2020考研英语阅读理解精读100篇：Unit 46

Unit 46

In a Cairo school basement, two dozen women analyze facial expressions on laptops, training the computers to recognize anger, sadness and frustration. At Cambridge University, an eerily realistic robotic head named Charles sits in a driving simulator, furrowing its brows, looking interested or confused. And in a handful of American middle school classrooms this fall, computers will monitor students’ emotions in an effort to track when they are losing interest and when they are getting excited about lessons. All three are examples of an emerging approach to technology called affective computing, which aims to give computers the ability to read users’ emotions, or “affect.”

Yet until recently, our machines could not identify even seemingly simple emotions, like anger or frustration. The GPS device chirps happily even when the driver is ready to hurl it out the window. The online class keeps going even when half the students are lost in confusion. The airport security system can’t tell whether someone is behaving as if he were concealing something or is just anxious about flying.

Technology that masters these skills could also help people who struggle to read the emotions of others, like those on the autism spectrum, or provide companionship and encouragement for nursing home residents. Without a grasp of emotions, some researchers argue, computers will never reach their full potential to support people.

“Our digital world is for the most part devoid of rich ways of expressing our emotions,” said Rosalind Picard, director of the affective computing research group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab. She has been working for more than two decades to translate emotions into 1’s and 0’s, the language of machines. One early project, with a collaborator, Rana el Kaliouby, was to design glasses for people with Asperger syndrome, a mild variant of autism, that warned them when they were boring someone. People with Asperger’s often fixate on particular topics and find it hard to read the social cues, like yawning, fidgeting and looking away, that indicate the listener is bored.

More recently, Dr. Picard and Dr. el Kaliouby have been developing software that maps 24 points on the face to intuit an emotion. In the past, computer algorithms have had trouble distinguishing among genuine smiles, smirks and the gritted teeth that come with frustration, Dr. el Kaliouby said, because they are often fleeting and result in only very small changes to the overall configuration of the face.

注（1）：本文选自The New York Times;

注（2）：本文习题模仿对象：本文习题的第1题模仿2009年真题Text 2的第1题；第2、4题模仿2010年真题Text 2的第2、3题；第3、5题模仿2011年真题Text 3第2题、Text 1的第5题。

1. In paragraph 1, the text shows that ______.

A) women analyze facial expressions on computer in a Cairo school basement

B) computers will supervise students’ emotions to check their behavior in America

C) a robot siting in a driving simulator looks interested or confused

D) there emerges a new technology called affective computing

2. Which of the following is true?

A) The machines can tell simple personal moods.

B) The GPS doesn’t function, so the driver throws it out of the window.

C) The online class continues though 50% students can’t follow.

D) The airport security system can identify passengers’ personal thoughts.

3. According to the author, one of the distinctive functions of the technology is ______.

A) to help people understand others’ inner feelings

B) the residents in the nursing home feel encouraged and not isolated

C) computers can’t help people without catching the emotions

D) to endow people with rich ways to express their feelings

4. The phrase “Asperger syndrome” （Line 5, Paragraph 4） most probably means ______.

A) complicated feelings

B) various emotions

C) a kind of disease

D) symptom

5. From the text we can see that the writer seems ______.

A) positive

B) negative

C) uncertain

D) neutral

篇章剖析

本文是一篇科技说明文，介绍了利用计算机读取人类情绪的技术，也就是情感计算技术，其目的是为了赋予计算机读取用户情绪的能力。第一段首先介绍了人们在实验中想利用电脑读取人的情绪进而了解其内心世界，也即是所谓的情感计算技术；第二段点出这一技术之难，到目前为止仍然无法实施；第三、四段说明这一技术用途之广；最后一段讲述了这一技术的最新突破，即开发能判断人的情绪的软件。

词汇注释

eerily /ˈɪərɪli/ adv. 怪诞地，可怕地

furrow /ˈfʌrəʊ/ v. 使起皱纹

chirp /tʃɜːp/ v. 喳喳叫

autism /ˈɔːtɪzəm/ n. 孤僻症，自我中心主义

spectrum /ˈspektrəm/ n. 系列；范围；幅度

devoid /dɪˈvɒɪd/ adj. 缺乏的；全无的

Asperger syndrome 亚斯伯格综合征

fixate /ˈfɪkseɪt/ v. 注视

fidget /ˈfɪdʒɪt/ v. 烦躁，坐立不安

intuit /ɪnˈtjuːɪt/ v. 凭直觉感知

algorithm /ˈælgərɪðəm/ n. 运算法则

smirk /smɜːk / n. 傻笑，假笑

grit /grɪt/ v. 摩擦作声，研磨

configuration /kənˌfɪɡjəˈreɪʃn/ n. 结构；外形；配置

难句突破

One early project, with a collaborator, Rana el Kaliouby, was to design glasses for people with Asperger syndrome, a mild variant of autism, that warned them when they were boring someone.

主体句式：One early project was to design glasses for people...

结构分析：这个长句看上去结构复杂，其实主句非常短。with a collaborator, Pana el Kaliouby作后置定语修饰project，进一步说明是和谁一起做的研究。a mild variant autism是Asperger syndrome的同位语，解释说明这种病症。紧接着是一个定语从句，先行词是glasses，用来进一步解释说明这种眼镜的用途。

句子译文：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。

题目分析

1. D 推断题。作者在第一段中以3个例子作为文章的开始，指出“情感计算”这一新科技。A、B、C分别是作者列举的3个实例，用于引出“情感计算”这一科技的出现。

2. C 细节题。原文的对应信息是The online class keeps going even when half the students are lost in confusion. 其他选项的信息内容皆与原文意思不符。

3. B 细节题。原文的对应信息是provide companionship and encouragement for nursing home residents，意为：给予养老院的人鼓励并陪伴他们，使他们不觉得被孤立。A、C和D选项并不是在说这一科技的显著功能，与题意不符。

4. C 语义题。我们从文中该词组的同位语a mild variant of autism可知这是一种疾病，是自闭症的一种变体。

5. D 情感态度题。本文是一篇科技说明文，旨在陈述科技事实，因此作者持中立态度。

参考译文

在开罗一所学校的地下室里，20多名女性通过笔记本电脑来分析面部表情，训练计算机识别人类的愤怒、悲伤和沮丧。在剑桥大学，有一个怪诞、逼真、名叫查尔斯的机器人坐在驾驶模拟器上，紧锁双眉，看起来时而兴致冲冲，时而疑虑重重。今年秋天，在美国少数几个中学教室里，将会安装一些计算机，以追踪监控学生们的情绪，看他们什么时候对授课内容感兴趣，什么时候不感兴趣。以上三个例子都是一种新兴的科学技术——情感计算技术的例子，其目的是为了赋予计算机读取或者“影响”用户情绪的能力。

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。