外刊英语Week10_20240302PDF.pdf

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1、 周一 Why do Nvidias chips dominate the AI market?.2 周二 Podcasts got their name 20 years ago this month.5 周三 The troubling decline in the global fertility rate.8 周四 Changing Car Culture Benefit Our Health.11 周五 Apple Revolutionized Auto Industry.15 周六 Why you should lose your temper at work?.18 周日 Ove

2、rwhelmed?Just Say No.21 新英文外刊公众号 新英文外刊 新英文外刊 20240302 每周精选 Week10 ontents目录 新英文外刊公众号 2024-3-2 2/23 Why do Nvidias chips dominate the AI market?The firm has three big advantages.No other firm has benefited from the boom in artificial intelligence(AI)as much as Nvidia.Since January 2023 the chipmakers

3、 share price has surged by almost 450%.With the total value of its shares approaching$2trn,Nvidia is now Americas third-most valuable firm,behind Microsoft and Apple.Its revenues for the most recent quarter were$22bn,up from$6bn in the same period last year.Most analysts expect that Nvidia,which con

4、trols more than 95%of the market for specialist AI chips,will continue to grow at a blistering pace for the foreseeable future.What makes its chips so special?新英文课堂 扫码听音频 Feb 27,2024|595 words|Business 新英文外刊公众号 2024-3-2 3/23 Nvidias AI chips,also known as graphics processor units(GPUs)or“accelerator

5、s”,were initially designed for video games.They use parallel processing,breaking each computation into smaller chunks,then distributing them among multiple“cores”the brains of the processorin the chip.This means that a GPU can run calculations far faster than it would if it completed tasks sequentia

6、lly.This approach is ideal for gaming:lifelike graphics require countless pixels to be rendered simultaneously on the screen.Nvidias high-performance chips now account for four-fifths of gaming GPUs.Happily for Nvidia,its chips have found much wider uses:cryptocurrency mining,self-driving cars and,m

7、ost important,training of AI models.Machine-learning algorithms,which underpin AI,use a branch of deep learning called artificial neural networks.In these networks computers extract rules and patterns from massive datasets.Training a network involves large-scale computationsbut because the tasks can

8、 be broken into smaller chunks,parallel processing is an ideal way to speed things up.A high-performance GPU can have more than a thousand cores,so it can handle thousands of calculations at the same time.Once Nvidia realised that its accelerators were highly efficient at training AI models,it focus

9、ed on optimising them for that market.Its chips have kept pace with ever more complex AI models:in the decade to 2023 Nvidia increased the speed of its computations 1,000-fold.But Nvidias soaring valuation is not just because of faster chips.Its competitive edge extends to two other areas.One is net

10、working.As AI models continue to grow,the data centres running them need thousands of GPUs lashed together to boost processing power(most computers use just a handful).Nvidia connects its GPUs through a high-performance network based on products from Mellanox,a supplier of networking technology that

11、 it acquired in 2019 for$7bn.This allows it to optimise the performance of its network of chips in a way that competitors cant match.新英文外刊公众号 2024-3-2 4/23 Nvidias other strength is CUDA,a software platform that allows customers to fine tune the performance of its processors.Nvidia has been investin

12、g in this software since the mid-2000s,and has long encouraged developers to use it to build and test AI applications.This has made CUDA the de facto industry standard.Nvidias juicy profit margins and the rapid growth of the AI accelerator marketprojected to reach$400bn per year by 2027have attracte

13、d competitors.Amazon and Alphabet are crafting AI chips for their data centres.Other big chipmakers and startups also want a slice of Nvidias business.In December 2023 Advanced Micro Devices,another chipmaker,unveiled a chip that by some measures is roughly twice as powerful as Nvidias most advanced

14、 chip.But even building better hardware may not be enough.Nvidia dominates AI chipmaking because it offers the best chips,the best networking kit and the best software.Any competitor hoping to displace the semiconductor behemoth will need to beat it in all three areas.That will be a tall order.新英文外刊

15、公众号 2024-3-2 5/23 Aural history:Podcasts got their name 20 years ago this month A once-fringe medium has gone mainstream,but many wonder what the future holds Joe Rogan talks into a microphone for his podcast.In February 2004 Ben Hammersley,a British journalist,noticed a new kind of digital media:“d

16、ownloadable radio”produced by geeky amateurs or public broadcasters.Mr Hammersley suggested a few names for it.Fortunately“audioblogging”and“GuerillaMedia”did not catch on.But a third did:podcasting,a portmanteau of“iPod”and“broadcasting”.At a tech conference the next year,Steve Jobs,Apples boss,ask

17、ed how many people in the audience had heard of podcasting,which he described as“Waynes World for radio”.Not a single person raised their hand.But today,20 years after they got their name,podcasts 新英文课堂 扫码听音频 Feb 22,2024|641 words|Culture 新英文外刊公众号 2024-3-2 6/23 are mainstream.Around 43%of American i

18、nternet users and 30%of Britons listen to at least one a month.You can open Apple,Spotify and,increasingly,YouTube to find some 4m shows by everyone from ex-convicts to duchesses.Podcasting has turned anyone with a microphone into a talking head who can talk straight into peoples earbuds.Like butt-d

19、ialling and doom-scrolling,the podcasting boom was facilitated by the smartphone.The iPhone was released in 2007;the first standalone podcast apps came out between 2010 and 2012.In 2014“Serial”,a binge-worthy investigation into the botched murder trial of a teenager in Maryland,arrived;it was the fi

20、rst show to gain attention in mainstream American culture.(The first season has been downloaded more than 300m times.)The number of monthly podcast listeners in America doubled in the five years after 2014.Since“Serial”,podcasting has been in a“hyper-charged,hyper-capitalist,hyper-speculative period

21、”,says Nicholas Quah,a podcast critic.Tech companies swooped in,such as Spotify,which was hungry for new customers and audio content it could have royalty-free.(Spotify has invested$1bn in podcasting since 2018.)But last yearcue the“record scratch”sound effectthe music stopped.Economic headwinds wer

22、e one factor.But advertisers and investors also realised that they know relatively little about how many people actually listen to podcasts:“downloads”,the standard industry metric for engagement,do not always equate to listening.Spotify eliminated 200 podcasting jobs;others followed suit.Many well-

23、regarded shows were cancelled,including“Stolen”,which won the Pulitzer prize for audio journalism in 2023.Podcasters learned that“excellence wont save you”,says Neil Verma,a media-studies scholar.Although producers are struggling to turn a profit,podcasting is in the ascendant.Advertising spending a

24、nd listening time are predicted to rise.But the medium“is growing in a direction that is hard for a lot of the podcast originalists to accept”,says Ariel Shapiro,who writes Hot Pod,an industry newsletter.新英文外刊公众号 2024-3-2 7/23 What does the future hold?Some think the future of podcasting lies in vid

25、eo.Many podcasts,including a talk show hosted by Joe Rogan(pictured),the most popular podcast globally,now employ video to increase their audience.“We will be watching podcasts,we will be skipping chapters of podcasts,and you will be commenting on them at the end,”predicts Will Page,Spotifys former

26、chief economist.Betting that some people want visual entertainment while listening,Spotify started supporting video podcasts in 2020.Already the black microphone icon has become omnipresent on YouTube and TikTok,functioning as a visual signal for podcast-like straight talk.Video will help podcasts f

27、urther spread;rarely does audio alone go viral.Whatever happens to the industry,its impact on audio storytelling will endure.Podcasts offer something traditional formats often work hard to leave out,but which,as trust in media has fallen,audiences crave:transparency.Instead of formal interviews,list

28、eners get sprawling conversations.Instead of radio features measured in minutes,listeners are led through whole investigations over hours.“In exposing the vulnerabilities of the reportorial process,the news product becomes more credible and trustworthy,”writes David Dowling in“Podcast Journalism”,a

29、forthcoming book.Podcasts often set out to explain thingsand they always end up explaining themselves.新英文外刊公众号 2024-3-2 8/23 The troubling decline in the global fertility rate Developed economies need to be better prepared for a drop in younger workers.By the end of this century,almost every country

30、 in the world could have a shrinking population.Although people are living longer due to advances in healthcare and a decline in poverty,they are also having fewer babies.Over the past 50 years,the global fertility rate the total number of births per woman has roughly halved to 2.3.In most advanced

31、economies it is already well below the replacement rate of 2.1,where the population replaces itself from one generation to the next,taking into account mortality.Developing nations are on a similar downward trajectory.新英文课堂 扫码听音频 Feb 24,2024|625 words|Demography 新英文外刊公众号 2024-3-2 9/23 The upshot is

32、a decline in the working-age population across the developed world,which will bring significant social,economic and political costs if left unaddressed.Some blame a dystopian outlook among millennials and Gen Z from the harms their children may cause to the climate,to the harms the climate may also

33、do to them.But while a child-free life has gained appeal among some youngsters,for multiple reasons,the vast majority of under-30s in America who do not have kids still want them.Rather,the long-term drop in the fertility rate is mostly the result of positive socio-economic trends.First,global femal

34、e labour force participation and education levels have risen over the past half century.This has led to fewer children,or having them later in life.Second,economic development,better welfare systems and lower childhood mortality have reduced the need to have several children to support financial sec

35、urity.In the developing world,fertility rates are still above the“wanted rate”an estimate of what the fertility rate would be if all unwanted births were avoided according to data compiled by the World Bank.But,in advanced economies couples tend to have fewer children than they want.This is because

36、the hurdles to bringing up children have also risen.Richer and higher-skilled economies come with more parenting costs,as childcare and education requirements tend to be higher.The opportunity costs of looking after kids,in lost earnings or leisure time,are also greater.But in advanced economies tod

37、ay,disposable incomes available to raise children have also been squeezed by rising living costs and sluggish wage growth.House prices have soared,and childcare support has often not kept up either.In the UK,some estimates put the cost of raising a child to 18 above 200,000.The average price of a fi

38、rst home in Britain is currently around 244,000.The impact of falling birth rates should not be taken lightly.The burden of healthcare and pension spending for older populations will fall on a shrinking workforce.That may lead to higher taxes.Public finances will come under even greater pressure too

39、.Fewer youngsters in the labour market could also limit innovation and productivity growth.新英文外刊公众号 2024-3-2 10/23 Populists push“pronatalist”policies,including tax breaks to have kids,as a solution.Not only do they warp womens choices,there is little evidence that they work.Governments and business

40、es should instead do more to reduce barriers to those who do want children,particularly by making child-rearing a better deal for working parents.This includes boosting childcare support,removing disincentives to work in the tax system and improving parental leave entitlements.Yet,even Nordic nation

41、s with family-friendly policies are experiencing low birth rates.The economic and social forces behind declining births are unlikely to be reversed in the long term.Studies suggest environmental factors may also be affecting fertility.Immigration could be a solution,but the politics remains difficul

42、t,and it is only a short-term option to propping up workforces with developing countries set to age too.Ultimately,the rich world will have to get used to having fewer youngsters around.That means older workers,AI and automation will have to pick up the slack.新英文外刊公众号 2024-3-2 11/23 Changing Car Cul

43、ture Can Benefit Our Health and Our Planet We need to rethink the American love affair with the automobile and redesign cities to reduce car pollution.Anthropologist Daniel Miller has observed that an alien visiting Earth might well suppose that four-wheeled creatures run the planet.These rulers,he

44、notes,are“served by a host of slaves who walk on legs and spend their whole lives serving them.”He meant this as a joke,but the punch line comes at the expense of American car culture.In the U.S.,the costs of car dependency keep growing,far above the$12,000-per-year average expense of owning a new o

45、ne.新英文课堂 扫码听音频 March 1,2023|898 words|Automobiles 新英文外刊公众号 2024-3-2 12/23 Coast-to-coast,the cars and trucks we drive cause about 16 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.They cause significant air pollution,worsening asthma and heart disease rates,and contribute to a nationwide epidemic of obesity.Ab

46、out 69 percent of car trips in the U.S.are two miles or less.Motor vehicle collisions are a leading cause of death in people ages one to 44,the most bitter part of the mayhem accompanying some six million reported accidents per year.Since 2010 the number of pedestrians killed by cars has increased 7

47、7 percent,to about 7,500 a year,a growing fraction of all traffic deaths.Americas car cultureglamorized in advertisements,enforced by zoning laws and enabled by taxpayer subsidiesis a choice that now comes at too high a cost,both for ourselves and for the environment.After a century of its central p

48、lace in our lives,we need to rethink our world into one not hitched to the automobile.Automobile-first ideals dominate in the U.S.Our countryside is carved up by superhighways connecting bedroom suburbs with sprawling cities,with too many nowherevilles surrounded by parking lots and strip malls and

49、ringed with sound barrier wallsall built to serve the sacred automobile.Atop former towns and neighborhoods,broad avenues are lined with drive-through hamburger stands and banks.Across the country,the car is the only way to get around and not only in rural places.This reliance spawns an ever more di

50、sconnected nation of drivers suffering an epidemic of road rage.As Lancaster University sociologist John Urry wrote,“the car is immensely flexible and wholly coercive,”promising freedom but trapping drivers into inhabiting their cars.During the height of the pandemic,when office commutes and rush-ho