Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage:
As Dr. Samuel Johnson said in a different era about ladies preaching, the surprising thing about computers is not that they think less well than a man, but that they think at all. The early electronic computer did not have much going for it except a marvelous memory and some good math skills. But today the best models can be wired up to learn by experience, follow an argument, ask proper questions and write poetry and music. They can also carry on somewhat puzzling conversations.
Computers imitate life. As computers get more complex, the imitation gets better. Finally, the line between the original and the copy becomes unclear. In another 15 years or so, we will see the computer as a new form of life.
The opinion seems ridiculous because, for one thing, computers lack the drives and emotions of living creatures. But drives can be programmed into the computer’s brain just as nature programmed them into our human brains as a part of the equipment for survival.
Computers match people in some roles, and when fast decisions are needed in a crisis, they often surpass them. Having evolved when the pace of life was slower, the human brain has an inherent defect that prevents it from absorbing several streams of information simultaneously and acting on them quickly. Throw too many things at the brain at one time and it freezes up.
We are still in control, but the capabilities of computers are increasing at a fantastic rate, while raw human intelligence is changing slowly, if as all. Computer power has increased ten times every eight years since 1946. In the 1990s, when the sixth generation appears, the reasoning power of an intelligence built out of silicon will begin to match that of the human brain.
That does not mean the evolution of intelligence has ended on the earth. Judging by the past, we can expect that a new species will arise out of man, surpassing his achievements as he has surpassed those of his predecessor. Only a carbon chemistry enthusiast would assume that the new species must be man’s flesh-and-blood descendants. The new kind of intelligent life is more likely to be made of silicon. 31. What do you suppose was the attitude of Dr. Samuel Johnson towards ladies preaching?
A) He believed that ladies were born worse preachers than men.
B) He was pleased that ladies could preach, though not as well as men.
C) He disapproved of ladies preaching.
D) He encouraged ladies to preach.
32. Today, computers are still inferior to man in terms of ___.
A) decision making
B) drives and feelings
C) growth of reasoning power
D) information absorption
33. In terms of making quick decisions, the human brain cannot be compared with the computer because ___.
A) in the long process of evolution the slow pace of life didn’t require such ability of the human brain.
B) the human brain is influenced by other factors such as motivation and emotion
C) the human brain may sometimes freeze up in a dangerous situation
D) computers imitate life while the human brain does not imitate computers
Passage Four
Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage:
Video recorders and photocopiers, even ticket machines on the railways, often seem unnecessarily difficult to use Last December I bought myself a video cassette recorder (VCR) described as “simple to use”. In the first three weeks I failed repeatedly to program the machine to record from the TV, and after months of practice I still made mistakes. I am not alone. According to a survey last year by Ferguson, the British manufacturer, more than one in four VCR owners never use the timer（定时器）on their machines to record a programme: they don’t use it because they’ve found it far too hard to operate.
So why do manufacturers keep on designing and producing VCRS that are awkward to use if the problems are so obvious? First, the problems we notice are not obvious to technically minded（有技术思想的）designers with years of experience and trained to understand how appliances work. Secondly, designers tend to add one or two features as a time to each model, whereas you or I face all a machine’s features at once. Thirdly, although finding problems in a finished product is easy, it is too late by then to do anything about the design. Finally, if manufacturers can get away with selling products that are difficult to use, it is not worth the effort of any one of them to make improvements.
Some manufacturers say they concentrate on providing a wide range of features rather than on making the machines easy to use. But that gives rise to the question, “Why can’t you have features that are easy to use?” The answer is you can.
Good design practice is a mixture of specific procedures and general principles. For a start, designers should build an original model of the machine and try it out on typical members of the public-not on colleagues in the development laboratory. Simple public trials would quickly reveal many design mistakes. In an ideal world, there would be some ways of controlling quality such as that the VCR must be redesigned repeatedly until, say, 90 per cent of users can work 90 per cent of the features correctly 90 per cent of the time.
36. The author had trouble operating his VCR because ____.
A) he had neglected the importance of using the timer
B) the machine had far more technical features than necessary
C) he had set about using it without proper training
D) its operation was far more difficult than the designer intended it to be
37. According to the author, manufacturers ___.
A) should add more useful features to their machines
B) often fail to make their products easy to use
C) should make their appliances as attractive as possible
D) often fail to provide proper training in the use of their products
38. It seems that manufacturers will remain reluctant to make improvements unless ___.
A) they can do so as a very low cost
B) they find their machines hard to operate
C) they have difficulty selling their products
D) they receive a lot of complaints about their machines
39. According to the passage, before a VCR is sold on the market, its original model should be tried out ___.
A) among ordinary consumers who are not technically minded
B) among people who are technically minded
C) among experienced technicians and potential users
D) among people who are in charge of public relations
40. One of the reasons why VCRs are so difficult to use is that ___.
A) the designers are often insensitive to the operational complexities of their machines
B) the range of features provided is unlimited
C) there is no ideal way of controlling quality
D) their designers often ignore the complaints of their users
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