New Al interprets ancient texts 追寻古老文字踪迹，人工智能显身手

王青

人工智能與人文共舞！由DeepMind推出的人工智能模型Ithaca可以帮助历史学家修复受损的古老文字。

主题语境：人工智能篇幅：335词建议用时：7分钟

Named “Ithaca”after the Greek island home of Homer's King Odysseus， the modern Ithaca is a deep neural network architecture AI. It seeks to assist researchers in filling in crucial gaps in inscriptions（铭文）from Homer's time， restoring texts at the same time as well as accurately identifying the time and place they came from.

And， as New Atlas reports， the prospects look promising. So far Ithaca has shown a 62 percent success rate in restoring damaged texts， and a 71 percent success rate in identifying their original location along with the ability to accurately date the texts to within 30 years of their creation. The use of Ithaca alongside research by historians improved on the success rate of Ithaca alone in restoring damaged texts from 62 percent to 72 percent. Historians working unassisted by Ithaca had a success rate of 25 percent， so its astonishing possibilities have quickly become apparent.

“Just as microscopes and telescopes have extended the range of what scientists can do today， Ithaca aims to singularly strengthen and expand the capabilities to study one of the most significant periods of human history，”says Dr Yannis Assael， a co-author of the work.

The team believe that the model could be tuned to almost any ancient language，from Latin to Mayan to cuneiform. Further， it could possibly be capable of reading Greek literary texts written on papyrus（纸莎草纸）.

While scholars are excited at the possibilities the AI opens up， they warn about the need to proceed with extreme caution in using it to interpret the past. Prof. Peter Liddel， an expert in Greek history and epigraphy at the University of Manchester， acknowledged that the AI would certainly add to historians' toolbox. However， like scholars， the AI also has only the available ancient record to go by. “AI is powerful as a tool to help us ask questions about and make comparisons with the existing evidence，”he said.

Reading Check

1. What does the second paragraph focus on？

A. The market value of Ithaca.

B. The performance of Ithaca.

C. The historians' challenges.

D. The development of Ithaca.

2. How much does Ithaca alone raise the success rate in restoring damaged texts compared with historians？

A. By 10 percent.B. By 37 percent.

C. By 47 percent.D. By 62 percent.

3. How does Dr Yannis Assael feel about the use of Ithaca by historians？

A. Doubtful.B. Puzzled.C. Confident.D. Disapproving.

4. What does Prof. Peter Liddel mean with his words in the last paragraph？

A. AI will help answer most of historians' questions.

B. The nature of cultural activity will remain a mystery.

C. Historians can't rely much on Ithaca.

D. Historians today must not rush into any conclusions.

Language Study

I. Difficult sentence in the text

While scholars are excited at the possibilities the AI opens up， they warn about the need to proceed with extreme caution in using it to interpret the past.盡管学者们对人工智能带来的前景激动不已，但他们同时也提出警告：利用人工智能解读过去时必须非常谨慎。

【点石成金】本句是一个主从复合句。while引导一个让步状语从句，to proceed为不定式短语作名词need的后置定语。

II. Text-centered chunks

seek to do试图做

fill in填充;填补;填写

as well as 也;和

look promising 看起来有希望

so far到目前为止

success rate 成功率

along with 与……一起

extend the range of 扩大……的范围

be capable of 能够……

add to增加到

make comparisons with 与……做比较