Program fools humans

    Have you ever been so bored that you started a conversation with a “chatbot (聊天机器人)”? You probably discovered quickly that it wasn't much fun, because the things it says hardly ever make any sense and chatting with it doesn't provide the same kind of back-and-forth as a human conversation.

    That might have made you wonder: will a computer ever be able to talk like a human?

    That day is certainly getting closer now. A computer program named “Eugene Goostman” has successfully passed the Turing test – by fooling people into thinking it was a 13-year-old boy, reported AFP on June 9.

    While you may have never heard of the Turing test, it means a lot in the world of artificial (人工的) intelligence.

    According to USA Today, the test was first invented in 1950 by Alan Turing, a British computer expert best known for his code-breaking work during World War II. In his test, a group of human judges take turns having keyboard conversations for five minutes with two subjects – a human and a piece of computer software. If up to 30 percent of the judges fail to tell the two apart, the program is considered to have passed the test.

    “If a machine is indistinguishable (无法区分的) from a human, then it could be said to be ‘thinking’,” wrote Turing in his paper Computing, Machinery & Intelligence back in 1950.

    No computer had ever passed the Turing test before. But this time, Eugene Goostman, developed by two Russian scientists to simulate (模拟) a 13-year-old boy, managed to convince 33 percent of judges that it was human.

    Machines are close to “reaching the milestone of communicating with us in a way that we are comfortable with”, Professor Kevin Warwick of the University of Reading, UK, told The Telegraph. “This brings closer the time in which robots start to play an active role in our daily lives.”

    Some people feel a bit disturbed by the news. They worry that computers will outsmart humans in the near future and take over the world. But Warwick said that it is unlikely that this will happen any time soon. After all, computers have only just learned to have a five-minute conversation, while we humans can do so much more than that.

    John graduated from a key university and he was very good at his major. He wished to find a good job. One day, he went to a company to 1 for a job. He got the news in a newspaper. He did some research on this company. When he was 2 everything went well. The manager asked him some questions and he answered them 3 John was very satisfied with his performance and was very 4that he could get the job. But at that moment, the manager's phone5 He picked up the phone, listened and nodded. And then he turned around and said to John, “Sorry, I want to get some important 6 now. Please give me the book with the red7on that desk.” John looked around and found 3 books on the desk, so John went to the desk, took one book and handed it to him 8Holding the book, the manager 9 the phone and said, “Sorry, we cannot give the job to you.” John was10and wondered why. The manager said, “There are three11 First, when you came into the office room, I found that the third button on your shirt had been missing. Second, there are three books with red covers on that desk, but you didn't ask me which one I needed and you took one 12 Third, I was answering the call. You should 13to the desk to save time. These 14showed you are not a careful person.” Therefore, John didn't get the job.

    We can learn a(n) 15 from John's experience. Some people don't 16 the details in our life. But it is the details that17Not only should we value what we learn but also we should pay more attention to the details. Sometimes they can even18our success or failure. We should form the habit of being careful and learn to keep the19between quantity and quality. We should keep in mind that 20comes first, without which quantity is of no significance.

—I can't agree more. ____________. There is no short cut.