II. While Reading Tasks
• Vocabulary
Word Inference
scan |skan|-verb ( scans, scanning , scanned ) [ with obj. ]- look at all parts of (something) carefully in order to detect some feature: he raised his binoculars to scan the coast.
phaser |ˈfāzər|-noun -(in science fiction) a weapon that delivers a beam that can stun or annihilate.
tedious |ˈtēdēəs|-adjective-too long, slow, or dull: tiresome or monotonous: a tedious journey.
redundant |riˈdəndənt|-adjective-no longer needed or useful; superfluous: an appropriate use for a redundant church | many of the old skills had become redundant.
interlocutor |ˌintərˈläkyətər|-noun formal-a person who takes part in a dialogue or conversation.
consecutive |kənˈsekyətiv|-adjective-following continuously: five consecutive months of serious decline.
beguile |biˈgīl|-verb [ with obj. ]-charm or enchant (someone), sometimes in a deceptive way: every prominent American artist has been beguiled by Maine | (as adj. beguiling) : a beguiling smile.
parse |pärs|-verb [ with obj. ]-analyze (a sentence) into its parts and describe their syntactic roles.
prototype |ˈprōtəˌtīp|-noun-a first, typical or preliminary model of something, esp. a machine, from which other forms are developed or copied: the firm is testing a prototype of the weapon.
commonplace |ˈkämənˌplās|-adjective-not unusual; ordinary: unemployment was commonplace in his profession.
Source: New Oxford American Dictionary
Reading Comprehension
True / False
- T- “Star Trek” was a television series in the 1960s…
- T-Captain Kirk and his crew wore tiny, computerized Universal Translators.
- F- Will Powell is an inventor in London…
- T- Each interlocutor wore a hands-free headset linked to a mobile phone, and special sports goggles.
- F- The special goggles displayed translated text like subtitles in a foreign film.
- F- NTT DoCoMo, is the largest mobile-phone operator in Japan.
- T- When Rick Rashid, chief research officer at Microsoft, spoke in English at a conference in Tianjin in October, his peroration was translated live into Mandarin.
- F- According to the article, though the three systems are quite different, each faces the same problems.
- T- Microsoft’s researchers claim that their deep-neural-network translator makes at least a third fewer errors than traditional systems.
- T- Recognizing speech is,only the first part of translation. Just as important is converting what has been learned into foreign words and into foreign sentences.
IV. Listening Activity
• Pre-listening
- interface |ˈintərˌfās|-noun- Computing a device or program enabling a user to communicate with a computer.
- waveform |ˈwāvˌfôrm|-nounPhysics-a curve showing the shape of a wave at a given time.
- fragile |ˈfrajəl, -ˌjīl|-adjective-flimsy or insubstantial; easily destroyed: you have a fragile grip on reality.
- statistical |stəˈtistikəl|-adjective-of or relating to the use of statistics: a statistical comparison.
- data |ˈdatə, ˈdātə|-noun [ treated as sing. or pl. ]-facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis. See also datum.
- robust |rōˈbəst, ˈrōˌbəst|-adjective ( robuster, robustest )-(of a process, system, organization, etc.) able to withstand or overcome adverse conditions: California’s robust property market.
- significant |sigˈnifikənt|-adjective-sufficiently great or important to be worthy of attention; noteworthy: a significant increase in sales.
- arbitrary |ˈärbiˌtrerē|-adjective-based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system: his mealtimes were entirely arbitrary.
Source: New Oxford American Dictionary
• While Listening Tasks
- T- One of the most natural interfaces for people is human speech.
- F- For the last 60 years computer scientists have been trying to find a way to understand and recognize human speech.
- F- In the late 1970s there was a major change in the way people decided to do speech recognition.
- F- This was work being done at Carnegie Melon University.
- F- Speech recognition systems have become dramatically better than they used to be.
- T- They still make a lot of mistakes.
- F- So for example in the United States when iI call my bank, I’m talking to a computer.
- T- If necessary the computer can connect me to a real person if I have a significant issue that I want to discuss.
- F- I’m sure you’ve heard of Apple’s Siri product which answers simple questions.
- T-MicroSoft Connect has a robust speech interface that allows you to control the interface.
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