VOA标准英语2010年-Who's the Brainiest of Them All?

The world's brainiest people were in China for the 34th annual Battle of the Brains, the oldest, most prestigious¹ computer programming contest in the world.

Earlier this month, the world's brainiest people were in Harbin, China, for the 34th annual Battle of the Brains, the oldest, most prestigious computer programming contest in the world.

Seated at individual tables in a large meeting hall, the three-member teams - from 103 universities in 88 countries - each huddled² around a single computer, spending five hours trying to solve as many complex, real-world problems as they could.

Complex problems

"One of the programming problems was try to figure out how to break an arbitrary chocolate bar into a certain number of pieces of a certain number of sizes and to do it as quickly as possible," says Jerry Cain, coach of the Stanford University team. "That's probably the simplest of all of them."

Other problems involved paperweights, robots and castles. Cain says the students were challenged to write a program to determine how many lakes would form in an area after a heavy rain, and to identify the most efficient route for an irrigation channel through a field.

Stanford's team solved five of 11 problems, finishing in 14th place, along with 21 other teams.

"One other problem posed³ a scenario⁴ where you had to sail from the westernmost of several islands to the easternmost of several islands and back, and to visit all the islands in the area in the process," says Cain.  Students had to deal with issues of fuel and efficiency as well.

Solving the problems requires creativity, knowledge and teamwork. The first step, Cain says, is to rank the problems by difficulty. Then the three teammates must figure out the requirements of each problem, design ways to test their approach to the solution, and write software systems to accomplish it. Even the winning teams - Shanghai Jiaotong University and second place Moscow State University - were not able to solve all 11 problems in the given time.

Stanford's team solved five of the problems, finishing with 21 other teams in 14th place, just behind the medalists. Coach Cain sees the competition as a real-world lesson and opportunity for his students.

Real-world lesson

"I think Stanford students and probably a lot of students at top schools can be lulled⁵ into thinking they are at the top of their game," he says. "The fact that they come in 14th illustrates⁶ to them there are lots of other people around the world who are also very good at programming. It's actually very nice for them to meet all these people. They are making friends with people from China, from Egypt, from Europe."

"The competition is a lot of fun," says Jeffrey Wang, a member of Stanford's team. "It really appeals to people like me, who love to solve problems."

During their one-week stay in China for the Battle of the Brains, Wang says the students enjoyed a different sort of contest at Harbin's International Snow and Ice Sculpting⁷ Festival.

"We had an ice sculpture contest where we worked with one of the Russian teams to build this really awesome⁸ ice sculpture," he recalls. "It was really a good bonding experience, two teams who are separated by thousands of miles across the world and yet, have this common interest, this passion for computer science."

Stanford was one of 21 U.S universities participating in the contest this year. IBM's Doug Heintzman, the contest spokesman⁹, says Asian and European countries also sent many teams.

Global challenge

"China is close behind with about 20 teams and certainly Russia, Poland and many of the eastern European countries are very well represented, as is Canada," he says. "As the competition has become more global and as the world has become a much smaller place, it's really amazing to see just extraordinarily¹⁰ bright people show up in all corners of the planet."

What began in 1970 as a computer programming competition at one Texas university has gained popularity¹¹ and participants, and grown into a prestigious international event.

"There was a Chinese team last year that solved 3,500 problems in training for the competition," he says. "The Russian president met the Russian team that won last year from St. Petersburg at the airport and congratulated them and had a reception for them and appeared on TV and newspapers with them proudly holding up their team banner. So this is a huge, huge deal for an awful lot of these schools and students around the world."

The World Champions, Heintzman says, return home with trophies¹², other prizes and scholarships. More importantly, he adds, they are guaranteed an offer of employment or internship¹³ from IBM.

"We've had past world champions that IBM employed in our Zurich research lab, [who] are now working on some of the leading-edge materials science and physics," he says. "We have a world finalist from China who's been working on the Watson Supercomputer that in the near future will be playing Jeopardy¹⁴ against the best Jeopardy players in the world. So this competition is an opportunity to be recognized and to be recruited¹⁵ by some of the top technology and research firms around the world."

Contest spokesman Doug Heintzman notes that the world faces many complex problems, and bright and innovative¹⁶ young people everywhere can help create solutions. The Battle of the Brains, he says, is just one vehicle to identify these problem solvers and give them the chance to shape the future.
 

1 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

2 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

3 posed   

使摆姿势( pose的过去式和过去分词 )； 以…身份出现； 招摇； 炫耀

参考例句：

• The players strutted and posed for the cameras. 运动员昂首阔步，摆好姿势让记者拍照。
• After the wedding we all posed for a photograph. 婚礼之后，我们全体排好拍了一张照片。

4 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

5 lulled   

vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• They lulled her into a false sense of security. 他们哄骗她，使她产生一种虚假的安全感。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The movement of the train lulled me to sleep. 火车轻微的震动催我进入梦乡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 illustrates   

给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明

参考例句：

• This historical novel illustrates the breaking up of feudal society in microcosm. 这部历史小说是走向崩溃的封建社会的缩影。
• Alfred Adler, a famous doctor, had an experience which illustrates this. 阿尔弗莱德 - 阿德勒是一位著名的医生，他有过可以说明这点的经历。 来自中级百科部分

7 sculpting   

雕刻( sculpt的现在分词 )； 雕塑； 做（头发）； 梳（发式）

参考例句：

• The quality of the result is determined by a Craft( sculpting) check. 由手艺（刻）定决定结果质量如何。
• Another difficulty in the process of ice sculpting is time control. 冰雕过程中的另一项困难是时间的掌控。

8 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

9 spokesman   

n.发言人，代言人

参考例句：

• The government spokesman gave a quick briefing to the reporters.政府发言人向记者们作了情况简介。
• They drew lots to decide who should be their spokesman.他们抽签决定谁是他们的发言人。

10 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

11 popularity   

n.普及，流行，名望，受欢迎

参考例句：

• The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
• Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。

12 trophies   

n.（为竞赛获胜者颁发的）奖品( trophy的名词复数 )；奖杯；（尤指狩猎或战争中获得的）纪念品；（用于比赛或赛跑名称）奖

参考例句：

• His football trophies were prominently displayed in the kitchen. 他的足球奖杯陈列在厨房里显眼的位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The hunter kept the lion's skin and head as trophies. 这猎人保存狮子的皮和头作为纪念品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 internship   

n.实习医师，实习医师期

参考例句：

• an internship at a television station 在电视台的实习期
• a summer internship with a small stipend 薪水微薄的暑期实习

14 jeopardy   

n.危险；危难

参考例句：

• His foolish behaviour may put his whole future in jeopardy.他愚蠢的行为可能毁了他一生的前程。
• It is precisely at this juncture that the boss finds himself in double jeopardy.恰恰在这个关键时刻，上司发现自己处于进退两难的境地。

15 recruited   

招聘( recruit的过去式和过去分词 )； 吸收某人为新成员； 动员…（提供帮助）； 雇用

参考例句：

• Were men for the Navy recruited from men on merchant ships? 海军的人员是从商船的人员中征募的吗？
• Most of the workers will be recruited locally. 大多数工人都会在本地招募。

16 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。