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　　This year marks exactly two centuries since the publication of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelley. Even before the invention of the electric light bulb, the author produced a remarkable work of speculative fiction that would foreshadow many ethical questions to be raised by technologies yet to come.

　　Today the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) raises fundamental questions: “What is intelligence, identity, or consciousness? What makes humans humans?”

　　What is being called artificial general intelligence, machines that would imitate the way humans think, continues to evade scientists. Yet humans remain fascinated by the idea of robots that would look, move, and respond like humans, similar to those recently depicted on popular sci-fi TV series such as “West world” and “Humans”.

　　Just how people think is still far too complex to be understood, let alone reproduced, says David Eagleman, a Stanford University neuroscientist. “We are just in a situation where there are no good theories explaining what consciousness actually is and how you could ever build a machine to get there.”

　　But that doesn’t mean crucial ethical issues involving AI aren’t at hand. The coming use of autonomous vehicles, for example, poses thorny ethical questions. Human drivers sometimes must make split-second decisions. Their reactions may be a complex combination of instant reflexes, input from past driving experiences, and what their eyes and ears tell them in that moment. AI “vision” today is not nearly as sophisticated as that of humans. And to anticipate every imaginable driving situation is a difficult programming problem.

　　Whenever decisions are based on masses of data, “you quickly get into a lot of ethical questions,” notes Tan Kiat How, chief executive of a Singapore-based agency that is helping the government develop a voluntary code for the ethical use of AI. Along with Singapore, other governments and mega-corporations are beginning to establish their own guidelines. Britain is setting up a data ethics center. India released its AI ethics strategy this spring.

　　On June 7 Google pledged not to “design or deploy Al” that would cause “overall harm,” or to develop Al-directed weapons or use AI for surveillance that would violate international norms. It also pledged not to deploy AI whose use would violate international laws or human rights.

　　While the statement is vague, it represents one starting point. So does the idea that decisions made by AI systems should be explainable, transparent, and fair.

　　To put it another way: How can we make sure that the thinking of intelligent machines reflects humanity’s highest values? Only then will they be useful servants and not Frankenstein’s out-of-control monster.

　　31. Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein is mentioned because it

　　A. fascinates Al scientists all over the world.

　　B. has remained popular for as long as 200 years.

　　C. involves some concerns raised by Al today.

　　D. has sparked serious ethical controversies

　　32. In David Eagleman's opinion, our current knowledge of consciousness

　　A. helps explain artificial intelligence.

　　B. can be misleading to robot making.

　　C. inspires popular sci-fi TV series.

　　D.is too limited for us to reproduce it

　　33. The solution to the ethical issues brought by autonomous vehicles

　　A. can hardly ever be found.

　　B. is still beyond our capacity.

　　C. causes little public concern.

　　D. has aroused much curiosity.

　　34. The author's attitude toward Google's pledges is one of

　　A. affirmation

　　B. skepticism.

　　C. contempt

　　D. respect.

　　35. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

　　A. Al's Future: In the Hands of Tech Giants

　　B. Frankenstein, the Novel Predicting the Age of Al

　　C. The Conscience of AI: Complex But Inevitable

　　D. AI Shall Be Killers Once Out of Control

　　31. 答案【C】 involves some concerns raised by Al today.

　　解析： 本题目为首段例证题，首段例证主要为了引出全文的讨论的主题(introduce the topic)。第一段引用玛丽•雪莱创作《佛兰肯斯坦》又有一个副标题,即:《现代的普罗米修斯》这部作品。第一段最后一句，甚至在电灯发明之前，作者创作了这部举世瞩目的推测性小说“that would foreshadow many ethical questions to be raised by technologies yet to come”这部小说预示了很多即将到来的技术所带来的很多道德伦理方面的问题，这句话对应了选项C. involves some concerns raised by Al today涉及了一些今天AI人工智能带来的担忧。

　　干扰项A.fascinates Al scientists all over the world使全世界的人工智能科学家着迷、以及B. has remained popular for as long as 200 years长达200年间一直很受欢迎”都未提及。D. has sparked serious ethical controversies已经已发了严重的伦理方面的争议。“已经引起了严重的”这个现在完成时表达不准确，文中只提及到人们现在提出了关于伦理方面的一些问题。

　　32.【D】is too limited for us to reproduce it

　　解析： 本题目为细节题。 根据题干信息David Eagleman找到定位点第四段第二行，“We are just in a situation where there are no good theories explaining what consciousness actually is and how you could ever build a machine to get there.”我们仍然处在没有确凿的理论解释“意识”是什么，而且也不能发明机器实现这一点。从这句话就能选择 D.is too limited for us to reproduce it对于我们来说我们能力太有限去再次创造它。

　　33.【B】is still beyond our capacity.

　　解析： 本题目为细节题。 根据题干信息“autonomous vehicles自动驾驶汽车”找到定位点第五段第二行，这段一直在讲述自动驾驶汽车和人驾驶的汽车的区别，最后总结“AI “vision” today is not nearly as sophisticated as that of humans. And to anticipate every imaginable driving situation is a difficult programming problem.”今天人工智能的这种“vision想象力"还不能像人类一样复杂。并且去预测每一个可能的驾驶情形仍然是一个很难的编程问题。这句话对应了选项Bis still beyond our capacity仍然超越了我们的能力。

　　干扰项A.can hardly ever be found.几乎难以被发现，在原文中But that doesn’t mean crucial ethical issues involving AI aren’t at hand.这句话表达了伦理问题即将到来，所以A是错的。选项C.causes little public concern.几乎没有引起公众关注以及D.has aroused much curiosity.已经引起了大量的好奇都没有提及，无中生有。

　　34.【A】affirmation

　　解析： 本题目为细节题。 根据题干信息Google's pledges找到定位点第七段，但是题目问的是作者的观点，可以进一步定位到第八段While the statement is vague, it represents one starting point虽然这个陈述是有点模糊的，但是它代表了一个开始。从这句话就能判定出作者对谷歌的承诺是认可的，对应选项affirmation认可。

　　35.【C】The Conscience of AI: Complex But Inevitable

　　解析： 本题目为标题题，判断全文中心思想。 判断中心思想第一步要确定全文中心词：conscience，ethical issue of AI，所以根据这一主题词我们就可以选择出C.The Conscience of AI: Complex But Inevitable 人工智能的道德问题：复杂但是不可避免，该问题一直贯穿全文和ethical issue做对应。

　　干扰项　A.Al's Future: In the Hands of Tech Giants AI的未来，在科技巨头的手中，文中说到目前我们尚没有能力解决AI的道德意识方面的问题，所以和主旨相悖。

　　B.Frankenstein, the Novel Predicting the Age of Al《佛兰肯斯坦》，一本预测了人工智能的时代的小说，只是文章的引入，并没有提及文中的核心问题ethical issue，故片面信息，不可做全文主旨。D.AI Shall Be Killers Once Out of Control人工智能一旦失控，将会成为杀手。这一点并未在文中提及。

　　(本文为跨考教育教研室老师原创，转载请注明出处。)