Question

Face shape lets AI spot rare disorders

People with genetic syndromes（综合征）sometimes have revealing facial features, but using them to make a quick and cheap diagnosis can be_____ given there are hundreds of possible conditions they may have. A new neural network that analyses photographs of faces can help doctors _____ the possibilities.

Yaron Gurovich at biotechnology firm FDNA in Boston and his team built a neural network to look at the overall impression of faces and _____ a list of the 10 genetic syndromes a person is most likely to have.

They _____ the neural network, called DeepGestalt, on 17,000 images correctly labelled to match more than 200 genetic syndromes. The team then asked the AI to _____ potential genetic disorders from a further 502 photos of people with such conditions. It included the correct answer among its list of 10 responses 91 per cent of the time.

Gurovich and his team also_____ the neural network’s ability to distinguish between the different genetic mutations (变异) that can lead to the same syndrome. They used photographs of people with Noonan syndrome, which can result from mutations in any one of five genes. DeepGestalt correctly identified the genetic source of the physical appearance 64 per cent of the time. It’s clearly not _____, but it’s still much better than humans are at trying to do this.

As the system makes its assessments, the facial regions that were most helpful in the determination are _____ and made available for doctors to view. This helps them to understand the relationships between genetic make-up and physical appearance.

The fact that the diagnosis is based on a simple photograph raises questions about_____. If faces can reveal details about genetics, then employers and insurance providers could, in principle, _____ use such techniques to _____ against people who have a high probability of having certain disorders. _____, Gurovich says the tool will only be _____ for use by clinicians.

This technique could bring significant_____ for those who have genetic syndromes. The real value here is that for some of these ultra-rare diseases, the process of diagnosis can be many, many years. This kind of technology can help narrow down the search space and then be confirmed through checking genetic markers. For some diseases, it will cut down the time to diagnosis dramatically. For others, it could perhaps add means of finding other people with the disease and, _____, help find new treatments or cures.

1.A.convincing B.tricky C.reliable D.feasible

2.A.bring about B.result from C.narrow down D.rule out

3.A.return B.input C.top D.feed

4.A.based B.imposed C.focused D.trained

5.A.identify B.distinguish C.shift D.cure

6.A.tested B.demonstrated C.recognized D.acquired

7.A.acceptable B.perfect C.reliable D.workable

8.A.covered B.excluded C.highlighted D.supervised

9.A.objectivity B.accuracy C.credibility D.privacy

10.A.legally B.habitually C.efficiently D.secretly

11.A.discriminate B.fight C.argue D.vote

12.A.Furthermore B.Therefore C.Otherwise D.However

13.A.impossible B.available C.ready D.rare

14.A.challenges B.benefits C.damages D.concerns

15.A.by contrast B.in turn C.in addition D.on the contrary

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.A

4.A

5.A

6.A

7.B

8.C

9.D

10.D

11.A

12.D

13.B

14.B

15.B

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。患有遗传综合症的人有时会有明显的面部特征，但考虑到他们可能有数百种可能的情况，利用这些特征做出快速而廉价的诊断可能会很棘手。波士顿生物技术公司FDNA的Yaron Gurovich和他的团队建立了一个神经网络来观察面部的整体印象，这种技术可以帮助缩小搜索空间，然后通过检查遗传标记来确认。对于某些疾病，它将大大缩短诊断时间。

1.考查形容词词义辨析。句意：患有遗传综合症的人有时会有明显的面部特征，但考虑到他们可能有数百种可能的情况，利用这些特征做出快速而廉价的诊断可能会很棘手。A. convincing令人信服的；B. tricky难办的；棘手的；C. reliable可靠的；D. feasible可行的。根据下文given，表示考虑到，省略了that，结合given后面的句子，考虑到会有成百上千的情况，所以这个空填tricky表示难办的。故选B。

2.考查动词短语辨析。句意：一种分析人脸照片的新神经网络可以帮助医生缩小这种可能性。A. bring about引起；B. result from起因于；C. narrow down缩小；D. rule out排除。根据上文提到了有成百上千的可能性，所以医生利用这种新的神经网络可以缩小范围，结合选项意思，故选C。

3.考查动词词义辨析。句意：波士顿生物技术公司FDNA的Yaron Gurovich和他的团队建立了一个神经网络来观察面部的整体印象，并选出一个人最有可能患的10种遗传综合症的列表。A. return返回；选出；B. input投入；C. top超过；D. feed喂养。结合下文a list of the 10 genetic syndromes a person is most likely to have.以及句子意思可知，这个研究团队建立了一个神经网络来观察整体的面部印象，并且选出了一个人最有可能有的10种遗传综合征，注意这里的return表示选出的意思。故选A。

4.考查动词词义辨析。句意：他们基于名为深度格式塔的神经网络，对17000张图像进行了正确标记，以匹配200多种遗传综合症。A. based基于；B. imposed强制实行；C. focused专注；D. trained训练。本题结合后面的介词on 可以排除选项D，另外，根据句子意思，他们基于17,000张图片准确地把神经网络和200多种遗传综合征匹配起来了。短语base on“基于”。故选A。

5.考查动词词义辨析。句意：随后，研究小组要求人工智能从另外502张有这种情况的人的照片中识别出潜在的遗传疾病。A. identify识别；B. distinguish区别；C. shift转移；D. cure治愈。根据下文potential genetic disorders可知这个团队让AI去识别了502张有这种情况的人的潜在的遗传疾病，故选A。

6.考查动词词义辨析。句意：古罗维奇和他的团队还测试了神经网络区分不同基因突变的能力，这些突变可能导致相同的综合征。A. tested测试；B. demonstrated演示；C. recognized识别；D. acquired取得。根据下文They used photographs of people with Noonan syndrome, which can result from mutations in any one of five genes.可知这个团队和Gurovich也测试了神经网络的辨别不同的遗传变异的能力。故选A。

7.考查形容词词义辨析。句意：它显然不是完美的，但它仍然比人类在这方面做得更好。A. acceptable可接受的；B. perfect完美的；C. reliable可靠的；D. workable切实可行的。通过后面的but it’s still much better than humans are at trying to do this.的意思可以推断出前面说的是not perfect。故选B。

8.考查动词词义辨析。句意：当该系统进行评估时，面部区域对决定非常有帮助，并突出显示出来，供医生观察。A. covered覆盖；B. excluded排除；C. highlighted突出；D. supervised监督。根据句子前后的helpful和helps的提示，可以判断出facial regions被突出显示，供医生观察。所以选C。

9.考查名词词义辨析。句意：诊断是基于一张简单的照片，这一事实引发了关于隐私的问题。A. objectivity客观性；B. accuracy准确性；C. credibility确定性；D. privacy隐私。根据句子后面的If faces can reveal details about genetics可知，这种诊断会引起人们对泄露隐私的疑问，所以选D。

10.考查副词词义辨析。句意：如果面部特征可以揭示基因的细节，那么雇主和保险公司在原则上就可以秘密利用这些技术来歧视那些很可能患有某些疾病的人。A. legally合法地；B. habitually习惯地；C. efficiently有效地；D. secretly秘密地。根据Gurovich says the tool will only be _____ for use by clinicians.这句话的意思，这个工具只能供临床医生使用，说明反过来，我们可以推断出，公司老板和提供保险的人就是偷偷的使用...，所以选D。

11.考查动词词义辨析。句意：如果面部特征可以揭示基因的细节，那么雇主和保险公司在原则上就可以秘密利用这些技术来歧视那些很可能患有某些疾病的人。A. discriminate歧视；B. fight打架；C. argue辩论；D. vote投票。在公司老板的角度来看，老板们会偷偷的使用这种技巧来歧视那些很可能患有某些疾病的人，故选A。

12.考查连接词辨析。句意：然而，古罗维奇说，该工具将只供临床医生使用。A. Furthermore此外；B. Therefore因此；C. Otherwise否则；D. However然而。根据上一句话的意思，这种技巧被公司老板和保险提供者利用了，而后面一句话说的是只能给临床医生使用，说明这里构成了一种转折关系，所以选D。

13.考查形容词词义辨析。句意：然而，古罗维奇说，该工具将只供临床医生使用。A. impossible不可能的；B. available可获得的；C. ready准备好的；D. rare稀有的。根据上下文tool will only be for use by clinicians.可知只供临床医生使用，短语be available for“对……可用”符合句意。故选B。

14.考查名词词义辨析。句意：这项技术可以为那些有遗传综合症的人带来显著的好处。A. challenges挑战；B. benefits好处；C. damages破坏；D. concerns关心。根据本段的第二，三句话The real value here is that for some of these ultra-rare diseases, the process of diagnosis can be many, many years. This kind of technology can help narrow down the search space and then be confirmed through checking genetic markers. 这里的真正价值在于，对于某些极端罕见的疾病，诊断过程可能需要很多年。这种技术可以帮助缩小搜索空间，然后通过检查遗传标记来确认。可以判断出，这种方法能够给那些有遗传综合征的人带来明显的好处，所以选B。

15.考查介词短语辨析。句意：对其他的疾病，这能够增加找到其他有这种疾病的人的方式，进而能够帮助找到新的治疗法。A. by contrast相比之下；B. in turn反过来；转而；C. in addition此外；D. on the contrary相反。根据上文it could perhaps add means of finding other people with the disease and可知，这能够增加找到其他有这种疾病的人的方式，转而帮助找到新的治疗法。故选B。