阅读理解。
In a few years, you might be able to speak Chinese,Korean,Japanese,French,and English-andall at the
same time. This sounds incredible,but Alex Waibel,a computer science professor at US's Car-negie
Mellon University (CMU) and Germany's University of Karlsruhe,announced last week that it may soon
be reality. He and his team have invented software and hardware that could make it far easier forpeople
who speak different languages to understand each other.
One application,called Lecture Translation,can easily translate a speech from one language into
an-other. Current translation technologies typically limit speakers to certain topics or a limited vocabulary. Us-ers also have to be trained how to use the programme.
Another machine can send translations of a speech to different listeners depending on what
languagethey speak. "It is like having a simultaneous translator right next to you but without disturbing the
person next to you,"Waibel said
Prefer to read? So- called Translation Glasses transcribe(转录) the translations on a tiny
liquid-crystal display(LCD) screen.
Then there's the Muscle Translator. Electrodes capture the electrical signals from facial muscle
movements made naturally when a person is mouthing words. The signals are then translated into speech.
The electrodes could be replaced with wireless chips implanted in a person's face,according to
research-ers.
During a demonstration held last Thursday in CMU's Pittsburgh campus,a Chinese student named
Sang Jun had 11 tiny electrodes attached to the muscles of his cheeks,neck and throat. Then he
mouthed-without speaking aloud- a few words in Mandarin (普通话) to the audience. A few seconds
later,the phrase was displayed on a computer screen and spoken out by the computer in English and
Spanish: "Let me introduce our new prototype."
This particular instrument,when fully developed,might allow anyone to speak in any number of
lan-guages or,as Waibel put it,"to switch your mouth to a foreign language". "The idea behind the
universi-ty's prototypes is to create'good enough' bridges for cross- cultural exchanges that are
becoming more common in the world,"Waibel said.
With spontaneous(自发的) translators, foreign drivers in Germany could listen to traffic warnings on
the radio; tourists in China could read all the signs and talk with local people;leaders of different
coun-tries could have secret talks without any interpreters there.
1.What can't be learned from the text?
A.The spontaneous translators will help us a lot.
B. There is no Muscle Translator in the world now.
C. Muscle Translators can translate what you think into speech if you just move your mouth.
D. A lecture translation can translate what you said into other languages easily.
2. What does the underlined word mean?
A. happening at at the same time.
B. happening by itself.
C. similar in size.
D. Similar in quality.
3.What's the final destination of inventing the language translators?
A. To make cultural exchanges between different countries easier.
B. To help students learn foreign languages more easily.
C. To make people live in foreign countries more comfortably.
D. To help people learn more foreign languages in the future.
4. What can be inferred from the seventh paragraph?
A. The translator is so good that it can translate any language into the very language you need.
B. The translator is becoming more and more common in the world as a bridge.
C. With the help of the translator,you only need to open your mouth when you want to say
something without saying the exact words at all.
D.The translator needs to be improved before being put into market.
5. Where can we probably find this passage?
A. A newspaper.
B. A magazine on science.
C. A fairy tale.
D. A scientific fantasy book.
