3.15 考研英语阅读模拟试题:编辑部的故事【难度7.1】

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Section II Reading Comprehension 

Part A 

Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. 

Text 3

The Plain Dealer, Cleveland’s largest newspaper, has begun featuring a new byline: "Advance Local Express Desk." It means the article was drafted by artificial intelligence. A note differentiates these robot-penned pieces from those written primarily by journalists. The disclosure sparked industry backlash after editor Chris Quinn published a column lamenting that a recent graduate withdrew from a reporting fellowship upon learning the position involved no writing—just filing notes to an AI tool.

“Artificial intelligence is not bad for newsrooms. It’s the future of them,” Quinn argued, noting that removing writing from reporters’ workloads effectively frees up an extra workday each week. On social media, however, industry veterans recoiled, with one reporter defending the applicant for wanting to be a journalist instead of an "AI content farmer."

As metropolitan newspapers across the country lay off reporters and scale back ambitions, the 184-year-old Plain Dealer is at the forefront of a push to reimagine journalism's business model for the AI age. While outlets like the New York Times experiment with chatbots, experts say using AI to write entire articles takes the paper into uncharted territory. Quinn defends the strategy, asserting that embracing technology—including AI for transcribing, scraping municipal websites, and summarizing podcasts—is boosting the bottom line and retaining staff while other papers shut down.

To execute this strategy, Quinn hired an editor to lead an AI "rewrite desk." Reporters in the field gather notes and quotes, sending them to the desk. The editor prompts a generative AI tool to draft the story, which is then reviewed by humans. In the time saved, reporters are expected to perform high-value tasks AI cannot, such as cultivating sources. For instance, reporter Hannah Drown relies on AI to scan school board transcripts for leads, which recently helped her produce a feature on how rapid growth strains city services.

However, several current and former staffers warned that this growing reliance on AI takes a toll on editorial quality and workforce morale. One staffer noted that the push for "unfettered use" of ChatGPT resulted in stories with minimal guardrails, despite management's claims of thorough fact-checking. Another worried the paper risks becoming a "content farm" while eliminating entry-level positions essential for on-the-job training.

Since the launch of ChatGPT, several news organizations have suffered embarrassing public episodes of publishing AI-generated articles containing fabrications, known as "hallucinations." Publications like the Chicago Sun-Times have had to retract stories for running fake quotes. Quinn insists his newsroom avoids this by strictly using AI for rewriting gathered facts, not original reporting.

Felix Simon, a researcher at the Reuters Institute, views this systematic automation as an interesting experiment but warns of risks to the paper’s credibility. Surveys show consumers strongly prefer human-written journalism. Furthermore, Nick Diakopoulos, a professor at Northwestern University, notes that while AI can produce content cheaply, it struggles with the core value proposition of local journalism: evaluating source credibility and understanding community nuances. "People might have a good sense of what happened, but they won’t have a good sense of why it matters," he warned. Quinn acknowledged this limitation, stating the experiment's next phase is determining where to draw the line for complex stories.

31. The author mentions the recent graduate in the first paragraph primarily to _______.

[A] demonstrate the lack of technical skills among young journalists 

[B] introduce the widespread resistance to the paper's new AI strategy 

[C] highlight the efficiency of the "Advance Local Express Desk" 

[D] criticize the educational standards of modern journalism fellowships

32. According to Chris Quinn, what is the primary strategic advantage of integrating AI into the newsroom?

[A] It completely eliminates the need for human editors and fact-checkers. 

[B] It trains journalists to become proficient software developers. 

[C] It increases operational efficiency and helps sustain the business financially.

[D] It guarantees the absolute accuracy of local news reports.

33. How does the newly established AI "rewrite desk" function?

[A] It independently conducts interviews and generates original investigative reports. 

[B] It translates human-written articles into different languages for a broader audience. 

[C] It automatically publishes press releases without human supervision. 

[D] It processes raw field data gathered by human reporters into draft articles.

34. What is a major concern shared by the anonymous staffers regarding the AI initiative?

[A] It compromises editorial standards and threatens traditional career development. 

[B] It requires them to work extra hours to correct AI-generated hallucinations. 

[C] It restricts their access to paid versions of advanced AI tools. 

[D] It forces senior veterans to undertake entry-level reporting tasks.

35. Nick Diakopoulos's warning in the final paragraph suggests that _______.

[A] AI will eventually replace all human journalists in the local news sector 

[B] the cost-saving benefits of AI outweigh the risks of minor factual errors 

[C] AI lacks the analytical depth essential for high-quality local journalism 

[D] readers are unable to distinguish between human-written and AI-generated text

附注：根据历年考研英语真题阅读题源外刊等，摘选最新文章，模拟仿真出题。

参考答案见以下。

Quick look: BCCAC

31. 【答案】B

【解析】题型：修辞目的题/例证题

定位： 第一段最后一句 "The disclosure sparked industry backlash after editor Chris Quinn published a column lamenting that a recent graduate withdrew from a reporting fellowship..."

分析： 第一段提到这名应届毕业生在得知工作内容仅是将笔记提交给 AI 后退出了记者奖学金项目，且主编的抱怨引发了“行业强烈抵制”（industry backlash）。作者引用这个例子是为了引出并说明业内对该报纸新的 AI 战略存在的广泛阻力与不满。这对应选项 B。

干扰项：[A] 该毕业生是因为想“真正写作”而退出，并非缺乏技术技能。 [C] 表达的是阻力与争议，而不是赞美其效率。 [D] 毕业生退出是因为职位描述改变，与教育标准无关。

32. 【答案】C

【解析】题型：细节题

定位： 第二段第一句 "...removing writing from reporters’ workloads effectively frees up an extra workday each week." 以及第三段最后一句 "...boosting the bottom line and retaining staff while other papers shut down."

分析： Quinn 认为 AI 能够解放记者的工作量（提高运营效率），并且在其他报纸倒闭时，这种对技术的拥抱正在“提升底线利润”（boosting the bottom line）并留住员工（维持商业上的可持续性）。这与选项 C 完美契合。

干扰项：[A] 第四段明确说 AI 草稿会 "reviewed by humans"，并未消除人类编辑的需求。 [B] 文中未提及将记者培养成软件开发者。 [D] 第六段提到 AI 存在“幻觉”（hallucinations），Quinn 只是说他们试图避免，并未说 AI 能“保证绝对准确”。

33. 【答案】D

【解析】题型：细节题

定位： 第四段第二、三句 "Reporters in the field gather notes and quotes, sending them to the desk. The editor prompts a generative AI tool to draft the story..."

分析： 根据文本，现场记者收集笔记和引语（raw field data），发送给“重写台”，然后编辑提示 AI 工具将这些内容起草成文章（draft articles）。选项 D 准确描述了这一工作流程。

干扰项：[A] 第六段 Quinn 明确说 "not original reporting"（不用于原创报道）。 [B] [C] 文中均未提及翻译功能或无监督发布。

34. 【答案】A

【解析】题型：细节题

定位： 第五段第一句 "...growing reliance on AI takes a toll on editorial quality and workforce morale." 以及最后一句 "...risks becoming a 'content farm' while eliminating entry-level positions essential for on-the-job training."

分析： 匿名员工的担忧主要集中在两点：一是编辑质量下降（stories with minimal guardrails）；二是报纸沦为“内容农场”，并且削减了对在职培训至关重要的初级职位（威胁传统的职业发展路径）。选项 A 准确概括了这两点。

干扰项：[B] 员工抱怨的是质量失控，并未抱怨需要加班纠错。 [C] 第五段提到管理层鼓励“无限制使用”（unfettered use）付费版 ChatGPT，员工并未被限制访问。 [D] 员工担心的是初级职位被取消，剥夺了年轻人的培训机会，而非强迫资深员工去做初级工作。

35. 【答案】C

【解析】题型：推断题/观点题

定位： 最后一段第二、三句 "...it struggles with the core value proposition of local journalism: evaluating source credibility and understanding community nuances... won’t have a good sense of why it matters..."

分析： Diakopoulos 教授警告说，虽然 AI 生产内容成本低，但它难以实现地方新闻的核心价值主张：评估信源可信度、理解社区细微差别。读者可能知道“发生了什么”，但无法深刻理解“为什么这件事重要”。这暗示 AI 缺乏提供高质量地方新闻所必需的“分析深度”（analytical depth）。这对应选项 C。

干扰项：[A] 教授表达的是对 AI 局限性的担忧，而非预测其将取代所有人类。 [B] 教授的观点倾向于强调风险和价值缺失，而非认为成本节约大于风险。 [D] 教授关注的是内容深度的缺失，而不是读者能否区分作者身份。

【词汇注释】

backlash: noun (REACTION) a strong negative reaction by a large number of people 强烈抵制；反冲（文中指新闻界对 AI 替代写作的强烈反对）

uncharted territory: phrase (UNKNOWN) a situation or activity that you have never experienced or tried before 未知领域（文中指用 AI 撰写整篇新闻稿是行业内前所未有的尝试）

bottom line: noun (FINANCE) the amount of money that is a profit or a loss after everything has been calculated 底线；净利润（商业战略术语，文中指 AI 提高了报社的财务利润）

unfettered: adjective (FREE) not limited by any rules or controls 无拘无束的；不受限制的（文中指主编鼓励员工毫无限制地使用 ChatGPT）

hallucination: noun (AI) a false or misleading result produced by an artificial intelligence model 幻觉（技术术语，指 AI 捏造不存在的事实或引用）

value proposition: noun (BUSINESS) a promise of value to be delivered to the customer 价值主张（商业战略术语，文中指地方新闻能提供深度分析和社区语境的核心竞争力）

【参考译文】

克利夫兰最大的报纸《老实人报》（Plain Dealer）开始采用一个全新的署名：“Advance Local Express Desk”。这意味着该文章是由人工智能起草的。文章末尾的注释将这些由机器人撰写的文章与主要由记者撰写的文章区分开来。在主编克里斯·奎恩（Chris Quinn）发表专栏文章，感叹一名应届毕业生在得知报道研究员的职位不包含任何写作——只是将笔记提交给 AI 工具——而退出该项目后，这一公开声明引发了行业的强烈抵制。

“人工智能对新闻编辑室来说并不是坏事。它是新闻编辑室的未来，”奎恩争辩道，他指出将写作从记者的工作量中剔除，实际上相当于每周为他们腾出了额外的一个工作日。然而，在社交媒体上，行业资深人士对此感到震惊，一名记者为那名申请者辩护，称其是想成为一名记者，而不是“AI内容农场主”。

随着全美各地的大都市报纸裁减记者并缩减雄心，拥有184年历史的《老实人报》正处于为 AI 时代重塑新闻业商业模式的最前沿。虽然像《纽约时报》这样的媒体也在尝试使用聊天机器人，但专家表示，使用 AI 撰写整篇新闻报道将该报带入了一个未知的领域。奎恩为这一战略辩护，声称拥抱技术——包括使用 AI 进行转录、抓取市政网站信息和总结播客——正在提升公司的净利润，并帮助在其他报纸倒闭之际留住员工。

为了执行这一战略，奎恩聘请了一位编辑来领导一个 AI “重写台”。现场记者收集笔记和引语，并将其发送给重写台。编辑提示生成式 AI 工具起草故事，然后由人类进行审查。在节省下来的时间里，记者被期望去执行 AI 无法完成的高价值任务，比如培养信息源。例如，记者汉娜·德劳恩依靠 AI 扫描学校董事会的文字记录以寻找线索，这在最近帮助她制作了一篇关于人口快速增长如何使城市服务面临压力的专题报道。

然而，几位现任和前任员工警告说，这种对 AI 日益增长的依赖正在对编辑质量和员工士气造成损失。一名员工指出，尽管管理层声称进行了彻底的事实核查，但由于鼓励“无限制地使用”ChatGPT，导致发表的 AI 生成文章几乎没有质量护栏。另一位员工则担心，该报面临着沦为“内容农场”的风险，同时削减了对在职培训至关重要的初级职位。

自 ChatGPT 发布以来，几家新闻机构都遭遇了令人尴尬的公开事件：发布了包含捏造内容的 AI 生成文章，这被称为“幻觉”。《芝加哥太阳时报》等出版物不得不撤回包含假引语的报道。奎恩坚称，他的新闻编辑室通过严格将 AI 用于重写已收集的事实，而非进行原创报道，从而避免了这种情况。

路透社研究所的研究员费利克斯·西蒙认为，这种系统性的自动化是一个有趣的实验，但他警告这会给报纸的公信力带来风险。调查显示，消费者强烈偏好人类撰写的新闻。此外，西北大学教授尼克·迪亚科波洛斯指出，虽然 AI 可以廉价地生产内容，但它难以实现地方新闻的核心价值主张：评估信源的可信度以及理解社区的细微差别。“人们可能会很清楚发生了什么，但他们不会深刻理解为什么这很重要，”他警告说。奎恩承认了这一局限性，并表示该实验的下一阶段将是确定对于复杂的新闻报道，界限应该划在哪里。

附注：

 ©图源水印/网络

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