2019年考研英語一閱讀理解第三篇

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This year marks exactly two countries since the publication of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelley. Even before the invention of the electric light bulb, the author produced a remarkable work of speculative fiction that would foreshadow many ethical questions to be raised by technologies yet to come.

Today the rapid growth of artificial intelligence （AI）raises fundamental questions:”What is intelligence, identify, or consciousness? What makes humans humans?”

What is being called artificial general intelligence, machines that would imitate the way humans think, continues to evade scientists. Yet humans remain fascinated by the idea of robots that would look, move, and respond like humans, similar to those recently depicted on popular sci-fi TV series such as “Westworld” and “Humans”。

Just how people think is still far too complex to be understood, let alone reproduced, says David Eagleman, a Stanford University neuroscientist. “We are just in a situation where there are no good theories explaining what consciousnesss actually is and how you could ever build a machine to get there.”

But that doesn’t mean crucial ethical issues involving AI aren’t at hand. The coming use of autonomous vehicles, for example, poses thorny ethical questions. Human drivers sometimes must make split-second decisions. Their reactions may be a complex combination of instant reflexes, input from past driving experiences, and what their eyes and ears tell them in that moment. AI “vision” today is not nearly as sophisticated as that of humans. And to anticipate every imaginable driving situation is a difficult programming problem.

Whenever decisions are based on masses of data, “you quickly get into a lot of ethical questions,” notes Tan Kiat How, chief executive of a Singapore-based agency that is helping the government develop a voluntary code for the ethical use of AI. Along with Singapore, other governments and mega-corporations are beginning to establish their own guidelines. Britain is setting up a data ethics center. India released its AI ethics strategy this spring.

On June 7 Google pledged not to “design or deploy AI” that would cause “overall harm,” or to develop AI-directed weapons or use AI for surveillance that would violate international norms. It also pledged not to deploy AI whose use would violate international laws or human rights.

While the statement is vague, it represents one starting point. So does the idea that decisions made by AI systems should be explainable, transparent, and fair.

To put it another way: How can we make sure that the thinking of intelligent machines reflects humanity’s highest values? Only then will they be useful servants and not Frankenstein’s out-of-control monster.

31. Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is mentioned because it

A. fascinates AI scientists all over the world.

B. has remained popular for as long as 200 years.

C. involves some concerns raised by AI today.

D. has sparked serious ethical controversies.

【答案】C

【解析】由題干表述可判斷本題為典型的觀點(diǎn)例證題，所證觀點(diǎn)就在例證前后，該例子出現(xiàn)在篇首，引出主題在后。由此可知本題定位句為第一段最后一句話。由此可以得出答案。

32. In David Eagleman’s opinion, our current knowledge of consciousness

A. helps explain artificial intelligence.

B. can be misleading to robot making.

C. inspires popular sci-fi TV series.

D. is too limited for us to reproduce it.

【答案】D

【解析】根據(jù)題干中的David Eagleman定位到文中第四段第一句，該段第二句there are no good theories與題干中的knowledge屬于等價代換，該段第二句中的consciousness與題干中的consciousness對應(yīng)，第一句表明光人們?nèi)绾嗡伎季蛷?fù)雜到難以理解的程度更不用說要復(fù)制它了，第二句表明我們沒有解釋什么是consciousness的理論，與選項D吻合。

33. The solution to the ethical issues brought by autonomous vehicles

A. can hardly ever be found.

B. is still beyond our capacity.

C. causes little public concern.

D. has aroused much curiosity.

【答案】B

【解析】題干中的autonomous vehicles定位到第五段第二句。該句出現(xiàn)for example，可知autonomous vehicle是具體的例子。篇中的例子是為了證明論點(diǎn)，應(yīng)往前看，即證明第一句的觀點(diǎn)：涉及人工智能的倫理問題在我們身邊（注意這里doesn’t和aren’t為雙重否定），說明問題依然存在。由此可以得出答案。

34. The author’s attitude toward Google’s pledge is one of

A. affirmation.

B. skepticism.

C. contempt.

D. respect.

【答案】A

【解析】根據(jù)題干中的the author’s attitude，Google’s pledges?；匚亩ㄎ坏降谄叨?，第八段，但其七段都是在講Google’s pledge，繼續(xù)看第八段，開頭while，轉(zhuǎn)折，while the statement is vague,與vague相反的即是觀點(diǎn)，這個地方?jīng)]有說是誰的觀點(diǎn)，無人認(rèn)領(lǐng)的觀點(diǎn)即是作者的觀點(diǎn)。由此可以得出答案。

35. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

A. AI’s Future: In the Hands of Tech Giants

B. Frankenstein, the Novel Predicting the Age of AI

C. The Conscience of AI: Complex But Inevitable

D. AI Shall Be Killers Once Out of Control

【答案】C

【解析】本文首段通過引用Mary Shelley的書引出本文要探討的話題新技術(shù)所引發(fā)的道德問題。第二段更是明確指出AI引起了一些問題。第三段和第四段對第二段提出的兩個問題進(jìn)行了詳細(xì)的闡述，表明我們并不能確定智能化的程度以及因為所處環(huán)境的復(fù)雜無法定義人類自我意識。而在第五段轉(zhuǎn)折之后明確指出AI所涉及的道德問題已經(jīng)觸手可及了。全篇復(fù)現(xiàn)了AI和conscience這兩個關(guān)鍵詞，因此正確答案為C。