How does GDP differ from GNP?
A. GDP does not include earnings of companies operating in foreign countries.
B. GDP counts only goods and services produced within the nation's borders.
C. GDP refers to earnings from home-made products.
D. Earnings by foreign-owned companies are not included in GDP.
Why do some foreign companies like to set up their plants in Brazil?
A. They will not be severely punished if they cause pollution in Brazil.
B. The investment environment in Brazil is suitable for them.
C. They can make a big profit because they do not have to pay Brazilian workers much.
D. They can act in an irresponsible way in Brazil because there are no pollution laws there.
Inspired by Turing's theory, the first conference on AI convened at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire in 1956. Soon afterwards an Al laboratory was started at Massachusetts Institute of Technology by John McCarthy and Marvin Minsky, two of the nation's leading AI proponents. McCarthy also invented the Al computer language, Lisp; but by the early 1990s Al itself had not been achieved. However, logic programs called expert systems allow computers to "make decisions" by interpreting data and selecting from among alternatives. Technicians can run programs used in complex medical diagnosis, language translation, mineral exploration, and even computer design.
Machinery can outperform. humans physically. So, too, can computers outperform. mental functions in limited areas—notably in the speed of mathematical calculations. For example, the fastest computers developed are able to perform. roughly 10 billion calculations per second. But making more powerful computers will probably not be the way to create a machine capable of passing the Turing test. Computer programs operate according to set procedures, or logic steps, called algorithms. In addition, most computers do serial processing; operations of recognition and computation are performed one at a time. The brain works in a manner called parallel processing, performing operations simultaneously. To achieve simulated parallel processing, some supercomputers have been made with multiple processors to follow several algorithms at the same time.
Critics of this approach insist that solving a computation does not indicate understanding, something a person who solved a problem would have. Human reasoning is not based solely on roles of logic. It involves perception, awareness, emotional preferences, values, evaluating experience, the ability to generalize and weigh options, and more. Some proponents of AI have, therefore, suggested that computers should be patterned after the human brain, which essentially consists of a network of nerve cells.
By the early 1990s, the closest approximation to Al was a special silicon chip built to behave like a human brain cell. It was modeled after the internal workings of neurons in the human cerebral cortex. Unlike the conventional silicon chip, which works in digital mode, the new silicon chip works in analog mode, much the way a human brain cell works.
According to Turing, a computer has human-like intelligence in a special test if
A. the computer gives better answers.
B. the questioner falls to give identical questions.
C. the questioner can't tell between the answers of a person and a computer.
D. the questioner can't find the person hidden by the computer.
听力原文: Governments throughout the world make public reports about the condition of their economics. Most do this by measuring the value of their countries' yearly production of goods and services. Some countries including the Unites States have used a measure called the "gross national product" or GNP. It includes all goods and services produced by citizens of the country anywhere in the world. Recently the American Commerce Department began using a new method to measure production. The new method is known as the "gross domestic product" or GDP, It counts only goods and services that have been produced within the nation's borders. Earnings by foreign-owned companies operating in the United States are included in the GDP. But earnings of American companies operating in other countries are not. Economic experts generally approve of the change. They say the gross domestic product provides a truer measure of the economy. They also note that most other industrial countries use this method. Therefore, they say, it will be easier to study the economies of different countries. Some officials also say the new system will help them to make better economic policy decisions. They say it will provide them with a clear understanding of economic activity in the United States. The new measure, officials say, is less likely to be affected by sadden changes in foreign oil prices or in the value of the American dollar in other countries. Economic experts say the changes from GNP to GDP reduces the value of American production by at least 40,000 million dollars a year, but that is really a very small change in the American economy, less than one percent.
According to this passage, what is exactly GDP?
A. It's a new method to measure a country's production.
B. It's a way to study the economies of different countries.
C. It's a new system to help make economic decisions.
D. It's a means to understand a country's economic changes.