In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams imagined a small yellow fish, called a Babel fish. When popped into one’s ear, it would use brainwave energy, unconscious mental frequencies, and something called a “telepathic matrix” to achieve real-time language interpretation, making conversations with aliens effortless. Well, it is not yellow, and it does not fit in one’s ear, but US soldiers in Iraq are using a device that could become a universal interpreter.

　　The soldiers use a system called IraqComm, developed by SRI international in Menlo Park, California, which consists of a laptop loaded with speech recognition and translation software. Speak into the microphone in Arabic and the software turns the phrases into written Arabic, before translating it into English. After the person has finished talking, a computer speaks the translation.

　　IraqComm’s software, and other programs like it, learned to translate much as a person would— by studying conversations. The software searches for statistical connections between a series of Arabic statements and English translations. For example, when the Arabic word “haar” appears, so does the word “hot” in the English version (the correct translation). If this occurs frequently enough, the program concludes that they mean the same thing. Given enough examples, the software can learn grammar too. A similar system running on a hand-held PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), called the speachalator, was developed at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

　　Do not expect these programs to cope with free-flowing language just yet. The IraqComm works well because it focuses on around 50,000 words soldiers need. The broader the subject matter, the harder it becomes for the software to distinguish the alternate meanings required in different contexts. “We’ll get there,” says SRI’s Kristin Precoda.

　　36. In the first paragraph, the yellow fish is mentioned to .

　　A. draw the reader’s attention to IraqComm

　　B. explain how it communicates with aliens

　　C. explain how it interprets the language

　　D. show it is imaginary from science fiction

　　37. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a necessary part for IraqComm?

　　A. A computer.

　　B. Speech recognition and translation software.

　　C. A microphone.

　　D. A language processing system.

　　38. What does the passage indicate about IraqComm?

　　A. IraqComm can translate language as well as a person could.

　　B. IraqComm can learn grammar with enough examples.

　　C. IraqComm can understand conversation.

　　D. IraqComm can translate any language.

　　39. What does the author think about the interpretation programs?

　　A. In the future, interpretation programs will not deal with free-flowing language.

　　B. Interpretation programs work well in different context.

　　C. IraqComm works well because it only translates a certain number of words.

　　D. Although there is limitation to interpretation programs, it will translate any language in the future.

　　40. By saying “we’ll get there” (Para. 4, line. 5), Kristin Precoda implies .

　　A. the programs can translate any free-flowing language

　　B. the programs will translate more than 50,000 words

　　C. the programs can deal with broader subject

　　D. the programs can choose the exact meaning of words in different contexts.

　　Keys: ADBCD