The power of data analysis数据分析的力量

董传霞

研究人员发现，在做出艰难决定时，数据可以提供可靠的参考信息。通过大数据，我们可以从数百万面临与我们类似困境的人那里获取证据，从而让我们的决策更加科学。

主题语境：科技 篇幅：325词 建议用时：6分钟

Where should you live？ How should youspend your time？ For centuries， people have reliedon their instincts to figure out the answers to theselife?changing questions. But there is a better waynow. We are living through a data explosion， asvast amounts of information about all aspects ofhuman behaviour have become more and more ac?cessible.

We can use this big data to help determine the best course to chart. Researchers havefound algorithms can be much better than people at making difficult decisions. The powerof data analysis has been proved in the sports and business worlds， too. As it was made fa?mous by the book and movie Moneyball， baseball teams found that algorithms were betterthan managers at picking strategies.

But stats have had surprisingly little impact on our personal lives. One major problemis that good data about lifes biggest personal questions has been difficult to gain. Considerthis question： what makes people happy？ Some have revealed the activities that provide farmore enjoyment than most of us would have guessed， such as exercising， going to a museumand gardening. Then there are things that give us less pleasure than we might assume， such as playing video games， watching TV and browsing the Internet. Another way to be happieris moving house. The researchers found that when people moved from an unhappy city to ahappier place， their overall mood improved.

There are early days of the data revolution in personal decision?making. A study oftens of millions of children has found the places that increase their future earnings most.Another shows certain cities can improve ones life expectancy. I am not claiming that wecan completely base our lifestyle choices on algorithms， though we might get to that point inthe future. Instead， I am claiming that we can all dramatically improve our decision?makingby consulting evidence from millions of people who face trouble similar to ours via big data.

Reading Check

1. How can people make better decisions now？

A. By doing plenty of interviews.

B. By relying on accessible big data.

C. By using the common sense of life.

D. By following others life behavior.

2. Why is the movie Moneyball mentioned in paragraph 2？

A. To suggest managers handle their players.

B. To inform data can improve players skills.

C. To show baseball is popular in the sports world.

D. To prove algorithms can make better decisions.

3. What makes us happier than we guess according to paragraph 3？

A. Visiting a museum.

B. Surfing the Internet.

C. Playing video games.

D. Moving to a bigger city.

4. What does the author conclude in the end？

A. The big data can increase our future earnings.

B. The big data can prolong our life expectancy.

C. We can improve decision?making via big data.

D. We can develop our lifestyle in different ways.

Language Study

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence in the text

I am not claiming that we can completely base our lifestyle choices on algorithms，though we might get to that point in the future. 我并不是說我们可以完全根据算法来选择我们的生活方式，尽管我们可能会在未来实现这一点。

【点石成金】本句是一个复合句，that we can completely base our lifestyle choices onalgorithms， though we might get to that point in the future是一个宾语从句，though引导的是一个让步状语从句。

Ⅱ. Text?centered chunks

rely on 依靠；依赖

figure out 弄懂；弄清楚

vast amounts of 大量的

make difficult decisions 做出艰难的决定

have little impact on 对……影响小

browse the Internet 浏览互联网