金融時報:五比零：計算機完勝人類？

五比零：計算機完勝人類？

計算機和人類競賽在棋類比賽中已不罕見，在三子棋、跳棋和國際象棋等棋類上，計算機都先后完成了對人類的挑戰(zhàn)。但對擁有2500多年歷史的圍棋而言，計算機在此之前從未戰(zhàn)勝過人類。而在今天谷歌宣布在人工智能領(lǐng)域的重要進展：程序終于首次完勝人類歐洲冠軍！

測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識：

dub授予稱號[d?b]

subsidiary子公司[s?b's?d??r?]

triumph獲得勝利['tra??mf]

nil無，零[n?l]

intersection交叉點[?nt?'sek?(?)n]

deceptive欺詐的[d?'sept?v]

Google computer triumphs in complex board game battle （530words）

By Clive Cookson, Science Editor

A computer has comprehensively beaten a human champion playing Go, the board game which has been dubbed the world's most complex — achieving “a historic milestone in artificial intelligence” according to Nature, the journal publishing the science behind the feat.

The AlphaGo machine, developed by Demis Hassabis and colleagues at Google's DeepMind subsidiary in London, triumphed over Fan Hui, the European Go champion, by five games to zero.

Jon Diamond, president of the British Go Association, said: “Before this match I was expecting it to be at least five to 10 years before a programme would be able to beat the top human players.”

Of course Google, a company at the forefront of the drive to transform business through AI, is not just playing for fun. “While games are the perfect platform for developing and testing AI algorithms quickly and efficiently, ultimately we want to apply these techniques to important real-world problems,” Mr Hassabis said.

Applications will combine pattern recognition and forward planning. One early example will be an improved “intelligent personal assistant” for smartphones. Another application will be in medicine, combining images from scans and other patient data to diagnose disease and decide treatment.

The ancient game of Go, which originated in China more than 2,500 years ago, has an estimated 40m regular players worldwide and 1,000 professionals, mainly in east Asia.

Although IBM's Deep Blue computer famously beat Garry Kasparov at chess in 1997, Go has a profound complexity far exceeding that of chess, said Mr Hassabis, who is a keen player of both games. “There are more positions in Go than the number of atoms in the universe,” he added. “Go has more subtlety and intellectual depth than chess.”

Google's system defeated Fan Hui, a Chinese-born Frenchman who has played Go professionally since his teens, by five games to nil.

Google has also beaten Facebook, whose chief executive Mark Zuckerberg posted on Wednesday that his team was close to “building an AI” to win at Go.

“In March AlphaGo will face its ultimate challenge, a five-game match in Seoul against the legendary Lee Sedol — the top Go player in the world over the past decade,” Mr Hassabis said.

In a statement issued by Nature, Mr Lee said: “I heard Google DeepMind's AI is surprisingly strong and getting stronger, but I am confident that I can win at least this time.” If he is right, Google will pay him $1m; if he loses, the company gives $1m to charity.

Scientists have long used games as a testing ground for AI, to invent smart programmes that enable computers to tackle problems with something approaching human flexibility. But traditional AI methods, which search out options for all possible positions on the board, cannot work with Go.

The game looks simple. Starting with an empty square ruled with a grid of 19 by 19 lines, players alternately place white and black stones on the intersections between the lines; the aim is to control a larger area of the board than your opponent.

But the simplicity is deceptive; Go is the most complex “game of perfect knowledge” — in which luck and hidden moves play no part — played regularly anywhere in the world.

請根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容，完成以下自測題目：

1.What is the world's most complex board game according to Nature?

A. (Chinese) chess

B.(International) chess

C.Aeroplane Chess

D.Go

答案(1)

2.What is the perfect platform for developing and testing AI algorithms efficiently?

A.real-world problem

B.housework

C.game

D.nursing a sick person

答案(2)

3.Where will be application in by combining images from scans?

A.translation

B.retails

C.agriculture

D.medicine

答案(3)

4.What is Lee Sedol's attitude towards the ultimate challenge with AlphaGo in March?

A.anxious

B.hesitant

C.inimical

D.confident

答案(4)

* * *

(1)答案：D.Go

解釋：《自然》表示圍棋是世界上最復(fù)雜的棋盤游戲。就機器學習的角度而言，圍棋的計算最大有3361種局面，大致的體量是10170，而已經(jīng)觀測到的宇宙中，原子的數(shù)量才1080。國際象棋最大只有2155種局面，稱為香農(nóng)數(shù)，大致是1047。

(2)答案：C.game

解釋：哈薩比斯:盡管游戲是快速和高效率開發(fā)和檢驗人工智能算法的完美平臺，但最終我們希望把這些方法應(yīng)用于現(xiàn)實世界的重要問題。

(3)答案：D.medicine

解釋：其他應(yīng)用領(lǐng)域?qū)ㄡt(yī)藥，綜合利用掃描圖像和其他患者數(shù)據(jù)來診斷疾病和決定治療。

(4)答案：D.confident

解釋：從Lee Sedol的發(fā)言中可以看出他對人類獲勝是有信心的。

寨卡病毒：從哪來·到哪去

世界衛(wèi)生組織(WHO)昨日警告稱，據(jù)信導(dǎo)致出生缺陷的寨卡病毒（Zika virus）快速傳播，已波及中美洲和南美洲21個國家。不了解？不要緊，速讀帶你認識寨卡。

測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識：

rhesus monkey獼猴['ri:s?s]

mild溫和的[ma?ld]

rash皮疹[ræ?]

itchy skin皮膚瘙癢

foetus胎兒['fi?t?s]

semen精液['si?m?n]

subtropical亞熱帶的[,s?b'tr?p?k?l]

The Zika virus — where did it come from and where will it end?（660words）

By Clive Cookson

Let's start at the beginning. Where did Zika come from? Like so many emerging viruses, Zika came out of Africa. It was first isolated in 1947 from a rhesus monkey in Uganda's Zika forest. But it did not cause significant outbreaks of human disease until 2013-14 in French Polynesia. It probably reached the Americas late in 2014, when an infected traveller was bitten by a local mosquito which then transferred the virus to other people.

What are the symptoms of Zika infection?

They are usually mild or non-existent. Most characteristic are a rash, itchy skin and red eyes. The trouble comes when pregnant women are infected. Then the virus attacks the brain of the foetus, leading to the birth of a baby with a very small head and neurological problems. Zika only began to arouse serious concern among global health experts in October, when authorities in Brazil linked it to a rapid rise in microcephaly in the country's tropical north-east where Zika cases are concentrated.

How does Zika spread?

It is a typical mosquito-borne virus, transmitted by aedes aegypti, the species that carries several other human diseases including dengue and chikungunya. It is unclear why it has spread with explosive speed in the tropical Americas over the past year. The risk of direct transmission between people is very remote, although the virus has been isolated in semen so sexual transmission cannot be ruled out.

Does the mosquito transmission mean that some parts of the world are safe from Zika infection?

Yes. Aedes aegypti only thrives in tropical and subtropical regions. It cannot survive cold winters, so most of the US and Europe are safe — unless global warming gathers pace or the virus mutates and moves into a mosquito species that lives in temperate climates. Most Europeans and Americans are vulnerable only if they travel to an infected region; a few have already returned home with Zika symptoms.

Is it safe to travel to the tropical Americas?

The only people who should worry are women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant. They are advised not to travel to areas with high levels of infection unless really necessary, and then to take steps to avoid mosquito bites, including covering bare skin with clothing or insect repellent and using mosquito nets.

What about the Olympics in Brazil?

It is too early to predict infection levels in and around Rio in August. The authorities hope they will be very low, both because they are working to eliminate pools of stagnant water where mosquitoes breed and because the weather then will be relatively cool and dry, and therefore less hospitable to mosquitoes.

What is longer-term outlook for the epidemic?

We do not know because serious research into Zika only began three or four months ago when scientists realised the threat posed by the virus to unborn children. The optimistic view is that people in infected regions will quickly build resistance to the virus and the outbreak will burn itself out. But that might be wishful thinking.

Any chance of a treatment or vaccine?

At the moment there is no reliable diagnostic test for Zika let alone an antiviral drug or vaccine. But research is gathering pace. GlaxoSmithKline is evaluating the possibility of using its vaccine technology for Zika, and Inovio, a US biotech company, is working on a candidate.

How about attacking the mosquitoes that carry the virus?

“Vector control” is possible by avoiding the build-up of stagnant water in populated areas and attacking mosquitoes through pesticides, although this approach cannot completely eliminate the mosquitoes. A more futuristic approach, developed by Oxitec of the UK and undergoing field trials in Brazil and elsewhere, uses genetically modified insects to wipe out the mosquitoes: large numbers of GM males are released to breed with all available females, producing offspring that die young. But this technology will not be available on a large scale in time to have much effect on the current Zika epidemic.

請根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容，完成以下自測題目：

1.Where did Zika come from?

A.Africa

B.west Asia

C.South America

D.French Polynesia

答案(1)

2.Which one is not the most characteristic of Zika infection?

A.rash

B.itchy skin

C.stomachache

D.red eyes

答案(2)

3.Where are much safer from Zika infection?

A.Russia

B.Thailand

C.Indonesia

D.Columbia

答案(3)

4.Who are advised not to travel to the tropical Americas because of Zika?

A.children

B.infant

C.pregnant women

D.infant

答案(4)

* * *

(1)答案：A.Africa

解釋：寨卡病毒最初來源于非洲。1948年初，人們從當?shù)胤侵抟廖皿w內(nèi)分離出Zika病毒。

(2)答案：C.stomachache

解釋：這種病毒的癥候非常輕微，最明顯的就是皮疹、皮膚瘙癢和紅眼。

(3)答案：A.Russia

解釋：熱帶和亞熱帶地區(qū)更容易被傳染。

(4)答案：C.pregnant women

解釋：專家表示這種病毒會感染成長中的胎兒的大腦，因此不建議孕婦或備孕女性前往。