A、To show the general public’s demand for learning. B、To show that Machine Learning is a popular course. C、To explain why she wo

I was born to a family where education was pervasive. I’m a third-generation PhD, a daughter of two academics. So it was taken for granted that I’d attended some of the best universities, which in turn opened the door to a world of opportunity.
    Unfortunately, most people in the world are not so lucky. In some parts of the world, for example, South Africa, education is just not readily available. Even in parts of the world like the United States where education is available, it might not be within reach.
    Let’s look at the Machine Learning class offered by my colleague and cofounder Andrew Ng. Andrew teaches one of the bigger Stanford classes. It’s a Machine Learning class, and it has 400 people enrolled every time it’s offered. When Andrew taught the Machine Learning class to the general public, it had 100000 people registered. Andrew and I decided that we needed to really try and scale this up, to bring the best quality education to as many people as we could. So we formed Coursera.
    If we could offer a top quality education to everyone around the world for free, what would that do? Three things. First, it would establish education as a fundamental human right, where anyone around the world with the ability and the motivation could get the skills that they need to make a better life for themselves, their families and their communities.
    Second, it would enable lifelong learning. It’s a shame that for so many people, learning stops when they finish high school or when they finish college. By having this amazing content be available, we would be able to learn something new every time we wanted, whether it’s just to expand our minds or it’s to change our lives.
    And finally, this would enable a wave of innovation, because amazing talent can be found anywhere. Maybe the next Albert Einstein or the next Steve Jobs is living somewhere in a remote village in Africa. And if we could offer that person an education, they would be able to come up with the next big idea and make the world a better place for all of us.
    Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.
    16. What does the speaker say about her educational experience?
    17. Why does the speaker mention Andrew’s Machine Learning class?
    18. What will happen if top quality education is free to the whole world?