The spoken web
A) We’re growing more used to chatting to our computers, phones and smart speakers through voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana. Blind and partially sighted people have been using text-to-speech converters for decades.
B) Out of these assistants, Siri is the most well-known. The assistant uses voice inquiries and a natural-language user interface (界面) to answer questions. The software adapts to users’ individual language usages, searches, and preferences, with continuing use.
C) Some think voice could soon take over from typing and clicking as the main way to interact online. But what are the challenges of moving to “the spoken web”?
D) What use is written online content if you can’t read? that is the situation facing illiterate (不识字的) African farmers. They are often denied crucial information the web offers many others. With a literacy rate in some parts of Africa at only 22 .6%, farmers are often “underpaid for their produce because they might be unaware of the prevailing prices,” says Francis Dittoh, a researcher behind Mr Meteo, a speech-based weather information service.
E) “The most frequently heard complaint is about rainfall predictions,” says Mr Dittoh, who lives in Tamale, northern Ghana. “They tell us the methods their forefathers used to predict the weather
don't seem to work as well these days.” This is down to climate change, he believes. Yet knowing when it’s going to rain is vital for farmers wanting to sow seeds, irrigate crops or take their animals out to the fields to feed on grass.
F) Mr Dittoh says the idea of converting online weather reports into speech came from the farmers
themselves, after a workshop in the village of Guabuligah. “They came up with this,” he says. Mr
Meteo takes the online weather forecast, converts it to a short recording in the appropriate language and makes it available on a basic phone. Farmers ring up to receive the information. The local language Dagbani is spoken by 1.2 million people but is not served by any online translation
applications. The service was designed to be cheap and easy to run, says Mr Dittoh. He plans to begin field tests this month, working with Tamale’s Savanna Agricultural research Institute.
G) The spoken web could also help the one-in-five adults in Europe and the U.S. with poor reading skills. But building the spoken web--web-to-voice and voice-to-web--isn’t straightforward. For software to understand pizza is served at Italian restaurants is easy. To cover multiple domains and to be able to have a conversation with users on every single topic is still a long way off.
H) So although many computer assistants can answer simple questions about the weather and play music for us, anything resembling a wide-ranging human conversation is decades away. Artificial intelligence just isn’t smart enough yet. Even turning your voice into text--automatic speech recognition-- is one of the hardest problems to solve, as there are as many ways to pronounce things as there are people on the planet.
I) Siri has often been praised for its ability to interpret our casual language and deliver very specific and accurate results, sometimes even providing additional information. But it is still somewhat restricted, particularly when the language moves away from stiffer commands into more human interactions. In one example, the phrase “Send a text to Jason, Clint, Sam, and Lee saying we’re having dinner at Silver Cloud restaurant” was interpreted as sending a message to Jason only, containing the text “Clint Sam and Lee saying we’re having dinner at Silver Cloud restaurant”. It has also been noted that Siri lacks a proper editing function, as saying “Edit message to say: we’re at Silver Cloud restaurant and you should come find us” generates “Clint Sam and Lee saying we’re having dinner at Silver Cloud restaurant to say we’re at Silver Cloud restaurant and you should come find us”.
J) Using voice interaction feels far more intimate than surfing the net the old-fashioned way. This is intentional as the informal tone of the assistant helps create an emotional attachment. But if something speaks, it must also listen. Our phones are always near us and they are collecting data about us all the time. This has already raised privacy concerns. The American Civil Liberties Union has stated that digital assistants create a threat to privacy from hackers. Some people have other concerns. They worry assistants will one day be used to deliver advertising directly to us.
K) But digital voices need more personality to make them popular. Robots are not yet witty, Siri is boring. The benefits of using voice instead of tapping fingers obviously depend on the context. Doctors completing online forms about their patients by speech, for example, can dictate 150 words a minute, three times faster than typing on a keyboard. This enables them to spend less time on administration and more time with patients.
L) Last year, speech recognition company Nuance helped a doctors’ surgery in Dukinfield, near Manchester, set up a speech system for the practice’s six doctors. Now they can dictate notes on apatient's health condition and treatment and a smart assistant automatically enters the informationinto the right fields on a web form. Previously, the doctors made voice recordings that were then transcribed by secretaries--a process that was costly and likely to cause delays. The new system means letters to patients now have more detail.
M)Using voice also makes sense when you’re doing other things with your hands. Think about when you’re cooking, and you just want to know what the next step in the recipe is. Your hands are covered with oil; you’re not going to get on the iPad, so it’s a lot more natural to talk. And speech obviously makes sense when you're driving. In the U.S., 29% of drivers admit they surf behind the wheel, according to insurance firm state Farm. This is up from 13% in 2009. No wonder using mobile phones while driving causes more crashes a year than drink driving, says the U.S. National Safety Council.
36. According to Francis Dittoh, their speech-based weather information service was meant to be inexpensive and easy to use.
37. Using voice instead of typing enables doctors to spend more time taking care of patients.
38. It is extremely difficult to convert voice into text because of different pronunciations.
39. African farmers unable to read often don't have access to important information conveyed online.
40. Some phone users worry advertisers will take advantage of voice assistants to send ads directly to them.
41. The spoken web is helpful when one’s hands are occupied.
42. Some people believe online interaction would soon depend mainly on voice.
43. Setting up a spoken web is by no means an easy task.
44. Weather information is extremely important to farmers.
45. Some people are concerned about privacy because their phones are constantly collecting their personal information.
答案解析：
36. 由题干中的“Francis Dittoh”和“inexpensive and easy to use”定位到F段。F段提到“The service was designed to be cheap and easy to run, says Mr Dittoh.”，意思是迪托先生说，这项服务旨在价格低廉且易于运行，所以选F。
37. 由题干中的“Using voice instead of typing”和“doctors...spend more time taking care of patients”定位到K段。K段提到“Doctors completing online forms about their patients by speech...can dictate 150 words a minute, three times faster than typing on a keyboard. This enables them to spend less time on administration and more time with patients.”，意思是医生通过语音填写关于患者的在线表格……每分钟可以口述150个单词，比在键盘上打字快三倍。这使他们能够花更少的时间在行政事务上，花更多的时间与患者在一起，所以选K。
38. 由题干中的“convert voice into text”和“different pronunciations”定位到H段。H段提到“Even turning your voice into text--automatic speech recognition-- is one of the hardest problems to solve, as there are as many ways to pronounce things as there are people on the planet.”，意思是即使把你的声音转换成文本——自动语音识别——也是最难解决的问题之一，因为世界上有多少人就有多少种发音方式，所以选H。
39. 由题干中的“African farmers unable to read”和“important information conveyed online”定位到D段。D段提到“That is the situation facing illiterate (不识字的) African farmers. They are often denied crucial information the web offers many others.”，意思是这就是不识字的非洲农民面临的处境。他们常常无法获得网络为许多人提供的关键信息，所以选D。
40. 由题干中的“advertisers will take advantage of voice assistants to send ads”定位到J段。J段提到“Some people have other concerns. They worry assistants will one day be used to deliver advertising directly to us.”，意思是有些人还有其他担忧。他们担心助手有一天会被用来直接向我们投放广告，所以选J。
41. 由题干中的“The spoken web is helpful”和“one’s hands are occupied”定位到M段。M段提到“Using voice also makes sense when you’re doing other things with your hands.”，意思是当你用手做其他事情时，使用语音也是有道理的，所以选N。
42. 由题干中的“online interaction would soon depend mainly on voice”定位到C段。C段提到“Some think voice could soon take over from typing and clicking as the main way to interact online.”，意思是有些人认为，语音可能很快会取代打字和点击，成为在线互动的主要方式，所以选C。
43. 由题干中的“Setting up a spoken web is by no means an easy task”定位到G段。G段提到“But building the spoken web--web-to-voice and voice-to-web--isn’t straightforward.”，意思是但是构建语音网络——从网络到语音和从语音到网络——并非易事，所以选G。
44. 由题干中的“Weather information is extremely important to farmers”定位到E段。E段提到“Yet knowing when it’s going to rain is vital for farmers wanting to sow seeds, irrigate crops or take their animals out to the fields to feed on grass.”，意思是然而，对于想要播种、灌溉庄稼或把牲畜赶到田野里吃草的农民来说，知道何时会下雨至关重要，所以选E。
45. 由题干中的“privacy”和“phones are constantly collecting their personal information”定位到J段。J段提到“Our phones are always near us and they are collecting data about us all the time. This has already raised privacy concerns.”，意思是我们的手机总是陪伴在我们身边，它们一直在收集关于我们的数据。这已经引起了人们对隐私的担忧，所以选J。
