Every day, people come into contact with thousands of chemicals. These chemicals are said to be harmless to human health. In fact，the chemicals are considered so safe that we wash with them. We put them on our bodies and even our faces. Other chemical products are used throughout our homes.
By the time you walk out of your front door, you have already been exposed to thousands of chemicals.
On its own, each chemical seems harmless. But in combination with other chemicals, they may become deadly. That is the finding of a two-year study by a high-profile task force of scientists. The task force was told to investigate the cancer-causing possibility of chemical mixtures.
Linda Gulliver was one of 174 scientists on the task force. Their job was to study the cancer-causing potential of 85 chemicals. All 85 are said to be common in the environment.
Ms. Gulliver explains that chemicals have the potential or y to form dangerous mixtures. Even simple minerals can become dangerous when mixed with chemicals found in plastics or beauty products.
Working in groups, the scientists explored how different chemical mixtures could lead to cancer. Ms. Gulliver’s team looked at the ability of different combinations to support the in- crease of malignant (恶性的) human cells.
She says the current way to identify whether chemicals cause cancer is to test them one at a time. This method leads, she adds, to a long list of supposedly “safe” chemicals. She and her team say that approach needs to change.
“We definitely need certain research… to find out what mixtures of chemicals would be more harmful than others; what groups of chemicals, when together, would produce more harmful effects. And at the moment, that is not known.”
An estimated one in five cancers has been linked to chemical exposure. It may turn out that the cancer-causing villain (恶棍) is not a single chemical at all.
1. What effect may one single chemical have on us according to the text?| A．It may let us suffer from cancer. |
| B．It may not cause danger to us. |
| C．It may destroy our body. |
| D．It may let our body make a change. |
| A．She has found reasons for five kinds of cancers. |
| B．She has found that only one chemical can cause cancer. |
| C．She has found 85 cancer-causing chemicals. |
| D．She is not sure what mixtures of chemicals are more harmful. |
| A．is just wasting time and money |
| B．is in need of great efforts |
| C．will cause panic in public |
| D．will be resisted by the public |
| A．Mixtures of Safe Chemicals May Cause Cancer |
| B．Being Exposed to One Chemical Is Dangerous |
| C．How Mixtures of Safe Chemicals Come into Being? |
| D．What Is the Real Cause for Cancer? |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Whenever anyone asks me what tech I’d like to see invented, I always say the universal translator, which lets you understand and speak any language.
Meta AI recently announced the start of the universal speech translator (UST) project, which aims to create AI systems that enable real-time speech-to-speech translation across all languages, even those that are spoken but not commonly written. Meta says that today’s AI translation models are focused on widely-used written languages, and that more than 40% of primarily spoken languages are not covered by such translation technologies.
According to Meta, the model is the first AI-powered speech translation system for the unwritten language Hokkien (闽南语), a Chinese language spoken in southeastern China. The system allows Hokkien speakers to hold conversations with English speakers, a significant step toward bringing people together wherever they are located.
To build UST, Meta AI focused on overcoming three important translation system challenges. It addressed data scarcity by getting more training data in more languages and finding new ways to use the data it had found. It solved the modeling problems that arise as models grow to serve many more languages. And it sought new ways to improve on its results.
Meta AI claims that the techniques it pioneered with Hokkien can be extended to many other unwritten languages—and eventually work in real time. For this purpose, Meta has released the Speech Matrix, a large collection of speech-to-speech translations, which enables other research teams to create translation models for other languages.
Artificial (人工的) speech translation could play a significant role in our world. For interactions, it will enable people from around the world to communicate with each other more smoothly, making the social net more interconnected. For content, using artificial speech translation allows you to easily localize content.
Yashar Behzadi, CEO and founder of Synthesis AI, believes that technology needs to enable more natural experiences if the digital world is to succeed. He says that one of the current challenges for UST models is the computationally expensive training that’s needed because of the wide range and very slight differences in meaning or sound of languages. Also, to train strong AI models requires vast amounts of typical data. A significant bottleneck to building these AI models in the near future will be to ensure training data collect the privacy in agreement with rules and law.
1. What is the feature of the UST project?| A．It changes spoken languages to written forms. |
| B．It attracts wider attention to written languages in translation. |
| C．It adds 40% of spoken languages into translation technology. |
| D．It enables real-time speech-to-speech translation across all languages. |
| A．Lack. | B．Mistake. | C．Recovery. | D．Management. |
| A．It is expensive to collect typical data. |
| B．It increases the use of a certain language. |
| C．Its techniques are finally developed for Hokkien. |
| D．It helps inspire interactions and content localization. |
| A．AI Translation: Make Translation Faster |
| B．AI Translation: Meet You in All Languages |
| C．Unwritten Language: Bring People Together |
| D．Unwritten Language: Translation Challenge |
【推荐2】Let us all raise a glass to AlphaGo and the advance of artificial intelligence. AlphaGo，
DeepMind’s Go-playing AI，just defeated the best Go-playing human，Lee Sedol. But as we drink to its success. we should also begin trying to understand what it means for the future.
The number of possible moves in a game of Go is so huge that. in order to win against a player like Lee. AlphaGo was designed to adopt a human—like style of gameplay by using a relatively recent development--deep learning. Deep learning uses large data sets，“machine learning”algorithms （计算程序） and deep neural networks to teach the AI how to perform a particular set of tasks. Rather than programming complex Go rules and strategies into AlphaGo，DeepMind designers taught AlphaGo to play the game by feeding it data based on typical Go moves. Then，AlphaGo played against itself, tirelessly learning from its own mistakes and improving its gameplay over time. The results speak for themselves.
Deep learning represents a shift in the relationship humans have with their technological creations. It results in AI that displays surprising and unpredictable behaviour. Commenting after his first loss，Lee described being shocked by an unconventional move he claimed no human would ever have made. Demis Hassabis. one of DeepMind's founders，echoed this comment：“We're very pleased that AlphaGo played some quite surprising and beautiful moves. ”
Unpredictability and surprises are—or can be—a good thing. They can indicate that a system is working well，perhaps better than the humans that came before it. Such is the case with AlphaGo. However，unpredictability also indicates a loss of human control. That Hassabis is surprised at his creation's behaviour suggests a lack of control in the design. And though some loss of control might be fine in the context of a game such as Go，it raises urgent questions elsewhere.
How much and what kind of control should we give up to AI machines? How should we design appropriate human control into AI that requires us to give up some of that very control? Is there some AI that we should just not develop if it means any loss of human control? How much of a say should corporations，governments，experts or citizens have in these matters? These important questions, and many others like them，have emerged in response，but remain unanswered. They require human，not human - like，solutions.
So as we drink to the milestone in AI, let's also drink to the understanding that the time to answer deeply human questions about deep learning and AI is now.
1. What contributes most to the unconventional move of AlphaGo in the game?| A．The capability of self-improvement. |
| B．The constant input of large data sets. |
| C．The installation of deep neutral networks. |
| D．The knowledge of Go rules and strategies. |
| A．the loss of human control | B．the friendly relationship |
| C．the fierce competition | D．the lack of challenge |
| A．We should stop AI machines from developing even further. |
| B．We should call on the government to solve these problems for us. |
| C．We should rely on ourselves and come up with effective solutions. |
| D．We should invent even more intelligent machines to solve everything. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Optimistic. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Cautious. |
【推荐3】Going from being called a “stupid molecule (分子) ”to “the secret of life”, our discovery and understanding of DNA has come a long way. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA----the pivotal (关键的) year when the so-called “secret of life” was uncovered by two scientists: James Watson from the US and Francis Crick from the UK.
Inherited characteristics like eye color, nose shape and even intelligence----scientists found the structure of the chemical which transmits these from one generation to another. “Discovering how these ‘chemical’ cards are shuffled (洗牌) and paired will keep the scientists busy for the next 50 years,” journalist Ritchie Calder commented in 1953 on the discovery. And it certainly has. The study of DNA has led to world-changing advances in many fields.
“DNA makes time fluid (流动的),” said The Irish Times. It lets us redefine the future. For example, in medicine, DNA helps us identify “weak points” in the human genome (基因组) that might be prone to disease. Through a technique called gene therapy, a person’s genes can be modified to treat or cure certain diseases. Another example is agriculture, where work on plant DNA has allowed us to change the way we breed (培育) crops, opening the door for genetically modified plants and advances in food security.
DNA can also shed light on the past. In forensic (法医的) science, DNA analysis has come to serve as a vital form of evidence in crime scenes, with “many millions having been proven guilty or innocent” through its usage, said the website AZoLife Sciences. And DNA in specimens (标本) like fossils and artifacts (文物) can give us vital information on humans and other species.
But what's next for DNA research? Improvements in technology are allowing us to utilize DNA in new ways. As the cost of DNA technologies decreases and related machines become more efficient, it becomes more accessible, reported Wired magazine. In medicine, DNA plays a key role in furthering the development of “personalized medicine” —designing treatment plans based on the genomes and other specific factors of individual patients. As “natural supercomputers”, DNA can store large amounts of data. So scientists are busy learning from DNA to make our computers store more data and work even faster.
1. Why does the author quote Ritchie Calder's remark in paragraph2?| A．To help better understand DNA. | B．To highlight scientists’ efforts. |
| C．To stress the discovery's impact. | D．To stress the importance of DNA technology. |
| A．The diverse applications of DNA. | B．The mysterious aspects of DNA. |
| C．Challenges of DNA research. | D．Ways to expand DNA research. |
| A．protect | B．use | C．correct | D．prevent |
| A．The replacement of medicines. | B．The reduction of medical costs. |
| C．The advancement of self-diagnosis. | D．The improvement of computer performance. |
