News anchors(主播) must have been reluctant to read out the following news: Xin Xiaomeng began working as the world’s first female artificial(人工的) intelligence news anchor at Xinhua News Agency on Sunday, three months after a male robot joined the profession.
Unlike previous news robots though, Xin does not read news like a cold machine; she reads it almost like a human being. The muscles on her face stretch and relax — and her reactions change as she continues reading. That’s why many news anchors were worried: Will AI replace us in the near future?
To find the answer, we have to analyze the technologies that support Xin at her job. Three key technologies are used to support Xin. First, samples of human voices are collected and synthesized (合成). This is followed by the collection and synthesis of human muscle movement samples. And third the voices and movements are married in a way that when the AI news anchor reads, the micro- electric motors behind her face move to make her expressions seem more human.
Yet we need a thorough knowledge of deep learning technology to make a robot imitate a person’s voice. The developer needs to collect tens of thousands of pieces of pronunciations, input them into the machine and match them with the text for the AI to learn and read. The process for imitating facial movements is similar. The developer has to analyze the movements of the 53 muscles in the human face, make a model set from the collected data for the AI news anchor to learn, and imitate the movements of facial muscles via programs
Both the technologies used to make Xin’s performance impressive are mature. The real difficulty lies in the third — the technology to match the pronunciations with facial movements so that Xin’s expressions vary according to the content of the news report. In fact, Xin’s expressions don’t always change according to the content. As a result, her expressions look anything but human. Actually, AI is still no match for human qualities.
1.What does the underlined word “reluctant” in the first paragraph mean?
A.Delighted B.Unwilling
C.Confused D.Optimistic
2.What can we infer about previous news robots?
A.They read news without expressions. B.They looked like a human being.
C.They could interview sports stars. D.They could interact with audience.
3.From the last paragraph, we can draw a conclusion that .
A.human news anchors should learn from AI anchors to save their jobs
B.Al anchors perform much better than human news anchors at present
C.Al news anchors won’t replace human news anchors in the near future
D.Xin Xiaomeng’s expressions vary so naturally that they are true to life
I teach at a university and recently had an interesting interaction with a student who approached my desk with an assignment. I watched as he _______ it from his pocket and held the crumpled (皱的) sheet out to me.
“What’s that?” I asked. His _______ : “My work.”
I was shocked. All I could do was staring at it long enough to _______ my voice.
Then I told him to redo the _______ and hand it back to me as a clean, _______ and spotless copy. As the student _______ , I picked up the merest anger.
In this case, if I have some _______ as a teacher, then this is it: quality. In the long _______ of my teaching career, I have given my students great creative freedom and _______ many extensions of deadlines. But my ________ of quality remains anchored in concrete. I have always felt that should I ________ on this one essential issue, then all is lost.
So what became of my ________ with the crumpled paper? He gave me the paper like a soldier presenting something to a king respectfully ________ a cat casually, which is why I ________ him. I called him back. We sat down together, and I ________ his draft, which was disorganized. I explained, ________ and clearly, that one’s first effort is exactly that: a start. And we took it from there, moving a paragraph, deleting the ________ words or sentences, and ________ grammar.
Once those basic things were ________ , my student asked, “Are we done?” “Not yet,” I smiled. “One last step.” I told him to read his work out loud and listen to his words. After he ________, he lowered the paper and looked at me, with his expression filled with hope.
1.A.ruined B.pulled C.blocked D.harvested
2.A.belief B.solution C.notice D.response
3.A.repair B.recover C.raise D.recognize
4.A.arrangement B.preparation C.adaptation D.assignment
5.A.obvious B.flat C.long D.sharp
6.A.panicked B.registered C.left D.remained
7.A.complaint B.celebration C.appreciation D.attraction
8.A.lesson B.distance C.course D.silence
9.A.excused B.prohibited C.required D.allowed
10.A.expectation B.assumption C.comprehension D.judgment
11.A.burst out B.cut down C.give in D.keep up
12.A.career B.teacher C.draft D.student
13.A.rather than B.or rather C.other than D.as well as
14.A.forgave B.scolded C.troubled D.influenced
15.A.torn B.introduced C.examined D.selected
16.A.hopefully B.specially C.strangely D.quietly
17.A.difficult B.unnecessary C.valuable D.unconditional
18.A.copying B.stressing C.correcting D.reviewing
19.A.handled B.listed C.enjoyed D.tested
20.A.demanded B.finished C.recorded D.settled
Armed with the information you have gathered, you can ______ to prepare your business plan.
A.made for B.set out C.took off D.turned up
The policeman put down the phone, ______ with a smile on his face.
A.satisfied B.satisfying C.to be satisfied D.having satisfied
–______ The train is about to leave.
– But where’s the ticket?
A.Hang on a minute! B.How do you do? C.Get a move on! D.I don’t get it.
–You seem to have understood the theory very well.
–Yes, your careful explanation ______.
A.put a light to it B.came to light C.threw light on it D.saw the light
