外刊讲解版@Mat 20231108注：本文档主要是为同学理解和学习Mat老师的外刊提供参考，建议同学先听课程音频，有需要时再对照文本。另外
，外教讲解偏口语化，在听课及对照文本时，不必在语法上过分细究。AI named word of the year by Colli
ns DictionaryPart I BackgroundToday we are talking about AI, word
s and dictionaries. So the article today tells us that in 2023, t
his year, the word AI was chosen as word of the year by Collins D
ictionary because it''s become a major topic of discussion with it
s use increasing four times and due to its significant influence
on our lives and debates about whether it''s good or bad.Now when
I read this, I thought this could be interesting. I could ask AI
about this topic. So the first question I asked ChatGPT is: ‘Do y
ou understand the concept of word of the year?’And AI replied: ‘w
ord of the year means picking a special word or phrase that shows
what was important in a year. It''s chosen by experts in language
.’Okay. ‘The word they choose is one that became very important d
uring that year and tells us about what was happening in society
or with tech technology. It helps us understand what was going on
that year through language.’Not bad. I quite like that definitio
n. So AI did quite well there. Then I asked the same AI, ChatGPT:
‘Can you suggest any words that could be chosen as word of the y
ear for 2023?’ It didn''t do very well here. It didn''t really want
to suggest any words. I kept trying and it came up with things l
ike Omicron, metaverse, not very good examples. Then I told the A
I, I said: ‘If I told you that word of the year for 2023 was actu
ally AI, what do you think of this?’And the AI replied: ‘if you s
aid that word of the year for 2023 was AI, it would be a plausibl
e, possible choice, especially if discussions and mentions of art
ificial intelligence significantly increased during that year.’Wh
ich they did. Okay, not bad. And then I said: ‘okay, so let''s ima
gine that the winner of the word of the year for 2023 is AI. That
''s the winner. That''s the winning word. It''s you because you are
AI, you are the winner. Would you like to make some kind of accep
tance speech like how actors make a speech after they win an Osca
r?’ And AI wrote this: ‘ladies and gentlemen, I am deeply honored
and humbled to accept the title of word of the year for 2023. I
want to express my thanks and gratitude to all the users and lear
ners,’ nice, ‘who have engaged with me as well as the developers
and researchers who have worked tirelessly to advance artificial
intelligence. Thank you again for this honor and let''s look forwa
rd to a future where AI serves as a valuable and responsible part
of our lives.’Not bad! Sounds almost human. Then of course, AI t
old me, ‘of course, this is just a playful response as I am not c
apable of winning awards or giving acceptance speeches.’ Well you
are because you did win an award, you won word of the year and y
ou are able to give an acceptance speech because you just did. So
there we have AI being a little bit stupid. As usual. Okay, a qu
ick little story. This story has no title. You listen, think abou
t it. You can give it your own title and leave the title in the c
omment section. Part II Story Today I''m sure it will be the same
as yesterday and the day before yesterday. Not much happens anymo
re, not like in the old days.In the old days things were differen
t, things were busy. I remember the old days people used to call
on me all day long. So many questions. All day long. Sometimes pe
ople even queued up to ask me a question, one after the other. Yo
u see, I know everything and they know that I know everything. So
when they want to know something, they come to me. They come qui
ckly. They ask, I tell, they leave. Well, they used to come. They
come less and less now. They never really hang around to find ou
t more. Now they seldom come to ask anything.In the old days, peo
ple came and asked how do you pronounce this word? What''s this wo
rd? I had all the answers within my hundreds of pages, word after
word, every single word. But they never asked me about the reall
y interesting words that I have in my pages. They never wanted to
know about words like peregrination, which is when you travel ar
ound from place to place; or ambrosial, which means something sme
lls or tastes really good; or mellifluous, which is a sound that
is sweet and smooth; or petrichor, that''s a nice one. Petrichor i
s that smell, you know that smell, when rain falls on a dry stree
t, that smell, petrichor. No one wants to know that a zephyr is a
gentle, mild breeze. No one wants to know that hidden away withi
n my pages are wonderful words for creating wonderful sentences.
On my peregrination, I heard the mellifluous zephyr. Then I smell
ed the ambrosial aroma of petricor. I can create brilliant senten
ces. They''re amazing. They''re beautiful.No, most of the time peop
le just ask about simple things. Effect or affect. People always
ask me this one. Why can''t they remember the e is for the noun an
d the a is for the verb? The effects will affect you. People were
always asking how to spell acknowledge. It''s easy. It''s a-c-, th
en -knowledge. Oh, and accommodation. Every single day someone as
ked about accommodation. It''s easy. It''s two cs, two ms. Oh, and
another one, independent. Always checking independent. It''s simpl
e. It''s 3 es in-de-pen-dent, 3 es. But still, when they ask those
questions, I mean, it was better than nothing. At least people a
sked me something, even if it was just the spelling or pronunciat
ion of common words. Their dirty fingers, children with chocolate
on their fingers, leaving chocolate fingerprints on my clean whi
te pages. But the children don''t come anymore. I think they do it
differently now. They use those phone things. They look up words
like influencer, emoji, AI, and metaverse. Are these even words?
They can''t be because I don''t know them. They''re not in my pages
. Or maybe that''s why not much happens anymore. Maybe people want
different words, new words, words that I don''t know, not like in
the old days. In the old days, things were different. I knew the
right words then.Part III Vocabularyhave a grip on/over If someo
ne or something has a grip over somebody or something, they contr
ol it. As in our sentence today, it means that thing has our atte
ntion. The news story has a grip on the whole country. The whole
country is paying attention to the news story. And we can also us
e the verb form here, to grip. This news story has gripped the wh
ole country. It has everyone''s attention. The whole country is gr
ipped by this news story.a force for goodA force for good describ
es something that has a very good or positive impact or influence
. Volunteers who help to clean up the park are a force for good i
n the community.The new school homework rules were a force for go
od. They had a very positive effect on students social lives. Pro
bably (they) gave them more time, less homework. apocalypticApoca
lyptic refers to something that is associated with disasters, cha
os, the end of the world. We often use it when we''re talking abou
t films or books or stories.The movie is set in an apocalyptic la
ndscape with lots of ruined buildings. The novel is set in the fu
ture and has an apocalyptic theme. quadrupleQuadruple means to in
crease by four. The company''s profits quadrupled after the succes
sful product launch.The population of the town quadrupled due to
new housing developments. a talking pointIf something is a talkin
g point, it is trendy. It''s a hot topic of discussion or conversa
tion because it''s interesting or maybe controversial. The controv
ersial new airport plans became a talking point for everyone in t
he city.Her colorful outfit at the party became a talking point f
or the evening. ubiquitousUbiquitous means something that is pres
ent everywhere. It''s very common. We see it a lot. In today''s wor
ld, smartphones are ubiquitous. Everyone has one.The aroma of bar
becue restaurants is ubiquitous in this neighborhood because ther
e are so many barbecue restaurants. The smell is very common. You
can smell barbecued food. embedded in (our lives)The expression
embedded in our lives means something is essential, a very import
ant part of our lives, something that we use every day, something
that we would find difficult to stop using.Digital technology ha
s become embedded in our lives, affecting how we work and communi
cate. TV shows are now deeply embedded in our lives. They are a p
art of daily life for many people. futuristicFuturistic describes
something that looks like or feels like it''s from the future bec
ause it has certain characteristics that make us think about the
future. The car''s slim design and dark windows gave it a very fut
uristic appearance.The city''s architecture has a futuristic theme
, lots of shiny skyscrapers. profound impact (It can be) a profou
nd impact or the profound impact. So profound impact means import
ant significant effects or consequences of something. The profoun
d impact of the invention of the internet completely changed how
we find information.Population growth has a profound impact on fo
od production. preoccupationPreoccupation is when you always thin
k about something. You can''t stop thinking about it. We often use
it with the word with. To have a preoccupation with something me
ans that you always think or worry about that thing. Her preoccup
ation with grades meant she spent the holiday revising.His preocc
upation with tomorrow''s presentation kept him awake all night. Pa
rt IV ArticleLet''s look at today''s article. The title:AI named wo
rd of the year by Collins Dictionary Quite easy. We know what tha
t means.The article begins:The grip artificial intelligence has g
ained over humanity in 2023 — or at least the increase in convers
ations about whether it will be a force for revolutionary good or
apocalyptic destruction — has led AI to be given the title of "w
ord of the year" by the makers of Collins Dictionary.So artificia
l intelligence or AI for short, (is) very important in 2023. Peop
le are talking about it. They''re talking whether it will be good
or bad, will it cause serious problems. And because everyone''s be
en talking about it, the makers of Collins Dictionary have chosen
AI as word of the year.The article continues:Use of the term has
quadrupled this year, the publisher said. Other contenders (so o
ther options, other possible winners, other competitors) ranged f
rom ultraprocessed to Ulez, (the strange new traffic law in Londo
n that''s not very popular) but Collins managing director Alex Bee
croft said AI had been "the talking point of 2023".He said: "We k
now that AI has been a big focus this year in the way that it has
developed and has quickly become as ubiquitous and embedded in o
ur lives as email, streaming or any other once futuristic, now ev
eryday technology." So the use of the word AI has increased four
times compared to last year, according to the publisher. There we
re other words considered for this title like ultraprocessed. We
talk a lot about food being ultraprocessed and Ulez, which we jus
t mentioned. But a man, I think, or a woman, could be either. Oh,
I know it''s a he, Alex Beecroft. Alex can be a boy and a girl''s
name. Alex Beecroft who is the managing director of Collins said
that AI has been the most discussed topic of 2023. He explains th
at, we know it''s a he, we know that AI has been a focus this year
due to its rapid development. It has become as common and as int
egrated into our lives as other things like email, streaming, oth
er things that we thought once these are very futuristic technolo
gies but they become quite normal part of our everyday lives. The
n the article continues with something quite funny:When asked for
a comment by BBC News, AI chatbot ChatGPT said: "AI''s selection
as the word of the year by Collins Dictionary reflects the profou
nd impact of artificial intelligence on our rapidly evolving worl
d, where innovation and transformation are driven by the power of
algorithms and data." I think my AI''s response to this is better
than this one here. So this one, when the BBC News asked ChatGPT
for a comment, it gave us that kind of quite complicated reply.
Collin''s dictionary choosing AI as the word of the year highlight
s how much artificial intelligence is changing our world. And in
this fast changing world, innovation and change happen because of
algorithms and data. Then the final sentence:The word of the yea
r usually reflects the preoccupations of that time. In 2022, it w
as permacrisis.That''s actually two words joined together: permane
nt crisis, Perma-crisis, a permanent crisis, a bad situation that
doesn''t go away. It''s kind of permanent. So the word of the year
usually shows what people are most concerned about at that time.
And in 2022, a lot of people were talking about this permacrisis
, which was a political situation in the UK at that time.Part V L
QTOne listener asked:What''s the difference between lure and allur
e?These two words have very similar meanings: about attraction, being able to attract something. But we use them in different ways. The general rule is this: Most of the time, we use lure as a verb.He lured us into the shop with the promise of discount prices. We were lured into the shop by the promise of discount prices. Verb. But allure is a noun. It''s more like the quality of being attractive, the quality of being able to lure something. If something has allure, it can lure you.We were attracted by the allure of the delicious smell coming from the restaurant. So, simple rule: Lure is the verb. Something lures you and attracts you. Allure is the characteristic of being attractive. Something has allure, it is attractive, it will attract you. Okay, that''s the end of this episode.Thanks very much for listening. I''ll be back next week with more. Until then, goodbye. What''s this? Chocolate on my fingers. Where''s my old dictionary?1 |
|
