READING ASSIGNMENT 1

MARKET LEADER
UPPER INTERMEDIATE
NAME ________________________________
Communication

Vocabulary 1
Match the words on the left with their definitions on the right.

1. excesses a. past students

2. endowment b. messages put on websites

3. access c. extreme, often immoral behaviour

4. alumni d. careful consideration and planning for the future

5. campus e. the right to enter a place or benefit from something

6. postings f. the often negative results of something that has happened

7. forethought g. statements that a person or institution is doing something wrong

8. fallout h. the land, buildings and accommodation of a university or college

money given to a non-profit institution to be invested and provide an
9. accusations i. income

Vocabulary 2
Match the two halves of the sentences below so they define the expressions in italics.

1. There is growing criticism when …

2. An internal review is when …

3. When people pick up the pieces, …

4. There is election manipulation during campaigns to choose members of parliament or presidents when
…

5. When computer or artificial intelligence systems incorporate human biases, …

6. Black box algorithms are sets of rules which are …

7. A company with standards of accountability has …

8. When a college or university makes faculty appointments, …

9. A university admissions policy is …

a. … the set of rules for deciding who is allowed to study there.

b. … lies or false information is spread to a very large number of people.

c. … they do whatever they can to manage a situation after something very bad has happened.

d. … people within a company or institution examine their own practices and policies.
 e. … a set of principles that show how responsibly the people in that company behave.

f. … they choose the people they want to recruit to teach a certain subject or discipline.

g. … used in computer systems for checking web content and are hidden from most people’s view.

h. … they show preferences that reflect how people feel, rather than any objective preferences.

i. … more and more people say that they don’t like something that a company or institution is doing.

Reading comprehension 1
Complete the sentences below with a correct form of the verbs from the box.

agree approach create found grapple

implement inject offer remain replicate

1. The university at the heart of Silicon Valley is to __________ ethics into its technology teaching
and research following growing criticism of the excesses of the industry it helped to create.
2. The board of Stanford University will meet this month to __________ on funding …
3. … and a plan to __________ the findings of an internal review.
4. Stanford alumni have __________ some of the world’s most powerful technology companies, …
5. … many of which were __________ near its campus in Palo Alto, California and continue to operate
from there.
6. While the technology industry __________ with the fallout from its tools being used for everything
from election manipulation to terrorist recruitment, …
7. … many companies are becoming concerned about how to __________ artificial intelligence
(AI) more ethically.
8. Advances in AI have been accompanied by accusations that it frequently __________ and
even accentuates human biases.
9. While university course subjects including medicine and even business increasingly __________
ethics as part of their curricula, …
10. … engineering and computer science __________ focused on technical issues.

Now check your answers by reading the article !!!!!!

 Stanford to step-up teaching of ethics in technology
1
The university at the heart of Silicon Valley is to inject ethics into its technology teaching and
research amid growing criticism of the excesses of the industry it helped spawn.
2
The board of Stanford University, one of the world’s richest higher education institutions with an
endowment of $27bn, will meet this month to agree on funding and a plan to implement the findings
of an internal review that recommends a new initiative focused on “ethics, society and technology”
and improved access to the university to those on lower incomes. “We are thinking through the ethics
and impact of technological advances,” Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Stanford’s president told the FT in an
interview. “We are such important players that we should not be doing it [teaching] and letting society
pick up the pieces.”
3
Stanford alumni have created some of the world’s most powerful technology companies, many of
which were founded near its campus in Palo Alto, California and continue to operate from there.
Others have even modelled their offices on its campus style. The university also trains many students
and staff who advise or join the sector.
4
Asked about the recent criticism over privacy of customer data and the manipulation of postings
centred on Facebook, which is based nearby, Mr Tessier-Lavigne said: “Maybe some forethought
seven to 10 years ago would have been helpful.”
5
While the technology industry grapples with the fallout from its tools being used for everything from
election manipulation to terrorist recruitment, many companies are becoming concerned about how
to approach artificial intelligence (AI) more ethically. Advances in AI have been accompanied by
accusations that it frequently replicates and even accentuates human biases, while the black box
algorithms can make it hard to understand whether a decision was reached ethically.
6
While university course subjects including medicine and even business increasingly offer ethics as
part of their curricula, engineering and computer science remain focused on technical issues. Brad
Smith, president of Microsoft, this year called for standards of accountability and a Hippocratic oath
to do no harm.
7
Mr Tessier-Lavigne said that the university would begin earmarking funds this autumn for research
and faculty appointments linked to the new strategy, ahead of fresh fundraising and broader
announcements next year. He said there was scope for companies and philanthropists to contribute but
support “has to respect academic values, freedom to publish and objectivity”.
8
In a reflection of the rising price of university fees and the very high cost of living in the San Francisco
Bay area
— largely triggered by the growth linked to Silicon Valley companies — he said Stanford would also
step up its relations with the local community.
9
He said the university already had an ethnically and racially diverse student population but an
insufficient intake from those on lower incomes including from “the middle class, which is
increasingly hurting”. He also wanted to offer free tuition and accommodation to a higher proportion
of international students.

© The Financial Times Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Reading comprehension 2
Discuss the following statements with a colleague. Are they True or False?

1. People appointed by the board of Stanford University have examined the university’s own practices and
policies and made proposals in favour of including ethics, society and technology in its teaching as well as
enabling people from poorer backgrounds to study there.
2. Mr Marc Tessier-Lavigne, president of Stanford University, says that he and his colleagues are taking a
close look at the morality and consequences of advances in technology.
3. He believes that his university is in such a position of responsibility that it shouldn’t be teaching things that
lead to such great misuse of information and then letting the general public try to recover from this
situation.
4. The teachers at Stanford University were very helpful with their ideas about the privacy of customer
data and how postings could be manipulated seven to ten years ago.
5. People want artificial intelligence to copy or exaggerate human preferences.
6. The university is starting to put money aside for employing people to do the teaching and research
associated with the new “ethics, society and technology” initiative.
7. He is ashamed that so few of his students come from lower income families including from the middle
classes.

Vocabulary 3
Find words or expressions from the article that mean:

1. proposes (paragraph 2)
2. followed the example set by (paragraph 3)
3. arrived at (paragraph 5)
4. more and more (paragraph 6)
5. sets of subjects taught (paragraph 6)
6. the promise usually made by doctors (paragraph 6)
7. some opportunity (paragraph 7)
8. sponsors or people who donate their money (paragraph 7)
9. varied (paragraph 9)