立委博士,问问副总裁,聚焦大模型及其应用。Netbase前首席科学家10年,期间指挥研发了18种语言的理解和应用系统,鲁棒、线速,scale up to 社会媒体大数据,语义落地到舆情挖掘产品,成为美国NLP工业落地的领跑者。Cymfony前研发副总八年,曾荣获第一届问答系统第一名(TREC-8 QA Track),并赢得17个小企业创新研究的信息抽取项目(PI for 17 SBIRs)。
关于vitamin A deficiency,挺转的人说到金大米就是大救星一样,药到病除。看看维基上怎么说的,估计给了链接你们也从未看过
作者: deadmeat (*)
日期: 06/29/2014 02:19:31
Initial analyses of the potential nutritional benefits of golden rice suggested consumption of golden rice would not eliminate the problems of vitamin A deficiency, but should be seen as a complement to other methods of vitamin A supplementation.[22][23] Since then, improved strains of golden rice have been developed containing sufficient provitamin A to provide the entire dietary requirement of this nutrient to people who eat about 75g of golden rice per day.[4]
In particular, since carotenes are hydrophobic, there needs to be a sufficient amount of fat present in the diet for golden rice (or most other vitamin A supplements) to be able to alleviate vitamin A deficiency. In that respect, it is significant that vitamin A deficiency is rarely an isolated phenomenon, but usually coupled to a general lack of a balanced diet (see also Vandana Shiva's arguments below). The RDA levels accepted in developed countries are far in excess of the amounts needed to prevent blindness.[4] Moreover, this claim referred to an early cultivar of golden rice; one bowl of the latest version provides 60% of RDA for healthy children.[24]
屏蔽已有 3147 次阅读2015-1-25 19:58|个人分类:其他杂碎|系统分类:生活其它|Lake, Salt, City, 盐湖城
犹他州是现代美国的一个异数。它地处偏远,远离喧闹,最为知名的当然是摩门教(Mormon)。正式名称:The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 信众描述自己通常用LDS,只在不正式的场合下用Mormon。我们一般人对摩门教了解甚少,似乎有些基督教异端或邪教的特征。零星的印象来自媒体报道的一夫多妻与现代婚姻制度的冲突案例,有些长老有几十妻子,上百子女,总免不了让人联想到旧中国妻妾成群的制度。跟盐湖城的朋友聊起这个,朋友说,多妻制是有其历史成因的,而目前摩门教的教义最后还是做了妥协,把多妻的条款删除了。如今当然还有摩门教徒的私生活是多妻大家庭的(法律上大概与通奸类似,民不告,官不究,只要妻子们相安无事,志愿选择这种生活方式,也就睁一眼闭一眼,不致于陷入重婚的麻烦),不过多妻的生活方式已书面禁止,不再流行。历史上,摩门教在东部纽约州由斯密约瑟创立以后,一直被视为异端,不为所容,于是不得不西迁求生,历尽艰险。斯密约瑟死后,继续由长老杨百翰带领,最后来到类似戈壁的盐湖山脚下,据说杨百翰说,this is the place,从此在此拓荒建城,使得盐湖城成为摩门教的首府和圣地。
At the age of 86, Noam Chomsky remains as active as ever in his work as a world-renowned political dissident and pioneering linguist. He has also opened a new chapter in his life, recently celebrating a one-year anniversary with his new wife, Valeria Wasserman Chomsky, his second marriage. Chomsky discusses the joys of newfound love and why it is a "privilege" for him to help people make sense of a very difficult world.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMYGOODMAN: Noam, you’re headed off on a Latin America trip right now for a month. You’ll be in Brazil. You’ll be giving talks in Argentina. When you go to Brazil, you’re going to be meeting your new family.
NOAMCHOMSKY: That’s correct.
AMYGOODMAN: And I was wondering if you could talk a little about that?
NOAMCHOMSKY: Well, we’ve been talking about a variety of things that range from unpleasant to horrific, but we shouldn’t overlook the fact that the world has some wonderful things in it, too. And I got an unexpected, wondrous gift from Brazil that fell into my arms not long ago. We’re now—Valeria—we’re now about to celebrate our first anniversary and off to Brazil to meet Valeria’s family.
AMYGOODMAN: And what is that like for you? You are seen around the world, by many, as—not only as a person who shares incredible political insight in the world, but really as a role model. And so, can you talk personally about your own life?
NOAMCHOMSKY: I’m a very private person. I’ve never talked about my own life much. But, you know, I’ve—personally, I’ve been very fortunate in my life, with—there have been tragedies. There have been wonderful things. And Valeria’s sudden appearance is one of those wonderful things.
AARON MATé: You said, after your first wife, Carol, died, that life without love is empty—something along those lines. Can you talk about that?
NOAMCHOMSKY: Well, I could produce some clichés, which have the merit of being true. Life without love is a pretty empty affair.
AARON MATé: And your own tireless schedule, keeping up with your lectures, writing extensive articles, and still tirelessly answering the emails, from correspondence from people around the world—when I was in college, I remember I wrote you several times and got back these long, detailed answers on complex questions. And there’s people across the globe who could attest to a similar experience. Do you feel a certain obligation to respond to people? Because nobody would fault you, at the age of 86 now, if you took more time for yourself.
NOAMCHOMSKY: I don’t know if it’s an obligation exactly. It’s a privilege, really. These are the important people in the world. I remember a wonderful comment by Howard Zinn about the countless number of unknown people who are the driving force in history and in progress. And that’s people like—I didn’t know you, but people like you writing from college. These are people that deserve respect, encouragement. They’re the hope for the future. They’re an inspiration for me personally.
AMYGOODMAN: You mentioned your daughter Avi being an expert on Cuba, among others. You have three children that you and Carol raised, now broadening your family to Valeria, as well. Can you talk about your philosophy of child rearing in a very politically active family? You have said in the past that you thought, because of your opposition to the war in Vietnam, for example, you might spend years in jail.
NOAMCHOMSKY: Came very close, came close enough so that by 1967, '68, when resistance activities were at their height—and I was an unindicted co-conspirator in one trial, and the prosecutor announced I'd be the leading person in the next trial, but—
AMYGOODMAN: In which trial?
NOAMCHOMSKY: Pardon me?
AMYGOODMAN: In which trial?
NOAMCHOMSKY: These were the so-called trials of the resistance. The first was called the Spock-Coffin trial, although—a lot to say about that. The next ones were called off, mainly because of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, which convinced the American business community that the war is going to drag on, and they—in a rather significant power play, they compelled Johnson to start backing off. And one of the things they did was end the trials. But it was serious enough so that my wife Carol went back to school after 16 years to get a—finish up with her doctoral degree, since we had three kids to take care of. But during those years, although I was extremely active—I mean, there were times when I was giving seven talks a day and going to demonstrations and so on, but I always managed—took care to spend as much time as I could, quality time, with the kids when they were growing up.
AMYGOODMAN: So what gives you hope?
NOAMCHOMSKY: Things like what you described, also the wonderful things in the world of the kind that I mentioned, like my wife.
AMYGOODMAN:MIT professor, world-renowned linguist, dissident, author, Noam Chomsky. To hear part one of our interview yesterday, when he talked about Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to Congress today, you can go to our website. This is just a clip.
NOAMCHOMSKY: Basically, a joint effort by Netanyahu and mostly Republicans hawks from the United States to undermine any possibility of a negotiated settlement with Iran. Neither Israel nor U.S. hawks want to tolerate a deterrent in the region to their violence.
AMYGOODMAN: Noam Chomsky. To hear both of our hours of interview with him, go to democracynow.org.
YANG: If you've heard anything about me and my campaign, you've heard that someone is running for president who wants to give every American $1,000 a month. I know this may sound like a gimmick, but this is a deeply American idea, from Thomas Paine to Martin Luther King to today.
Let me tell you why we need to do it and how we pay for it. Why do we need to do it? We already automated away millions of manufacturing jobs, and chances are your job can be next. If you don't believe me, just ask an auto worker here in Detroit.
How do we pay for it? Raise your hand in the crowd if you've seen stores closing where you live. It is not just you. Amazon is closing 30 percent of America's stores and malls and paying zero in taxes while doing it. We need to do the opposite of much of what we're doing right now, and the opposite of Donald Trump is an Asian man who likes math.
(APPLAUSE)
So let me share the math. A thousand dollars a month for every adult would be $461 million every month, right here in Detroit alone. The automation of our jobs is the central challenge facing us today. It is why Donald Trump is our president, and any politician not addressing it is failing the American people.
Mr. Yang, I want to bring you in. You support a Medicare for All system. How do you respond to Governor Inslee?
YANG: Well, I just want to share a story. When I told my wife I was running for president, you know the first question she asked me? What are we going to do about our health care?
That's a true story, and it's not just us. Democrats are talking about health care in the wrong way. As someone who's run a business, I can tell you flat out our current health care system makes it harder to hire, it makes it harder to treat people well and give them benefits and treat them as full-time employees, it makes it harder to switch jobs, as Senator Harris just said, and it's certainly a lot harder to start a business.
If we say, look, we're going to get health care off the backs of businesses and families, then watch American entrepreneurship recover and bloom. That's the argument we should be making to the American people.
YANG: I'm the son of immigrants myself. My father immigrated here as a graduate student and generated over 65 U.S. patents for G.E. and IBM. I think that's a pretty good deal for the United States. That's the immigration story we need to be telling.
We can’t always be focusing on some of the -- the -- the distressed stories. And if you go to a factory here in Michigan, you will not find wall-to-wall immigrants; you will find wall-to-wall robots and machines. Immigrants are being scapegoated for issues they have nothing to do with in our economy.
YANG: I speak for just about everyone watching when I say I would trust anyone on this stage much more than I would trust our current president on matters of criminal justice.
(APPLAUSE)
We cannot tear each other down. We have to focus on beating Donald Trump in 2020.
I want to share a story that a prison guard, a corrections officer in New Hampshire said to me. He said, we should pay people to stay out of jail, because we spend so much when they're behind bars. Right now, we think we're saving money, we just end up spending the money in much more dark and punitive ways. We should put money directly into people's hands, certainly when they come out of prison, but before they go into prison.
LEMON: Mr. Yang, why are you the best candidate to heal the racial divide in America -- your response?
YANG: I spent seven years running a non-profit that helped create thousands of jobs, including hundreds right here in Detroit, as well as Baltimore, Cleveland, New Orleans. And I saw that the racial disparities are much, much worse than I had ever imagined.
They're even worse still. A study just came out that projected the average African-American median net worth will be zero by 2053. So you have to ask yourself, how is that possible? It's possible because we're in the midst of the greatest economic transformation in our history. Artificial intelligence is coming. It's going to displace hundreds of thousands of call center workers, truck drivers -- the most common job in 29 states, including this one.
And you know who suffers most in a natural disaster? It's people of color, people who have lower levels of capital and education and resources. So what are we going to do about it? We should just go back to the writings of Martin Luther King, who in 1967, his book "Chaos or Community", said "We need a guaranteed minimum income in the United States of America." That is the most effective way for us to address racial inequality in a genuine way and give every American a chance in the 21st Century economy.
你知道谁在自然灾害中受害最深吗?是有色人种,他们的资本、教育和资源水平较低。那么我们要怎么做呢?我们应该回顾一下马丁·路德·金(Martin Luther King)的著作,他在1967年出版的《混乱还是社区》(Chaos or Community)一书中说,“我们需要美国有保障的最低收入。”这是我们以真正的方式解决种族不平等问题、让每个美国人在21世纪的经济中都有机会(分享经济红利)的最有效方式。
(掌声)
莱蒙:杨先生,非常感谢。
BIDEN: - in research for new alternatives to deal with climate change.
BASH: Mr. Yang, your response?
BIDEN: And that's bigger than any other person.
YANG: The important number in Vice President Biden's remarks just now is that he United States was only 15 percent of global emissions. We like to act as if we're 100 percent, but the truth is even if we were to curb our emissions dramatically, the earth is still going to get warmer.
And we can see it around it us this summer. The last four years have been the four warmest years in recorded history. This is going to be a tough truth, but we are too late. We are 10 years too late. We need to do everything we can to start moving the climate in the right direction, but we also need to start moving our people to higher ground.
And the best way to do that is to put economic resources into your hands so you can protect yourself and your families.
TAPPER: Thank you, Senator Gillibrand. Mr. Yang, in poll after poll democratic voters are saying that having a nominee who can beat President Trump is more important to them than having a nominee who agrees with them on major issues. And right now, according to polls, they say the candidate who has the best chance of doing that, of beating President Trump is Vice President Biden. Why are they wrong?
YANG: Well, I'm building a coalition of disaffected Trump voters, independents, libertarians, and conservatives, as well as democrats and progressives. I believe I'm the candidate best suited to beat Donald Trump and as for how to win in Michigan and Ohio and Pennsylvania, the problem is that so many people feel like the economy has left them behind.
What we have to do is we have to say look, there's record high GDP in stock market prices, you know what else they're at record high is? Suicides, drug overdoses, depression, anxiety. It's gotten so bad that American life expectancy had declined for the last three years.
And I like to talk about my wife who is at home with our two boys right now, one of whom is autistic. What is her work count at in today's economy. Zero and we know that's the opposite of the truth. We know that her work is amongst the most challenging and vital.
The way we win this election as we redefine economic progress to include all the things that matter to the people in Michigan and all of us like our own heath, our well being, our mental health, our clean air and clean water, how are kids are doing.
If we change the measurements for the 21st century economy to revolve around our own well being then we will win this election.
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: Thank you, Mr. Yang. Congresswoman Gabbard, your response?
BASH: Mr. Yang, Mr. Yang, women on average earn 80 cents, about 80 cents for every dollar earned by men. Senator Harris wants to fine companies that don't close their gender pay gaps. As an entrepreneur, do you think a stiff fine will change how companies pay their female employees?
YANG: I have seen firsthand the inequities in the business world where women are concerned, particularly in start-ups and entrepreneurship. We have to do more at every step. And if you're a woman entrepreneur, the obstacles start not just at home, but then when you seek a mentor or an investor, often they don't look like you and they might not think your idea is the right one.
In order to give women a leg up, what we have to do is we have to think about women in every situation, including the ones who are in exploitive and abusive jobs and relationships around the country. I'm talking about the waitress who's getting harassed by her boss at the diner who might have a business idea, but right now is stuck where she is.
What we have to do is we have to give women the economic freedom to be able to improve their own situations and start businesses, and the best way to do this is by putting a dividend of $1,000 a month into their hands.
(APPLAUSE)
It would be a game-changer for women around the country, because we know that women do more of the unrecognized and uncompensated work in our society. It will not change unless we change it. And I say that's just what we do.
Mr. Yang, Iran has now breached the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal after President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal, and that puts Iran closer to building a nuclear weapon, the ability to do so, at the very least. You've said if Iran violates the agreement, the U.S. would need to respond, quote, "very strongly." So how would a President Yang respond right now?
YANG: I would move to de-escalate tensions in Iran, because they're responding to the fact that we pulled out of this agreement. And it wasn't just us and Iran. There were many other world powers that were part of that multinational agreement. We'd have to try and reenter that agreement, renegotiate the timelines, because the timelines now don't make as much sense.
But I've signed a pledge to end the forever wars. Right now, our strength abroad reflects our strength at home. What's happened, really? We've fallen apart at home, so we elected Donald Trump, and now we have this erratic and unpredictable relationship with even our longstanding partners and allies.
What we have to do is we have to start investing those resources to solve the problems right here at home. We've spent trillions of dollars and lost thousands of American lives in conflicts that have had unclear benefits. We've been in a constant state of war for 18 years. This is not what the American people want. I would bring the troops home, I would de-escalate tensions with Iran, and I would start investing our resources in our own communities.
TAPPER: Welcome back to the CNN Democratic presidential debate. It is time now for closing statements. You will each receive one minute. Mayor de Blasio, let's begin with you.
YANG: You know what the talking heads couldn't stop talking about after the last debate? It's not the fact that I'm somehow number four on the stage in national polling. It was the fact that I wasn't wearing a tie. Instead of talking about automation and our future, including the fact that we automated away 4 million manufacturing jobs, hundreds of thousands right here in Michigan, we're up here with makeup on our faces and our rehearsed attack lines, playing roles in this reality TV show.
It's one reason why we elected a reality TV star as our president.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
We need to be laser-focused on solving the real challenges of today, like the fact that the most common jobs in America may not exist in a decade, or that most Americans cannot pay their bills. My flagship proposal, the freedom dividend, would put $1,000 a month into the hands of every American adult. It would be a game-changer for millions of American families.
If you care more about your family and your kids than my neckwear, enter your zip code at yang2020.com and see what $1,000 a month would mean to your community. I have done the math. It’s not left; it’s not right. It’s forward. And that is how we’re going to beat Donald Trump in 2020.
父母每个月给外婆三块钱,作为我们孩子的零用钱。外婆手很紧,因为她要保证这零用钱维持三个孩子到月底。记得每天可以从外婆那里讨来两三分钱,我常常到街头买来一个热腾腾的小红薯头,回家跟小妹分享。这个故事我跟女儿讲,她很爱听,不时拿出来说笑一番:when you were my age, sweet patato was only two cents a piece and you always asked Granny, that is my Great Granny, for two cents to buy one and share with my antie GuGu, but never with my uncle DaBai.
你成天悬梁刺骨的,根本没有诚意加入烟酒生的行列。Just kidding. Thought we were pretty close back then;it's just you never shared your writings with us. Having read some of your blogs, now I realize that talent of yours was more readily shared with your numerous 学姐学妹:-) hahaha
大学同学如是说:
Hi All,
Looking back, the Anqing periode is really the best and happiest time in my life, although as probably every one else I often " 为赋新词强说愁". I can remember almost every thing clearly. So here it goes.
In Anqing I lived with Li Wei, Jin Gengsheng, Li Hanlin and Ding Bangyan in the same room for 4 years. One day in the afternoon at about 5:30, Li Wei came back to the room and he stank so awful that we refused to let him in. We asked him what he had done. He said, he spent the whole afternoon in the toilet(remember the toilet at that time!!! it is more accurate to call it shit pit) squatting on a shit pit reading a novel. When he finished reading the whole novel( mark it, the whole novel!!! What an achievement!) and tried to stand up, he felt so dizzy that he almost fell into the shit pit! You can imagine how we laughed.
He is totally disorderly. He usually slept the whole afternoon(when he did not read in the toilet) and worked the whole night through.He was not strong physically so I often wondered how he could hold himself together. I told the story to my wife and she refused to believe it, thinking I was just kidding her. But it is a true story.
Wish to hear something from you.
Best wishes to you all
XY
P.S. In Li Wei`s web page there are some nice stories to read. I recommend "Kaoyan" and "qianshou". Here are the links:
I expected John to finish the homework.
I expected John to tell Mary to finish the homework.
I expected John to tell Mary to ask her students to finish the homework.
......
其结构是:[S VP[V NP VP[V NP VP[V NP VP[...]]]]]
由于语言结构的recursive nature, 受到”乔木司机“的形式语言理论的不良影响,很长一段时间,计算语言学界推崇能够反映recursion的上下文无关语法(CFG, Context Free Grammar),排斥有限状态语法(FSG, Finite State Grammar),认为后者不适合自然语言parsing。可是,研制实用系统的人对简单而高效的FSG情有独衷。
FSG 比起 CFG 不够 powerful,为什么也可以成功运用在自然语言的parsing上呢?
诀窍就在,可以把很多个FSG叠加起来用(cascaded finite state device),一层一层地由里往外退括号。由于语用学的制约,人类实际的语言现象,表达中间recursion的括号数量是很有限的(很少超过三层,形象地说,只要大中小三种括号就够用了),而边缘嵌套难不住FSG (其实实际语料中边缘嵌套也很少超过五层),所以线性叠加完全可行。
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2007-06-19, 08:03AM by 立委.
2 wiki: 每有 school projects, 首先想到的是去 wiki 查寻背景资料。随时可即 (accessible any time anywhere),其更新的速度,知识的广泛,与时代节奏的呼应,使得它比传统百科全书更受欢迎。
3 youTube: 甜甜以前总是去 iTunes Music Store 去搜寻购买自己喜欢的(少儿)流行音乐,从半年多前,她转向 youTube, 看自己喜欢的 MTV, 跟我说:Dad, who needs iTunes anyway. youTube is my ultimate entertainment center, an ultimate source for all the music TV I need. It never fails me.
迪斯尼是一个把娱乐、艺术和商业的结合推向了极致的公司。一方面,迪斯尼卡通动画,电影电视电台,确实是超一流水平,影视美奂美仑,音乐别致有味,作为大众娱乐品,老少咸宜。特别是迪斯尼的几十部经典电影,如《白雪公主 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs》,《木偶历险记 Pinocchio》,《灰姑娘 Cinderella》, 《小美人鱼 The Little Mermaid》, 《小鹿斑比 Bambi》,《狼孩 The Jungle Book》,《Pocahontas》, 《The Aristocats》, 《101 Dalmatians》, 《Lady and the Tramp》, 《花木兰 Mulan》,《狮子王 The Lion King》, 《猿孩 Tarzen》,《Finding Nemo》等等,确实是精益求精,比样榜戏还千锤百炼。
可气的是,迪斯尼的商业嗅觉太灵,恨不得把全世界都赚了去,无怪有人称他为邪恶王国。有些钱赚的让人心服,比如我们家买的全套迪斯尼经典录像和DVD. 有些地方,就太黑:一件普通衣服,印上迪斯尼卡通形象,摇身一变,价钱翻番。建了个迪斯尼乐园,一天就赚几百万(司机告诉我们的)。出了一部杰作,人物深入人心后,就接着没完没了地来各种续集,《Cinderella II》,《Lady and the Tramp II》,《The Lion King II》, 《102 Dalmatians》, 把经典当电视剧拍,骗取儿童和家长的钱。因为资金雄厚,人才(或艺术匠人)一流, 后续作品也拍得精美, 但是缺少创新, 欠缺神韵, 我看是自己糟践自己半个多世纪树立起来的品牌。单我们家,就不知给迪斯尼送去多少钱。有什么办法,孩子喜欢。
04.04.23, 【随感】关于迪斯尼动画片。
甜甜出生之前,我是不看动画片的,就象我现在不看任何武打小说一样。没想到孩子教育人,随着甜甜的成长,跟着她开始看动画片,尤其是迪斯尼经典。这一看,终于看出名堂,品出高下。让人不能忘怀的有《白雪公主 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs》,《木偶历险记 Pinocchio》,《狼孩 The Jungle Book》,《Pocahontas》, 《The Aristocats》。
iDisney1: 乘坐阿拉丁神奇毯车, (文件大小: 9 MG), Magic Carpet: 2004 Spring Vacation to Disney World: riding margic carpet, with the Disney theme song "A Whole New World",背景音乐:迪斯尼经典动画片《阿拉丁》主题插曲"全新的世界";
iDisney2: 穿行动物王国, (文件大小: 9 MG), 2004 Spring Vacation to Disney World in Florida: taking a ride through animal kingdom in forests, with Disney theme song "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride". 背景音乐:迪斯尼动画片《Lilo And Stitch》插曲"夏威夷舟行"
[立委评]这首歌曲调极为流畅,采风自夏威夷土著音乐。歌词也是夏威夷语。看过演唱该曲的儿童合唱团及其女老师指挥的录象,非常精彩。
iDisney3: 甜甜在迪斯尼乐园即兴舞蹈, (文件大小: 9 MG), 2004 Spring Disney Vacation: Tanya dancing with the "Toy Story" theme song "You got a friend in me". 背景音乐:迪斯尼电脑动画片《玩具的故事》(又译作《玩具总动员》)插曲"我是你的哥们".
iDisney4: 灰姑娘神奇宫殿, (文件大小: 12 MG), 2004 Spring Vacation to Disney World in Florida: Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom, with theme song "A dream is a wish your heart makes". 这是该系列最后一个节选。背景音乐:迪斯尼经典动画片《灰姑娘》插曲"梦想就是心愿"。
所以,我同情甜甜。要不是怕影响她健康,也不觉得熬夜是个坏习惯。早起早睡身体好,我总怀疑是个没有经过科学对照组研究的fallacy,比眼保操还值得置疑。。(By the way, 眼保操虽未经过严格的对照组检验,我个人体会是有用的。每次熬夜看书累了,就做眼保操小憩片刻,顿时心明眼亮,精神抖擞。甜甜也跟我学会这手新国粹了。)
上述可行性研究在1984年赢得了荷兰政府经济部的资助,BSO 公司补足另一半,开始了六年的DLT (Distributed Language Translation) 分布式语言翻译的项目。所谓分布式,是设想该系统应用在电脑网络的环境下,源语到世界语的系统和世界语到目标语的系统分别在两端进行:在源语输入端遇到歧义,系统会直接提问作者以确定其含义,然后翻译成中间语言世界语,这是用所谓半自动交互式机器翻译来解决自然语言分析中最困难的歧义区分问题。(这个思路跟这几年流行的 semantic web 异曲同工,都是力求在源头上解决问题。)网络之间传输的是已经消除了歧义的世界语,各接收端根据需要,调用从世界语翻译生成目标语的程序,即用即调(on-the-fly),这个阶段是全自动的。这种分布式应用环境的设想似乎有点超前,如果推后五年,在网络热中寻找巨额投资是不困难的。可惜当年(1990)网络经济的概念还只是萌芽阶段。有人和,却没有天时地利。
BSO的这个DLT项目由于有 Victor Sadler 这样的世界语元老级人物的参与和宣传,在国际世界语界影响很大,引起了各国世界语者的关注,大家(包括笔者)对它的期许很高,希望借助世界语和世界语者的支持,为大规模解决语言问题提供一个切实可行的技术方案。世界语在系统的轴心地位也满足了很多世界语者的心愿,自愿为这个系统服务的各国世界语者很多,如果系统真到了大规模商业开发阶段,管理得当,这是一个不小的资源优势。记得当年听 BBC 中文广播电台,就有中国世界语者去信询问世界语的机器翻译问题,广播节目就特别介绍了荷兰科学家正在进行的 DLT 项目。可惜,1990年前后,他们在国际国内寻找后续资金的努力终于失败,研究组不得不解散,结束了这段世界语和机器翻译的蜜月期,令人扼腕。(不过,多年来,一直有人主张利用世界语机做器翻译做媒介语的方案。美国有一家公司 Unikom 做类似的尝试已经多年,不过也一直没有找到大笔资金做商业开发。其负责人跟我和Dan一直保持着联系。)