高考英语模拟试题阅读理解精选编讲第244篇——秒词邦微信小程序

What is life? Like most great questions, this one is easy to ask but difficult to answer. The reason is simple: we know of just one type of life and it’s challenging to do science with a sample size of one. The field of artificial life-called ALife for short — is the systematic attempt to spell out life’s fundamental principles. Many of these practitioners, so-called ALifers, think that somehow making life is the surest way to really understand what life is.

So far no one has convincingly made artificial life. This track record makes ALife a ripe target for criticism, such as declarations of the field’s doubtful scientific value. Alan Smith, a complexity scientist, is tired of such complaints. Asking about “the point” of ALife might be, well, missing the point entirely, he says. “The existence of a living system is not about the use of anything.” Alan says. “Some people ask me, ‘So what’s the worth of artificial life?’ Do you ever think, ‘What is the worth of your grandmother?’”

As much as many ALifers hate emphasizing their research’s applications, the attempts to create artificial life could have practical payoffs. Artificial intelligence may be considered ALife’s cousin in that researchers in both fields are enamored by a concept called open-ended evolution (演化). This is the capacity for a system to create essentially endless complexity, to be a sort of “novelty generator”. The only system known to exhibit this is Earth’s biosphere. If the field of ALife manages to reproduce life’s endless “creativity” in some virtual model, those same principles could give rise to truly inventive machines.

Compared with the developments of Al, advances in ALife are harder to recognize. One reason is that ALife is a field in which the central concept — life itself — is undefined. The lack of agreement among ALifers doesn’t help either. The result is a diverse line of projects that each advance along their unique paths. For better or worse, ALife mirrors the very subject it studies. Its muddled (混乱的) progression is a striking parallel (平行线) to the evolutionary struggles that have shaped Earth biosphere.

Undefined and uncontrolled, ALife drives its followers to repurpose old ideas and generated novelty. It may be, of course, that these characteristics aren’t in any way surprising or singular. They may apply universally to all acts of evolution. Ultimately ALife may be nothing special. But even this dismissal suggests something：perhaps, just like life itself throughout the universe, the rise of ALife will prove unavoidable.

什么是生活？像大多数伟大的问题一样，这个问题很容易问，但很难回答。原因很简单：我们只知道一种生命类型，用一种样本量进行科学研究是很有挑战性的。人工生命领域简称ALife，是阐明生命基本原理的系统尝试。这些从业者中的许多人，即所谓的ALifer，认为以某种方式创造生命是真正理解生命的最可靠的方式。

到目前为止，还没有人令人信服地制造出人造生命。这一记录使ALife成为批评的成熟目标，例如对该领域可疑科学价值的声明。复杂性科学家Alan Smith已经厌倦了这种抱怨。他说，询问ALife的“要点”可能完全没有抓住要点。艾伦说：“生命系统的存在与任何东西的使用无关。”。“有些人问我，‘那么人造生命的价值是什么？’你有没有想过，‘你祖母的价值是多少？’”

尽管许多ALifer讨厌强调他们研究的应用，但创造人工生命的尝试可能会有实际的回报。人工智能可能被认为是ALife的表亲，因为这两个领域的研究人员都被一个称为开放进化的概念所吸引(演化). 这是一个系统创造本质上无尽复杂性的能力，成为一种“新奇生成器”。目前已知的唯一能展示这一点的系统是地球的生物圈。如果ALife领域能够在某种虚拟模型中重现生命无尽的“创造力”，那么同样的原理也可能产生真正有创造力的机器。

与人工智能的发展相比，人工智能的进步更难被认可。一个原因是ALife是一个中心概念——生命本身——尚未定义的领域。ALifer之间缺乏一致性也于事无补。其结果是一系列不同的项目，每个项目都沿着各自独特的道路前进。无论好坏，ALife都反映了它所研究的主题。它很混乱(混乱的) 进展是惊人的相似之处(平行线) 形成地球生物圈的进化斗争。

ALife不受定义和控制，驱使其追随者重新利用旧思想并创造新事物。当然，这些特征可能并不令人惊讶或奇怪。它们可能普遍适用于所有进化行为。归根结底，生活可能没什么特别的。但即使是这种否定也表明了一些事情：也许，就像整个宇宙中的生命本身一样，ALife的崛起将被证明是不可避免的。

句子成分分析：

The reason is simple: we know of just one type(of life)||and it's challenging todo science[with a sample size (of one)].

句子语法结构详解：

(it's = it is)

* 第1个 is 为系动词作谓语，采用一般现在时。
* simple 为形容词作表语。
* know 为谓语，采用一般现在时。
* and 为并列连词，连接并列句。
* it 为先行主语，代表后移的不定式。
* 第2个 is 为系动词作谓语，采用一般现在时。
* challenging 为形容词作表语。
* to do 为不定式。
* we 为人称代词主格。the 为定冠词。a 为不定冠词。

句子相关词汇解释：

Phrase:

Vocabulary:

句子成分分析：

The field (of artificial lifecalledALife (for short))is the systematic attempt tospell out life's fundamental principles.

句子语法结构详解：

* is 引导一般疑问句。
* is 为系动词作谓语，采用一般现在时。
* to spell 为不定式，作表语。
* life's 为名词所有格。the 为定冠词。

句子相关词汇解释：

Phrase:

Vocabulary:

句子成分分析：

Many(of these practitioners,<socalledALifers>,)think|that somehow making life is the surest way to really- 

understand|what life is.

句子语法结构详解：

(surest 为 sure 的最高级形式)

* so-called ALifers 为同位语
* think 为谓语，采用一般现在时。
* that 为连词，引导宾语从句。
* somehow making 为动名词。
* 第1个 is 为系动词作谓语，采用一般现在时。
* to really understand 为不定式，作后置定语。
* what 为关系代词，引导宾语从句。
* 第2个 is 为谓语，采用一般现在时。
* many 为不定代词。the 为定冠词。

句子相关词汇解释：

Vocabulary:

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