Young Innovator Profile: Luis von Ahn

Task 1

Read the texts below. Match choices (A-H) to (1-5). There are three choices you do not need to use. Write your answers on the separate answer sheet.

The 5 Browns

Piano virtuosos Desirae, Deondra, Gregory, Melody, and Ryan Brown charm audiences worldwide, bringing fresh energy to the classical music genre. They sat down with two teen pianists to discuss the challenges of studying music.

1. ______________

Desirae: Classical music is young because the emotions that are being translated through music are young. They’re for everybody, just like they were 300 years ago. It’s all about love and hate and anger and joy, all these things that teenagers experience.

2. ______________

Deondra: Gregory had this lucky pair of socks when he was a kid. And he was afraid to wash them because he was afraid the luck would go away. It was not good.

3. ______________

Gregory: This is my dream job, and it also happens to be something I get paid for, which is cool. But I’m really happy when I see a bunch of kids come into the lobby to get autographs, and they tell us how we’ve inspired them to go on and practice.

4. ______________

Melody: People say, “You guys are so gifted, so talented.” And even though we feel like this is a big gift and there’s possibly something in the genes, a lot of it is work. If you don’t do anything with that talent, if you don’t constantly work at it, you won’t get anywhere.

5. ______________

Deondra: Just be yourself and don’t worry if you hit a few wrong notes. It’s not the end of the world. And don’t be afraid of the audience. They’re there to enjoy the music; they’re not there to pick it all apart like we often think. So, just try to give them a good time.

A. Is someone born a great pianist, or can this be taught?

B. Do you think you are good role models for talented teens today?

C. What advice would you give young musicians before they go on stage?

D. What is the most difficult part of making a living in music?

E. Do you associate success with money?

F. What would you say to teens who think that classical music is “old and boring”?

G. Do you have any strange traditions you follow before a major concert?

H. How have you dealt with your fame and how do you engage with audience?

Task 2

Read the text below. For questions (6-10) choose the correct answer

(A, B, C or D). Write your answers on the separate answer sheet.

Young Innovator Profile: Luis von Ahn

Luis von Ahn has great ambitions and a short attention span. The 29-year-old computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, prefers short stories to novels, TV shows to short stories, and the Internet to all of the above. If others share his ambitions, so much the better: he plans to involve his generation in changing the world. "The grandest projects of humanity took on the order of 100,000 people," he says. "The Panama Canal, the pyramids of Egypt. Now, for the first time in history, we can easily get more people than that working together. Imagine what we could do with 500 million people." The trick is getting them all to cooperate.

Like Tom Sawyer, von Ahn has found a simple and mischievous solution: turn the task into a game. Computer solitaire eats up billions of person-hours a year, he points out, and does nobody any good. But he says his "games with a purpose" will accomplish all sorts of useful tasks.

Players will translate documents from one language into another or make it easier for blind people to navigate the Web - all while having fun. And unless they pay attention to the fine print, they may not even know they're doing so. What excites researchers about von Ann's "human computation" work, as he calls it, is less the prospect of getting people to accomplish boring, repetitive chores than the promise of training computers to do the chores themselves. Many tasks that are easy for people are surprisingly difficult for computers, especially those that children learn easily, such as classifying objects, recognizing faces, learning verbal languages, and reading handwriting.

His "big goal," von Ahn says, is to make computers able to do anything that people can do. "I think it'll happen, definitely. If not in 50 years, then 100." In the meantime, von Ahn is teaming up with the Internet Archive, a digital library, to get computer users to help digitize old library books by, for example, typing out difficult-to-read words from scanned books when they apply for e-mail accounts. He's also working for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on a game to help airport baggage screeners with their jobs by drawing their attention to important details in X-ray scans. And with graduate student Severin Hacker and programmer Michael Crawford, von Ahn is developing a game to rank pictures in a sort of aesthetic order: he plans to use the data to teach computers about beauty. So far, puppies and babies are near the top. Aesthetes might object. But von Ahn is unlikely to be discouraged.

"Luis is fearless," says Carnegie Mellon computer scientist Manuel Blum, von Ahn's former adviser. "Lie's willing to strike out in directions that few would dare to go."

6. Which of the following is stated about Luis von Ahn according to

paragraph 1?

A. He isn't fond of reading historical novels.

B. He isn't able to concentrate for a long time.

C. He doesn't watch much television.

D. He doesn't often browse websites.

7. Why does the author mention The Panama Canal and the Pyramids of Egypt in his article?

A. They are popular attractions for the young generation.

B. They are topics of von Ahn's history projects at university.

C. They are examples of successful joint efforts.

D. They are Ahn's favourite computer games.

8. What does the word "those" in paragraph 3 refer to?

A. tasks

B. people

C. computers

D. languages

9. What project is Luis von Ahn working on?

A. ranking pictures in an aesthetic order

B. teaching computers to act like humans

C. helping screeners to find baggage

D. cataloguing rare library books

10. How does the author characterize Luis von Ahn?

A. He is courageous.

B. He is enthusiastic.

C. He is adventurous.

D. He is responsible.

Task 3

Read the text below. Match choices (A-H) to (11-16). There are two choices you do not need to use. Write your answers on the separate answer sheet.

College Directory

11 Wells College educates women to think critically, reason wisely, and act humanely as they cultivate meaningful lives. Through our academic program, residential atmosphere, and community' activities, you'll learn and practice the ideals of the liberal arts.

12 University of Pittsburg Bradford. Earn a world-renowned degree in a personalized environment. Work with professors who will know your name and your goals. Choose from 41 majors and many research, internship and study-abroad opportunities.

13 University of Rode Island has a great major called "Writing and Rhetoric." Prepare yourself for a career as a journalist, a novelist, an advertising copywriter, a public relations professional, or an English teacher! You'll love our beautiful campus located minutes from RI's gorgeous beaches.

14 University of Dayton. Discover our community: a friendly campus, technology-enhanced learning, challenging academics, competitive athletics and a strong Catholic tradition.

15 Cogswell College. Launch a fun, rewarding career in special effects, animation, scripts, music and sound in movies, video games and high tech. Graduates move up to Cisco, LucasArts, Pixar, Disney, EA and other upmarket firms.

16 University of Alabama. UA has a rich tradition of excellence in academics, student life and sports. Ranked in the top 50 public universities surveyed by U.S. News & World Report; 9 undergraduate degree-granting schools and colleges; 20:1. student-teacher ratio.

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