ProfessorAshokGoelofGeorgiaTechdevelopedanartificiallyintelligentteachingassistanttohelphandletheenormousnumberofstudentquestionsintheonlineclass,Knowledge-BasedArtificialIntelligence.ThisonlinecourseisacorerequirementofGeorgiaTech’sonlineMasterofScienceinComputerScienceprogram.ProfessorGoelalreadyhadeightteachingassistants,butthatwasn’tenoughtodealwiththeoverwhelmingnumberofdailyquestionsfromstudents.Manystudentsdropoutofonlinecoursesbecauseofthelackofteachingsupport.Whenstudentsfeelisolatedorconfusedandreachoutwithquestionsthatgounanswered,theirmotivationtocontinuebeginstofade.ProfessorGoeldecidedtodosomethingtoremedythissituationandhissolutionwastocreateavirtualassistantnamedJillWatson,whichisbasedontheIBMWatsonplatform.GoelandhisteamdevelopedseveralversionsofJillWatsonbeforereleasinghertotheonlineforums.Atfirst,thevirtualassistantwasn’ttoogreat.ButGoelandhisteamsourcedtheonlinediscussionforumtofindallthe40,000questionsthathadeverbeenaskedsincetheclasswaslaunched.ThentheybegantofeedJillwiththequestionsandanswers.Aftersomeadjustmentsandsufficienttime,Jillwasabletoanswerthestudents’questionscorrectly97%ofthetime.Thevirtualassistantbecamesoadvancedandrealisticthatthestudentsdidn’tknowshewasacomputer.Thestudents,whowerestudyingartificialintelligence,wereinteractingwiththevirtualassistantandcouldn’ttellitapartfromarealhumanbeing.Goeldidn’tinformthemaboutJill’strueidentityuntilApril26.Thestudentswereactuallyverypositiveabouttheexperience.ThegoalofProfessorGoel’svirtualassistantnextyearistotakeoveranswering40%ofallthequestionsposedbystudentsontheonlineforum.ThenameJillWatsonwill,ofcourse,changetosomethingelsenextsemester.ProfessorGoelhasamuchrosieroutlookonthefutureofartificialintelligencethan,say,ElonMusk,StephenHawking,BillGatesorSteveWozniak.WhatdowelearnaboutJillWatson?
PassageOneQuestions46to50arebasedonthefollowingpassage.Aginghappenstoallofus,andisgenerallythoughtofasanaturalpartoflife.Itwouldseemsillytocallsuchathinga“disease.”Ontheotherhand,scientistsareincreasinglylearningthatagingandbiologicalagearetwodifferentthings,andthattheformerisakeyriskfactorforconditionssuchasheartdisease,cancerandmanymore.Inthatlight,agingitselfmightbeseenassomethingtreatable,thewayyouwouldtreathighbloodpressureoravitamindeficiency.BiophysicistAlexZhavoronkovbelievesthatagingshouldbeconsideredadisease.Hesaidthatdescribingagingasadiseasecreatesincentivestodeveloptreatments.“Ituntiesthehandsofthepharmaceutical(制药的)industrysothattheycanbegintreatingthediseaseandnotjustthesideeffects,”hesaid.‘‘Rightnow,peoplethinkofagingasnaturalandsomethingyoucan’tcontrol:’hesaid.“Inacademiccircles,peopletakeagingresearchasjustaninterestareawheretheycantrytodevelopinterventions.Themedicalcommunityalsotakesagingforgranted,andcandonothingaboutitexceptkeeppeoplewithinacertainhealthrange.”Butifagingwererecognizedasadisease,hesaid,“Itwouldattractfundingandchangethewaywedohealthcare.Whatmattersisunderstandingthatagingiscurable.”“Itwasalwaysknownthatthebodyaccumulatesdamage,”headded.“Theonlywaytocureagingistofindwaystorepairthatdamage.Ithinkofitaspreventivemedicineforage-relatedconditions.''LeonardHayflick,aprofessorattheUniversityofCalifornia,SanFrancisco,saidtheideathatagingcanbecuredimpliesthehumanlifespancanbeincreased,whichsomeresearcherssuggestispossible.Hayflickisnotamongthem.“There’remanypeoplewhorecoverfromcancer,stroke,orheartdisease.Buttheycontinuetoage,becauseagingisseparatefromtheirdisease,”Hayflicksaid.“Evenifthosecausesofdeathwereeliminated,lifeexpectancywouldstillnotgomuchbeyond92years.”注意:此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。46.Whatdopeoplegenerallybelieveaboutaging?A)Itshouldcausenoalarmwhatsoever.B)Theyjustcannotdoanythingaboutit.C)Itshouldberegardedasakindofdisease.D)Theycandelayitwithadvancesinscience.