问答题Directions: Read the following passages and then answer IN
COMPLETE SENTENCES the questions which follow each passage. Scientists are preparing to boot up the world's most
powerful supercomputer, a machine with the power of 500,000 PCs and a thirst for
electricity that will leave its owners with an annual bill of ￡25m. The
computer, called Titan, will use graphics processors similar to those in
PlayStation gaming consoles to tackle some of the toughest tasks in science.
Until now most supercomputers have used normal processors souped-up versions of
those in laptops and PCs. Decoding new flu strains—one of the
most demanding jobs in computing—is one task that engineers at Oak Ridge
National Laboratory in Tennessee might set Titan. The supercomputer could also
design vaccines to stop the flu bugs before they can spread. Sumit Gupta, a
senior engineer at Nvidia, the company that is making the Titan processors,
said: "Computer simulations can explore lm different drug [vaccine] candidates
within weeks or months." Titan will carry out 20,000 trillion
calculations a second, about 4,000 trillion calculations a second faster than
Sequoia, the world's current fastest computer, which is used to simulate nuclear
explosions. A typical PC carries out 40 billion calculations a second. "Oak
Ridge is in the race to have the fastest supercomputer in the world," the
laboratory said in a statement. Supercomputing has been one of
the fastest and most revolutionary of technological trends. As with ordinary
computers, its history goes back to the 1930s and 1940s when the first digital
computers were built, with the first transistor-based machine being produced in
1956. The development of supercomputers owes much to the work
of Seymour Cray, an electrical engineer who realized the potential of linking
processors together to create much faster machines. Experts differ on which of
his machines should be called the first supercomputer but Cray-1, built in 1976,
is commonly cited. Back then its ability to perform 160m calculations a second
was seen as revolutionary. Nowadays that machine would have a fraction of the
computing power of a smartphone. "Computers like these have
revolutionized science," said Paul Calleja, director of the high-performance
computing centre at Cambridge University. "In the past, researchers devised
theories and then they carried out experiments. What supercomputers do is offer
us a third way—computer modelling. We can devise a theory about, say, the way
atoms and molecules or materials might behave, and then build a computer model
to see if it works." Such approaches are now standard
throughout science and engineering. In the aviation industry, for example, where
engineers once tested the effects of bird strikes on aircraft by throwing or
firing a dead chicken into a jet turbine, they now have vast databases on the
composition of chickens and their behaviour when they hit spinning turbines.
Similarly, car designers use computer models to test how vehicles will crumple
in a crash and what injuries the occupants might sustain. In the past, such
tests could be conducted only by using real cars occupied by dummies or even
dead bodies. Computer modelling has sharply cut the need for such
testing. Titan will be made available to scientists in various
fields. One programme will tackle climate change and how rising greenhouse gas
emissions might affect different parts of the world. Another will study the way
fuel burns in diesel engines spinning thousands of times a minute, to find ways
of boosting efficiency. "These types of calculations require massive computing
power," said Calleja, whose own supercomputer at Cambridge has been used to
design America's Cup sailing boats. "The pressure to build even more powerful
machines is huge." Supercomputers are no longer the preserve of
the military or academic establishments, however. Many high-street companies,
from supermarkets to banks and insurance firms, own them. Tesco, for example, is
investing in a ￡65m supercomputing system in Watford, Hertfordshire, to underpin
its online retail and banking businesses. Such computing power,
combined with data extracted from loyalty cards and other sources, means
supermarkets can build models of consumer behaviour to predict what they will
want to buy even before their customers know it. Walmart, the American owner of
Asda, has been using a supercomputer for several years and has even combined it
with weather forecasts to work out what products will be needed in stores when
storms or other events arise. Researchers at Cambridge are now
working on perhaps the most ambitious computing project of all—to build a
machine 150 times faster than Titan to help search for planets capable of
supporting life. The computer, capable of between 2m trillion and 3m trillion
calculations a second, will be hooked up to the Square Kilometre Array, a giant
radio telescope made up of thousands of radio dishes that is under construction
across South Africa and Australia. Calleja said the supercomputer's key task
would be to collate and analyse all the data captured by each dish. "It is the
most ambitious project we have ever attempted," he said.
问答题
What is Titan? What advantages does Titan have?
【正确答案】Titan is a powerful supercomputer designed for extremely high-demanding computing jobs. Titan will use graphics processors instead of normal processors that most supercomputers have used, and this will make it stand out since graphics processors could enable it to solve some of the most difficult problems in science. On top of that, Titan will carry out 20,000 trillion calculations a second, much faster than the world's current fastest computer Sequoia.
问答题
How have supercomputers revolutionised science according to Paul Calleja? What scientific tasks will scientists set Titan?
【正确答案】According to Paul Calleja, researchers who wanted to test their theories had to carry out experiments in the past. However, the advent of the supercomputer revolutionised the way scientists doing research by making it possible to test theories through computer models. Titan will help scientists in various fields, such as modeling climate change, analyzing the possible effects of rising greenhouse gas emissions, and finding ways to boost fuel efficiency. It might also be used by scientists to decode new flu strains.
问答题
How are supercomputers connected with people's daily life?
【正确答案】Nowadays supercomputers are no longer exclusive to military or academic establishments. They are also owned by many supermarkets, banks and insurance firms. With such powerful tools they could analyze huge amounts of data available, build models of consumer behavior and predict market trend. Taking Walmart for example, by using supercomputer, it could even work out what products will be needed in stores when special weather events occur. In this way, companies could gain better insight into customers' needs and in the meanwhile, the public could get better service in many aspects of their daily life.