Apr. 26, 2016 Vol. 225
by Theodore Pigott, special correspondent
An Ancient Challenge with a New, High-Tech Twist
By all accounts, Lee Sedol is a master of the ancient board game—Go. Although the thirty-three-year-old South Korean looks boyish, he is an eighteen-time Go world champion. In addition, he is widely acknowledged as one of the best Go players in the world. However, it appears that this legend has finally met his match, as Lee was defeated four out of five times in a recent Go tournament. His opponent? A Google computer program named AlphaGo.
The “man versus machine” Go tournament was held in Seoul, South Korea, and it featured a million US dollars in prize money. Before the tournament, Lee was optimistic about his chances. However, this optimism quickly disappeared after Lee was defeated by the computer three times in a row. Stunned, Lee blamed the losses on “psychological pressure.” He was able to rally to a victory in the fourth match before losing once again in the fifth and final match.
Of course, this is not the first time that a computer has played a human in a board game. In 1997, a supercomputer from IBM named Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov, who was the reigning world chess champion. Although this outcome shocked many at the time, experts predicted that it would be much more difficult for a computer to defeat a human in the game of Go. In fact, before the recent challenge, some said that computer programs would need at least ten more years before they could compete with Go masters like Lee, since the game is so complex and has an almost endless number of possible moves. The overwhelming victory of AlphaGo has caused many experts to rethink their predictions about the future of computers and artificial intelligence.
The AlphaGo program was created and developed by a company called DeepMind. Google purchased this company in 2014, and it became part of Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Sergey Brin, president of Alphabet and the co-founder of Google, praised both Lee and AlphaGo, and called the game of Go itself “a very beautiful game.”
Although some are worried by the victories of this computer, Ke Jie, an eighteen-year-old boy from China who is the number one Go player in the world, still believes that he can beat AlphaGo, if they were ever to play each other. No matter what, one thing is certain: the future of the game of Go and the world itself may have been changed forever by the victories of AlphaGo.
Reading Comprehension
( ) 1. The main idea of this passage is that ______.
(A) the ancient board game Go is a game hard to master
(B) the advance of A.I. technologies is faster than expected
(C) Google has beat IBM and become the leader in A.I. technologies
(D) Sergey Brin is the main driving force behind the success of AlphaGo.
( ) 2. Who is the best Go player in the world rank after the five-game tournament between Lee Sedol and AlphaGo?
(A) Lee Sedol. (B) AlphaGo. (C) Garry Kasparov. (D) Ke Jie.
( ) 3. Which of the following comparisons and contrasts between DeepBlue and AlphaGo is NOT true according to the passage?
(A) They are both computer programs specifically designed for certain games.
(B) They have both beat world champions in some territories at their time.
(C) The later is about two decades more advanced than the former.
(D) The former was designed and developed by IBM and the later by DeepMind.
( ) 4. According to the passage, it could be inferred that ______.
(A) the author believes that Ke Jie could beat AlphaGo
(B) Sergey Brin was the main designer of AlphaGo
(C) Lee Sedol was confident of success before the games with AlphaGo
(D) the author is pessimistic about the future of the game of Go
( ) 5. After the first game with AlphaGo, Lee Sedol expressed that his failure was caused by ______.
(A) his arrogance (B) his carelessness
(C) the invincible opponent (D) mental pressure
Vocabulary and Phrases
1. by all accounts phr. 從各方面來說；據說
．I’ve never been to Kyoto, but it is, by all accounts, a quite beautiful place worth visiting.
2. boyish adj. 孩子氣的；男孩似的
．The man with a boyish face looks 10 years younger than he actually is.
3. acknowledge vt. 承認
be acknowledged as phr. 被公認為…
．Einstein, well-known for his Theory of Relativity, was acknowledged as a genius.
4. legend n. [C] 傳奇（人物）
．As a legend in baseball, Barry Bonds held a record of 73 home runs in a single season.
5. meet one’s match phr. 遇到旗鼓相當的對手
．After winning for years, the champion player finally met his match on the field.
6. defeat vt. 擊敗，戰勝
．To everyone’s surprise, the youngest boy defeated all of the experienced players.
7. tournament n. [C] 錦標賽；比賽；聯賽
．In the keen competition of this international tennis tournament, Serena narrowly won the championship.
8. opponent n. [C] 敵手，對手
．Nothing could shake William’s confidence that he would beat all his opponents.
9. versus prep. 對抗
．The final game tonight is Yankees versus Red Sox. You shouldn’t miss it.
10. optimism n. [U] 樂觀，樂觀主義
．The young man is filled with optimism; he is always looking on the bright side of everything.
11. in a row phr. 連續地
．You need to win four times in a row if you want to challenge the champion in this game.
12. stunned [] adj. 震驚的
．The sudden breakout of the deadly disease made everyone stunned.
13. psychological adj. 心理的，精神的
．In today’s society, psychological well-being has become a very important issue that everyone cares about.
14. rally vi. 重新振作（精神等）
．Though being knocked down in the first round, the tough boxer rallied to beat his opponent at last.
15. reigning adj. 現任的，（體育、競賽項目冠軍）本屆的
．The reigning champ is now at his peak and believes that nobody could beat him.
16. outcome n. [C] 結果，結局
．Stanley was satisfied with the outcome of his efforts. He got straight A’s.
17. predict vt. 預言，預料
prediction n. [C][U] 預言，預報
．The weather forecasters have predicted occasional showers for the coming weekend.
．The superstitious man believes every prediction of the fortune teller about his future.
18. endless adj. 無盡的，不斷的，無休止的
．The young kid’s death left endless pain and sorrow in her parents’ hearts.
19. overwhelming adj. 壓倒性的；勢不可擋的
．Whoever has the strength to persevere in spite of overwhelming hardships ahead can be an outstanding leader.
20. rethink vt. vi. 重新考慮；再想想
．The government decides to rethink about its policy since there are many people opposed to it.
21. artificial adj. 人工的，人造的
．Instead of using fresh-cut flowers, the family used artificial ones to decorate the house.
22. intelligence n. [U] 智慧；理解力
artificial intelligence (AI) phr. 人工智慧
．Since a child’s intelligence develops quickly before the age of six, more and more parents put much emphasis on preschool education.
．How much AI is used in our daily life might be more than most people think.
Words for Recognition
1. Lee Sedol n. 李世乭
1983年生，南韓圍棋九段棋士，棋風飄渺靈幻，常有神來之筆，且計算極為精準，擅長在落後的情況下逆轉取勝，被譽為一代棋界巨匠。
2. Go n. 圍棋
3. South Korean n. 南韓人
4. Google n. 谷歌
一家美國的跨國科技企業，業務範圍囊括網際網路搜尋、雲端運算等領域，開發並提供大量基於網際網路的產品與服務，主要利潤來自於廣告服務。
5. AlphaGo n. 阿爾法圍棋
由英國Google Deepmind所開發的人工智慧圍棋程式，也是第一個不藉助讓子而擊敗職業九段棋士的電腦圍棋程式。在與李世乭的五局賽後被韓國棋院授予名譽職業九段的榮譽。
6. Seoul n. 首爾
南韓首都暨朝鮮半島最大城市，也是現今南韓的經濟、科技和文化中心。
7. supercomputer n. 超級電腦
指能夠執行一般個人電腦無法處理的大資料量與高速運算的電腦，基本組成元件與個人電腦概念無太大差異，但規格與效能則強大許多。
8. IBM n. 國際商業機器股份有限公司（International Business Machines Corporation）
曾譯為「萬國商用機器公司」，是一家跨國科技公司，總部位於美國紐約州。除生產並銷售電腦軟、硬體外，也為系統架構和網路代管提供諮詢服務。
9. Deep Blue n. 深藍
由IBM開發，專門用以分析西洋棋的超級電腦，曾於1997年擊敗西洋棋世界冠軍卡斯帕洛夫。
10. Garry Kasparov n. 蓋瑞‧卡斯帕洛夫
俄羅斯西洋棋棋手，曾於1985至2006年間23次獲得世界冠軍頭銜，並兩度與IBM開發的超級電腦深藍進行較量：1996年卡斯帕洛夫以3勝2和1負取勝，1997年則是深藍以2勝3和1負擊敗卡斯帕洛夫。
11. DeepMind n. 深度思維
一家英國的人工智慧公司，建立於2010年，最初名稱為深度思維科技公司（DeepMind Technologies），2014年被谷歌收購後更名為Google DeepMind。
12. Alphabet n. 字母表
位於美國加州，於2015年8月成立，是谷歌整合後的母公司，旗下包含谷歌在內的7家子公司。
13. Sergey Brin n. 謝爾蓋‧布林
谷歌創辦人之一，在史丹佛大學攻讀博士期間結識了賴利‧佩吉，兩人以宿舍中的廉價主機，應用布林所設計的資料探勘系統為基礎，編寫出Google搜尋引擎，之後更共同建立世界最大的網路公司─谷歌。
14. co-founder n. [C] 共同創辦人
15. Ke Jie n. 柯潔
1997年生，中國圍棋職業九段棋士，目前（2016年4月）世界排名第一。在李世乭與AlphaGo首局對奕後，曾透過新浪微博表示「就算阿法狗戰勝了李世乭，但它贏不了我」，立即引起媒體及網民關注，造成其微博粉絲數暴增。但在李世乭連敗三場之後，柯隨即改口表示自己「也可能會輸給AlphaGo」。
Translation
新高科技挑戰古老棋藝遊戲
從各方面來說，李世乭（ㄕˊ）都是古老棋盤遊戲─圍棋─的大師。雖然這位33歲的南韓選手看起來可能還有點孩子氣，卻已18次奪得圍棋世界冠軍；此外，他也被普遍認為是世界最強棋士之一。不過，這名傳奇人物終於棋逢敵手，因為李世乭在最近的一次圍棋錦標賽中5戰4敗，他的對手是？谷歌電腦程式─阿爾法圍棋。
這場「人機大戰」圍棋錦標賽於南韓首爾舉辦，獎金高達一百萬美金。在這場錦標賽開始前，李選手對於自己奪勝的機會持樂觀態度，但這種樂觀在連續三次被電腦打敗後很快就蕩然無存。震驚之下，李世乭將敗因歸諸於「心理壓力」。而在第五戰─也就是最後一次對局─再次吞敗前，李選手於第四戰重整旗鼓，奪得一勝。
當然，這並不是電腦跟人類首次在棋盤上的較量。1997年，來自IBM的超級電腦─深藍─就曾打敗過當時的西洋棋世界冠軍蓋瑞‧卡斯帕洛夫。即便這樣的結果在當時震驚了許多人，但專家卻仍然預測，電腦要在圍棋上擊敗人類的難度還要再高上許多。事實上，在最近這次挑戰前，還有些人認為電腦至少要再過10年才夠資格跟李世乭這樣的圍棋大師一較高下，這是因為圍棋十分複雜，可能的下法趨近於無限多種。而這次阿爾法圍棋的壓倒性勝利，已經讓許多專家重新思考他們對於未來電腦及人工智慧的預測。
阿爾法圍棋程式由一家名叫「深度思維」的公司創設並研發。谷歌於2014年併購這家公司，並將其納入谷歌的母公司─Alphabet（字母表）─旗下。Alphabet的總裁暨谷歌的共同創辦人謝爾蓋‧布林對李世乭和阿爾法圍棋雙方都表示讚賞，並稱這次的圍棋賽事為「一場非常漂亮的比賽」。
雖然有些人對這次電腦的勝利感到擔心，但來自中國，目前世界排名第一的18歲棋士─柯潔─仍然相信，如果有機會較量的話，自己能打敗阿爾法圍棋。無論如何，有件事是肯定的：隨著阿爾法圍棋的勝利，圍棋以及世界的未來都已經被永遠改變了。
閱讀測驗解答：1. B 2. D 3. A 4. C 5. D
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