和水一起被從灌溉渠中抽進(jìn)了瀉湖。
Question 24
答案： F
關(guān)鍵詞： coastal erosion/ increase
定位原文: E段第3句“Pollutants…”
解題思路: 首先確定這道題目的位置在E段， building up對(duì)應(yīng)summary中的increase。.推出尼羅河三角洲的問(wèn)題不僅是泥沙沉積，還有污染問(wèn)題。所以答案應(yīng)該填F pollutants。
Question 25
答案： A
關(guān)鍵詞： Stanley / in the short term
定位原文: F段第3句 “In the immediate…”
解題思路: 用Stanley一詞將此題定位在F段，隨后找到in the short term的對(duì)應(yīng)詞in the immediate future，,所以對(duì)付污染問(wèn)題的短期解決方案是artificial floods。答案應(yīng)該選A。
Question 26
答案： B
關(guān)鍵詞： in the longer term
定位原文: F段第4句“...that in the long term an alternative process such as desalination...”
解題思路: 找到in the long term一詞，很容易就可以找到desalination，,而隨后的have to be used to increase the amount of water available。.更加證明答案應(yīng)該是B。
Test 3 Passage 3
Question 27
答案：E
關(guān)鍵詞：military
定位原文：E段第3句 “...could be used to spot camouflaged vehicles on a battlefield...”
解題思路：camouflage(偽裝)和battlefield (戰(zhàn)場(chǎng))兩個(gè)詞都證明這一段提到了AI的軍事用途。答案為E。
Question 28
答案： B
關(guān)鍵詞：bring together/ separate research areas
定位原文: B段第2句 “...a research programme that…”
解題思路: 這個(gè)研究領(lǐng)域涵蓋了先前幾個(gè)毫不相關(guān)的領(lǐng)域，如工序研究、控制論、邏輯和計(jì)算機(jī)科學(xué)。答案為B。
Question 29
答案： A
關(guān)鍵詞： reason/ common topic / again
定位原文: A段內(nèi)容
解題思路: 這一段解釋了AI回歸的原因。答案為A。
Question 30
答案：F
關(guān)鍵詞：difficulties / amount / information available electronically
定位原文: F段第2句“In particular…”
解題思路: AI在處理大量信息方面很有幫助。答案為F。
Question 31
答案：B
關(guān)鍵詞：first
定位原文: B段第1句“The field…”
解題思路: 定位句中 coin的意思是“創(chuàng)造”，證明AI一詞是在1956年第一次被創(chuàng)造出來(lái)的。答案為B。
Question 32
答案：NOT GIVEN
關(guān)鍵詞：researchers/launch
定位原文: B段第1句 “The field…”
解題思路: 這句話僅僅提到了AI這一領(lǐng)域的開(kāi)創(chuàng)者們后來(lái)都成了領(lǐng)軍人物，但是并沒(méi)有提到他們?cè)谶^(guò)去是否進(jìn)行過(guò)合作。這是一道明顯的畫(huà)蛇添足式的NOT GIVEN題目。
Question 33
答案：FALSE
關(guān)鍵詞：1985
定位原文: C段第1句
解題思路: peak一詞是指達(dá)到頂峰，與the lowest point正好相反。
Question 34
答案：NOT GIVEN
關(guān)鍵詞： agent technology/neural networks
定位原文: C段最后1句
解題思路: 這句話只是簡(jiǎn)單地提到了神經(jīng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)和智能主體技術(shù)，并未將兩者在花費(fèi)上作任何比較，顯然是一道典型的NOT GIVEN題型。
Question 35
答案： TRUE
關(guān)鍵詞：applications/success
定位原文: D段最后兩句
解題思路: 這句話提出人工智能研究中的三項(xiàng)技術(shù)已經(jīng)取得了一定程度的商業(yè)成功。
Question 36
答案： FALSE
關(guān)鍵詞：1967/problems
定位原文: E段和F段內(nèi)容
解題思路: 在這兩段中雖然沒(méi)有直接提到人工智能所面臨的問(wèn)題是否已經(jīng)變化，但是字里行間都在暗示變化正在產(chǎn)生。人工智能將會(huì)被應(yīng)用到軍事，諜報(bào)、信息處理等嶄新領(lǐng)域。所以題目中提到的一成不變顯然是錯(cuò)誤的。
Question 37
答案： TRUE
關(guān)鍵詞：A Space Odyssey
定位原文: G段第3句
解題思路: encapsulate 是“概括”的意思，contemporary 與1960s 對(duì)應(yīng)。HAL集中體現(xiàn)了 20世紀(jì)60年代的樂(lè)觀情緒，認(rèn)為到了 2001年，智能計(jì)算機(jī)將得到廣泛應(yīng)用。
Question 38
答案： B
關(guān)鍵詞： late 1980s
定位原文: C段內(nèi)容
解題思路: A/C/D三個(gè)答案不是太絕對(duì)，就是和文中敘述相反，只有B反映出了80年代末人們對(duì)人工智能的看法。
Question 39
答案： A
關(guān)鍵詞： Dr. Leake
定位原文: C段倒數(shù)3句內(nèi)容
解題思路: retrenchment是“削減，減去，緊縮”的意思，在這里是指人們對(duì)人工智能的樂(lè)觀態(tài)度正在消退。
Question 40
答案： D
關(guān)鍵詞： prospect
定位原文: F段第1句
解題思路: C答案過(guò)于絕對(duì)，應(yīng)該首先被排除。A答案顯然與上文這句話不相符，也應(yīng)該被排除。而B(niǎo)答案在文中并沒(méi)有被提到。
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