【英语语言学习】科技发展的未来

 Welcome to As It Is, from VOA Learning English. I’m Steve Ember in Washington. 

 

Today on the program, Google Glass was a big hit at the recent International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

 

“Google Glass is a tiny computer that sits in a lightweight frame and rests neatly¹ above your eye. And it makes exploring and sharing the world around you a lot easier.”

 

The glasses are still being tested. But they can now be purchased by users of the Google Play Music service. The cost: about $1,500. We will hear more about this wearable technology later in the show. 

 

But first, many high-tech² companies are busy developing the next generation of electronic devices. These products will help us drive our cars, buy goods and even care for our children! We have more on the story from our technology reporter, June Simms.

 

Tech Company Intel Looks Toward the Future 

 

The technology company Intel recently held a demonstration³ of some of its new devices in San Francisco. One device measured how alert a driver was at the wheel. Sensors⁴ attached to the driver’s head measured brain activity. Cameras placed on the car’s dashboard measured eye movement.

 

Intel Labs’ Justin Rattner says devices like these will make driving safer.

 

“We're not monitoring brain waves. We're seeing how much of the brain is occupied in a given situation, how much of the brain is occupied when you're driving your car, or when you're driving and trying to send text messages.”

 

Another experimental Intel technology links cars electronically to help prevent crashes. When the driver of the car in front signals a turn or slows down, an alert message is sent to the car in back.

 

There was also a demonstration of a virtual machine. 

 

“You can zoom⁵ out …”

 

The machine was projected onto the table from a controller hidden in a flower pot. Sensors read the movements of the users’ hands, so there was no need for a mouse or other handheld device. 

 

At the market, sensors and computer chips placed in products could help shoppers find the items they want. It could also help them avoid items they might be allergic⁶ to.

 

Cameras and sensors are already available to help parents watch their children. More advanced monitors will one day check the baby's health and mood.

 

And security systems are being improved and simplified, with face-recognition software instead of complicated passwords. Paul Schmitz of Intel Labs says a simple device like a mobile phone could provide multiple levels of security.

 

“And that could be in terms of voice, it could be in terms of a 3-D facial scan so that you can make sure that it really is me and not somebody holding up a picture of me.”

 

Mr. Schmitz says new forms of encryption will make high-tech systems harder to hack⁷.

 

Justin Rattner says new technology brings with it new concerns about privacy and data protection. He says Intel takes these issues very seriously. But he also says growing computing⁸ capacity, used in imaginative ways, is already changing our lives and will change them even more in the future.

 

“It this steady advance of chip technology that makes all of these other devices and services possible.”

 

You are listening to As It Is from VOA Learning English. I’m Steve Ember. 

 

The Internet company Google continues to test its newest high tech device, Google Glass. Google hopes to make the product available to the public later this year. Here is June Simms with more.

 

Testing on Google Glass Continues

 

Chris Dale is the Senior Manager of Communications for Google Glass. 

 

“Google Glass is a tiny computer that sits in a lightweight frame and rests neatly above your eye. And it makes exploring and sharing the world around you a lot easier.”

 

Stanford offensive coordinator⁹ Mike Bloomgren, wearing Google Glass, answers questions from the media during a news conference, in Los Angeles.

Stanford offensive coordinator Mike Bloomgren, wearing Google Glass, answers questions from the media during a news conference, in Los Angeles.

The glasses have a tiny video screen and a camera that connect wirelessly¹⁰ to the Internet through WiFi, a smartphone or a tablet computer. You can make and receive calls, send and receive texts, take pictures, record video or search the web. You control Google Glass using your voice and a touchpad on the right arm of the frame.

 

Professor Marcia Dawkins is among a select group of people who have been given a chance to test out Google Glass.

 

“I thought this is something I definitely need for my classroom and hopefully for my personal life too.”

 

The professor’s Google Glass looks like bright orange glasses, without the actual glass. But there is a tiny rectangular glass at the top right hand corner. Through that glass, she has been recording¹¹ video while biking. She also has been able to talk to her sister in Thailand. 

 

But not everyone is excited about Google Glass. Some are concerned about possible risks to privacy. John Simpson is the director of the privacy project at Consumer Watchdog. 

 

“It is essentially¹² going to allow people to come in and spy on you and record that without you knowing what is going on.”

 

Google says that it has already addressed that concern. Mr. Dale explained that in order to start the camera or record a video, the owner must say something out loud. 

 

“I activate¹³ the device, and say ‘Okay, glass, take a picture.’ Similarly, I have a little button on the top here that I can push that will again show an explicit¹⁴ gesture to everybody around me that a picture is being taken or a video is being recorded.”

 

But filmmaker Chris Barrett showed just how easy it is to record people without them knowing it. His Glass captured a man getting arrested after a fight. He shared the video on YouTube. 

 

Also, some are concerned about the use of facial recognition technology on Google Glass. But Google says it will not approve the use of such applications. 

 

And that is As It Is for today. I’m Steve Ember. Thanks for joining us! And for the latest world news, be listening to VOA at the top of every hour, Universal Time.

1 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

2 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

3 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

4 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

5 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

6 allergic   

adj.过敏的，变态的

参考例句：

• Alice is allergic to the fur of cats.艾丽斯对猫的皮毛过敏。
• Many people are allergic to airborne pollutants such as pollen.许多人对空气传播的污染物过敏，比如花粉。

7 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

8 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

9 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

10 wirelessly   

不用电线的，用无线电波传送的

参考例句：

• I heard it on the wireless. 我是从无线电收音机里听到的。
• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio. 收音机里有许多无线电线路。

11 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

12 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

13 activate   

vt.使活动起来，使开始起作用

参考例句：

• We must activate the youth to study.我们要激励青年去学习。
• These push buttons can activate the elevator.这些按钮能启动电梯。

14 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。