Question

Microsoft has developed a new smartphone app that interprets eye signals and translates them into letters, allowing people with ALS（渐冻症）, also known as motor neurone disease, to communicate with others from a phone.

The GazeSpeak app combines a smartphone’s camera with artificial intelligence to recognize eye movements in real time and transform them into letters, words and sentences.

For people suffering from ALS, eye movement can be the only way they are able to communicate.

“Current eye-tracking input systems for people with ALS are expensive, not effective under sunlight, and require frequent re-calibration(再校正) and abundant, relatively stable setups,” said Xiaoyi Zhang, a researcher at Microsoft who developed the technology.

“To mitigate the drawbacks…we created GazeSpeak, an eye-gesture communication system that runs on a smartphone, and is designed to be low-cost, effective, and easy to carry and learn.”

The app is used by the listener by pointing their smartphone at the speaker. A chart that can be stuck to the back of the smartphone is then used by the speaker to determine which eye movements to make in order to communicate.

The chart shows four grids of letters, which each correspond to a different eye movement. By looking up, down, left or right, the speaker selects which grids the letters they want belong to. The artificial intelligence is then able to predict the word or sentence they are trying to say.

Zhang’s research, Smartphone-Based Gaze Gesture Communication for People with Motor Disabilities, is set to be presented at the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in May.

1.The main purpose of the passage is to _________.

A. arouse people’s attention on the shortcomings of Current eye-tracking input systems.

B. introduce a new smartphone App for people suffering from ALS to communicate.

C. call for people’s awareness of helping people with ALS to communicate successfully.

D. compare the current eye-tracking input systems with the new GazeSpeak app.

2.The underlined word “mitigate” in paragraph5 probably means _________

A. ignore    B. accept

C. strengthen    D. weaken

3.According to the passage, which of the following sentences is TRUE?

A. There are many ways to communicate for people suffering from ALS.

B. The speaker points their smartphone at the listener when using the app.

C. The current eye-tracking input systems for people with ALS need improving.

D. The new smartphone app for people with ALS has been put on the market.

Answer

1. B

2. D

3. C

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文，介绍了微软公司最新研制的帮助渐冻症患者用眼神交流的智能App——GazeSpeak。

1.文章意图题。通读全文，特别是根据第一段“Microsoft has developed a new smartphone app that interprets eye signals and translates them into letters, allowing people with ALS, also known as motor neurone disease, to communicate with others from a phone”可知，本文的目的是介绍微软公司最新研制的帮助渐冻症患者用眼神交流的智能App——GazeSpeak，故B项正确。

2.词义猜测题。根据上一段中的“Current eye-tracking input systems for people with ALS are expensive, not effective under sunlight, and require frequent re-calibration and abundant, relatively stable setups,”可知，目前用于渐冻症患者眼球追踪输入系统具有价格昂贵，在阳光下效果不佳，需要经常重新校准等弊端，GazeSpeak的研发就是为了削弱这些弊端，由此可知画线词词义为“削弱、较少”，故D项正确。

3.细节理解题。根据第四段中的“Current eye-tracking input systems for people with ALS are expensive, not effective under sunlight, and require frequent re-calibration and abundant, relatively stable setups,”可知，目前用于渐冻症患者眼球追踪输入系统具有价格昂贵，在阳光下效果不佳，需要经常重新校准等弊端，由此可知目前用于渐冻症患者眼球追踪输入系统还需要进一步改进，故C项正确。