Question

    Business meetings are, arguably, a necessary part of any organization where people work collectively to accomplish a goal. But badly managed, meetings can be unproductive, boring and feel like a complete waste of time. In a recent survey conducted by technology firm eShare, it was found that the average UK employee spends over 10 hours weekly preparing for and attending meetings—approximately 50% of which they consider unnecessary. However, there are theories that technology could improve things.

It’s very workable for an AI to be able to recognise when one person is controlling a meeting, or if a circular discussion keeps returning to a single issue. “If no new points are made after a while, the AI could suggest wrapping up a meeting,” says Cynthia Rudin, a computer science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But AI isn’t quite there yet.

“If AI can do most of the dull work during meetings, that leaves more space for humans to think about strategy and vision,” believes Niki Iliadis at the Big Innovation centre. This seems to be true. Osaka in Japan started using an AI as a minute taker (会议记录员) to record and summarise the 450 annual meetings. It has halved the time needed to produce summaries and cut staff overtime. AI can also help with the matter of attendance. If a meeting with irrelevant subject matter is called, or if it’s an inconvenient time, an AI could be used to decide who should attend the meeting and when it should be. Finally participants can make open-ended responses, exchange comments or vote in multiple-choice quizzes. This has fundamentally changed the atmosphere of a presentation.

While tools that can create agendas, send meeting invitations and keep track of action items should improve effectiveness, they are still in development. Let’s hope that if or when they do arrive, they will meet our expectations.

1.The writer may agree with the fact that    .

A.surveyed UK employees believe that about 50% of meetings are unnecessary.

B.average UK employee spends over 20 hours weekly preparing for and attending meetings

C.all the meetings are fruitless, boring and a complete waste of time.

D.it’s impossible for an AI to know when one person is controlling a meeting

2.The underlined phrase “wrapping up” in paragraph two means “    ”.

A.cancelling B.beginning

C.completing D.organizing

3.According to paragraph 3, AI is able to    .

A.make open-ended responses B.decide when the meeting should be

C.think about strategy and vision D.vote in multiple-choice quizzes

4.What is the best title of the passage?

A.The Future Belongs to AI B.The Future of Business Meetings

C.What Will Become of AI D.Can AI Save Us from Bad Meetings?

Answer

1.A

2.C

3.B

4.D

【解析】

这是一篇议论文。文章主要在探讨人工智能能否把我们从糟糕的会议中拯救出来这个问题。

1.细节理解题。根据第一段In a recent survey conducted by technology firm eShare, it was found that the average UK employee spends over 10 hours weekly preparing for and attending meetings—approximately 50% of which they consider unnecessary.（科技公司eShare最近进行的一项调查发现，英国员工平均每周花在准备和参加会议上的时间超过10个小时，其中约50%的会议被认为是不必要的。）由此可知，作者可能同意这样一个事实，即接受调查的英国员工认为约50%的会议是不必要的。故选A。

2.词义猜测题。上文If no new points are made after a while说如果一段时间后没有新的观点，由此可知下文the AI could suggest wrapping up a meeting意思是人工智能可能建议结束会议。“wrapping up”意思是完成、结束。A. cancelling取消；B. beginning开始；C. completing完成；D. organizing组织。故选C。

3.细节理解题。根据第三段If a meeting with irrelevant subject matter is called, or if it’s an inconvenient time, an AI could be used to decide who should attend the meeting and when it should be.（如果召开了一个与主题无关的会议，或者时间不方便，人工智能可以用来决定谁应该参加会议，什么时候参加会议。）由此可知，人工智能可以决定会议的时间。故选B。

4.主旨大意题。第二段It’s very workable for an AI to be able to recognise when one person is controlling a meeting, or if a circular discussion keeps returning to a single issue.（人工智能能够识别出一个人何时在控制会议，或者一个循环讨论是否总是回到一个单一问题，这是非常可行的。）是全文的主题句，结合全文内容，可知这篇文章主要在探讨人工智能能否把我们从糟糕的会议中拯救出来这个问题，所以这篇文章最好的题目是“人工智能能把我们从糟糕的会议中拯救出来吗?”故选D。