Week 5 AlphaGo對棋王

Human board game champion again outwitted by Google program

March 10, 2016

The rise of the machines was on full display Thursday in Seoul when a Google computer again defeated the top-ranked human player of Go, the world's most complex board game.

The computer's second consecutive victory over Lee Se-dol, the Go world champion, will be seen as a significant advancement in artificial intelligence.

The South Korean must now win three games in a row against Google DeepMind's AlphaGo to triumph in the best-of-five series. The computer won its first match against Lee on Wednesday.

If Lee wins the series, he gets $1 million and reasserts his title as global champ; a convincing win by AlphaGo would signal the end of human dominance in the insanely complicated board game. (Google will donate the prize money to charity.)

Lee, 33, holds the highest possible professional ranking for a Go player and has been called "the Roger Federer of Go."

Go originated thousands of years ago in China. During play, two opponents take turns placing black and white stones on a square grid of 19 lines by 19 lines. The goal is to take territorial control of the board by using pieces to surround those of the other player.

Games can last for hours, and winning requires immense mental stamina, intuition and strategy.

Eaching computers to master Go has been a kind of holy grail for artificial intelligence scientists. There are more possible configurations of the board than atoms in the universe, according to Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, which developed AlphaGo.

"Go is the most profound game that mankind has ever devised," Hassabis said. "Go is a game primarily about intuition and feel rather than brute calculation, which is what makes it so hard for computers to play well."

Last October, AlphaGo convincingly defeated the European Go champion, Fan Hui, obliterating him in five consecutive games. The computer's victory was considered a huge breakthrough, occurring roughly a decade sooner than experts had expected.

Software programs long ago became adept at classic board games like backgammon. Their rapid progress culminated in the historic victory of IBM's Deep Blue computer over world chess champion Gary Kasparov in 1997.

But it's taken another two decades for artificial intelligence to get to grips with the mind-boggling complexities of Go. Until recently, software programs could only compete with human amateurs.

Google researchers say they expect AlphaGo's technology will be put to use in the company's own apps, and in areas such as medicine.

Structure of the Lead：

WHO- Lee Se-dol 

WHEN-  2016.3.10

WHAT- Human had a board game with Google DeepMind's AlphaGo 

WHERE- Korea,Seoul

HOW- Google DeepMind's AlphaGo won the game again

Key words:

1. consecutive  連續的

2. triumph  勝利
3. reassert  重新確立
4. territorial  領土的
5. immense  巨大的
6. intuition  直覺
7. configuration  組態
8. culminate  高潮

資料來源: http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/10/technology/alphago-google-deepmind-go-lee-computer/

WEEK 4 台南地震

Taiwan earthquake: Search ends as death toll reaches 116

February 14, 2016

Search and rescue operations after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck southern Taiwan ended Saturday as the death toll rose to 116, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported.

The last trapped person was rescued alive on Saturday afternoon, the city's disaster response office said.

A total of 289 people were rescued, 96 people remain in hospital.

Most of the fatalities and injuries came from the collapse of the Weiguan Golden Dragon high-rise tower in Tainan, the response center said.

Aerial images in the immediate aftermath of the temblor showed the Weiguan Golden Dragon tower transformed into rubble. Structures around it remained intact.

Rescuers found tin cans packed into the collapsed walls of the high-rise.

"There are so many other older buildings in Tainan that are still standing. Why was it only this building that was completely destroyed?" asked Wang Xingyou, a city cab driver.

Three people, all former executives of the company that built the collapsed apartment building, were arrested Tuesday and face charges of professional negligence resulting in death.

Structure of the Lead：

WHEN- 2016.2.6

WHAT- A huge earthquake happened in Tainan,  and still lots of people trapped.

WHY- A apartment building collapsed lead to people trapped.

WHERE-Taiwan,Tainan

Key words:

1. magnitude  大小

2. trapped  受困的

3. fatality    死亡人數

4. temblor  地震發生
5. rubble  瓦礫
6. executives  高層
7. negligence  疏忽

資料來源: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/13/asia/taiwan-earthquake/

Week 3. 2015年度代表字

Emoji named word of the year

November 16, 2015

Oxford Dictionaries' 2015 word of the year is difficult to pronounce. Because it has no letters. It is a cartoon yellow face, shedding two giant tears.

They are not tears of sadness for the English language. It is a happy crying face, most commonly used as an LOL alternative.

Every year, Oxford Dictionaries' lexicographers chose a word that captures the year's biggest trends or changes in the English language. The organization knew it wanted to pick an emoji for 2015. The tiny illustrations that pepper social media and text conversations have seen a surge in popularity in recent years.

"You can see how traditional alphabet scripts have been struggling to meet the rapid-fire, visually focused demands of 21st century communication," said Oxford Dictionaries' president Casper Grathwohl in a statement. "It's not surprising that a pictographic script like emoji has stepped in to fill those gaps."

The official name for the chosen emoji is "face with tears of joy," according to the Unicode Consortium, the organization in charge of emoji standards. It was first introduced in 2010 and variations can be found on Android and iOS devices, on the web, and across social media.

There are more than 1,000 emoji characters, but Oxford could only chose one. A taco or unicorn emoji would have represented the most buzzed-about newcomers. The red heart is one of the oldest emojis.

Oxford Dictionaries teamed up with SwiftKey, a maker of emoji keyboards, to identify the most commonly used emoji. It found the tears of joy face was the most frequently used emoji in 2015, making up 17% of all emojis in the U.S. and 20% in the UK.

The emoji is the latest in a string of light-hearted picks from Oxford Dictionaries. Last year it went with "vape," in 2013 it was "selfie," and in 2012 it was "GIF."

Structure of the Lead：

WHEN- November 16, 2015

WHAT- The official name for the chosen emoji is "face with tears of joy,"

WHY- Oxford Dictionaries' 2015 word of the year is difficult than before

HOW-  The tears of joy face was the most frequently used emoji in 2015, making up 17% of all emojis in the U.S. and 20% in the UK.

Key words:

1. pronounce 發音

2. surge 激增

3. alphabet  字母表

4. script 腳本

5. string 串

資料來源:http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/16/technology/emoji-oxford-word-of-the-year/

Week2.COP21

COP21 climate change summit reaches deal in Paris

13 December 2015

A deal to attempt to limit the rise in global temperatures to less than 2˙C has been agreed at the climate change summit in Paris after two weeks of intense negotiations.

The pact is the first to commit all countries to cut carbon emissions.

The agreement is partly legally binding and partly voluntary.

Earlier, key blocs, including the G77 group of developing countries, and nations such as China and India said they supported the proposals.

President of the UN climate conference of parties (COP) and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said: "I now invite the COP to adopt the decision entitled Paris Agreement outlined in the document.

"Looking out to the room I see that the reaction is positive, I see no objections. The Paris agreement is adopted."

As he struck the gavel to signal the adoption of the deal, delegates rose to their feet cheering and applauding.

US President Barack Obama has hailed the agreement as "ambitious" and "historic", but also warned against complacency.

"Together, we've shown what's possible when the world stands as one," he said.

And although admitting that the deal was not "perfect", he said it was "the best chance to save the one planet we have".

China's chief negotiator Xie Zhenhua said the deal was not perfect. But he added that "this does not prevent us from marching historical steps forward".

Nearly 200 countries took part in the negotiations to strike the first climate deal to commit all countries to cut emissions, which would come into being in 2020.

The chairman of the group representing some of the world's poorest countries called the deal historic, adding: "We are living in unprecedented times, which call for unprecedented measures.

"It is the best outcome we could have hoped for, not just for the Least Developed Countries, but for all citizens of the world."

Structure of the Lead：

WHEN- 13 December 2015

WHAT-  The UN climate conference of parties (COP)

WHY- Attempt to limit the rise in global temperatures to less than 2˙C

WHERE-  Paris

Key words:

1. negotiation  談判
2. voluntary  自主性
3. delegate  與會代表
4. complacency  自滿
5. unprecedented  史無前例
6. outcome  結果

資料來源: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35084374