Reading Comprehension

1. Review the whole text again. Outline the subject matter of the text, its components structure, topic sentences and main ideas. Use the following phrases:

– The text deals with … (speaks about, presents, shows, points out, discusses, reviews, throws light on, traces the history of, etc)

– The subject matter of the text is …

– The text can be segmented into … paragraphs.

– The first (second, third, fourth, etc.) paragraph considers … (deals with, informs of, describes, etc.)

– The topic sentence of the first (second, third, fourth, etc.) paragraph is …

– The main idea of the first (second, third, fourth, etc.) paragraph is …

– The main idea of the text is …

– The conclusion the author came to is …

– The reasons for this conclusion are …

2. Say whether the following statements are true or false. Justify your choice. Use the given phrases:

It’s right. Quite so.

I quite (fully) agree to it.

Certainly. Exactly.

I doubt that …

I don’t think so.

This is not the case.

It’s wrong, I am afraid.

Quite the reverse.

The definition is inappropriate.

1. It is impossible to develop artificial intelligence in principle.

2. The most sophisticated machine can be compared to the human brain.

3. The two hemispheres of human brain have different functions.

4. Our thinking is based on three types of perception of the world around us.

5. We can observe thinking processes indirectly.

6. A machine, in general, cannot think either logically or figuratively.

7. Artificial intelligence is the reality nowadays.

8. The computers possess artificial intelligence.

3. Study the text and answer the following questions:

1. What is the human brain?

2. Can even the most sophisticated machine we may imagine be compared to the human brain?

3. What method of thinking does each hemisphere have?

4. What types of perception is our thinking based on?

5. Is it possible to observe thinking processes directly?

6. Why is the world of feelings, distress or emotions, which are of such importance to human thinking and behaviour as yet inaccessible to us?

7. Can a machine think?

8. Is the process of thinking a function innate only in live highly-organized matter?

9. What do some well-known scientists claim as for the development of artificial intelligence?

10. What gave birth to the term “artificial intelligence”?

11. Do the computers possess artificial intelligence? How do they solve some practical creative problems if they don’t possess it?

12. What differs man from the machine?

13. What is one of the trends in artificial intelligence being intensively developed now?

Conversational Practice

1. Agree or disagree with the statements given below. Use the introductory phrases and develop the idea further. Use the following phrases:

I hold a similar view …

I share this viewpoint …

It’s correct to say …

This is a convincing argument …

I see no point at all to disagree that …

There is no point in denying that …

That doesn’t sound convincing enough …

Not quite so, I am afraid.

I don’t think this is just the case.

I doubt it. Far from that.

Just the other way round.

Not at all. Quite the reverse.

1. Different levels of human intellect were being modeled.

2. For a long time mathematicians did not try to treat matters of perception mathematically.

3. A worker in artificial intelligence seeks to design sophisticated information-processing machines that parallel human intellectual behaviour or brain function.

4. The design of correct AI parallels the structure of human brain.

5. Robots – mechanical intelligence capable of operating in our own real world environment – are widely employed in science and engineering.