阅读理解
Wouldn't it be wonderful to
travel to a foreign country without having to worry about the headache of
communicating in a different language?
In a recent The Wall Street Journal article, technology policy expert Alec Ross argued that,
within a decade or so, we'll be able to communicate with one another via(通过) small earpieces
with built-in microphones. That's because technological progress is extremely
rapid. It's only a matter of time. Indeed, some parents are so convinced that
this technology is imminent that they're
wondering if their kids should even learn a second language.
It's true that an increase in the
quantity and accuracy of the data loaded into computers will make them cleverer
at translating "No es bueno dormir mucho" as "It's not good to
sleep too much". Replacing a word with its equivalent (对应词) in the target
language is actually the "easy part" of a translator's job. But even
this seems to be a discouraging task for computers.
It's so difficult for computers
because translation doesn't—or shouldn't—involve simply translating words,
sentences or paragraphs. Rather, it's about translating meaning. And in order
to infer meaning from a specific expression, humans have to interpret a mass of
information at the same time.
Think about all the related clues that go into understanding an
expression: volume, gesture, situation, and even your culture. All are likely
to convey(传达)
as much meaning as the words you use.
Therefore, we should be very
sceptical of a machine that is unable to interpret the world around us. If
people from different cultures can offend (冒犯) each other without realizing it, how can we expect a machine to do
better? Unless engineers actually find a way to breathe a soul into a computer,
undoubtedly when it comes to conveying and interpreting meaning using a natural
language, a machine will never fully take our place.
