Passage Four
本文是一篇科技文章。主要介绍了机器翻译和人脑翻译的区别。计算机虽然功能强大，但只能翻译特别枯燥的技术性语言，无法胜任需要用直觉、缜密的逻辑思维进行组织，同时融进情感因素的人类语言翻译。
Computers can beat chess champion Gary Kasparov at his game, ①count all the atoms in a nuclear explosion, and calculate complex figures in a fraction of a second, but they still fail at the slight differences in language translation. Artificial Intelligence computers have large amounts of memory, capable of storing huge translating dictionaries and extensive lists of grammar rules. Yet, today’s best computer language translators have just a 60 percent accuracy rate. Scientists are still unable to program the computer with human-like common sense reasoning power. ②
Computer language translation is called Machine Translation, or MT. While not perfect, MT is surprisingly good. MT was designed to process dry, technical language that people find tedious to translate. Computers can translate basic phrases, such as “You foot bone’s connected to your ankle bone, your ankle bone’s connected to your leg bone.” They can translate more difficult phrases, such as “Which witch is which?” Computers can also accurately translate “Wild thing, you make my heart sing!” into other languages because they can understand individual words, as long as the words are pre-programmed in their dictionary.
But highly sensitive types of translating, such as important diplomatic conversations, are beyond the scope of computer translating programs. ③Human translators use intuitional meaning, not logic, to process words and phrases into other languages. ④ A human can properly translate the phrase, “The pen is in the pen(围养禽畜的圈),” because most humans know that it means that a writing instrument is in a small enclosed space. Many times, computers do not have the ability to determine in which way two identical words in one sentence are to be used.
In addition to using massive rule-programmed machines, computer programmers are also trying to teach computers to learn how to think for themselves through the “experience” of translating. Even with these efforts, programmers admit that a “thinking” computer might not ever be invented in the future. ⑤
Notes：
① beat 击败。在与Gary Kasparov的围棋对决中，计算机可以轻易地击败他。
② program the computer为计算机设计程序；common sense reasoning power判断推理能力
科学家至今还无法为计算机设计程序，使它具有与人想媲美的判断推理能力。
③ beyond the scope 在……范围之外。但是对于高度敏感性的话题的翻译，如重要的外交语言翻译，则在计算机翻译程序范围之外。
④ 人类翻译员靠直觉而不是逻辑来把文字和短语翻成其它语言。
⑤ 但即使付出了这么多的努力，程序员们还是承认具有“思考能力”的计算机在未来也无法被发明出来。
46. Computers today are capable of .
A. defeating the best chess player in the world
B. telling subtle differences between languages
C. translating over 60 percent of difficult texts
C. doing human-like common sense reasoning
47. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
A. Computers can translate dry and difficult phrases.
B. Computers can understand sensitive language.
C. Computers can translate technical language.
C. Computers can understand pre-programmed words.
48. The major problem with computer translating programs is that computers .
A. can not translate illogical sentences
B. do not have a large enough capacity of memory
C. can not understand grammatical rules
D. do not have intuition to process language
49. To improve machine translation, computer programmers are trying to .
A. use powerful rule-programmed computers
B. teach computers to think by practice
C. have computers compile translating dictionaries
D. add explanations of words in computer programs
50. The passage suggests that .
A. the accuracy rate of machine translation cannot be raised
B. it is impossible for computers to think as humans do
C. only technical language is suitable for machine translation
D. it is impossible to determine of identical words
答案:ABABB
