经济学人:Bartleby专栏:对新技术影响的担忧过度(1)

 　　A SPECTRE is haunting workers—the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). 有一种恐惧正萦绕员工的心头——人工智能（AI）的兴起。

　　The fear is that smart computer programs will eliminate millions of jobs, 他们担心电脑小程序将会淘汰百万种工作，

　　condemning¹ a generation to minimum-wage drudgery² or enforced idleness. Never mind the robots, fear the software. 迫使一代人干着低酬劳的苦差或是被迫成为无业游民。不要管机器人，要担心一下软件。

　　There is no need to be so gloomy, say Ken³ Goldberg of the University of California, Berkeley, 没有必要如此悲观，伯克利加利福尼亚大学的肯·戈德堡

　　and Vinod Kumar, the chief executive of Tata Communications, a unit of India's biggest business house (which stands to profit from the spread of AI). 以及印度最大商业公司塔塔通信（其兴起得益于AI的传播）的总裁温诺德·库马说如是。

　　They have produced a report that is much more optimistic about the outlook for ordinary employees. 他们出具了一份报告，报告对普通员工的前景更加乐观。

　　In many cases, it says, job satisfaction will be enhanced by the elimination⁴ of mundane⁵ tasks, giving people time to be more creative. 报告中写到，在很多情况下，由于免除了简单的工作，员工有更多的时间去创新，因此工作满意度将得到提升。

　　Their views are backed up by a survey of 120 senior executives, conducted for the report, 他们的观点得到了一份调查的支持，120名高级管理人员接受调查

　　which found that more of them (77%) thought that AI would create new roles 调查发现其中大部分人（77%）认为AI能够创造出更多新的角色

　　than believed it would replace existing positions (57%; respondents could choose both options). 少部分人（57%）认为AI将会替代现有职位（被调查者可以两个选项都选）。

　　Extra skills may be needed to cope with the new technology and more than half of the bosses are already taking steps to train their workforces⁶. 处理新技术需要额外的技能，超过半数老板已经采取措施对他们的员工进行培训。

　　Previous technology shifts have not had as negative effects on employment as was first feared. 早前的技术转型对就业的负面影响并没有他们所担心的那么大。

　　The authors note some well-known examples. Bar-code scanners did not eliminate the role of cashiers in America; 本专栏作者注意到了一些众所周知的案例。在美国，条线代码扫描器并没有取代收银员的职位；

　　jobs in the retail⁷ industry grew at an annual rate of more than 2% between 1980 and 2013. 1980年到2013年间，零售业的工作岗位以每年超过2%的增长率增长。

　　The arrival of automated⁸ teller⁹ machines (ATMS) spared bank employees the job of doling¹⁰ out cash and freed them to offer financial advice to customers. 自动柜员机（ATMS）的到来接替了柜员发放现金的工作，让他们有时间为客户提供理财建议。

　　Some jobs could be made a lot easier by AI. One example is lorry-driving. AI使一些工作变得更加轻松，其中之一就是卡车驾驶工作。

　　Some fear that truck drivers will be replaced by autonomous¹¹ vehicles. 一些人担心卡车司机会被自动汽车取代。

　　But manoeuvring a lorry around busy streets is far harder than driving down the motorway¹². 但是在繁忙的街道上操作一辆卡车要比在高速上行驶困难得多。

　　So the driver could switch into automatic mode (and get some rest) when outside the big cities, 所以当司机们在城市之外的地方行驶时，可以将卡车调成自动模式（可以休息一下），

　　and take over the wheel once again when nearing the destination. 当接近目的地时再接过方向盘。

　　The obvious analogy is with jetliners, where the pilots handle take-off and landing but turn on the computer to cruise at 35,000 feet. 这样的方式和喷气客机最为类似，飞行员负责飞机的起飞和降落，但是飞机飞到35000英尺的高空后，就启动电脑巡航。

　　Using AI may prevent tired drivers from causing accidents. 使用AI或许可以防止因疲劳驾驶而导致的事故。

1 condemning   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
• I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done. 我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 drudgery   

n.苦工，重活，单调乏味的工作

参考例句：

• People want to get away from the drudgery of their everyday lives.人们想摆脱日常生活中单调乏味的工作。
• He spent his life in pointlessly tiresome drudgery.他的一生都在做毫无意义的烦人的苦差事。

3 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

4 elimination   

n.排除，消除，消灭

参考例句：

• Their elimination from the competition was a great surprise.他们在比赛中遭到淘汰是个很大的意外。
• I was eliminated from the 400 metres in the semi-finals.我在400米半决赛中被淘汰。

5 mundane   

adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的

参考例句：

• I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作，而不是一份平凡无奇的。
• I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的，即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。

6 workforces   

全体员工( workforce的名词复数 )； （国家或行业等）劳动力； 劳动大军； 劳动人口

参考例句：

• The Web has allowed companies to become more distributed and workforces to become more flexible. 网站已允许各公司更加分散，工作队伍也变得更加灵活。
• They are large centres of business in their own with skilled workforces and business-friendly environments. 从自身条件来说，它们都是大型商业中心，拥有大批技能型劳动力和友好的商业运作环境。

7 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

8 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。

9 teller   

n.银行出纳员；(选举)计票员

参考例句：

• The bank started her as a teller.银行起用她当出纳员。
• The teller tried to remain aloof and calm.出纳员力图保持冷漠和镇静。

10 doling   

救济物( dole的现在分词 )； 失业救济金

参考例句：

• "What are you doling?'she once demanded over the intercom. 有一次他母亲通过对讲机问他：“你在干什么？ 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• Many scrollbars are quite parsimonious in doling out information to users. 很多滚动条都很吝啬，给用户传递的信息太少。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

11 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

12 motorway   

n.高速公路，快车道

参考例句：

• Our car had a breakdown on the motorway.我们的汽车在高速公路上抛锚了。
• A maniac driver sped 35 miles along the wrong side of a motorway at 110 mph.一个疯狂的司机以每小时110英里的速度在高速公路上逆行飙车35英里。