Read the text. What solution did the British government suggest for a problem in the 18th century? Was it successful? (Đọc văn bản. Chính phủ Anh đã đề xuất giải pháp gì cho một vấn đề ở thế kỷ 18? Giải pháp đó có thành công không?)On a stormy night in 1707, four ships struck rocks off the south coast of England and sank. One thousand, four hundred sailors were drowned. The ships had crashed because they had no way of knowing how far they had travelled in a particular direction; they could not c...
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Read the text. What solution did the British government suggest for a problem in the 18th century? Was it successful? (Đọc văn bản. Chính phủ Anh đã đề xuất giải pháp gì cho một vấn đề ở thế kỷ 18? Giải pháp đó có thành công không?)
On a stormy night in 1707, four ships struck rocks off the south coast of England and sank. One thousand, four hundred sailors were drowned. The ships had crashed because they had no way of knowing how far they had travelled in a particular direction; they could not calculate their longitude, which required accurate time measurement. It was the most serious in a series of accidents at sea, and a stunned British government decided to act. In such difficult circumstances, they believed that the best response to the disaster was a competition: the Longitude Prize.
The Longitude Prize was no ordinary competition. To win it, someone had to find a way of calculating how far a ship had travelled east or west from its point of departure. Geniuses such as Sir Isaac Newton had failed to find a solution, so to ensure the interest of Britain’s greatest scientific minds, the government offered a prize of £20,000 - the equivalent of £2.6 million in today’s money. But to everyone’s surprise, it wasn’t a famous academic who solved the problem, but an unknown carpenter.
When John Harrison wasn’t working with wood, he was making clocks. An accurate clock would allow sailors to calculate their position, but at the time it was thought impossible to create a mechanical clock that could work on a ship. The movement of the sea and the changes in temperature destroyed the delicate parts. However, after three frustrated attempts, Harrison’s fourth sea clock, H4, finally triumphed. Its mechanics were so good that the H4 worked better than most clocks on land.
The Longitude Prize and Harrison’s success generated a lot of interest in the 18th century, but it was soon forgotten. However, in 2013, the British government created a new Longitude Prize, offering £10 million to the person who could solve a great challenge to humanity. An enthralled public then took part in a TV programme where viewers chose one challenge from a list of six for scientists to focus on. The question now is, will someone be able to solve it just as well as Harrison solved the challenge presented to him?
- Extreme weather – many countries are experiencing record-breaking heat. Possible solutions include planting more trees and protecting forests to provide shade; increasing the use of renewable energy sources like solar and wind to reduce greenhouse gas emissions which cause global warming; etc.
- Military conflicts – like the war in Gaza which killed thousands of innocent people. Possible solutions include encouraging peaceful dialogue and negotiations between conflicting countries; promoting education and cultural exchange to foster understanding and tolerance between different cultures; etc.
- Risks from AI – job loss due to AI automation, deepfake technology, just to name a few. Possible solutions include developing and enforcing laws to ensure that AI technologies are used ethically and safely; raising awareness of the public about AI and how it works so that they know how to better protect themselves; etc.
Dịch:
- Thời tiết khắc nghiệt – nhiều quốc gia đang phải hứng chịu nắng nóng kỷ lục. Giải pháp: trồng thêm cây xanh và bảo vệ rừng để tạo bóng mát; tăng cường sử dụng các nguồn năng lượng tái tạo như năng lượng mặt trời và năng lượng gió để giảm phát thải khí nhà kính gây ra hiện tượng nóng lên toàn cầu;...
- Xung đột quân sự – như cuộc chiến ở Gaza đã cướp đi sinh mạng của hàng nghìn người dân vô tội. Giải pháp: khuyến khích đối thoại và đàm phán hòa bình giữa các nước xung đột; thúc đẩy giáo dục và trao đổi văn hóa nhằm thúc đẩy sự hiểu biết và khoan dung giữa các nền văn hóa khác nhau;...
- Các hiểm họa từ AI – mất việc làm do tự động hóa AI, công nghệ lừa đảo deepfake,... Giải pháp: xây dựng và thực thi các điều luật quy định về đạo đức AI và sử dụng an toàn AI; nâng cao nhận thức của công chúng về AI và cách thức hoạt động của AI để họ biết cách tự bảo vệ bản thân tốt hơn;...
Trả lời bởi Nguyễn Việt Dũng