2020年考研英语时事阅读.doc
Text1 考研英语双语阅读:支付方式又出新招Forget the titanium Apple Card Amazons latest payment method usesflesh and blood. 苹果公司的 Apple Card 钛金卡可以收起来了,亚马逊的最新支付方式只要用户伸手就可以。The e-tailing giants engineers are quietly testing scanners that can identify an individualhuman hand as a way to ring up a store purchase, with the goal of rolling them out at itsWhole Foods supermarket chain in the coming months, The Post has learned. 据纽约邮报报道,这家电商巨头的工程师正在默默测试可以辨识手部的扫描仪用来结账,打算几个月后在旗下的全食连锁超市推出。Employees at Amazons New York offices are serving as guinea pigs for the biometrictechnology, using it at a handful of vending machines to buy such items as sodas, chips, granola bars and phone chargers, according to sources briefed on the plans. 据消息人士透露,亚马逊纽约办公室的员工正在试用这种生物识别技术,在少数几台自动售货机上使用该技术购买汽水、薯条、格兰诺拉燕麦棒和手机充电器等商品。The high-tech sensors are different from fingerprint scanners found on devices like the iPhoneand dont require users to physically touch their hands to the scanning surface. 这种高科技传感器不同于 iPhone 手机等装置上的指纹扫描仪,不需要使用者将手碰触到扫描仪表面。Instead, they use computer vision and depth geometry to process and identify the shape andsize of each hand they scan before charging a credit card on file. 扫描仪使用计算机视觉和深度几何学技术,处理和辨识扫描到的每双手的形状和大小,而后进行信用卡付款。The system, code-named “Orville,“ will allow customers with Amazon Prime accounts to scantheir hands at the store and link them to their credit or debit card. 这套系统代号为“奥维尔” ,亚马逊 Prime 会员顾客可以在门店通过该系统扫描自己的手,并将信息与信用卡或借记卡绑定。Its accurate to within one ten-thousandth of 1%, but Amazon engineers are scrambling toimprove it to a millionth of 1% ahead of its launch, the source said.据消息人士透露,这一系统已精准到出错率不到百万分之一,但亚马逊的工程师们正努力在正式推出之前,将出错率降至亿分之一。Amazon hopes to introduce the tech to a handful of its Whole Foods stores by the beginning of next year and to eventually expand the super-fast checkout tech to all US locations. The paceof the rollout will depend on how quickly Whole Foods is able to install it and train employees onhow to use it, sources said消息人士还透露说,亚马逊希望在明年初之前能在一些全食超市引进这项技术,并希望最终将这一快速结账技术推广到所有美国门店。技术推开的进度将取决于全食超市安装系统的速度,以及培训员工使用系统的时间。“We dont comment on rumors or speculation,“ an Amazon spokesperson said.亚马逊一位发言人表示:“我们不对谣言或猜测发表评论。 ” While a regular card transaction typically takes between three and four seconds, Amazonsnew technology can process the charge in less than 300 milliseconds, a person familiar with theproject said. 一位知情人士表示,普通的银行卡交易通常需要 3 至 4 秒的时间,而亚马逊的新技术可以在不到 300 毫秒的时间内处理完交易。“Retailers have always been interested in faster checkout,“ Majd Maksad, founder and CEO of Status Money, a personal finance site, told The Post. “You only have to walk into Whole Foods tosee the massive lines of people waiting to check out. Its a massive friction point.“ 个人理财网站“金钱地位” 的创始人兼首席执行官马吉德马卡萨德在接受 纽约邮报采访时说:“零售商一直对加快结账速度很感兴趣。你只要走进全食超市,就会看到人们排着长队等着结账,很容易发生摩擦。 ”If successful, the technology also could help encourage consumers to spend more when theyvisit Whole Foods, he said. 他说,如果能成功的话,这项技术还可以鼓励消费者在全食超市购物时多花点钱。“People tend to spend more when they dont have the experience of touching somethingtangible like money,“ Maksad said. “The utility of money becomes more ephemeral.“ 马卡萨德说:“当人们没有实实在在地花出纸币时,他们往往会花更多的钱。金钱的效用变得更加短暂。 ”At Amazons budding chain of “Go“ convenience stores that launched last year, customers usea phone app to check in at a turnstile. They can then fill their bags and carry them out withoutever passing a register thanks to computer vision and an array of sensors all over the store.在亚马逊去年推出的新兴 Go 连锁便利店中,顾客进入门店时使用一款手机应用程序在闸门处刷一下,买完东西以后不用到收银台结账,打包就可以走 了。因为店里安装了计算机视觉设备以及无处不在的传感器。 With the new, hand-based tech, shoppers wont even have to bring their phones. Nevertheless, experts say its unclear whether customers will be enthusiastic about scanning their hands atWhole Foods. 有了这种扫描手部的新技术,顾客甚至不用带手机。不过专家表示,目前还不清楚消费者是否会对全食超市的手部扫描感兴趣。 Text2 考研英语时事阅读:面试机器人A robot has hired a human being for the first time in history as an AI was left to do jobinterviews. 人工智能被应用于工作面试,有史以来第一次,一个机器人聘用了一名人类。Robotic head Tengai has been commissioned to carry out recruitment in the Upplands BroMunicipality, Sweden.首席机器人腾艾被委托在瑞典乌普兰斯布罗市进行招聘。Tengai resembles a head on a stick, with a friendly looking face beamed onto a screen whichwraps around his plastic skull.腾艾就像一颗长在木棒上的头,他的塑料脑袋上有一块屏幕,屏幕上展现着一张友好的脸。The robot was developed by recruitment company TNG together with the tech firm FurhatRobotics.这款机器人是由招聘公司 TNG 和科技公司 Furhat 机器人公司共同研发的。He is reported to have hired a man called Anders Ornhed, from Jarfalla.据报道,他从耶尔费拉聘请了一位名叫安德斯奥恩赫德的男子。Anders has the honour of becoming the first person ever to hired by an AI. 安德斯有幸成为史上第一位被人工智能聘用的人。Swedish radio reported Anders got through the interview process with Tengai. 据瑞典之声报道,安德斯顺利通过了腾艾的面试。He was given the job as digital coordinator at the municipality office. 他被任命为市政办公室的数字协调员。Tengai is boasted to be “bias free“. 人们称赞腾艾“没有偏见” 。The robot is not affected by the jobseekers age, gender of ethnicity he just wants the bestperson for the job. 机器人不受求职者年龄、性别或种族的影响,他只想找到最适合这份工作的人选。Anders said: “Its very different from being interviewed by a human being. 安德斯表示:“这与接受人类的面试十分不同。“For example, you do not get any confirmation whether you have answered enough.“ “例如,关于你是否充分回答了问题,你并不会得到任何确认。 ”Tengai was designed to “challenge old stereotypes“ and help to eliminate humanities“subconscious prejudices“. 设计腾艾的目的在于“挑战陈规旧制”,以消除人类“ 潜意识中的偏见 ”。TNG bosses claim the robot will create “business value, increased competitiveness anddiversity in the workplace“. TNG 经理表示,机器人将“在职场上”创造“商业价值、提高竞争力并增加多样性 ”。Previously, CEO Asa Edman Kallstromer said: “We humans often try to find people who havethe same interests and are like ourselves.阿萨艾德曼 科尔斯托默总裁曾表示:“我们人类往往尝试去找与自己有着相同爱好,并与自己相像的人。“This is often done through private questions that get us emotionallyinvolved. “这往往会通过那些让我们投入感情的私人问题来实现。 ”“The robot never asks such questions and never gets emotional.“ “而机器人从不会问这样的问题,也不会变得情绪化。 ”Furhat Robotics advert features a woman with a hijab being turned down by three recruitmentmanagers before being given a job by Tengai. 在 Furhat 机器人的广告中,一名带着头巾的女士被三位招聘经理拒绝了,但之后她被腾艾录用了。 Text3 考研英语双语阅读:用中餐诱哄想自杀的男子A Chinese food craving is a powerful thing just ask Officer Jason Inacio of the Newark PoliceDepartment. 对中国食物的渴求是一件很强大的事只管问问纽瓦克警察局的杰森伊纳西奥警官。He was able to use a simple offer of Chinese takeout to help coax a man out of his apartmentbedroom, where he was reportedly threatening to cut his own throat with a knife on Saturday.他用一份中餐外卖就把一名男子诱哄出他公寓的卧室,而据报道,这名男子周六曾扬言要用刀割喉。“He said he was hungry,“ Inacio told NJ.com. “And wanted Chinese food.“ “他说他饿了,想吃中餐。 ”伊纳西奥告诉新泽西地方新闻。Cops had been negotiating with the 38-year-old man for roughly 20 minutes before Inaciocame up with the idea to grab him some takeout. 警察与这名 38 岁的男子沟通了约 20 分钟,之后伊纳西奥想到了给他拿点外卖的办法。“We gave someone $20 and I told him, Ill let you eat on the way to the hospital,“ Inaciorecalled. “We just wanted to figure out where he was coming from and reassure him. The onlyreason were there is to help him and try to comfort him.“ “我们给了某人 20 美元,并且我告诉他, 我会让你在去医院的路上吃东西的, ”伊纳西奥回忆道。 “我们只是想了解他来自哪里,并打消他的疑虑。我们去那儿的唯一原因就是要帮助他并试着安慰他。 ”A family member reportedly grabbed the food described as “a hearty“ chicken and broccolibowl and delivered it to the man. 据报道,一位家庭成员拿了一碗“丰盛的”西兰花炒鸡肉,给了这名男子。“Look, you see it right there,“ Inacio can be heard saying on video captured through hisbodycam, as he shows the man a bag of food. “I promised you that, right? So come onIll letyou eat it on the way.“ 从伊纳西奥的执法记录仪上拍摄的一段视频中可以听到他说, “你看,它就在那儿, ”他向那名男子展示了那袋食物, “我答应过你,对吧?所以,来吧我会让你在路上吃的。 ”The man eventually agreed to drop the knife and was transported to a local hospital byambulance soon after. 这名男子最终同意放下刀,并乘坐之后到达的救护车去了当地医院。“I like to always keep my promises,“ Inacio said. “If I promise something, I want to followthrough with my promise. And in this case, I promised him the Chinese food if he came withus.“ “我愿意一直信守承诺, ”伊纳西奥说道。 “如果我做出了承诺,我就会信守承诺。这次我承诺他,如果他跟我们走,我就让他吃中餐。 ” Text4 考研英语时事阅读:“量子霸权“According to a report in the Financial Times, a team of researchers from Google led by JohnMartinis have demonstrated quantum supremacy for the first time.英国金融时报的一篇报告称,John Martinis 带领的一个 Google 研究团队首次证明了量子霸权。This is the point at which a quantum computer is shown to be capable of performing a taskthats beyond the reach of even the most powerful conventional supercomputer. 当时发现一台量子计算机能完成最 强大的传统超 级计算机都不能完成的任务。The claim appeared in a paper that was posted on a NASA website, but the publication wasthen taken down. Google did not respond to a request for comment from MIT TechnologyReview. 这一声明出现在 NASA 网站上发表的一篇论文中,但随后被删除了。 麻省理工科技评论请求 Google 对此作出评论,但未得到回应。Google struck an agreement last year to use supercomputers available to NASA asbenchmarks for its supremacy experiments. 去年 Google 决定将 NASA 可用的超 级计算机作为霸权实验的标杆。According to the Financial Times report, the paper said that Googles quantum processor wasable to perform a calculation in three minutes and 20 seconds that would take todays mostadvanced supercomputer, known as Summit, around 10,000 years. 据英国金融时报报道,该论文称 Google 的量子处理器能在 3 分 20 秒内完成现在最先进的超级计算机 Summit 一万年才能完成的计算。In the paper, the researchers said that, to their knowledge, the experiment “marks the firstcomputation that can only be performed on a quantum processor.“ 该论文中研究人员称,据他们所知这一实验“标志着第一个只能在量子处理器上进行的计算”。Quantum machines are so powerful because they harness quantum bits, or qubits. Unlikeclassicalbits, which represent either a 1 or a 0, qubits can be in a kind of combination of bothat the same time. 量子计算机如此强大是因为他们利用了量子比特或量子位。经典的二进制只代表 1 或 0,而量子位不一样,可以同时是两者的一种组合。Thanks to other quantum phenomena, which are described in our explainer here, quantumcomputers can crunch large amounts of data in parallel that conventional machines have towork through sequentially.多亏了其他我们在解释中描述过的量子现象,量子计算机可以并行运算大量数据,而传统计算机只能按顺序进行运算。Scientists have been working for years to demonstrate that the machines can definitivelyoutperform conventional ones. 科学家已研究多年,想要证明量子计算机绝对优于传统计算机。考研英语双语阅读 : 2020,快手计划在美国上市Chinese startup Kuaishou is considering to a U.S. initial public offering to bankroll itsexpansion in short videos and fend off competition from TikTok-owner ByteDance Inc., according to people familiar with the matter. 据知情人士透露,中国初创公司快手公司正考虑赴美上市,为其短视频的业务拓展提供资金并抵御来自抖音母公司字节跳动的竞争。The company, backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd., plans to list next year, the people said, requesting not to be named because the matter is private. 因为这件事仍然保密,所以知情人士匿名透露,腾讯控股的这家公司计划明年上市。One person said Kuaishou also weighed the option of going public this year. The video startupis raising more than $1 billion at a $25 billion valuation in a pre-IPO round mostly from Tencent, one of the people said.一个人说快手也考虑了今年上市。还有一个人说这家视频初创公司融资超过 10 亿美元,本轮 Pre-IPO 估值达到 250 亿美元,融资主要来自腾讯。Kuaishou is an important part of Chinese social media giant Tencents strategy to competeagainst ByteDance, now the world s most valuable startup. 快手是中国社交巨头腾讯公司与字节跳动公司竞争的一张王牌,字节跳动现在是世界最有价值的初创公司。Tencent has devoted a lot of resources toward building a library of short and mini videoofferings - key to retaining user attention and boosting advertising revenue - but has yet tocatch its rival. 腾讯将大量资源投入到建立一个简短和迷你视频库中,这是保持用户关注并增加广告收入的主要手段,但还是没有赶上竞争对手。“Tencents biggest enemy is ByteDance right now,“ said David Dai, a Hong Kong-based analystat Bernstein. “Tencent hasnt been very successful in short videos in the past, so resorting toinvesting in other companies instead is its best option.“ 香港 Bernstein 投资公司的分析师 David Dai 说:“腾讯目前的劲敌是字节跳动,腾讯过去在短视频领域不是非常成功,所以通过投资其他公司来翻身是最好的选择。 ”U.S.-listed shares of some of Kuaishous competitors fell. Momo Inc. Fell 2.8%, the most inmore than a week, while DouYu International Holdings Ltd. fell 1.9%, the most in about amonth. Both under-performed the Nasdaq, which rose 0.3%. 在美国上市的部分快手的竞争对手股价下跌。陌陌公司下跌 2.8%,是一周多的时间内下跌最多的;斗鱼国际控股有限公司下跌 1.9%,是约一个月时间内下跌最多的。两家公司的表现都不及上涨了 0.3%的纳斯达克指数。 Text5 考研英语时事阅读:网络欺凌One in three young people in 30 countries said they have been a victim of online bullying, withone in five reporting having skipped school due tocyberbullying and violence, a new poll saidlast Wednesday. 上周三发布的最新民意调查指出,在 30 个国家中,有 1/3 的年轻人表示自己是网络欺凌的受害者,1/5 的年轻人称曾因网络欺凌和暴力逃学。Speaking out anonymously through the youth engagement tool U-Report, almost three-quarters of young people also said social networks, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchatand Twitter, are the most common place for online bullying.受访者通过青少年交流工具 U-Report 匿名发表意见,近 3/4 的年轻人还表示,脸书、Instagram、Snapchat、推特等社交网络是网络欺凌最常见的地方。More than 170,000 U-Reporters aged 13-24 years old participated in the poll released by UNChildrens Fund (UNICEF) and the UN special representative of the secretary-general onviolence against children, including young people from 30 countries in Europe, Asia, SouthAmerica and Africa. 超过 17 万年龄在 13-24 岁的 U-Report 用户参加了这项由联合国儿童基金会和联合国秘书长关于儿童暴力问题特别代表进行的民调,调查对象是来自欧洲、亚洲、南美和非洲30 个国家的年轻人。“Connected classrooms mean school no longer ends once a student leaves class, and, unfortunately, neither does schoolyard bullying,“ said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. 联合国儿童基金会执行主任亨丽埃塔福尔表示:“联动的教室意味着,校园生活不再在学生离开教室时就结束,且不幸的是,校园欺凌也是如此。 ”“Improving young peoples education experience means accounting for theenvironment theyencounter online as well as offline.“改善年轻人的教育经历,意味着要同时考量他们在线上和线下遭遇的环境。 ”According to the poll, some 32 percent of the young people believe governments should beresponsible for ending cyberbullying, 31 percent said young people and 29 percent said internetcompanies. 该民意调查显示,约 32%的年轻人认为政府应该对结束网络欺凌负责,31% 的人表示应是年轻人自己,29%的人表示应是互联网公司。The poll results challenge the notion that cyberbullying among classmates is a uniquely high-income issue. 34 percent of respondents in sub-Saharan Africa said they had been a victim ofonline bullying. 调查结果对网络欺凌是高收入国家特有的问题的观点提出了质疑。撒哈拉以南非洲 34%的受访者表示,他们是网络欺凌的受害者。Some 39 percent said they knew about private online groups inside the school communitywhere children share information about peers for the purpose of bullying. 约 39%的人表示,他们知道一些年轻人在学校社区内的私人在线网络中为了欺负别人而分享同龄人的信息。Text6 考研英语时事阅读:这个面霜有毒A Sacramento woman went to the emergency room in July with numbness in her hands andfeet, slurred speech and trouble walking.七月份,萨克拉门托的一名女子因手脚发麻、口齿不清且走路困难而去了急诊室。The 47-year-old mother of five wasnt having a stroke or heart attack. She was suffering frommercury poisoning from a tainted anti-wrinkle cream imported from Mexico, KCRA-TVreported. 这名 47 岁有 5 个孩子的母亲并没有中风或心脏病发作。据 KCRA-TV 报道,她因使用了从墨西哥进口的被污染的抗皱面霜而汞中毒。She has been in the hospital since then, according to her son, who told KCRA he wished toremain unidentified. His mother, who also hasnt been identified, was initially able torespond to verbal commands before she entered her semi-comatose state. 从那时起她就一直在医院里,她的儿子告诉 KCRA,但他表示不希望表明身份,而他母亲的身份也未被证实。在她进入半昏迷状态之前,她最初还能对口头指令做出反应。Olivia Kasirye, the public health officer for the Sacramento County Department of HealthServices, told CBS Sacramento that the womans cream contained methylmercury, a verytoxic type of mercury. 萨克拉门托县卫生服务部门公共卫生官员奥利维亚卡西尔耶告诉哥伦比亚广播公司萨克拉门托分公司,这位女士的面霜中含有甲基汞,这是一种毒性很高的汞。This is the first time a methylmercury p