全球最逼真人形机器人纳丁亮相

 　　The world's most human-like robot has begun work as a university receptionist as scientists predict the new technology will eventually provide childcare and offer friendship to lonely elderly people.

　　世界上最逼真的人形机器人“纳丁”已经开始了她作为大学接待员的工作。科学家预计这种机器人最终将能承担保姆和护工的工作，为幼儿和孤寡老人提供服务。

　　With her soft skin and flowing brunette hair, Nadine does not only meet and greet visitors, smile, make eye contact and shake hands, but she can even recognise past guests and spark up conversation based on previous chats.

　　纳丁有着细嫩的皮肤和柔顺的深褐色头发，她不仅会跟参观者打招呼、微笑、进行眼神交流和握手，甚至还能认出老熟人，并与他们继续上次未聊完的话题。

　　Unlike conventional robots, Nadine has her own personality, mood and emotions. She can be happy or sad, depending on the topic.

　　不同于传统机器人，纳丁有自己的个性、情绪和情感，她可以根据谈话内容表现出高兴或是悲伤。

　　Powered by intelligent software similar to Apple's Siri or Microsoft's Cortana, she is the brainchild of scientists at the Nanyang Technological¹ University in Singapore and is based on her creator Prof Nadia Thalmann.

　　纳丁是新加坡南洋理工大学（NTU）科学家们的智慧结晶，其运行机制类似苹果Siri或微软小娜，她的外貌完全是按照其创造者纳迪娅·塔尔曼教授的样子为蓝本。

　　Prof Thalmann, the director of the Institute for Media Innovation who led the development of said robots such as Nadine are poised² to become more visible in offices and homes in future.

　　塔尔曼教授是媒体创新研究所主任，她负责领导此次的机器人研究项目。像纳丁这样的机器人未来会在办公场所和居民家中扮演越来越重要的角色。

　　“Robotics technologies have advanced significantly over the past few decades and are already being used in manufacturing and logistics,” she said.

　　塔尔曼表示：“机器人技术在过去几十年里发展迅速，并已经开始应用于制造业和物流工作中。”

　　“As countries worldwide face challenges of an aging population, social robots can be one solution to address the shrinking workforce³, become personal companions for children and the elderly at home, and even serve as a platform for healthcare services in future.

　　“当全球都面临人口老龄化的挑战时，社交机器人可以成为解决劳动力萎缩的工具之一，可以是家中老人孩子的陪伴者，甚至未来还能充当提供卫生保健服务的平台。”

　　"Over the past four years, our team at NTU have been fostering cross-disciplinary research in social robotics technologies -- involving engineering, computer science, linguistics⁴, psychology⁵ and other fields -- to transform a virtual human, from within a computer, into a physical being that is able to observe and interact with other humans."

　　“过去四年，我们团队致力于社交机器人技术的跨学科研究，涉及的技术包括工程学、计算机科学、语言学、心理学等领域。我们的研究将计算机里的虚拟人物变成了现实里客观存在的机器人，她能够察言观色并与人类交流。”

1 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

2 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。

3 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

4 linguistics   

n.语言学

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• Linguistics is a scientific study of the property of language.语言学是指对语言的性质所作的系统研究。

5 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。