VOA慢速英语2018 人工智能可以帮助医生更好地做决策吗?

Can Artificial¹ Intelligence Make Doctors Better?

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology may soon be a useful tool for doctors. It may help them better understand and treat diseases² like breast cancer in ways that were never before possible.

人工智能技术可能很快会成为医生们的有用工具。它可能有助于医生以前所未有的方式更好地了解和治疗乳腺癌等疾病。

Rishi Rawat teaches AI at the University of Southern California's (USC) Clinical Science Center in Los Angeles. He is part of a team of scientists who are researching how AI and machine learning³ can more easily recognize cancerous growths in the breast.

Rishi Rawat在南加州大学临床科学中心教授人工智能技术，他也是研究人工智能和机器学习如何更容易诊断乳房癌变的科学团队的一员。

Rawat provides information about cancer cells to a computer. He says this data helps the machine learn.

Rawat向计算机输入癌细胞相关信息，他说这些数据可以帮助这台机器学习。

"…You can put the data into them and they will learn the patterns and the pattern recognition⁴ that's important to making decisions."

“你可以输入数据，它们将会学习这些影像，以及对决策非常重要的影像识别。”

David Agus is another USC researcher. He believes that “machines are not going to take the place of doctors.”

David Agus是南加州大学另一位研究员。他认为“机器不会取代医生。”

“Computers will not treat patients, but they will help make certain decisions and look for things that the human brain can't recognize these patterns by itself.”

“计算机不会治疗病人，但是它们能帮助做出某些决策，并从影像中找出单凭大脑无法识别出的那些东西。”

Once a confirmed cancerous growth is removed, doctors still have to treat the patient to reduce the risk of cancer returning. The form of treatment depends on the kind of cancer. Currently⁵, researchers take a thin piece of tissue⁶, put it on a small piece of glass and add color to better see the cells.

一旦确诊的恶性肿瘤被切除，医生们仍然必须治疗患者以降低癌症复发的风险。治疗形式取决于癌症种类。目前，研究人员会切取薄薄的一块组织，放在一小块玻璃上，然后给该组织切片染色，以便更好地观察细胞。

That process could take days or even longer. Scientists say artificial intelligence can do something better than just count cells. Through machine learning, it can recognize complex patterns, or structures, and learn how the cells are organized.

这一过程可能需要数天，甚至更长时间。科学家们表示，人工智能能做的远远不止于统计细胞。通过机器学习，它可以识别复杂的影像或是结构，并了解细胞的组织形式。

The hope is that machines will soon be able to make a quick identification⁷ of cancer that is free of human mistakes.

希望机器很快能够做出摆脱人为失误的癌症诊断。

"All of a sudden, we have the computing⁸ power to really do it in real time...We couldn't have done this, we didn't have the computing power to do this several years ago, but now it's all changed."

“我们突然之间就有了能够做出实时诊断的计算能力。我们本来没法实现这点，因为几年前我们不具备这种计算能力，但是现在一切都变了。”

Agus adds that the process could be done “for almost no cost in the developing world." He says that having a large amount of information about patients is important for a machine to effectively do its job in medicine.

Agus补充表示，这个过程在发展中国家几乎可以零成本完成。他说，拥有大量患者相关信息对于机器有效地完成其医学工作来说非常重要。

The University of Southern California researchers are now only studying breast cancer. But doctors predict artificial intelligence will one day make a difference in all forms of cancer.

南加州大学的研究人员目前只研究乳腺癌。但是医生们预测，有朝一日人工智能会改变各种癌症。

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

pattern – n. the regular and repeated way in which something happens or is done

1 artificial   

adj.人工的，人造的，人为的；做作的，假装的

参考例句：

• The new dam will form a large artificial lake behind it.新筑的水坝将会在后面形成一个人工湖。
• We don't use any artificial flavourings in our products.我们的产品不使用任何人工调味剂。

2 diseases   

n.疾病( disease的名词复数 )；弊端；恶疾；痼疾

参考例句：

• Smoking is a causative factor in several major diseases. 抽烟是引起几种严重疾病的病因。
• The illness frequently coexists with other chronic diseases. 这种病往往与其他慢性病同时存在。

3 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

4 recognition   

n.承认，认可，认出，认识

参考例句：

• The place has changed beyond recognition.这地方变得认不出来了。
• A sudden smile of recognition flashed across his face.他脸上掠过一丝笑意，表示认识对方。

5 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

6 tissue   

n.组织；薄纱，薄纸，手巾纸

参考例句：

• As we age we lose muscle tissue.肌肉组织会随着我们日趋衰老而萎缩。
• Athletes have hardly any fatty tissue.运动员几乎没有什么脂肪组织。

7 identification   

n.视为同一，证明同一，确认

参考例句：

• He's made a formal identification of the body.他正式确认了死者身份。
• We should have identification card on the person when we go out.我们外出时应随身携带身份证。

8 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。