2018年12月大学英四级阅读试卷解析

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2018年12月大学英四级阅读试卷解析

Section A

（空气污染篇）

millions die early from air pollution each year. Air pollution costs the global economy more

than $5 trillion annually in welfare costs, with the most serious 26__ occurring in the developing

world. The figures include a number of costs 27__ with air pollution. Only considering lost

income alone amounts to $225 billion a year.

The report includes both indoor and outdoor air pollution. Indoor pollution, which includes

28__ like home heating and cooking, has remain 29__over the past several decades despite

advances in the area. Levels of outdoor pollution have grown rapidly along with rapid growth in

industry and transportation. Director of Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Chris Murray

30__ it as an “urgent call to action.” “One of the risk factors for premature deaths is the air we

breathe, over which individuals have little 31__,” he said.

The effects of air pollution are worst in the developing world, where in some places lost labor

income 32__ nearly 1% of GDP. Around 9 and 10 people in low and middle income countries live

in places where they 33__ experience dangerous levels of outdoor air pollution.

But the problem is not limited 34__ to the developing world. Thousands die prematurely in the

U.S. as a result of related ailments. In many European countries, where diesel 35__ have become

more common in recent years, that number reaches in the tens of thousands.

题目解析：本次四级选词填空相比往年的难度并没有过多差异，单词的考察的还是不同词性

用法以及词正确形式的使用。除此之外，根据文章上下文选择符合文章逻辑的正确含义的词

依旧是难点。所以，选词填空对于绝大部分的学生来说，应该明确的思路是—缩小选择范围，

这样才能最大可能的判断正确选项。缩小选择范围的四个步骤：1.划分词性 2.判断主旨 3.

判断词性与形式 4.代入选项

1.划分词性。将15个单词根据尾缀划分为四组单词。

2.判断主旨。本篇文章延续了与今年上半年考过的主题—环境污染。关于主题的判断可根据

文章的名词重点捕捉，而无需探究每一个词的含义。

3.判断词性与形式。这部分主要结合出题人在设计此类题型时，常用的句式，记住并套用即

可。词的形式主要针对的是动词和名词，当判断出词性后，需要判断动词的词性、名词的单

复数。

4.带入选项。这一步在备选选项大于一个时较难，因为需要考生结合文章的逻辑，选择符合

文意的单词，考察学生的词汇量。

下面将根据具体的题目，将3、4 步进行说明。

答案：

26. F. damage .根据空前为形容词，判断出空缺处为名词， 根据上文，空气污染每年给全球

经济造成超过5万亿美元的福利成本，对于发展中国家带来最大的伤害，因此选择damage。

27. ated 空前为 the figures include a number of costs 27__ with air pollution 空格前主

谓宾齐全，可判断空格处和后面的with构成短语做后置定语修饰前面的cost。Associate与

be…with 构成固定搭配。符合文意。

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28. s. Indoor pollution, which includes 28__ , 空前为动词，可知空格处为名词来做动

词的宾语。第二段首句表示据报道污染you室内和室外污染，室内污染包括像home heating

and cooking 。

29. nt. …like home heating and cooking, has remain 29__over the past several decades

despite advances in the area. Remain 作为系动词后应跟形同次，因此根据文意选择constant。

bed Director of Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Chris Murray 30__ it as an

“urgent call to action.” 根据出题人常考句式n_n v. 空前为名词空后为名词，此处应填入及物

动词，因此根据文意选择 described。

31 E control 空格前为形容词little，空格处做have的宾语，因此填名词，和over形成词组，

因此选择control，control over控制，此句意为过早死亡的危险因素之一为我们呼吸的空气，

个人对它几乎没有控制权。

32. H equals 空格前为lost labor income为名词，定语从句中的主语，空格后为of结构的名

词，因此判断出空格为谓语，选动词，且第三人称单数形式，选择equals，此句意为空气污

染的影响在发展中国家最为糟糕，在一些地方，劳动收入的损失相当于近GDP的1%。

33. K regularly 空格前为名词，空格后为动词，判断出空格为副词，选择regularly，此句意

为在低收入与中等收入的国家，大约9-10人生活在经常遭受严重室外空气污染的地方。

34. I exclusively 空格前为谓语动词，空格后为be limited to的宾语，句子成分完整，判断空

格为副词，选择exclusively，此句意为但是这个问题不仅仅局限于发展中国家。

35. O vehicles 空格前为名词/形容词，空格后为谓语动词，判断出空格为主语名词，由diesel

限定修饰，选择vehicles，此句意为，在许多欧洲国家，柴油汽车近年变得越来越普遍，这

个数字达到了数万辆。

Section B

Food-as-Medicine Movement Is Witnessing Progress

[A] Several times a month, you can find a doctor in the aisles of Ralph’s market in Huntington

Beach, California, wearing a white coat and helping people learn about food. On one recent day,

this doctor was Daniel Nadeau, wandering the cereal aisle with Allison Scott, giving her some

idea on how to feed kids who persistently avoid anything that is healthy. “Have you thought about

trying fresh juices in the morning?” he asks her. “The frozen oranges and apples are a little

cheaper, and fruits are really good for the brain. Juices are quick and easy to prepare, you can take

the frozen fruit out the night before and have it ready the next morning.”

[B] Scott is delighted to get food advice from a physician who is program director of the nearby

Mary and Dick Allen Diabetes Center, part of the St. Joseph Hoag Health alliance. The center’s

‘Shop with Your Doc’ program sends doctors to the grocery store to meet with any patients who

sign up for the service, plus any other shoppers who happen to be around with questions.

[C] Nadeau notices the pre-made macaroni (通心粉)-and-cheese boxes in Scott’s shopping cart

and suggests she switch to whole grain macaroni and real cheese. “So I’d have to make it？”she

asks, her enthusiasm fading at the thought of how long that might take, just to have her kids reject

it. “I’m not sure they’d eat it. They just won’t eat it.”

[D] Nadeau says sugar and processed foods are big contributors to the rising diabetes rates among

children. “In America, over 50 percent of our food is processed food,” Nadeau tells her. “And

only 5 percent of our food is plant-based food. I think we should try to reverse that.” Scott agrees

to try more fruit juices for the kids and to make real macaroni and cheese. Score one point for the

doctor, zero for diabetes.

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[E] Nadeau is part of a small revolution developing across California. The food-as-medicine

movement has been around for decades, but it’s making progress as physicians and medical

institutions make food a formal part of treatment, rather than relying solely on medications (药物).

By prescribing nutritional changes or launching programs such as ‘Shop with your Doc’, they are

trying to prevent, limit or even reverse disease by changing what patients eat. “There’s no

question people can take things a long way toward reversing diabetes, reversing high blood

pressure, even preventing cancer by food choices,” Nadeau says.

[F] In the big picture, says Dr. Richard Afable, CEO and president of ST. Joseph Hoag Health,

medical institutions across the state are starting to make a philosophical switch to becoming a

health organization, not just a health care organization. That feeling echoes the beliefs of the

Therapeutic Food Pantry program at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, which

completed its pilot phase and is about to expand on an ongoing basis to five clinic sites throughout

the city. The program will offer patients several bags of food prescribed for their condition, along

with intensive training in how to cook it. “We really want to link food and medicine, and not just

give away food,” says Dr. Rita Nguyen, the hospital’s medical director of Healthy Food Initiatives.

“We want people to understand what they’re eating, how to prepare it, the role food plays in their

lives.”

[G] In Southern California, Loma Linda University School of Medicine is offering specialized

training for its resident physicians in Lifestyle Medicine — that is a formal specialty in using

food to treat disease. Research findings increasingly show the power of food to treat or reverse

diseases, but that does not mean that diet alone is always the solution, or that every illness can

benefit substantially from dietary changes. Nonetheless, physicians say that they look at the

collective data and a clear picture emerges: that the salt, sugar, fat and processed foods in the

American diet contribute to the nation’s high rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

According to the World Health Organization, 80 percent of deaths from heart disease and stroke

are caused by high blood pressure, tobacco use, elevated cholesterol and low consumption of fruits

and vegetables.

[H] “It’s a different paradigm（范式） of how to treat disease,” says Dr. Brenda Rea, who helps

run the family and preventive medicine residency program at Loma Linda University School of

Medicine. The lifestyle medicine specialty is designed to train doctors in how to prevent and treat

disease, in part, by changing patients’ nutritional habits. The medical center and school at Loma

Linda also has a food cupboard and kitchen for patients. This way, patients not only learn about

which foods to buy, but also how to prepare them at home.

[I] Many people don’t know how to cook, Rea says, and they only know how to heat things up.

That means depending on packaged food with high salt and sugar content. So teaching people

about which foods are healthy and how to prepare them, she says, can actually transform a patient’

s life. And beyond that, it might transform the health and lives of that patient’s family. “What

people eat can be medicine or poison,” Rea says. “As a physician, nutrition is one of the most

powerful things you can change to reverse the effects of long-term disease.”

[J] Studies have explored evidence that dietary changes can slow inflammation（炎症）, for

example, or make the body inhospitable to cancer cells. In general, many lifestyle medicine

physicians recommend a plant-based diet — particularly for people with diabetes or other

inflammatory conditions.

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[K] “As what happened with tobacco, this will require a cultural shift, but that can happen,” says

Nguyen. “In the same way physicians used to smoke, and then stopped smoking and were able to

talk to patients about it, I think physicians can have a bigger voice in it.”

题目解析：本篇长篇阅读难度较低，基本上匹配段落与题干都可找到一致性的词语，做题时

只需依照固定的思路和方法进行即可。文章无需仔细阅读，先从题干出发，选择名词作为关

键词，接着以段落为单位在各个段落的收尾处进行关键词的对应。在寻找关键词的同时应注

意两点，同义替换以及特殊单词（中文释义、转折词）。做题时应先易后难提高效率。

36. More than half of the food Americans eat is factory-produced.

答案：D

解析：本题考察同义替换

【D】Nadeau says sugar and processed foods are big contributors to the rising diabetes rates

among children. “In America, over 50 percent of our food is processed food,” Nadeau tells her.

“And only 5 percent of our food is plant-based food. I think we should try to reverse that.” Scott

agrees to try more fruit juices for the kids and to make real macaroni and cheese. Score one point

for the doctor, zero for diabetes.

B37. There is a special program that assigns doctors to give advice to shoppers in food stores.

答案：B

解析：本题考察原词定位

【B】Scott is delighted to get food advice from a physician who is program director of the nearby

Mary and Dick Allen Diabetes Center, part of the St. Joseph Hoag Health alliance. The center’s

‘Shop with Your Doc’ program sends doctors to the grocery store to meet with any patients who

sign up for the service, plus any other shoppers who happen to be around with questions.

38. There is growing evidence from research that food helps patients recover from various

illnesses.

答案：G

解析：本题考查同义替换+概括总结

【G】In Southern California, Loma Linda University School of Medicine is offering specialized

training for its resident physicians in Lifestyle Medicine — that is a formal specialty in using

food to treat disease. Research findings increasingly show the power of food to treat or reverse

diseases, but that does not mean that diet alone is always the solution, or that every illness can

benefit substantially from dietary changes. Nonetheless, physicians say that they look at the

collective data and a clear picture emerges: that the salt, sugar, fat and processed foods in the

American diet contribute to the nation’s high rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

According to the World Health Organization, 80 percent of deaths from heart disease and stroke

are caused by high blood pressure, tobacco use, elevated cholesterol and low consumption of fruits

and vegetables.

39. A healthy breakfast can be prepared quickly and easily.

答案：A

解析：本题考查同义替换

【A】Several times a month, you can find a doctor in the aisles of Ralph’s market in Huntington

Beach, California, wearing a white coat and helping people learn about food. On one recent day,

资料来源：天津新东方培训学校

网站 /

this doctor was Daniel Nadeau, wandering the cereal aisle with Allison Scott, giving her some

idea on how to feed kids who persistently avoid anything that is healthy. “Have you thought about

trying fresh juices in the morning?” he asks her. “The frozen oranges and apples are a little

cheaper, and fruits are really good for the brain. Juices are quick and easy to prepare, you can take

the frozen fruit out the night before and have it ready the next morning.”

40. Training a patient to prepare healthy food can change their life.

答案：I

解析：本题考查同义替换

Many people don’t know how to cook, Rea says, and they only know how to heat things up. That

means depending on packaged food with high salt and sugar content. So teaching people about

which foods are healthy and how to prepare them, she says, can actually transform a patient’s life.

And beyond that, it might transform the health and lives of that patient’s family. “What people eat

can be medicine or poison,” Rea says. “As a physician, nutrition is one of the most powerful

things you can change to reverse the effects of long-term disease.”

41. One food-as-medicine program not only prescribes food for treatment but teaches patients how

to cook it.

答案：F

解析：本题考查同义替换与概括总结。

[F] In the big picture, says Dr. Richard Afable, CEO and president of ST. Joseph Hoag Health,

medical institutions across the state are starting to make a philosophical switch to becoming a

health organization, not just a health care organization. That feeling echoes the beliefs of the

Therapeutic Food Pantry program at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, which

completed its pilot phase and is about to expand on an ongoing basis to five clinic sites throughout

the city. The program will offer patients several bags of food prescribed for their condition, along

with intensive training in how to cook it. “We really want to link food and medicine, and not just

give away food,” says Dr. Rita Nguyen, the hospital’s medical director of Healthy Food Initiatives.

“We want people to understand what they’re eating, how to prepare it, the role food plays in their

lives.”

42. Scott is not keen on cooking food herself, thinking it would simply be a waste of time.

答案：C

解析：本题考查同义替换。

[C] Nadeau notices the pre-made macaroni (通心粉)-and-cheese boxes in Scott’s shopping cart

and suggests she switch to whole grain macaroni and real cheese. “So I’d have to make it？”she

asks, her enthusiasm fading at the thought of how long that might take, just to have her kids reject

it. “I’m not sure they’d eat it. They just won’t eat it.”

43. Diabetes patients are advised to eat more plant-based food.

答案：J

解析：本题考查同义替换。

[J] Studies have explored evidence that dietary changes can slow inflammation（炎症）, for

example, or make the body inhospitable to cancer cells. In general, many lifestyle medicine

资料来源：天津新东方培训学校

网站 /

physicians recommend a plant-based diet — particularly for people with diabetes or other

inflammatory conditions.

44. Using food as medicine is no novel idea, but the movement is making headway these days.

答案：E

解析：本题考查同义替换。

[E] Nadeau is part of a small revolution developing across California. The food-as-medicine

movement has been around for decades, but it’s making progress as physicians and medical

institutions make food a formal part of treatment, rather than relying solely on medications (药物).

By prescribing nutritional changes or launching programs such as ‘Shop with your Doc’, they are

trying to prevent, limit or even reverse disease by changing what patients eat. “There’s no

question people can take things a long way toward reversing diabetes, reversing high blood

pressure, even preventing cancer by food choices,” Nadeau says.

45. Americans’ high rates of various illnesses result from the way they eat.

答案：G

解析：本题考查同义替换。

[G] In Southern California, Loma Linda University School of Medicine is offering specialized

training for its resident physicians in Lifestyle Medicine — that is a formal specialty in using food

to treat disease. Research findings increasingly show the power of food to treat or reverse diseases,

but that does not mean that diet alone is always the solution, or that every illness can benefit

substantially from dietary changes. Nonetheless, physicians say that they look at the collective

data and a clear picture emerges: that the salt, sugar, fat and processed foods in the American diet

contribute to the nation’s high rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. According to the World

Health Organization, 80 percent of deaths from heart disease and stroke are caused by high blood

pressure, tobacco use, elevated cholesterol and low consumption of fruits and vegetables.

Section C

Passage One

Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.

California has been facing a drought for many years now, with certain areas even having to pump

freshwater hundreds of miles to their distribution system. The problem is growing as the

population of the state continues to expand. research has found deep water reserves under

the state which could help solve their drought crisis. Previous drilling of wells could only reach

depths of 1,000 feet, due to new pumping practices, water deeper than this can now be

extracted （抽取）. The team at Stanford investigated the aquifers（地下蓄水层）below this depth

and found that reserves may be triple what was previously thought.

It is profitable to drill to depths more than 1,000 feet for oil and gas extraction, but only recently

in California has it become profitable to pump water from this depth. The aquifers range from

1,000 to 3,000 feet below the ground, which means that pumping will be expensive and there are

other concerns. biggest concern of pumping out water from this deep in the gradual

settling down of the land surface. As the water is pumped out, the vacant space left is compacted

by the weight of the earth above.

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Even though pumping from these depths is expensive, it is still cheaper than desalinating（脱盐）

the ocean water in the largely coastal state. Some desalination plants exist where feasible, but they

are costly to run and can need constant repairs.49. Wells are much more reliable sources of

freshwater, and California is hoping that these deep wells may be the answer to their severe water

problem with these sources is that the deep water also has a higher level of salt than

shallower aquifers. means that some wells may even need to undergo desalination after

extraction, thus increasing the cost. Research from the exhaustive study of groundwater from over

950 drilling logs has just been published. New estimates of the water reserves now go up to 2,700

billion cubic meters of freshwater.

could California’s drought crisis be solved according to some researchers?

A) By building more reserves of groundwater.

B) By drawing water from the depths of the earth.

C) By developing more advanced drilling devices.

D) By upgrading its water distribution system.

答案：B

解析：细节题

利用题干关键词定位文章第一段，通过关键词found 确定重点内容为deep water reserves

under the state which could help solve their drought crisis.以及后文的数据实验作为例证，可知

危机可通过开采地下水解决。于是B选项同义替换。A选项偷换概念，并没有建立更多的

动作。C选项无中生有原文并未提及先进的钻井技术。D选项无中生有，并未提及水利调配

体系。

can be inferred about extracting water from deep aquifers?

A) It was deemed vital to solving the water problem.

B) It was not considered worth the expense.

C) It may not provide quality freshwater.

D) It is bound to gain support from the local people.

答案：B

解析：推理题

根据题干定位到第一段划线部分but due to new pumping practices, water deeper than this can

now be extracted （抽取）. The team at Stanford investigated the aquifers（地下蓄水层）below

this depth and found that reserves may be triple what was previously thought.解题关键词依旧为

found，因为此题目为推理题，于是答案应当为原文的间接表达。原文中说地下水的储备量

超过了预期的三倍。于是可以判断之前对于地下水量的态度较为保守，认为不应该进行开采，

于是选择B选项。A选项与原文意见相反。C、D均为无中生有。

48. What is mentioned as a consequence of extracting water from deep underground？

A) The sinking of land surface. C) The damage to aquifers.

B) The harm to the ecosystem. D) The change of the climate.

答案：A

解析：细节题

此题目按照顺序原则回文定位，可发现题干论述过于抽象，课利用选项短语回文定位The

biggest concern of pumping out water from this deep in the gradual settling down of the land

surface. As the water is pumped out, the vacant space left is compacted by the weight of the earth

above. 其中只有A选项符合文意，为同义替换+原词选项。B、C、D均未提及

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49. What does the author say about deep wells?

A) They run without any need for repairs.

B) They are entirely free from pollutants.

C) They are the ultimate solution to droughts.

D) They provide a steady supply of freshwater.

答案：D

解析：细节题

利用顺序原则，将题干定位到文中划线位置Wells are much more reliable sources of freshwater,

and California is hoping that these deep wells may be the answer to their severe water shortage 可

知D选项为原词+同义替换。A、B、均未提及。C选项偷换概念，将answer替换成了 ultimate

solution.

50. What may happen when deep aquifers are used as water sources?

A) People’s health may improve with cleaner water.

B) People’s water bills may be lowered considerably.

C) The cost may go up due to desalination.

D) They may be exhausted sooner or later.

答案：C

解析：细节题

利用文章剩下内容，讲关键词锁定在problem、means、thus 因此可将解题句确定在This means

that some wells may even need to undergo desalination after extraction, thus increasing the cost. C

选项为原文。A、B、D无中生有。

Passage Two

Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.

The AlphaGo program’s victory is an example of how smart computers have become.

But can artificial intelligence (AI) machines act ethically, meaning can they be honest and fair?

One example of AI is driverless cars. They are already on California roads, so it is not too soon to

ask whether we can program a machine to act ethically. As driverless cars improve, they will save

lives. They will make fewer mistakes than human drivers do. Sometimes, however, they will face

a choice between lives. Should the cars be programmed to avoid hitting a child running across the

road, even if that will put their passengers at risk? What about making a sudden turn to avoid a

dog? What if the only risk is damage to the car itself, not to the passengers?

Perhaps there will be lessons to learn from driverless cars, but they are not super-intelligent beings.

Teaching ethics to a machine even more intelligent than we are will be the bigger challenge.

About the same time as AlphaGo’s triumph, Microsoft’s ‘chatbot’ took a bad turn. The software,

named Taylor, was designed to answer messages from people aged 18-24. Taylor was supposed to

be able to learn from the messages she received. She was designed to slowly improve her ability to

handle conversations, but some people were teaching Taylor racist ideas. When she started saying

nice things about Hitler, Microsoft turned her off and deleted her ugliest messages.

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AlphaGo’s victory and Taylor’s defeat happened at about the same time. This should be a warning

to us. It is one thing to use AI within a game with clear rules and clear goals. It is something very

different to use AI in the real world. The unpredictability of the real world may bring to the

surface a troubling software problem.

Eric Schmidt is one of the bosses of Google, which own AlphoGo. He thinks AI will be positive

for humans. He said people will be the winner, whatever the outcome. Advances in AI will make

human beings smarter, more able and “just better human beings.”

does the author want to show with the example of AlphaGo’s victory?

A)Computers will prevail over human beings.

B)Computers have unmatched potential.

C)Computers are man’s potential rivals.

D)Computers can become highly intelligent.

答案：D

解析：用题干the example of AlphaGo’s victory定位至第一段，通过The AlphaGo program’s

victory is an example of how smart computers have become. Alphago的成功是电脑已经变得很

聪明的一个例子。因此D项电脑可以变得高智能符合题意。A B C在此处文意没有体现。

does the author mean by AI machines acting ethically?

A)They are capable of predicting possible risks.

B)They weigh the gains and losses before reaching a decision.

C)They make sensible decisions when facing moral dilemmas.

D)They sacrifice everything to save human lives.

答案：C

解析：通过题干acting ethically定位至第三段，答案在转折后：人工智能在无人驾驶方面，

可以比司机犯更少的错，“Sometimes, however, they will face a choice between lives.”但是有时

会面临生命间的选择。A的predicting预测无中生有，D sacrifice everything牺牲一切语气太

过绝对，无中生有，B在做出选择前衡量得失与C面临道德困境时做出理智选择，C选项更

贴合原文。

is said to be the bigger challenge facing humans in the AI age?

A)How to make super-intelligent AI machines share human feelings.

B)How to ensure that super-intelligent AI machines act ethically.

C)How to prevent AI machines doing harm to humans.

D)How to avoid being over-dependent on AI machines.

答案：B

解析：通过题干the bigger challenge定位至第三段“Teaching ethics to a machine even more

intelligent than we are will be the bigger challenge”，因此选B

do we learn about Microsoft’s ‘chatbot’ Taylor?

A)She could not distinguish good from bad.

B)She could turn herself off when necessary.

C)She was not made to handle novel situations.

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D)She was good at performing routine tasks.

答案：A

解析：通过题干定位至第五段，由“but some people were teaching Taylor racist ideas. When she

started saying nice things about Hitler, Microsoft turned her off and deleted her ugliest messages.”

可知，A选项Taylor无法区分好和坏正确。B选项是它可以自己关闭，而原文是微软关掉

它，C选项与原文“She was designed to slowly improve her ability to handle conversations”意思

正相反，D选项无中生有。

55. What does Eric Schmidt think of artificial intelligence?

A) It will be far superior to human beings.

B) It will keep improving as time goes by.

C) It will prove to be an asset to human beings.

D) It will be here to stay whatever the outcome.

答案：C

解析：通过题干定位至最后一段，A B D无中生有，原文Eric Schmidt认为人工智能对人类

发展有利，由原文“He thinks AI will be positive for humans. He said people will be the winner,

whatever the outcome..”可知C选项正确。

资料来源：天津新东方培训学校