2 The APT leaves the free market to value each artist's work
based on its own merits.
3 The APT is less interested in an artist's name recognition
with the art-buying public than in the true artistic value of his
or 
4 The APT promotes each artist's work but does so with the
long-term interests of both the fund and the artist in mind.
Biontc Implants
The human brain is by far the most complex computer known
to man,but it is also the least understood. That is why,as yet,we have few repair manuals to tell us what to do if part of it breaks down. According to researchers in the field of bionics,however, repairing brain injuries and other problems in neural systems may someday require little more than the replacement of burned-out neurons with implants. In fact,bionic research is currently making
2006年度第2回筆記
progress in several areas.
One of these is the creation of devices that can receive
information from the brain of an incapacitated person and transmit it to a computer or an artificia11imb.Though this technology is still in its infancy,a U.S. company called Neural Signals has already developed a system that enables a completely paralyzed person to spell words by controlling an external virtual computer keyboard through transmitters attached to the brain. Professor Richard Anderson of Caltech is now working on more sophisticated implants that can quickly“read the minds”of paralyzed patients.The patients think of distinct words or signals,and then the implant receives these signals from the parts of the brain responsible for speech. Anderson says the process would not be automatic,likening it to learning to ride a bicycle,because the patient and the implant would have to “loam''how to work together to ensure that signals were transformed into the appropriate words and symbols.
Other bionic implants are being developed to replace or
enhance improperly working sense organs. Perhaps the most well- known neural prosthesis today is the cochlear implant,used by over 80,000 deaf people worldwide to convert sound waves into electrical signals that are wired directly to the brain's auditory nerve. This gives people approximately80 percent hearing functionality. This tangible breakthrough has been a great encouragement to researchers at the U.S.-based Dobe11e Institute,who are now working on a “bionic eye''This is actually a camera mounted on a pair of glasses that sends signals to a computer attached to the user's belt. The computer then processes and reroutes the signals to68 electrodes attached to the brain's visualcortex.The result achieved so far is the equivalent of 20/400 vision,barely sufficient to allow blind people to navigate large obstacles by sight.
Though still in its early stages,bionics promises to provide a
solution for many hard-to-treat injuries and conditions,as well as the possibility of artificial human enhancement. However,not everybody is happy with the latter prospect. Science fiction has already painted a dark future populated by cyborgs enslaving the masses through the use of bionic technology. Could today's bionic implants lead eventually to X-ray vision or even psychic powers?For good or 111,this Pandora's box has already been opened,and human beings now have the capability to develop all kinds of technology to enhance human powers. Only time will tell whether the potential of this technology will be used responsibly.
(35) What is stated about the implants being developed by Richard
Anderson?
1 They will be sophisticated enough to allow communication
with patients who are unconscious.
2 They will automatically send clear messages to the part of the
brain responsible for speech.
3 Patients will require a certain amount of practice in order to
use the devices effectively.
4 Patients with major physical impairments will not likely
benefit from the enhanced capabilities the implants provide.
(36)One difference between the cochlear implant and the Dobe11e
Institute's“bionic eye”is that
1 while the cochlear implant contains some external
components,the bionic eye is completely internal.
2 the bionic eye is more sophisticated and more closely
approximates a functioning sense organ.
3 the cochlear implant has already proven its value in real life,,whereas the bionic eye remains at the developmental stage.
4 the bionic eye has less practical appeal than the cochlear
implant because of its higher development cost.
(37)What does the author conclude about bionics?
1 The claims of researchers are often exaggerated,as setbacks