The power of data analysis數據分析的力量

董傳霞

研究人員發現，在做出艱難決定時，數據可以提供可靠的參考信息。通過大數據，我們可以從數百萬面臨與我們類似困境的人那里獲取證據，從而讓我們的決策更加科學。

主題語境：科技 篇幅：325詞 建議用時：6分鐘

Where should you live？ How should youspend your time？ For centuries， people have reliedon their instincts to figure out the answers to theselife?changing questions. But there is a better waynow. We are living through a data explosion， asvast amounts of information about all aspects ofhuman behaviour have become more and more ac?cessible.

We can use this big data to help determine the best course to chart. Researchers havefound algorithms can be much better than people at making difficult decisions. The powerof data analysis has been proved in the sports and business worlds， too. As it was made fa?mous by the book and movie Moneyball， baseball teams found that algorithms were betterthan managers at picking strategies.

But stats have had surprisingly little impact on our personal lives. One major problemis that good data about lifes biggest personal questions has been difficult to gain. Considerthis question： what makes people happy？ Some have revealed the activities that provide farmore enjoyment than most of us would have guessed， such as exercising， going to a museumand gardening. Then there are things that give us less pleasure than we might assume， such?as playing video games， watching TV and browsing the Internet. Another way to be happieris moving house. The researchers found that when people moved from an unhappy city to ahappier place， their overall mood improved.

There are early days of the data revolution in personal decision?making. A study oftens of millions of children has found the places that increase their future earnings most.Another shows certain cities can improve ones life expectancy. I am not claiming that wecan completely base our lifestyle choices on algorithms， though we might get to that point inthe future. Instead， I am claiming that we can all dramatically improve our decision?makingby consulting evidence from millions of people who face trouble similar to ours via big data.

Reading Check

1. How can people make better decisions now？

A. By doing plenty of interviews.

B. By relying on accessible big data.

C. By using the common sense of life.

D. By following others life behavior.

2. Why is the movie Moneyball mentioned in paragraph 2？

A. To suggest managers handle their players.

B. To inform data can improve players skills.

C. To show baseball is popular in the sports world.

D. To prove algorithms can make better decisions.

3. What makes us happier than we guess according to paragraph 3？

A. Visiting a museum.

B. Surfing the Internet.

C. Playing video games.

D. Moving to a bigger city.

4. What does the author conclude in the end？

A. The big data can increase our future earnings.

B. The big data can prolong our life expectancy.

C. We can improve decision?making via big data.

D. We can develop our lifestyle in different ways.

Language Study

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence in the text

I am not claiming that we can completely base our lifestyle choices on algorithms，though we might get to that point in the future. 我并不是說我們可以完全根據算法來選擇我們的生活方式，盡管我們可能會在未來實現這一點。

【點石成金】本句是一個復合句，that we can completely base our lifestyle choices onalgorithms， though we might get to that point in the future是一個賓語從句，though引導的是一個讓步狀語從句。

Ⅱ. Text?centered chunks

rely on 依靠；依賴

figure out 弄懂；弄清楚

vast amounts of 大量的

make difficult decisions 做出艱難的決定

have little impact on 對……影響小

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