Question

Whether or not your mouth is moving right now, you are talking to yourself. As you read these words, your facial muscles are having quick, invisible movements, sounding out the words so you can actually hear them in your head. This kind of speech is called "subvocalization", and unless you're a speed-reader who has trained yourself out of this habit, you're doing it every time you read or even imagine a word.

Now, MIT researchers want to use those subvocalization to know what's in your mind and translate it into digital orders, using a wearable smart headset called AlterEgo. The headset combines human and machine in some ways.

According to the MIT Media Lab, the device would allow users to send silent orders to the headset simply by thinking of a word. A neural (神经的) network would translate the muscle movements to speech and do the user's orders—totally hands-and-voice-free. Let's say you want to ask AlterEgo what time it is. First, you think the word "time". As you do, your facial muscles make micro-movements to sound out the word in your head. Electrodes(电极) on the headset record these movements and then send them to a computer. The neural network processes these signals the same way a speech-to-text program might, and responds by telling you the time.

In a small study, 10 volunteers read a list of numbers to themselves while wearing AlterEgo headsets. AlterEgo correctly got which numbers the participants were reading with an average accuracy of 92 percent. For comparison, Google's microphone-based speech-to-text translation service has an accuracy of about 95 percent.

“We basically can’t live without our digital devices,” said Pattie Maes, an MIT professor. "But at the moment, the use of those devices is causing some problems in our life. My students and I have been experimenting with new types of experience that enable people to still benefit from all the wonderful knowledge and services that these devices provide but do it in a way that lets them remain in the present.”

1.We can learn from the first paragraph that “ subvocalization” _______.

A. is less used in life now

B. is more effective than speed reading

C. refers to a silent way of reading something

D. means reading something in a detailed way

2.What does Paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A. How AlterEgo works.

B. The production of AlterEgo.

C. The disadvantages of AlterEgo.

D. How to wear AlterEgo correctly.

3.The test in Paragraph 4 suggests that AlterEgo _______.

A. has good working performance

B. has become a popular digital product

C. works better than Googles similar service

D. is unable to complete complex tasks at present

Answer

1. C

2. A

3. A

【解析】

本文是一篇科普文章。麻省理工学院(MIT)的研究人员希望，通过一种名为AlterEgo的可穿戴智能耳机，利用默念来了解你的想法，并将其转化为数字订单。耳机在某些方面结合了人与机器。文章讲述AlterEgo是如何工作的。

1.词义猜测题。根据第一段中As you read these words, your facial muscles are having quick, invisible movements, sounding out the words so you can actually hear them in your head. This kind of speech is called "subvocalization",当你读这些词的时候，你的面部肌肉会有快速的，看不见的运动，读出这些词，这样你就能在脑海中听到它们。这种说话叫做“默念”。 我们可以从第一段得知，“subvocalization”指的是一种无声的阅读方式。故选C。

2.段落大意题。根据第三段中Let's say you want to ask AlterEgo what time it is. ---The neural network processes these signals the same way a speech-to-text program might, and responds by telling you the time.可知，本段讲述的是AlterEgo是如何工作的。故选A。

3.推理判断题。根据第四段AlterEgo correctly got which numbers the participants were reading with an average accuracy of 92 percent. For comparison, Google's microphone-based speech-to-text translation service has an accuracy of about 95 percent.可知，第四段的测试表明，AlterEgo有很好的工作表现。故选A。