但到目前为止，我们的机器甚至还无法识别像愤怒或者沮丧这些看上去简单的情绪。即使是司机把GPS扔到窗外的心都有了，它还仍然愉快地进行着导航。即使有一半学生已经困惑不已，在线课堂却仍在继续。机场安全系统也还无法分辨出一些人究竟是在隐藏什么非法勾当还是只是着急赶飞机。

掌握了这些技能的科技也能够帮助那些不善于识别他人的情绪的人，比如自闭症患者，或者给予养老院里的人以陪伴和鼓励。一些研究人员认为，不理解情绪，电脑将永远不会充分发挥它们帮助人类的潜力。

麻省理工学院媒体实验室情感计算研究组主任罗莎琳德·皮卡德说：“我们这个数字化世界最缺乏的就是表达我们情绪的丰富多样的方式。”在逾20年的研究中，皮卡德一直在探索如何将情绪翻译为由1和0组成的计算机语言。在早期的一项研究中，她与合伙人拉娜·埃尔·卡利欧比共同为亚斯伯格综合征患者设计了一款眼镜，这种综合征是孤独症的一种较轻的症状，戴这种眼镜就可以提醒综合征患者他们何时已经使别人感到厌烦了。患这种病症的人在谈论某个话题时会滔滔不绝，而且很难明白社交暗示，比如倾听者已经开始打呵欠，坐立不安并且转移视线，这些意味着倾听者已经厌倦了。

最近，皮卡德博士和埃尔·卡利欧比博士一直在开发通过定位脸上24个点来判断一个人的情绪的软件。过去，计算机程序一直很难区别人们相似的面部动作，比如真实的微笑、假笑，以及因为挫折而表现出的咬牙切齿。埃尔·卡利欧比博士说，因为它们往往是转瞬即逝的，而且给整个面部结构仅带来非常微小的变化。





Unit 47


Usually alternating current (AC) transmission suffers lower losses than direct current (DC), and thus, AC became the industry standard. Some people, however, question that standard because over long distances high-voltage DC lines suffer lower losses than AC. Not only does that make them better in their own right, but employing them would allow electricity grids to be restructured in ways that would make wind power more attractive. That would reduce the need for new conventional (and polluting) power stations.

Wind power has some problems. You don't always get it where you want it and you don't always get it when you want it. The question of where the wind is blowing would no longer matter because it is almost always blowing somewhere. If it were windy in Spain but not in Ireland, current would flow in one direction. Dealing with when the wind blows is a subtler issue. For instance, an important part of Dr Schmid's continental grid is the branch to Norway. It is not that Norway is a huge consumer. Rather, the country is well supplied with hydroelectric plants. These are one of the few ways that energy from transient sources like the wind can be stored in grid-filling quantities. The power is used to pump water up into the reservoirs that feed the hydroelectric turbines. That way it is on tap when needed. The capacity of Norway's reservoirs is so large, according to Dr Schmid, that should the wind drop all over Europe——which does happen on rare occasions——the hydro plants could spring into action and fill in the gap for up to four weeks.

Put like this, a Europe-wide grid seems an obvious idea. That it has not yet been built is because AC power lines would lose too much power over such large distances. Hence the renewed interest in DC. Dr Schmid calculates that a DC grid of the sort he envisages would allow wind to supply at least 30% of the power needed in Europe. Moreover, it could do so reliably——and that means wind power could be used for what is known in the jargon as base-load power supply.

Though wind power has its opponents, too, its environmental virtues might be enough to swing things in its favour if it were also reliable. Indeed, a group of Norwegian companies have already started building high-voltage DC lines between Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Germany, though these are intended as much to sell the country's power as to accumulate other people's. And Airtricity——an Irish wind-power company——plans even more of them. It proposes what it calls a Supergrid. This would link offshore wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish, North and Baltic seas with customers throughout northern Europe.

注（1）：本文选自Economist；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象为2004年真题Text 3。

1. By saying “make them better in their own right”（Lines 3~4, Paragraph 1), the author means to_______.

A) realize the right of DC

B) make DC suffer lower losses

C) make DC more useful than AC

D) make better use of DC to transfer power

2. By saying “Dealing with when the wind blows is a subtler issue”（Line 4, Paragraph 2), the author actually implies that_______.

A) it is more difficult to predict the time when the wind blows

B) it is more intricate to deal with the wind since it is always transient

C) it is more complex to control the wind in the temporal sense

D) it is more complicated to utilize the wind power

3. How will consumers think of a DC electricity grid?

A) Not feasible yet.

B) Quite economical.

C) Somewhat troublesome.

D) Too bold.

4. Why is Dr Schmid's continental grid located in Norway?

A) To make use of the country's capacity of reservoirs so as to store temporary power.

B) To make use of the country's rich wind power so as to meet consumers' demand.

C) To make better use of the country's rich hydroelectric power to supply other European countries.

D) It is simply Dr Schmid's personal preference of that country.

5. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A) Wind power has won universal support.

B) Companies hesitate to invest in wind power.

C) The prospect of wind power so far seems very positive.

D) Wind farms on oceans can supply power demand of the whole Europe in the future.





篇章剖析


本文是一篇科技说明文，主要说明了风能发电的优势和可行性。第一段通过比较说明直流电和交流电来引出风能发电的话题；第二段分析了风能发电存在的一些限制及其解决办法；第三段和第四段则说明了在欧洲建设新型电网的前景。





词汇注释


alternating current 交流电

direct current 直流电

voltage /ˈvəʊltɪdʒ/ n. 电压，伏特数

electricity grid 电网

subtle /ˈsʌtl/ adj. 微妙的；精细的

turbine /ˈtɜːbɪn/ n. 涡轮

envisage /ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒ/ v. 正视，设想

jargon /ˈdʒɑːgən/ n. 行话

Scandinavia /ˌskændɪˈneɪvjə/ n. 斯堪的纳维亚（半岛）

offshore /ˈɒfʃɔː/ adj. 向海面吹的，离岸的





难句突破


Not only does that make them better in their own right, but employing them would allow electricity grids to be restructured in ways that would make wind power more attractive.

主体句式：Not only does that make them better, but employing them would allow electricity grids to…

结构分析：这个句子是一个相对比较复杂的not only, but (also）结构。前半句中的not only 后面跟的句子按照语法规则需要倒装，后半句but also 结构中省略了also这个词，这在语法上也是允许的，且后半句的主句是一个现在分词结构，后面的in ways之后跟的是一个定语从句。

句子译文：这不仅能有利于电流的传送，而且通过使用高压直流电缆，人们可以对电网进行改造，从而更加有利于风能发电。





题目分析


1. D 语义题。根据文章第一段，由于在远距离传输方面高压直流电缆损失的电量比交流电缆少，因此通过这个方法能够更加充分地利用直流电来传输电能，因此答案为D。

2. C 语义题。文章第二段指出利用风能存在很多问题，包括风向的时间和地点。而哪里有风的问题相对比较容易解决，但是风在什么时候吹则是一个更加微妙的问题，也就是说，在时间意义上控制风能是比较困难和复杂的，因此C选项符合题意。

3. B 细节题。文章第三段指出，建设直流电电网可以节约在传输过程中浪费的电能，因此对于消费者来说这一方案是较为经济和节约的，也是可行的，因此正确答案为B。需要指出的是读者应区分economic和economical两个词语的区别，economic的意思是“经济（上）的，经济学的”，是宏观意义上的；而economical的意思是“节约的，俭省的”，是微观意义上的。

4. A 细节题。文章第二段后半部分描述了史密德博士设计的大陆电网，其中指出选择挪威的原因不是因为这个国家缺乏足够的电能，而是这里有足够多的水库可以用来储存由风能转化而成的电能。

5. C 细节题。各个题目的细节均可以在文章最后一段中找到对应的信息。其中提到了欧洲多家能源公司已经在计划建设传输风能的直流电缆，充分说明了风能利用的前景非常好。





参考译文


一般来说，交流电传输比直流电传输损失的电量要少，因此，交流电成为了工业上的标准。但是一些人却在质疑这个标准，因为从远距离传输来看，高压直流电缆损失的电量比交流电缆少。这不仅能有利于电流的传送，而且通过使用高压直流电缆，人们可以对电网进行改造，从而更加有利于风能发电。如此一来，对于新建更多传统（也是污染的）发电站的需求就会减少。

风能发电存在一些问题。风能不是随处都在，也非随时可得。但是现在哪里有风的问题已经得到解决，因为总有地方在刮风。如果现在西班牙多风而爱尔兰却无风，那么电流就会朝一个方向传送。但是，风在什么时候吹则是一个更微妙的问题。比如说，史密德博士设计的大陆电网的重要一部分就位于挪威。但这并不是因为挪威消费很多的电能，而是这个国家到处都是水电站。利用水电站是可以把如风能等稍纵即逝的能源大量储存起来的方式之一。通过使用这些风能，人们可以把水往上抽到水库中推动水电涡轮。水电站以这个方式就可以随时把水抽上来。史密德博士认为挪威水库容量如此之大，以至于如果欧洲所有的地方都不刮风了——这种现象确实偶尔会发生——挪威的水电站仍然可以继续运转并供应整个欧洲的用电量达四周之久。

如果情况真是这样的话，那么建设一个跨欧洲的电网是势在必行的了。此前没有进行该项目建设是因为交流电缆在进行如此远距离传输的时候会损失大量的电能。而现在人们开始思考用直流电缆来实现这一设想。史密德博士估计，他设想的这种直流电缆能够使风能满足全欧洲至少30%的用电需求。此外，这样做也非常可靠——从术语上说，这意味着风能可以被称为是基本负荷型电能供应。

尽管对于风力发电也有反对者，但是如果风能可靠的话，那么其清洁环保的特点足以赢得广泛的支持。实际上，一些挪威的公司已经开始在斯堪的纳维亚、荷兰和德国之间建设高压直流电缆，尽管他们的目的在于销售本国的能源并积累他人的能源。此外，一家爱尔兰风能公司Airtricity则计划比挪威的公司们做的更多。该公司提出了一个所谓的超级电网的概念，该电网能够将大西洋、爱尔兰海、北海和波罗的海上的风能电厂与整个北欧的消费者们连接起来。





Unit 48


In 1966 Allen and Beatrice Gardner, two psychologists at the University of Nevada in Reno, had a bright idea. They were interested in the evolution of language and the linguistic capabilities of great apes. Previous attempts to teach chimpanzees to talk had ended in failure and the matter was considered by most people to be closed. But the Gardners realised that speech and language are not the same thing. Many deaf people, for example, are unable to speak but are perfectly able to communicate by gestures that have all the attributes and sophistication of spoken language. Given the very different anatomies of the human and chimpanzee larynx, the Gardners suspected that previous experiments had failed because chimps are physically incapable of speech.

They therefore decided to try teaching a chimpanzee to sign in the way that deaf people do. And their chosen subject, a female chimp named Washoe after the county in which the university campus is located, proved an adept pupil. Though there is still debate about whether what Washoe learned was really equivalent to human language, there is no doubt that she learned a lot of words. She now has a vocabulary of about 200. All of this, however, raises a second question. If Washoe and her successors can learn a complex and arbitrary vocabulary of gestures from people, do they have such vocabularies naturally? To examine that possibility Amy Pollick and Frans de Waal, of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, have looked at gestures and expressions in chimpanzees and their cousins, bonobos.

Signalling by facial and vocal expression is ubiquitous among primates. Signalling by gesture is confined to the great apes. The researchers' hypothesis was that the meaning of expressions has been hard-wired by evolution whereas the meaning of gestures is learnt and, at least to some extent, is arbitrary. If that were true, particular sorts of facial and vocal expression would occur only in particular contexts, and that this would be consistent across groups and even species. The same gestures, by contrast, would be used in different contexts.

The researchers found exactly what they expected. Expressions (“silent bared teeth”, “relaxed open mouth”, “pant hoot”and so on) almost always occurred in the same contexts in different groups and different species. Gestures (“hard touch”, “reach outside”, “slap ground”etc) did not. Half of the gestures Dr Pollick and Dr de Waal regularly observed seemed to have completely different meanings in the two species. Moreover, even within a single group, the meaning of a gesture could vary with context, almost as tone of voice can vary the meaning of a human's spoken word.

It is also worth remembering that gesture is still a crucial part of human language, even for those with normal hearing. The old joke that the way to render an Italian speechless is to tie his hands together has a kernel of truth in it. Evolution does not come up with complicated structures in a single leap. They are built up step by step. This study suggests that the step of speech may have been built on mental attributes that were acquired millions of years ago when the ancestors of apes and men began to wave meaningfully at each other.

注（1）：本文选自Economist；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象为2002年真题Text 4。

1. From the first paragraph, we learn that_______.

A) chimpanzees do not have the capability of mastering a language

B) the Gardners found a new idea to develop the chimpanzee experiment

C) previous experiments failed because they merely focused on chimpanzees' vocal ability

D) chimpanzees can use gestures as well as blind people

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the text?

A) Washoe was able to develop an entire system of signs and gestures of her own.

B) The vocabulary Washoe learnt is not similar to human language.

C) The Washoe experiment has enlightened further research.

D) The Gardners found that Washoe naturally has her vocabulary of gestures.

3. According to the author, gestures are different from facial and vocal expressions in that_______.

A) gestures are more complicated

B) gestures are limited to a certain type of species

C) facial and vocal expressions are more complicated

D) there is no difference between them

4. Which of the following best defines the word “hard-wired”（Line 3, Paragraph 3）?

A) Fixed.

B) Changed.

C) Taught.

D) Made.

5. The Pollick and de Waal research probably indicates that_______.

A) the apes are the closest species to human being

B) people with normal hearing do not really need to resort to gestures

C) the great apes naturally have the ability to use gestures

D) human language may have developed from signs and gestures





篇章剖析


本文是一篇关于研究大猩猩语言能力的说明文。第一、二段介绍了加德纳夫妇的研究成果，并引出后两位学者对倭黑猩猩的研究；第三、四段分别介绍了研究的假设和结果；最后一段进一步阐述了手势对于人类脑力思考进化的影响。





词汇注释


psychologist /saɪˈkɒlədʒɪst/ n. 心理学家

chimpanzee /ˌtʃɪmpənˈziː/ n. 黑猩猩

attribute /ˈætrɪbjʊt/ n. 属性，品质，特征

sophistication /səˌfɪstɪˈkeɪʃən/ n. 复杂，精致

anatomy /əˈnætəmi/ n. 分解，解剖

larynx /ˈlærɪŋks/ n. 【解】喉

adept /əˈdept/ adj. 熟练的，拿手的

successor /səkˈsesə/ n. 继承者，接任者

bonobo /ˈbəunəˌbəu/ n. 倭黑猩猩

ubiquitous /juːˈbɪkwɪtəs/ adj. 到处存在的，普遍存在的

primate /ˈpraɪmɪt/ n. 灵长类的动物

hard-wired /ˈhaːdˌwaɪəd/ adj. 天生的

pant /pænt/ n. 气喘

hoot /huːt/ vi. 大声叫嚣，鸣响

render /ˈrendə/ vt. 致使





难句突破


The researchers' hypothesis was that the meaning of expressions has been hard-wired by evolution whereas the meaning of gestures is learnt and, at least to some extent, is arbitrary.

主体句式：The researchers' hypothesis was that…

结构分析：这个句子的难点在于that之后的这个宾语从句。从句以whereas为界可以分为两个部分，其中后半个句子由whereas引导，与前半个句子为并列结构。此外，at least to some extent是一个插入语，一定程度上干扰和混淆了is learnt 和is arbitrary这两个结构的并列关系。

句子译文：研究者的假设是，表情的意义在长期的进化过程中已经成为一种天生的能力，而手势的意义是后天学成的，至少在一定程度上是任意的。





题目分析


1. B 推理题。文章第一段的主要内容就是讲述加德纳夫妇对于大猩猩语言能力试验的新想法，因此答案为B。A选项的错误原因在于大猩猩没有说话的能力，但是拥有语言能力，而两者是不同的。C选项的错误原因在于前人的研究虽然确实都把重点放在了大猩猩的说话能力上，但其失败的关键在于没有区分语言能力和说话能力这两个不同的方面。D选项原文中并没有提及。

2. C 细节题。文章第二段中指出，Washoe的成就使科学家们提出了新的问题，并进行了进一步的研究，因此C选项正确。A选项的错误原因在于Washoe并没有发展出她自己的一套手势系统，而是人类的语言系统。

3. B 细节题。文章第三段第一句话指出：“通过表情和声音来发送信号的现象在灵长类动物中是普遍存在的。但只有大猩猩才能用手势发送信号”，并不存在两者哪个更加复杂的说法。

4. A 语义题。从该词所在句子的上下文中，可以理解其意思为：动物的表情经过了长期的演化具有了固定的意义，成为了动物一种天生的能力。因此A选项正确，其他几项都不符合题意。

5. D 推理题。文章最后一段的最后一句话指出，人类祖先在使用手势的时候很可能促使了脑部的发展，从而渐渐产生了语言能力，因此答案为D。C选项是该研究证实的结果，而不是其引申意义。





参考译文


1966年，内华达大学雷诺分校的两名心理学家阿伦与比特里斯·加德纳夫妇产生了一个聪明的想法。他们对于大猩猩语言的进化和语言能力非常感兴趣。前人曾试图教黑猩猩说话，但那些努力最终都以失败告终，很多人认为这个领域已经没有什么可以研究的了。但是加德纳夫妇意识到说话和语言并不是一件事情。比如说，许多聋哑人不能说话，但是他们却能够用手势进行充分的交流，这些手势都包含了人类语言的那些特点和复杂性。由于人类和黑猩猩喉咙的结构不同，加德纳夫妇认为前人研究的失败是因为黑猩猩生理上就无法说话。