想要机器人情人？ 2025年就能实现

 　　Human relationships have had their day.

　　人与人之间谈恋爱很快就要过时啦。

　　They have enjoyed all the excellence¹ of wine-in-a-box. Too often, what starts with a flame ends as soot².

　　人类之间的恋爱总是很美好，刚开始会像烟花一样绚烂，可往往到最后爱情灰飞烟灭，令人伤感。

　　So a new report from the Pew Research Center offers hope for humans in search of true and abiding³ love.

　　皮尤研究中心的一项研究为人类找到更真挚、更持久的爱情带来了希望。

　　For in "AI, Robotics And The Future Of Jobs" (PDF), one of the experts surveyed predicts that, in 2025, many of us will have robot lovers. No, not those who are human and merely go through the motions because they have a ring on their finger and a joint⁴ bank account.No, these will be actual robots that will know our every need and minister to it accordingly.

　　在这项名为“人工智能，机器人与未来职业”的研究中，有专家预测，到2025年，我们很多人都会拥有一个机器人伴侣。这不同于人类伴侣，不是那种因为手上带了结婚戒指、和你共享银行账户的所谓的伴侣，而是指可以了解你的所有需求，辅助你的生活的实实在在的机器人伴侣。

　　The report, released last week, canvassed⁵ the views of experts. As we know with experts, they are always right. Especially in their own minds. So this is as sure a picture as we can have of our loving and lovable future.

　　上周公布的这份研究报告里征询了多方专家学者的观点，他们各有各的说辞，所以我们也只能尽量描绘出一个充满正能量的未来世界蓝图。

　　Robots will, it seems, threaten current jobs more than ever. These won't merely be jobs that require automation. These will be jobs of the white-collar variety, those that involve a touch of politics, as well as a heap of patience. Almost half the experts believe that the advance of robot deployment⁶ will mean the advance of human unemployment. They fear greater income inequality, and even heightened social disorder⁷.

　　在未来，机器人有可能对人类的职业造成前所未有的威胁。受到威胁的职业不仅包括那些要求自动化的职业，也包括白领、需要懂政治、需要有耐心的职业。近一半的专家认为，机器人的大范围使用可能会导致失业人群增加，贫富差距拉大，甚至是社会混乱程度加剧。

　　Some differ. Salesforce's JP Rangaswami, for example, insists that: "The effects will be different in different economies (which themselves may look different from today's political boundaries). Driven by revolutions in education and in technology, the very nature of work will have changed radically--but only in economies that have chosen to invest in education, technology,and related infrastructure⁸."

　　其他一些专家则持不同的观点。例如来自CRM（客户关系管理）软件服务提供商Salesforce的然格斯沃米就认为，“在不同的经济状况下，机器人的影响也会不同，而未来的经济状况划分也有可能与现在不一样。在教育和科技革命的推动下，除了投资教育、科技及相关公共事业的经济领域之外，各行业的工作性质都将发生翻天覆地的变化。”

　　Jonathan Grudin, Microsoft's principal researcher, believes technology has always been a net jobs creator. He said: "Although there have always been unemployed⁹ people, when we reached a few billion people there were billions of jobs. There is no shortage of things that need to be done and that will not change。"

　　微软首席研究员乔纳森认为，技术一直是创造网络就业岗位的一只手，“虽然我们的社会一直存在失业人群，但是有数十亿人口就会有上十亿的工作岗位。我们从来都不缺事做，这一点是不会改变的。”

　　But let's be optimistic. There will be vast numbers of people with little to do. They will need far more love -- or, at least, lovin' -- than ever before.

　　乐观点来看的话，机器人一旦普及，人类需要亲自做的事情就变少了，也因此可能比之前需要更多的爱，或者，至少是需要更多的爱好。

　　That's where, one expert surveyed for the report suggests, robots may be a salvation¹⁰. Stowe Boyd, lead researcher for GigaOM Research, predicts: "Robotic sex partners will become commonplace, although the source of scorn and division, the way that critics today bemoan¹¹ selfies as an indicator¹² of all that's wrong with the world."

　　这个时候，机器人可能就会成为一个救星。GigaOM研究中心的首席研究员斯多认为：“在未来，把机器人作为性伴侣将会是一件司空见惯的事情，虽然今天这种事还会被人嘲笑或仍存在着分歧。”

　　Will there be scorn and division? Or will there be blessed relief at the simplicity¹³ of it all? The robot will never stand you up, always listen to everything you say without even a whisper of disagreement, and will happily turn over and go to sleep if you happen not to be in the mood.

　　将来还会被嘲笑、还会有分歧吗？将来机器人伴侣会成为一种被人祝福、让人解脱的方式吗？不管怎样，机器人伴侣会永远站在你那边，倾听你的每一句话而不会有任何异议。在性生活上，如果你没心情，机器人也不会勉强你，而是开心地转过身去睡觉。

　　Moreover, if you have managed to cash out of the IPO of a thoroughly¹⁴ useless startup, you'll still have the money for a couples date.

　　另外，如果你炒股失败，也不用担心没钱约会。

　　Each of you can bring your own robot. Think of how much cheaper this will be. The robots don't need to nibble¹⁵ on so much as a kale salad and a piece of boiled celery root.

　　每个人都能有属于你自己的机器人伴侣，这还会缩减你的开支。机器人完全不挑食，无论是水煮芹菜根还是蔬菜沙拉，TA都不会跟你计较。

　　Of course some might mock at first. But these will be people who are still struggling with the notion that the halfwit they married turned out to be a quarterwit.

　　当然一些人可能还是会觉得这事不靠谱。他们害怕与他们结婚的这些机器人会越来越傻。

　　Moreover, just last year, 9 percent of people expressed their cheeriness at the idea of robot sex. That's surely more than want to wear Google Glass.

　　去年在一个有关是否愿意让机器人做伴侣的调查中，9%的人表示很期待，这比想要带谷歌智能眼镜的人数比例还高。

　　Ultimately, we have no idea what our roboticized world will look like. What joy, though, if our sudden roboticization of the world coincides precisely¹⁶ with our natural efforts to destroy it.

　　对于未来机器化的世界会是什么样子，是会造福人类，还是会破坏我们曾做的所有努力，我们都无法预知。

　　How poignant¹⁷ it would be if it were the robots who managed to actually save us from our worst habits.

　　但是，如果人类真的到了需要利用机器人来摆脱坏习惯的地步，那也真是值得反思的了。

1 excellence   

n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德

参考例句：

• His art has reached a high degree of excellence.他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
• My performance is far below excellence.我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。

2 soot   

n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟

参考例句：

• Soot is the product of the imperfect combustion of fuel.煤烟是燃料不完全燃烧的产物。
• The chimney was choked with soot.烟囱被煤灰堵塞了。

3 abiding   

adj.永久的，持久的，不变的

参考例句：

• He had an abiding love of the English countryside.他永远热爱英国的乡村。
• He has a genuine and abiding love of the craft.他对这门手艺有着真挚持久的热爱。

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

5 canvassed   

v.（在政治方面）游说( canvass的过去式和过去分词 )；调查（如选举前选民的）意见；为讨论而提出（意见等）；详细检查

参考例句：

• He canvassed the papers, hunting for notices of jobs. 他仔细查阅报纸，寻找招工广告。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The stirring event was well canvassed. 那桩惊人的事情已经是满城风雨。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

6 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

7 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

8 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

9 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

10 salvation   

n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困

参考例句：

• Salvation lay in political reform.解救办法在于政治改革。
• Christians hope and pray for salvation.基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救。

11 bemoan   

v.悲叹，哀泣，痛哭；惋惜，不满于

参考例句：

• Purists bemoan the corruption of the language.主张语文纯正的人哀叹语言趋于不纯。
• Don't bemoan anything or anyone that you need to leave behind.不要再去抱怨那些你本该忘记的人或事。

12 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

13 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

14 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

15 nibble   

n.轻咬，啃；v.一点点地咬，慢慢啃，吹毛求疵

参考例句：

• Inflation began to nibble away at their savings.通货膨胀开始蚕食他们的存款。
• The birds cling to the wall and nibble at the brickwork.鸟儿们紧贴在墙上，啄着砖缝。

16 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

17 poignant   

adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的

参考例句：

• His lyrics are as acerbic and poignant as they ever have been.他的歌词一如既往的犀利辛辣。
• It is especially poignant that he died on the day before his wedding.他在婚礼前一天去世了，这尤其令人悲恸。