2. 外语
  3. In the weeks since IBM’ s computer, Watson, defeated two flesh-and-blood champions in the quiz show "Jeopardy!" , human intellig

In the weeks since IBM’ s computer, Watson, defeated two flesh-and-blood champions in the quiz show "Jeopardy!" , human intellig

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问题     In the weeks since IBM’ s computer, Watson, defeated two flesh-and-blood champions in the quiz show "Jeopardy!" , human intelligence has been punching back. Watson doesn’t "know" anything, experts say. It doesn’t laugh at jokes, cannot carry on a conversation, has no sense of self, and commits embarrassing mistakes no human would consider. What’ s more, it’ s horribly inefficient, requiring a roomful of computers to match what we carry between our ears. And it probably would not have won without its inhuman speed on the buzzer.
    This is all enough to make you feel energetic to be human. But focusing on Watson’ s short-comings misses the point. It risks distracting people from the transformation that Watson all but announced on its "Jeopardy!" debut: These question-answering machines will soon be working alongside us in offices and laboratories. Watson is an early sighting of a highly disturbing force.
    The key is to regard these computers not as human wannabes but rather as powerful tools, ones that can handle jobs currently held by people. The "intelligence" of the tools matters little. What counts is the information they deliver.
    In our history of making tools, we have long adjusted to the disturbances they cause. Imagine an Italian town in the 17th century, a man who has a special sense for the weather, called Luigi. Using his magnificent brain, he picks up on signals—changes in the wind, certain odors, perhaps the flight paths of birds or noises coming from the barn. And he spreads word through the town that rain will be coming in two days, or that a cold front might freeze the crops. Luigi is a valuable member of society.
    Along comes a traveling salesman who carries a new instrument invented in 1643 by Evange-lista Torricelli. It’ s a barometer, and it predicts the weather about as well as Luigi. It’ s certainly not as smart as him, if it can be called smart at all. It has no sense of self, is deaf to the animals in the barn, blind to the flight patterns of birds. Yet it comes up with valuable information.
    In a world with barometers, Luigi and similar weather experts must find other work for their fabulous minds. Perhaps using the new tool, they can deepen their analysis of weather patterns, keep careful records and then draw conclusions about optimal farming techniques. Maybe some of them drop out of the weather business altogether. The new tool creates both displacement and economic opportunity. It forces people to reconsider how they use their heads.
The author suggests in the last paragraph that new tools
选项 A、add to human power to conquer the world.
B、are very similar to the human mind in principle.
C、can be an incentive for human intellectual improvement.
D、will overtake the human mind in the near future.
答案C
解析 该题为细节题。由最后一段最后两句“The new tool creates both displacement and economic opportunity．It forces people to reconsider how they use their heads．”可知，新工具在提供劳动替代品的同时，也创造了经济机会，它迫使人们重新思考该如何使用自己的大脑。故选C。
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