VOA慢速：AI方法开发者获诺贝尔物理学奖
Developers of AI Methods Win Nobel Prize in Physics
慢速 | 四级（高考）偏难 | 618词 | 6min4s
刘立军供稿
Part I. QUESTIONS
Listen to the news and choose the best answer to each question you hear.
Q1. How did Geoffrey Hinton describe the potential impact of AI on civilization?
A. It will have little influence.
B. It will be like the Industrial Revolution.
C. It will reduce productivity.
D. It will only affect healthcare.
Q2. What concern did Geoffrey Hinton express about AI?
A. It will never surpass human intelligence.
B. It will decrease technological progress.
C. It will only benefit a few people.
D. It could become uncontrollable.
Q3. What inference can be made about the Nobel committee’s view on AI?
A. They believe AI has no ethical concerns.
B. They think AI’s benefits outweigh its risks.
C. They acknowledge both the benefits and risks of AI.
D. They are opposed to AI development.
Q4. What is John Hopfield’s contribution to AI, according to the Nobel committee?
A. Developing backpropagation.
B. Inventing a network for saving and recreating patterns.
C. Winning the ImageNet competition.
D. Creating facial recognition technology.
Q5. What is the main theme of the article?
A. The recognition of AI pioneers by the Nobel committee.
B. The dangers of AI development.
C. The history of the Nobel Prize in Physics.
D. The future of machine learning technologies.
Part II. TRANSCRIPT
Developers of AI Methods Win Nobel Prize in Physics
Two early developers of artificial intelligence (AI) have won this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics.
American John Hopfield is with Princeton University in New Jersey. Geoffrey Hinton is a citizen of Canada and Britain who works at the University of Toronto.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honored them for helping “to develop methods that are the foundation of today’s powerful machine learning.”
The 76-year-old Hinton is known as the Godfather of artificial intelligence for his part in developing machine learning. However, he also has warned that AI has created threats to humanity.
Godfather n. 教父，创始人
Ellen Moons is a member of the Nobel committee at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Moons said the two scientists “used fundamental concepts from statistical physics to design artificial neural networks that function as associative memories and find patterns in large data sets.”
neural adj. 神经的，神经网络的
Moons added that their research has been used to make progress in physics but has also become part of people’s daily lives. Technologies like facial recognition and language translation are used every day.
(Q1) Hinton predicted that AI would have a “huge influence” on civilization and will bring improvements to productivity and health care. He told reporters and Royal Academy officials that, “It would be comparable to the Industrial Revolution.”
The Industrial Revolution was a period of intensive development of machines and manufacturing that started more than 250 years ago in Britain.
Hinton said, “Instead of exceeding people in physical strength, it’s going to exceed people in intellectual ability.” (Q2) But Hinton also expressed concern about the possible bad results of AI, especially noting, in his words, “the threat of these things getting out of control.”
The Nobel committee also recognized the possible damage the discoveries that it was honoring could cause. (Q3) Moons said AI’s “development has also raised concerns about our future. Collectively, humans carry the responsibility for using this new technology in a safe and ethical way for the greatest benefit of humankind.”
ethical adj. 伦理的，道德的
What they did
In the 1980s, Hinton helped to develop a method known as backpropagation, which is used to “train” computers to learn.
Later, he headed a team at the University of Toronto that won the ImageNet computer competition in 2012 for designing a “neural network.”
Hinton and AI scientists Yoshua Bengio and Yann LeCun won the Turing Award in 2019. It is the top award in computer science. That year, Hinton told the Associated Press about the reaction he and his fellow researchers received over their work.
“They thought we were very misguided and what we were doing was a very surprising thing for apparently intelligent people to waste their time on. My message to young researchers is, don’t be put off if everyone tells you what you are doing is silly.”
Hopfield is now 91 years old. (Q4) The Nobel committee said he “invented a network that uses a method for saving and recreating patterns.”
Hinton used Hopfield’s network to create a new network using a different method known as the Boltzmann machine. The committee said this “machine” can learn to recognize elements in a particular kind of data.
“What fascinates me most is still this question of how mind comes from machine,” Hopfield said in a video posted online by The Franklin Institute after it awarded him a physics prize in 2019.
The Nobel Prize in Physics is valued at $1 million. Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel created the prizes to honor discoveries that help humanity. The first prizes were awarded in 1901.
On Wednesday, the prize in chemistry will be announced, on Thursday, the prize for literature, and Friday, the peace prize. And, the Nobel for economics will be announced on Monday.
The winners receive their prizes in ceremonies held on December 10.
Part III. KEY
Q1. B. 细节题。根据：“Hinton predicted that AI would have a ‘huge influence’ on civilization ... ‘It would be comparable to the Industrial Revolution.’” 可知Hinton预测人工智能将对文明产生巨大影响，它的影响可与工业革命相媲美。因此答案是B。
Q2. D. 细节题。根据：“But Hinton also expressed concern about the possible bad results of AI ... the threat of these things getting out of control.” 可知Hinton也表达了对人工智能可能带来的不良后果的担忧，特别指出这些技术存在失控的威胁。因此答案是D。
Q3. C. 推理题。根据：“Moons said AI’s ‘development has also raised concerns about our future. Collectively, humans carry the responsibility for using this new technology in a safe and ethical way for the greatest benefit of humankind.’” 可知诺贝尔委员会认为人工智能的发展会引发了对我们未来的担忧，但是人类有责任以安全和道德的方式使用这项新技术，这表明诺贝尔委员会承认人工智能的好处和风险。因此答案是C。
Q4. B. 细节题。根据：“The Nobel committee said he ‘invented a network that uses a method for saving and recreating patterns.’” 可知诺贝尔委员会认为Hopfield发明了一种用于保存和重建模式的网络。因此答案是B。
Q5. A. 主旨题。文章主要讲述了两位人工智能先驱因其对人工智能发展的贡献而获得诺贝尔物理学奖。因此答案是A。
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