Alexa,Siri, Cortana,and More: An Introduction to Voice Assistants

Voice assistants are software agents that can interpret human speech and respond via synthesized voices. Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Google’s Assistant are the most popular voice assistants and are embedded in smartphones or dedicated home speakers. Users can ask their assistants questions, control home automation devices and media playback via voice, and manage other basic tasks such as email, to-do lists, and calendars with verbal commands. This column will explore the basic workings and common features of today’s voice assistants. It will also discuss some of the privacy and security issues inherent to voice assistants and some potential future uses for these devices. As voice assistants become more widely used, librarians will want to be familiar with their operation and perhaps consider them as a means to deliver library services and materials.     

略论大学英语听力教学中记忆能力的培养

听力理解是一个复杂的心理语言过程和创造性的思维过程。教师可以通过影子练习,转述、联想和记笔记等方法培养学生记忆能力,尤其短时记忆能力,以提高他们听力理解水平。     

Effects of fluency training on reading competence in primary school children: The role of prosody

Reading fluency defined as speed, accuracy, and prosody, is a critical component of reading development. The purpose of this research was to compare the efficacy of automaticity versus prosody programmes on reading comprehension. The study included 122 Spanish primary-school children (74 second and 48 fourth graders), randomly assigned to one of three groups: (a) automaticity training, which consisted of repeated reading with a focus on speed and accuracy plus phonological and orthographic awareness activities; (b) prosody training, which consisted of repeated reading with a focus on expressiveness plus prosody sensitivity activities; and a (c) ‘no treatment’ control group. Multiple measures were used to determine pre-post training performance in reading fluency—automaticity and prosody—and comprehension. Prosody training proved superior to automaticity training in promoting automaticity and prosody. Prosody and automaticity training in fourth graders resulted in superior sentence comprehension compared to controls. The importance of prosody for reading development in primary school is discussed.     

语篇信息性与外语阅读教学

信息已经成为信息时代社会发展的重要资源之一。不同领域的学者从各自的角度对信息作出了不同的论断。语篇信息性解读的依据是理解，语篇信息性解读与阅读理解，两者之间关系密切。在语言学界，篇章的信息性理论研究已经得到关注并开始应用于教学。本文从语篇信息理论出发，探讨理论在阅读理解中的应用，旨在提高学生在阅读中更有效、更准确获取信息的实际能力。     

X5045在智能低压综合保护装置中的应用

X5045芯片是美国Xicor公司生产的集“看门狗”定时器、电压监控和串行E2PROM三项功能于一体的专用集成芯片。本文介绍了X5045芯片的结构、功能、工作原理以及X5045在智能低压综合保护装置中的应用,给出了X5045芯片与AT89S52单片机的硬件接口电路,编写出相应C51应用程序,并成功应用于低压综合保护装置中,取得了令人满意的效果。     

浅析CET-4听力理解题与答题技巧

大学英语的教学目的是“使学生能以英语为工具,获取所需信息”。听车理解,即“听而理解意思”。在考试中要求考生边听、边理解、边阅读、边猜测（推断）,边作选择。本文通过对大学生英语CET－4听力理解题的分析谈一些答题技巧。     

浅议师范院校英语专业语音教学

语音教学在英语教学中起着重要的作用。分析师范院校英语专业语音教学存在的问题。着重培养和激发学生对语音学的兴趣，同时注意精讲多练，理论结合实践以提高语音教学质量。     

国外字词识别研究对阅读教学的意义

自上个世纪90年代以来,字词识别研究再次成为心理学领域的一个热点问题,国外心理学界在这方面取得了一些进展。其中,关于字词识别心理机制的研究,不仅使我们更加深入地了解了字词识别在篇章理解中的作用,而且,也为语篇理解和阅读教学提供了重要的方法论启示。     

遗失的线索:小传统与历史话语权力

中国传统的文化背景始终存在大传统与小传统的对立与交融。其中大传统始终是历史的主流 ,是历史学家的关注所在。而小传统则相对处在话语弱势与忽略之中。然而小传统下的世俗社会的发展始终延续着 ,是没有被历史记录的另一条历史线索。将小传统纳入历史话语权力中 ,从而呈现历史与社会的全貌 ,是史学发展的新方向 ,也是现代历史学家面临的课题与挑战     

大学修辞教学改革初探

大学修辞教学要达到教学大纲的要求,必须打破“辞格中心论”,突破句子的分析界限,使大学生摆脱旧的修辞观念的束缚。同时,还应当注意教学方法的多样化,才能使大学生的语言交际能力得到全面提高。