(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Top Technology Stories of 2018
During 2018, we reported on many inventions and new technologies aimed at making machines smarter. We also covered stories on how some technologies threaten user privacy.
Artificial intelligence
There was a lot of news related to artificial intelligence, or AI, and machine learning. Among the stories were two dealing with direct competitions between humans and machines.
In one competition, machines that used AI performed better than human beings in a high-level reading test. Two natural language processing tools beat human results in the experiment. One of the tools was built by the American technology company Microsoft. The other was created by Chinese online seller Alibaba Group.
In another competition, a computer took on humans in live, public debates. The event demonstrated how AI-powered computers are increasingly being developed to think and sound like humans.
The organizer of the debates, U.S. technology company IBM, announced split results. It said a majority of those watching said they felt the machine had done more to improve their knowledge of the subject. But, the human got more praise for communicating her ideas.
This year, we also explored the many ways AI and machine learning are now being used. For example, some U.S. judges use machine learning systems to help them decide when, and for how long, criminals should be jailed. The system uses computers to examine data from thousands of court cases. The computer then predicts whether a defendant will commit a new crime or fail to return to court.
One fast-growing area of AI is facial recognition, which is increasingly being used for security purposes.
Recently, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport became the first in the U.S. to permit passengers to use facial recognition technology to get on flights. A Chinese company showed off an AI system it developed to recognize individuals by body shape and walking movements. The system is already being used by Chinese police in Beijing and Shanghai.
In addition, machine learning was used during 2018 to predict results of the World Cup soccer competition. The technology also created artwork that sold for a large amount of money. And it is being used to help farmer save time and money, while reducing environment-harming chemicals. Other technology systems are being used to follow farm animals and wildlife to collect information on their activities.
Privacy issues
Facebook received intense criticism this year. The company's chief Mark Zuckerberg was asked to testify before the U.S. Congress about a major leak of private user information. Zuckerberg admitted the company made mistakes that led to private data being shared with a British research company. Lawmakers demanded that the social media service take steps to protect user privacy and proposed legislation to prevent further incidents.
Google also faced questions about its privacy policies after an investigation by the Associated Press (AP). AP found that Google was continuing to collect location information on users, even when users had changed their privacy settings.
Google said users can stop the collection of all location markers at any time by turning off a specific privacy setting. But independent researchers told the AP that setting was not clearly identified by Google as being connected to location information.
Transportation tech
After several accidents involving self-driving test vehicles, we examined ethical questions about the technology. An expert on the subject, Nicholas Evans, told VOA that he is studying ways to get driverless vehicles to make ethical decisions. In many driving situations, vehicles will be expected to quickly consider levels of risk before deciding how to act.
A new study found that some driver assistance systems fail to perform some actions in tests. The study was carried out by the American Automobile Association of America. Part of the study found that about 40 percent of people questioned believed the driver assist systems could drive a car by themselves. The organization warned of the dangers of such misinformation.
In Sweden, a new technology was developed to create the world's first operating electrified road. The system is designed to charge an electric vehicle's battery as it travels.
And in Germany, officials celebrated the launch of the world's first operating hydrogen-powered trains. The new train model is part of efforts in Europe and other places to move away from polluting diesel trains.
I'm Bryan Lynn.
重点解析
重点讲解：
1. deal with 论述；讨论；涉及；
Only around a third of those published deal with an issue outside of America.
大概只有三分之一的出版物涉及美国以外的问题。
2. take on 与(尤指实力比自己强的人)较量；接受…的挑战；
The world's most prestigious insurance company was last night squaring up to take on MPs who have accused it of being riddled with corruption.
世界上最负盛名的保险公司昨晚作出回应，要和那些指责其腐败泛滥的议员们较量一番。
3. show off 卖弄，炫耀，显摆(某物)；
The player was given hardly any opportunities to show off his talents.
那位选手几乎没有得到什么机会展示自己的天赋。
4. turn off 关上；关掉；截断，切断（…的供应）；
Please turn the television off before you go to bed.
睡觉前请关上电视。
参考译文
2018年重点科技新闻回顾
今年我们报道了多个旨在提高机器智能性的发明和新技术。我们还报道了技术威胁用户隐私的新闻。
人工智能
有许多与人工智能（简称AI）和机器学习有关的新闻。在这些新闻中，有两条涉及人类和机器之间的直接竞争。
在其中一项竞争中，应用人工智能的机器在高级阅读测试上的表现要好于人类。两个自然语言处理工具在实验中击败了人类。其中一个工具由美国科技公司微软创造。另一个工具由中国在线购物网站阿里巴巴集团开发。
在另一场竞争中，一台计算机与人类在现场公开辩论中展开较量。这表明了应用人工智能的计算机正在逐步开发，能像人类一样思考和说话。
这场辩论的主办方是美国科技公司IBM，该公司宣布了存在分歧的结果。IBM表示，大多数观看这场辩论的人认为，计算机在提高他们对辩论主题的认识方面表现更好。但是人类辩手在表达想法方面获得了更多赞誉。
今年，我们还探索了许多正在应用人工智能和机器学习的方法。举例来说，一些美国法官利用机器学习系统帮助他们决定何时对罪犯进行宣判和量刑时间。该系统利用计算机来分析数千起法庭案件的数据。随后计算机将预测被告人是会实施新犯罪还是无法回到法庭。
在应用人工智能的领域中，其中一个发展迅速的领域是面部识别，这项技术现在越来越多地应用于安全目的。
最近，亚特兰大哈茨菲尔德杰克逊机场成为美国首个允许乘客使用面部识别技术登机的机场。一家中国公司展示了他们开发的一个人工智能系统，该系统能通过体型和走路姿态来识别身份。中国北京和上海等地的警方已经开始应用这个系统。
另外，机器学习在2018年还被用来预测足球世界杯的比赛结果。这项技术创作出的艺术品以高价售出。机器学习还可以帮助农民节省时间和资金，同时减少对环境有害的化学物质。其他技术系统被用来追踪农场动物和野生动物，以收集这些动物的活动信息。
隐私问题
今年，脸谱网饱受批评。该公司首席执行官马克·扎克伯格在美国国会作证时被问及用户个人信息大规模泄露的事件。扎克伯格承认，脸谱网犯了错误，导致用户的个人信息被一家英国研究公司共享。国会议员要求这家社交媒体服务商采取措施保护用户隐私，并建议通过立法来阻止此类事件再次发生。
谷歌的隐私政策也面临质疑，这源于美联社（简称AP）的一项调查。美联社发现，即使用户更改了隐私设置，谷歌仍在继续收集用户的位置信息。
谷歌表示，用户可以随时阻止所有位置标记的信息收集，方法是关闭一个特定的隐私设置。但是独立研究人员对美联社表示，谷歌没有明确指出这一设置与位置信息有关。
交通技术
在自动驾驶测试车辆多次卷入车祸之后，我们对这项技术的道德问题进行了审查。这方面的专家尼古拉斯·埃文斯对VOA表示，他正在研究让无人驾驶车辆做出道德判断的方法。在许多驾驶情况中，在决定如何操作前车辆要迅速思考危险级别。
一项新研究发现，一些辅助驾驶系统在测试中未能执行一些操作。这项研究由美国汽车协会进行。研究的部分结果表明，约40%的受访者认为辅助驾驶系统可以进行自动驾驶。该协会对这种误导信息的危险性提出了警告。
瑞典研发出了一项新技术，建成并开通了世界上首条电气化道路。该系统旨在为行驶在这条路上的电动汽车充电。
世界上首批氢动力列车在德国投入运行，德国官员为此进行了庆祝。这一新型列车是欧洲和其他地方为取代产生污染的柴油列车而采取的其中一项举措。
布莱恩·林恩报道。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
