??2021年text 3（英语一）

this year marks exactly two centuries since the publication of frankenstein; or, the modern prometheus, by mary shelley. even before the invention of the electric light bulb, the author produced a remarkable work of speculative fiction that would foreshadow many ethical questions to be raised by technologies yet to come.

today the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (ai) raises fundamental questions: “what is intelligence,?identity, or consciousness? what makes humans humans?”?

what is being called artificial general intelligence, machines that would imitate the way humans think, continues to evade scientists. yet humans remain fascinated by the idea of robots that would look, move, and respond like humans, similar to those recently depicted on popular sci-fi tv series such as “west world” and “humans”.

just how people think is still far too complex to be understood, let alone reproduced, says david eagleman, a stanford university neuroscientist. “we are just in a situation where there are no good theories explaining what consciousness actually is and how you could ever build a machine to get there.”

but that doesn’t mean crucial ethical issues involving ai aren’t at hand. the coming use of autonomous vehicles, for example, poses thorny ethical questions. human drivers sometime

s must make split-second decisions. their reactions may be a complex combination of instant reflexes, input from past driving experiences, and what their eyes and ears tell them in that moment. ai “vision” today is not nearly as sophisticated as that of humans. and to anticipate every imaginable driving situation is a difficult programming problem.

whenever decisions are based on masses of data, “you quickly get into a lot of ethical questions,” notes tan kiat how, chief executive of a singapore-based agency that is helping the government develop a voluntary code for the ethical use of ai. along with singapore, other governments and mega-corporations are beginning to establish their own guidelines. britain is setting up a data ethics center. india released its ai ethics strategy this spring.

on june 7 谷歌 pledged not to “design or deploy al” that would cause “overall harm,” or to develop al-directed weapons or use ai for surveillance that would violate international norms. it also pledged not to deploy ai whose use would violate international laws or human rights.

while the statement is vague, it represents one starting point. so does the idea that decisions made by ai systems should be explainable, transparent, and fair.

to put it another way: how can we make sure that the thinking of intelligent machines reflects humanity’s highest values? only then will they be useful servants and not frankenstein’s out-of-control monster.

31.mary shelley’s novel frankenstein is mentioned because it ____

a.fascinates ai scientists all over the world.

b.has remained popular for as long as 200 years.

c.involves some concerns raised by ai today.

d.has sparked serious ethical controversies.

32.in david eagleman’s opinion，our current knowledge of consciousness ____

a.helps explain artificial intelligence.

b.can be misleading to robot making.

c.inspires popular sci-fi tv series.

d.is too limited for us to reproduce it.

33.the solution to the ethical issues brought by autonomous vehicles

a.can hardly ever be found.

b.is still beyond our capacity.

c.causes little public concern.

d.has aroused much curiosity.

34.the author’s attitude toward 谷歌’s pledges is one of ____

a.affirmation.????b.skepticism.

c.contempt.??????d.respect.

35.which of the following would be the best title for the text？

a.ai’s future:in the hands of tech giants.

b.frankenstein，the novel predicting the age of ai.

c.the conscience of ai：complex but inevitable.

d.ai shall be killers once out of control.

?

2021年text 2（英语二）

it is true that ceo pay has gone up—top ones may make 300 times the pay of typical workers on average, and since the mid-1970s ceo pay for large publicly traded american corporations has, by varying estimates, gone up by about 500%. the typical ceo of a top american corporation now makes about s18.9 million a year.

??the best model for understanding the growth of ceo pay is that of limited ceo talent in a world where business opportunities for the top firms are growing rapidly. the efforts of america’s highest-earning 1% have been one of the more dynamic elements of the global economy. it’s not popular to say, but one reason their pay has gone up so much is that ceos really have upped their game relative to many other workers in the u.s. economy.

??today’s ceo, at least for major american firms, must have many mere skills than simply being able to“run the company.” ceos must have a good sense of financial markets and maybe even how the company should trade in them. they also need better public relations skills than their predecessors, as the costs of even a minor slipup can be significant. then there’ s the fact that large american companies are much more globalized than ever before,with supply chains spread across a larger number of countries. to lead in that system requires knowledge that is farly mind-boggling.?plus, virtually all major american companies?are becoming tech companies, often with their own research and development.?and?beyond this,?major ceos still have to do all the day-to-day work they have always done.

??the common idea that high ceo pay is mainly about ripping people off doesn’t explain history very well. by most measures, corporate governmance has become a lot tighter and more rigorous since the 1970s. yet it is principally during this period of stronger govemnance that ceo pay has been high and rising. that suggests it is in the broader corporate interest to recruit top candidates for increasingly tough jobs.”

??furthermore, the highest ceo salaries are paid to outside candidates, not to the cozy insider picks, another sign that high ceo pay is not some kind of depredation at the expense of the rest of the company. and the stock market reacts positively when companies tie ceo pay to, say, stock prices, a sign that those practices build up corporate value not just for the ceo.

26. which of the following has contributed to ceo pay rise?

[a] the growth in the number of corporations

[b] the general pay rise with a better economy

[c] increased business opportunities for top firms

[d] close cooperation among leading economies

27. compared with their predecessors, today’s ceos are required to______

[a] foster a stronger sense of teamwork

[b] finance more research and development

[c] establish closer ties with tech companies

[d] operate more globalized companies

28. ceo pay has been rising since the 1970s despite______

[a] continual internal opposition

[b] strict corporate governance

[c] conservative business strategies

[d] repeated government warnings

29. high ceo pay can be justified by the fact that it helps______

[a] confirm the status of ceos

[b] motivate inside candidates

[c] boost the efficiency of ceos

[d] increase corporate value

30. the most suitable title for this text would be______

[a] ceos are not overpaid

[b] ceo pay: past and present

[c] ceos’ challenges of today

[d] ceo traits: not easy to define

?????