W6D4D5精读

W6D4 Conversational Interfaces：Powerful speech technology from China’s leading Internet company makes it much easier to use a smartphone

地道表达

• A more efficient mobile interface would come as a big help in China.
  [interface] the way in which you see the informationfrom a computer program on a screen or how you type information into the program； 界面
  eg.Its purpose is to combine the interactivity of a user-friendly interface with multiple forms of content.它的用途就是实现用户友好的界面与不同形式内容的接入。

• The company has research teams at its headquarters in Beijing and at a facility in Silicon Valley that are dedicated to advancing the accuracy of speech recognition and working to make computers better at parsing the meaning of sentences.
  [parse]tech. to describe the grammar of a word when it is in a particularsentence, or the grammar of the whole sentence 从语法分析
  eg. This chapter explores in more detail the effect of such equivalence classes on parsing phonemes into words. 本章节将仔细分析等式结构对单词音位语法分析的影响

• I hope to someday have grandchildren who are mystified at how
  it would rudely sit there and ignore you.
  [mystify]v.使神秘化，迷惑；

• 其他表达
  paying restaurant tabs 支付餐厅账单（cf：bill；tag；payment）
  literacy levels 文化水平
  accuracy of speech recognition 话语识别的准确性
  plugging away 坚持做某事；刻苦做某事；
  eg.He has been plugging away at that article, for hours.
  eg.She's been plugging away at her French lessons for months.
  reached an important landmark.
  voice technology 语音技术
  neural network 神经网络
  transcribed speech 话语转录
  snippets 小片段
  simple queries(query) 小问题

专业术语

• AI Aritificial Intelligence 人工智能 它是研究、开发用于模拟、延伸和扩展人的智能的理论、方法、技术及应用系统的一门新的技术科学。领域的研究包括机器人、语言识别、图像识别、自然语言处理和专家系统等

• robotics 机器人学
  Robotics an interdisciplinary branch of engineering and science that includes mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, and others,which deals with the design, construction, operation, and the use of robots as well as computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, andinformation processing.(维基百科)

Refence materials

A Chinese Internet Giant Starts to Dream
Innovator Under 35-Andrew Ng, 32 Building household robots
Home-page Jim Glass

W6D5 Conversational Interfaces：Powerful speech technology from China’s leading Internet company makes it much easier to use a smartphone

语言分析

“I hope to someday** have grandchildren who are mystified at how**, back in 2016, if you were to say ‘Hi’ to your microwave oven, it would rudely sit there and ignore you.”
[ have grandchildren who are mystified at how if you were to say ‘Hi’ to your microwave oven, it would rudely sit there and ignore you] 此句是一个玩笑话，借Ng的话委婉地表达了作者对语音技术的乐观太短。

段落大意

• 第1段：更有效率的智能手机操作界面将符合中国市场的需要。（说明大意：智能手机广泛使用但界面不够有效-汉语输入系统复杂/说明目前语音系统不高效原因：1老年人不会使用系统2贫困地区人民教育水平/最后提出愿景）
• 第2段：科技创新行业的专家Ng发表对当前智能手机操作存在问题的看法，提出应该让人们从一开始就学会使用智能电话
• 第3段：业内专家Ng继续认为语音技术应该应用在所有设备的协作中，并用最后一句介绍百度在语音识别上的研究情况，过渡到下一段。
• 第4段：另外一位资深的业内专家Jim认为语音识别技术具有可行性和市场。
• 第5段：介绍百度最近在语音技术上获得的里程碑式进展：机器通过学习大量的转录语音内容，实现准确识别口述的单词，准确率甚至比人的准确率还要高。
• 第6段：通过推断说明该语音系统具有普适性，可用于世界上任何一种语言。
• 第7段：介绍用户对语音搜索引擎的要求越来越高，并介绍百度推出的搜索引擎“度儿”的主要功能。
• 第8段：百度目前所面临的挑战是优化其人工智能系统应答更复杂的对话，并具体说明百度如何优化“度儿”的识别准确性。
  （反复对话测试、使用不同的对话内容、解释用户提出的问题、专家组纠错）
• 第9段：再次引用业内人士Ng的话，以幽默的玩笑表达其对语音技术广泛应用持乐观态度

全文逻辑 :先分后总

Part1(1-4) 语音技术有利于提高智能手机操作界面的效率，并且拥有广阔的市场和光明的前景
Part2(5-6)百度在语音技术上获得里程碑式进展，说明语音技术正在快速发展
Part3(7-8)用户对语音技术的需求以及如何应对目前人工智能系统发展（语音技术系统属于其中之一）所面临的挑战
Part4(9) 以业内杰出人士Ng的观点总结全文，表达对语音技术发展持乐观态度

作者态度

作者分析中国手机系统的使用情况、引用两位专家Ng和James的话，表现出对语音技术的发展持乐观态度。
写作风格
平实（多例子）
语言幽默（开玩笑）、暗诲（从侧面表达态度、证明观点）