III. 閱讀測驗 (8%)：請依文章及題意選出一個最佳答案。請直接於下列答案區作答，未寫在答案欄中不予計分。        Currently the focus of research into artificial intelligence (AI) is on relatively limited applications, including guidingairplanes and missiles, understanding language, detecting credit card fraud, and diagnosing medical conditions fromelectrocardiograms. While these avenues certainly contain promise for commercial and industrial interests, the populaceat large typically is more interested in a slightly less consequential application of AI. In 1997, Deep Blue, a chess playingcomputer program, defeated grand master Gary Kasparov in a tournament, marking the first time a computer was ableto best a human world champion.        But these more “frivolous” applications of AI are actually valuable indicators of the state of technology. Computerengineers are constantly reviving and reinventing the programming algorithms in an effort to make computers thinkmore like people do. And the exponential increases in processing and storage technology are allowing artificialintelligence researchers to greatly increase the power of AI programs while simultaneously reducing the size andcomputing needs of the machines. For example, the Deep Blue program required 256 specialized processors to analyzethe millions and millions of combinations of moves. Each of these processors was about one hundred times faster thana standard home computer, which means Deep Blue was about 25,600 times faster than a 1997 personal computer.            Only five years later, in 2002, AI engineers unleashed a new chess playing program, Deep Fritz. Deep Fritz playedVladimir Kramnik, the highest ranked chess player in the world, to a draw, but this result was anything but a failure to theAI community. Whereas Deep Blue required 256 processors to achieve its victory, Deep Fritz had a mere eight. DeepBlue could analyze 200 million moves per second, but Deep Fritz could deal with only 2.5 million. Yet Deep Fritz’s chessplaying abilities more closely resemble those of a person. Deep Blue was able to defeat Kasparov by brute strengthalone, calculating millions of possible moves and counter moves. Deep Fritz played Kramnik to a draw by usingadvanced pattern recognition skills, which allowed it to be competitive despite considering fewer move combinations.
【題組】1. The main idea of the passage is that ___________.
(A) certain applications of AI technology provide insight into advances in the field
(B) computer chess programs are now being designed to be more efficient and perform fewer calculations
(C) computer chess programs will soon be able to defeat any human challenger
(D) the public pays too much attention to frivolous applications of AI technology