IBM supercomputer wins TV quiz: IBM 超级电脑击败人脑
IBM supercomputer wins TV quiz: IBM 超级电脑击败人脑
By Tom Burridge, BBC News
媒体英语会带大家一起学习BBC撰稿人在报道世界大事时常用到的单词和短语。
Background: IBM超级电脑“沃森”(Watson) 击败了美国《危险边缘》节目历史上最成功的两位选手。被击败的两位选手其中一位在此之前是连赢74场比赛的纪录保持者。
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Jeopardy is one of America's oldest and most popular quiz shows. But this time, inside the brightly-lit studio, a contest billed as 'man versus machine' - the programme's producers pitted two of their most successful contestants ever against a computer. Known as Watson, the computer is a giant piece of hardware, equivalent in size to several fridges. And over three programmes, Watson beat his human contenders with ease.
In a split-second, Watson is able to digest the question and try and match it against huge amounts of information it has at its disposal. It very quickly assesses how good a match it thinks it has and buzzes either very quickly, or not so quickly, reflecting how confident it is that it has the right answer.
Watson is also able to notice nuances in language, between say 'bat' the animal and 'bat' used in sports. On a prime-time US TV show with millions of viewers it was great publicity for IBM. But the company says Watson the computer is an IT genius and a breakthrough in computing.
Glossary 词汇表 (收听发音, 请单击英语单词)
- to bill as 预告、宣传(比赛为…主题)
- to pit against与…对战
- human contenders人类对手
- to digest理解,领会
- at its disposal供其使用,任其自行处理
- how good a match(答案)有多符合问题
- to buzz按下抢答器按钮
- nuances in language(英语)语言里的细微差别
- an IT genius一个IT 天才
- a breakthrough突破