Text B Watch out College Professors,the Robots Are...
Dominic Basulto
As a result of the pace of automation and new trends in artificial intelligence,some machine learning experts say that robots could eventually move from the factory assembly line to the classroom,mass producing graduates rather than widgets.(Dave Martin/AP)
The current thinking about the automation of the workplace is that the jobs that require the most creativity will be those that are safest from the robot overlords when they come for our jobs.That might be true,but the erudite university professor with the rumpled corduroy jacket and scholarly spectacles might soon be headed for extinction as well.
The reason is that technology is already fundamentally changing the classroom and the way we deliver information to students,especially via the use of video.We also live in an era of the flipped classroom,where the role of instructors is morphing,as well as massive open online courses(MOOCs),where some university classes can have 1,000 or 10,000 or even 100,000 students in them at any time.What can human professor realistically teach these types of classes without some help from technology?
Michael Osborne,associate professor of machine learning at the University of Oxford and the co-director of the Oxford Martin Programme on Technology and Employment,says that robot-teachers may one day be the answer.As Osborne recently pointed out in an interview with The Telegraph,“It seems pointless to have a teacher or lecturer standing in front of a classroom statically delivering content that might be better absorbed through online videos,thereby leaving the teacher time to engage with students in a more interactive fashion.”
Moreover,robot professors might be able to personalize the information that students receive,as well as the types of problem sets or homework they must complete.That might keep the brightest kids engaged,while still making it possible to educate kids having the most problems picking up the material.
Delivering the information is the easy part,the hard part,says Osborne,is having the“deep understanding of human society”that's required to be a teacher.Just think of that famous Jetsons episode from 1963,where there's an impossibly complex equation written on a chalkboard,and the robot-teacher is staring straight ahead with a totally blank look.What machines can't do right now,says Osborne,is provide the type of social and emotional intelligence needed to command an unruly classroom or respond to the non-verbal clues of students.
However,as artificial intelligence eventually catches up to the needs of robot-professorssomething that even Osborne says conservatively could take as long as 20 years—expect to see professors as more of a mentor and facilitator,while much of the grunt work of lecturing and grading and test-making is done by machine.Students,too,will be called upon to do more of the functions currently done by professors.
At some point,it's possible to imagine a scenario where the top,highest-paid human talent migrates to the nation's most elite universities,while robots take over the teaching and training of students in community colleges or vocational schools,where most of the emphasis is on learning certain very specific skills that can be used over and over again in the workplace.The less creativity that's required of students,the more likely it is that a robot could provide the type of instruction required to educate them.
But what does society really gain if super-smart robots result in the firing(or non-hiring)of academics on a productivity and cost basis?
On one hand,you could argue that society might be able to educate more students than ever before—and give them the kind of world-class education that is only available in a few institutions around the world.In a single MOOC,a top professor might teach more students than he or she would in an entire lifetime of teaching.
On the other hand,the educational classroom could basically turn into an educational factory,mass producing graduates instead of widgets.Instead of“teaching to the test,”educational institutions could start“teaching to the machine”—that is,focusing on the types of classes that are most easily taught by machines.
And if you buy into the whole robot overlord thesis(not so bizarre these days),then what if the robots start to decide what humans should study in order to be productive members of society?Robots might decide that learning low-level coding and programming skills is needed to pacify humans and keep them producing ever more machines.(Think Richard Dawkins and his idea of humans as survival machines for genes updated for an AI future).Human programmers coding the building blocks of artificially intelligent life could easily become the scenario for a dystopian Hollywood science fiction movie.
Probably one of the scariest articles written in 2014 was a piece in The Atlantic(“What Jobs Will the Robots Take?”),based on research from Osborne and his colleague Carl Benedikt Frey,who outlined the types of jobs that robots could take over in the workplace.Not content with hollowing out blue-collar and manufacturing jobs,robots could soon move into white-collar and other jobs in the creative industries.In fact,robots could take over nearly one half of all U.S.jobs in a decade or two.That scenario of massive workplace automation has recently been updated by Osborne and Frey,who suggest that 47 percent of U.S.jobs are at risk of being taken over by smart machines and software in the next two decades.
That has enormous implications for the educational system,which must educate students at a time of tremendous transformation of the workplace.Educators must race to prepare students for jobs that will actually exist in the future.It's possible to imagine robots making it into the mainstream from the low end first,transitioning from tasks such as teaching kindergarten school kids in Tokyo and senior citizens in Dutch retirement homes,to eventually teaching kids in the classrooms of America's universities.
A decade or two from now,a formal designation of tenure might be the only way to keep robots from taking over jobs in academia.Rather than being a form of prestige,tenure would really just evolve into a form of job protection and social guarantee.Publish or perish,indeed.
(1,023 words)
Notes
1.This piece of writing was written by Dominic Basulto and published by The Washington Poston2June,2015.
2.Flipped classroom(翻转课堂)is an instructional strategy and a type of blended learning that reverses the traditional learning environment by delivering instructional content,often online,outside of the classroom.It moves activities,including those that may have traditionally been considered homework,into the classroom.In a flipped classroom,students watch online lectures,collaborate in online discussions,or carry out research at home and engage in concepts in the classroom with the guidance of a mentor.
3.MOOCs(massive open online courses慕课)are online courses aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the web.In addition to traditional course materials such as filmed lectures,readings,and problem sets,many MOOCs provide interactive user forums to support community interactions among students,professors,and teaching assistants(TAs).MOOCs are a recent and widely researched development in distance education which were first introduced in 2006 and emerged as a popular mode of learning in 2012.
英译汉中句子的整合重组
英语语句的叙述或逻辑层次有时候和汉语基本一致，此时就可以大体按照英语原文的结构顺序翻译，如：
The secretary said mainland operators will be required to provide lists of group members for random checks by the Hong Kong Travel Industry Council.Hong Kong customs will also step up monitoring at shops and send out flyers to promote safety measures among tourists.
这位秘书长称,将会要求大陆的旅游组织者提供旅游团的人员名单,以便香港旅游产业协会随机检查。香港海关也会加强对商家的监督,并且会在游客当中散发传单来推广安全措施。
The overall result has been to make entrance to professional geological journals harder for amateurs,a result that has been reinforced by the widespread introduction of refereeing,first by national journals in the 19th century and then by several local geological journals in the 20th century.
总的结果是业余爱好者更加难以在专业地质学期刊上发表文章,而广为采用的论文评审制度则强化了这一结果。这种评审制度最早在19世纪被国家级刊物采用,20世纪几家地方性地质学刊物纷纷效法。
由于英语句子重心多在句首，而汉语重心多在句尾，因此很多时候我们需要在译文中将原文的句序进行全部或部分倒转，使之更符合汉语的表达习惯。
Photographs are taken of planets,the light of which is too faint to be seen by naked eyes at all.
尽管许多行星的光线非常微弱,肉眼根本看不见,但还是拍下了它们的照片。
His business connections with the impecunious great both in France and in England had secured the foothold he had obtained on his arrival in Europe as a young man with letters of introduction to persons of consequences.
他年轻时刚到欧洲那会,拿着介绍信去结识了些大人物,打下了根基,后来和英法两国一些家底子薄却很有身份的人又有了生意往来,这根基就更牢固了。
有些较长的英语语句，用分、合、顺、逆任何一种单一的方法都不易将之译成明白晓畅的汉语，这时候就需要在完整准确地掌握原文结构与意义的基础上，根据汉语的表达习惯，灵活运用分、合、顺、逆的组合策略，将原文的各个成分重新排列，综合处理。
It was our view that the United States could be effective in both the tasks outlined by the President—that is,of ending hostilities as well as of making a contribution to a permanent peace in the Middle East—if we conducted ourselves so that we could remain in permanent contact with all of these elements in the equation.
我们认为,如果我们采取行动以便始终能够与中东问题各方保持接触,那么我们美国就能有效地担当起总统所提出的两项任务,那就是在中东结束敌对行动,以及为该地区的永久和平做出贡献。
Rather,we have a certain conception of the American citizen,a character who is incomplete if he cannot competently assess how his livelihood and happiness are affected by things outside of himself.
相反,按照我们关于美国公民的观念,一个人如果不能正确估量外部事务如何影响到自己的生存和幸福,他就不是完整意义上的美国公民。
Last year Mitsuo Setoyama,who was then education minister,raised eyebrows when he argued that liberal reforms introduced by the American occupation authorities after World WarⅡhad weakened the“Japanese morality of respect for parents”.
去年,时任教育部长的濑户光夫提出,二战后由美国占领当局引入的自由主义改革削弱了日本民族“尊敬父母的道德品质”,一时舆论哗然。
The construction of such a satellite is now believed to be quite reliable,its realization being supported with all the contemporary science,which have brought into being not only materials capable of withstanding severe stresses involved and high temperatures developed,but new technological process as well.
现代科学的一切成就不仅提供了能够承受高温、高压的材料,而且也提供了新的工业流程,依靠现代科学的这些成就,相信完全可以制造出这样的人造卫星。
But without Adolf Hitler,who was possessed of a demoniac personality,a granite will,uncanny instincts,a cold ruthlessness,a remarkable intellect,a soaring imagination and—until toward the end,when drunk with power and success,he overreached himself—an amazing capacity to size up people and situations,there almost certainly would never have been a Third Reich.
然而,若没有阿道夫·希特勒恶魔般的性格、花岗岩般的意志、不可思议的本能、冷酷无情的秉性、超常的才智、深远的想象力以及对人和局势惊人的判断力,那就几乎可以肯定不会有第三帝国；最后他被权力和胜利冲昏了头脑才失去这种判断力而自取灭亡。
While in America the trend started as a reaction to the economic decline—after the mass redundancies caused by downsizing in the late’80s—and is still linked to the politics of thrift,in Britain,at least among the middle-class down shifters of my acquaintance,we have different reasons for seeking to simplify our lives.
美国80年代后期缩小经济规模引起大量人员冗余,引发了这一趋势,它是对经济衰落做出的一种反应,至今仍被视为节俭之道；而在英国,至少在我认识的追求简约生活的中产阶级当中,这么做的原因就多种多样了。
Translation Exercises
A.Translate the following sentences into Chinese,making necessary structural adjustments.
1.During all his years in general practice he possessed only small bits of science,used solely for the purpose of diagnosis,and almost no science at all for therapy.What he did,for treating disease,was to“look after”people.
2.Despair seized him at the thought of her setting out alone to renew the weary quest for work.
3.Rockets research has confirmed a strange fact,which had already been suspected,that there is a“high temperature belt”in the atmosphere with its center roughly thirty miles above the ground.
4.There is an equilibrium between the liquid and its vapor,as many molecules being lost from the surface of the liquid and then existing as vapor,as reenter the liquid in a given time.
5.Computer languages may range from detailed low level close to that immediately understood by the particular computer,to the sophisticated high level which can be rendered automatically acceptable to a wide range of computers.
6.Up to the present time,throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,this new tendency placed the home in the immediate suburbs,but concentrated manufacturing activity,business relations,government,and pleasure in the centers of the cities.
7.Executives at Audi and other automakers say the driver,in any case,must remain engaged and attentive,ready to take over in the event of the unexpected:a car travelling the wrong way out of control,for example.
8.Federal regulators are finally releasing a huge trove of pricing and network data they've spent months collecting on the massive $40 billion market for business broadband,part of an effort to determine whether Internet providers such as Verizon and AT＆T are charging hospitals,universities and other enterprises fairly for data and communications services.
B.Translate the following sentences from Text A into Chinese.
1.In the past 30 years,software and robots have thrived at replacing a particular kind of occupation:the average-wage,middle-skill,routine-heavy worker,especially in manufacturing and office admin.
2.It's precisely those unpredictable breakthroughs in computing that could have the biggest impact on the workforce.
3.Although the past 30 years have hollowed out the middle,high-and low-skill jobs have actually increased,as if protected from the invading armies of robots by their own moats.
4.I don't need to tell you about Google's self-driving cars,because they're one of the most over-covered stories in tech today.
5.While computerization has been historically confined to routine tasks involving explicit rule-based activities,algorithms for big data are now rapidly entering domains reliant upon pattern recognition and can readily substitute for labor in a wide range of non-routine cognitive tasks.
Abstract Writing
An abstract is a short written overview highlighting the key points of a paper,article,document or book.An abstract of a social science or scientific work may contain the scope,purpose,results,and contents of the work.One paragraph in most cases,it is put at the head of a paper,a book,etc.,below the title or after the title page.
The two most usual and important purposes of writing an abstract are selection and indexing.On the one hand,it enables readers to decide quickly whether it is worth their time to read the full work.On the other hand,many online databases use abstracts to index larger works.Researchers may therefore determine whether a larger work is relevant to their own work and/or decide which work to acquire and read.
Abstracts are sometimes published without the full paper itself in abstract journals or in online databases.Participants of academic conferences usually receive only copies of the abstracts in proceedings.When readers search through electronic databases for articles,the abstract is usually the sole part of the paper that they see without cost.
Researchers may use key words to search for relevant electronic information,and the computer will then show the titles of articles,papers,and reports containing those key words.That's why a half dozen key words that identify the content and focus of a work are sometimes a vital part of an abstract.Now that online abstract text searching is becoming more commonly used,the importance of key words seems to be somewhat reduced.
There are two types of abstracts:descriptive/indicative and informative.
Descriptive abstract A descriptive abstract summarizes the purpose,scope,and methods used to arrive at the reported findings.It is a slightly expanded table of contents in sentence and paragraph form.It makes no judgments about the work,nor does it provide results or conclusions of the research.Descriptive abstracts are usually very short—100 words or less.
The following is an example of descriptive abstract.
Non-Point Source Pollution Control Policy under the Perspective of Experimental Economics:A Review
Abstract Non-point source pollution has become an important source of water pollution in many countries including China.Applying experimental economics to the design and evaluation of policies controlling non-point source pollution in recent years,some foreign researchers have made remarkable achievements.In contrast,no similar research has been published in China so far.This paper makes a survey of experimental economics in terms of its contributions to the control and handling of nonpoint source pollution by categorizing those researches abroad into the individual-performance-based and collective-performance-based types.Obtained are some insights into ways in which similar researches may be conducted in China.
Keywords non-point source pollution;experimental economics;review
Informative abstract The majority of abstracts are informative.While they still do not critique or evaluate a work,they do more than describe it.In addition to information about the purpose,scope,and research methods used,the informative abstract summarizes the results,conclusions,and any recommendations.In other words,elements of such an abstract include(1)motivation,(2)problem statement,(3)approach,(4)results and(5)conclusions/implications.A good informative abstract can act as a surrogate for the work,without its details.The length varies according to discipline,but typically it contains 150—250 words.
Since this kind of abstract is a stand-alone statement that briefly conveys the essential information of a full work,it should have a brief,non-repetitive style.It should accurately reflect what the full work is about,and its structure should be in the same order as that of the latter.
The following are some examples of informative abstract.
Long-Term Trends in Acid Neutralizing Capacity under Increasing Acidic Deposition:A Special Example of Eutrophic Taihu Lake,China
Tao Yu,Qiujin Xu,Chengda He,Haibing Cong,Dan Dai,Fengchang Wu,and Wei Meng
Abstract While North America and Europe have been recovering from acidification,China is experiencing impacts of acid deposition.The Taihu region is a seriously impacted area by acid rain in China,with the average rainfall pH＜5.However,the acid neutralizing capacity(ANC)and pH of Taihu Lake have significantly increased over the past 60 years(p＜0.05).Analyses showed that watershed neutralization by carbonates and in-lake alkalinization by algae activities were the two major reactions responsible for the increase.In the Taihu basin,the dominant carbonate bedrocks are the major source of base cations(particularly Ca2+and Mg2+)and act as the acidification buffer.In addition,our field measurements across the lake showed that the pH values were significantly higher in algal bloom waters than in areas without blooms.This observation was further supported by our statistical analysis showing that the Taihu ANC and pH were significantly correlated with the chlorophyll increase(p＜0.05;1985—2015).However,our regression analysis indicated that the base cations in the watershed would be depleted by the early 2040s if the acid deposition continues at the current rate.Our results suggest that interactions between human accelerated weathering,watershed geochemistry,and in-lake algae activities significantly impact the water chemistry of the lake.We urgently recommend an“integrated and balanced”recovery plan for the lake ecosystem.
(Environmental Science＆Technology,November,2016)
Internet of Things for Smart Cities
Abstract:The Internet of Things(IoT)shall be able to incorporate transparently and seamlessly a large number of different and heterogeneous end systems,while providing open access to selected subsets of data for the development of a plethora of digital services.Building a general architecture for the IoT is hence a very complex task,mainly because of the extremely large variety of devices,link layer technologies,and services that may be involved in such a system.In this paper,we focus specifically on an urban IoT system that,while still being quite a broad category,are characterized by their specific application domain.Urban IoTs,in fact,are designed to support the Smart City vision,which aims at exploiting the most advanced communication technologies to support added-value services for the administration of the city and for the citizens.This paper hence provides a comprehensive survey of the enabling technologies,protocols,and architecture for an urban IoT.Furthermore,the paper will present and discuss the technical solutions and best-practice guidelines adopted in the Padova Smart City project,a proof-of-concept deployment of an IoT island in the city of Padova,Italy,performed in collaboration with the city municipality.
Author Keywords:6LowPAN,Constrained Application Protocol(CoAP),Efficient XML Interchange(EXI),network architecture,sensor system integration,service functions and management,Smart Cities,testbed and trials
(IEEE Internet of Things Journal,Volume:1,Issue:1,Feb.2014)
Investigating the Latent Factors of Quality of Work-Life Affecting Construction Craft Worker Job Satisfaction
Abstract Previous research in other disciplines identified that job satisfaction plays a major role in employee performance and retention.This paper examines the relationship between job satisfaction and quality of work-life(QWL)factors from the perspective of construction craft workers.The study analyzed data collected from 2002 to 2014 using the General Social Survey's(GSS)QWL questionnaire module.Thirty-four of the 78 QWL variables were found to have a significant correlation with the overall level of job satisfaction of construction craft workers.By using the exploratory factor analysis,five latent factors—safety priority and organizational effectiveness,fair rewards system,resource adequacy,physical and mental health,and job tenure—were extracted.The relative impact of the five latent factors on construction craft worker job satisfaction also was identified.The paper contributes to the overall body of knowledge by identifying latent factors of QWL that affect craft worker job satisfaction specific to the construction industry.The findings of the paper can serve as guidance for construction companies to formulate policies and practices that contribute to better QWL,which can result in improved craft worker job satisfaction,leading to better retention and job performance.
Author Keywords:job satisfaction,quality of work-life,construction craft worker,factor analysis,labor and personnel issues
(Journal of Construction Engineering and Management,December 2016)
A variation of this type is structured abstract,which is an abstract with distinct,labeled sections(e.g.,Introduction,Methods,Results,Discussion/Objective,Methods,Results,Conclusion)for rapid comprehension.Structured abstracts adopt standardized formats.They can better guide authors in summarizing the content of their manuscripts precisely,facilitate the peerreview process for manuscripts submitted for publication,and enhance computerized literature searching.The following is an example of structured abstract.
Evaluation of Dexmedetomidine Therapy for Sedation in Patients with Toxicological Events at an Academic Medical Center
Abstract
Introduction:Although clinical use of dexmedetomidine(DEX),an alpha 2-adrenergic receptor agonist,has increased,its role in patients admitted to intensive care units secondary to toxicological sequelae has not been well established.
Objectives:The primary objective of this study was to describe clinical and adverse effects observed in poisoned patients receiving DEX for sedation.
Methods:This was an observational case series with retrospective chart review of poisoned patients who received DEX for sedation at an academic medical center.The primary endpoint was incidence of adverse effects of DEX therapy including bradycardia,hypotension,seizures,and arrhythmias.For comparison,vital signs were collected hourly for the 5h preceding the DEX therapy and every hour during DEX therapy until the therapy ended.Additional endpoints included therapy duration,analgesia,and vasopressor requirements.
Results:Twenty-two patients were included.Median initial and median DEX infusion rates were similar to the commonly used rates for sedation.Median heart rate was lower during therapy(82 vs.93 beats/minute,p＜0.05).Median systolic blood pressure before and during therapy was similar(111 vs.109mmHg,p=0.745).Five patients experienced an adverse effect per study definitions during therapy.No additional adverse effects were noted.Median time within target RASS and duration of therapy was 6.5 and 44.5 h,respectively.Seventeen patients(77%)had concomitant use of other sedation and/or analgesia with four(23%)of these patients requiring additional agents after DEX initiation.Seven patients(32%)had concomitant vasopressor support with four(57%)of these patients requiring vasopressor support after DEX initiation.
Conclusion:Common adverse effects of DEX were noted in this study.The requirement for vasopressor support during therapy warrants further investigation into the safety of DEX in poisoned patients.Larger,comparative studies need to be performed before the use of DEX can be routinely recommended in poisoned patients.
Some sentence patterns frequently used in abstracts
This paper is intended to/aims to demonstrate…
The purpose of the present study is to…
This essay makes a preliminary study of…
This essay deals with/elaborates on/examines/discusses/analyzes…
This article focuses on the topics of/addresses important topics including/includes discussions concerning…
This paper provides an overview of…
This article compares…and summarizes…
This paper presents up to date information on…
This paper strongly emphasizes…
This article not only describes…but also suggests…
This paper provides a method of…
This paper introduces an applicable procedure to analyze…
This thesis demonstrates/shows/indicates…
Exercises
From an academic journal of your own field,find a paper that interests you.Carefully read the body of the paper without looking at its abstract.Then try to write an abstract for the paper as if you were its author.Finally check your abstract against the author's to see how your abstract may be improved.