Swimmers
can drown in busy swimming pools when lifeguards fail to notice that they are in
trouble. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents says that on average
15 people drown in British pools each year, but many more suffer major injury
after getting into difficulties. Now a French company has developed an
artificial intelligence system called Poseidon that sounds the alarm when it
sees someone in danger of drowning. When a swimmer sinks
towards the bottom of the pool, the new system sends an alarm signal to a
poolside monitoring station and a lifeguard's pager. In trials at a pool in
Ancenis, near Nantes, it saved a life within just a few months, says Alistair
McQuade, a spokesman for its maker, Poseidon Technologies.
Poseidon keeps watch through a network of underwater and overheard video
cameras. AI software analyses the images to work out swimmers trajectories. To
do this reliably, it has to tell the difference between a swimmer and the shadow
of someone being cast onto the bottom or side of the pool. "The underwater
environment is a very dynamic one, with many shadows and reflections dancing
around," says McQuade. The software does this by "projecting" a
shape in its field of view onto an image of the far wall of the pool. It does
the same with an image from another camera viewing the shape from a different
angle. If the two projections are in the same position, the shape is identified
as a shadow and is ignored. But if they are different, the shape is a swimmer
and so the system follows its trajectory. To pick out potential
drowning victims, anyone in the water who starts to descend slowly is added to
the software's "pre-alert" list, says McQuade. Swimmers who then stay immobile
on the pool bottom for 5 seconds or more are {{U}}considered{{/U}} in danger of
drowning. Poseidon double-checks that the image really is of a swimmer, not a
shadow, by seeing whether it obscures the pool's floor texture when viewed from
overhead. If so, it alerts the lifeguard, showing the swimmer's location on a
poolside screen. The first full-scale Poseidon system will be
officially opened next week at a pool in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. One man
who is impressed with the idea is Trevor Baylis, inventor of the clockwork
radio. Baylis runs a company that installs swimming pools, and he was once an
underwater escapologist with a circus. "I say full marks to them if this works
and can save lives," he says. But he adds that any local authority spending
￡30,000-plus on a Poseidon system ought to be investing similar amounts in
teaching children to swim.
单选题
AI means the same as ______.
A. an image
B. an idea
C. anyone in the water
D. artificial intelligence
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] artificial intelligence“人工智能”，第一段最后一句中“has developed an artificial intelligence system...”给出了提示，AI是首字母合成词，这类词一般由实义词的首字母构成。A项“一个图像”，B项“一个思想”，C项“水中的任何一个人”，均不符合题意。故选D。
单选题
What is required of AI software to save a life?
A. It must be able to swim.
B. It must keep walking round the pool.
C. It can distinguish between a swimmer and a shadow.
D. It can save a life within a few months.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 题干考查的是人工智能软件救人所应具备的条件，选项C契合了第三段第三句中“it has to tell the difference between a swimmer and the shadow of someone being cast onto the bottom or side of the pool”的说法，那就是必须能区分游泳的人和投射到池底或池壁的人影。A项“必须能游泳”，B项“必须在泳池周围来回走”，这两项都不太合适，人工智能软件不是机器人。D项“在几个月中就能拯救一个生命”，显然不符合逻辑。故选C。
单选题
How does Poseidon save a life?
A. He plunges into the pool.
B. It alerts the lifeguard.
C. He cries for help.
D. It rushes to the pool.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 第二段第一句中“the new system sends an alarm signal to a poolside monitoring station and a lifeguard's pager”，第五段最后一句中的“it alerts the lifeguard”都是说它会提醒救生员。A项“他跳入水中”，C项“他喊救命”，D项“他急忙朝水池跑去”，均不是文章提供的解决方式，只有B正确，故选B。
单选题
Which of the following statements about Trevor Baylis is NOT true?
A. He runs.
B. He invented the clockwork radio.
C. He was once an entertainer.
D. He runs a company.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] A项“他跑步”，B项“他发明了时钟收音机”，C项“他曾是一名娱乐节目表演者”，D项“他经营着一家公司”。最后一段第二句中“...Trevor Baylis, inventor of the clockwork radio.”，第三句“Baylis runs a company that installs swimming pools, and he was once an underwater escapologist with a circus.”涵盖了B、C、D三个选项，故选A。
单选题
The word "considered" in Paragraph 5 could be best replaced by ______.