“回到未来”日：专家预测2045年的生活

 　　《回到未来2》上映于1989年，片中主角从1985年穿越到了2015，演绎了对2015年的一系列怪异预测。

　　Although several of the film's predictions, like video calls and wearable technology, came true, Back to the Future II showed the pitfalls¹ of making long-term forecasts. The world of 2015 was one of hoverboards, flying cars and power clothing, and instead we got Snapchat, selfies and man buns.

　　虽然一些预测已经成真，比如视频电话、可穿戴技术，但这个电影也显示出长期预测的不足之处。根据电影，2015年会有悬浮滑板、飞行汽车和电动衣服，但现实中，2015年是“阅后即焚”式照片分享、自拍和男式小发髻的世界。

　　With that in mind, we asked six experts what the world of 2045 will look like:

　　于是我们请教了六位专家2045年世界会是什么样子：

　　You'll be able to purchase high-quality emotions online.

　　人们将能网购高质量的感情。

　　回到未来

　　Emotion-sharing experiences are the latest fad² in 2045. Imagine your friend at Glastonbury can post a photo on Instagram and with it comes bundled a faint twinkling of what she was feeling right there in that moment, so you too can share emotionally in her social experience.

　　表情分享将是2045年的新潮流。想象一下，你的朋友在英格兰西南部的格拉斯顿伯里镇向照片分享平台Instagram上传了一张照片，并附上感情包，传递出她当时那一瞬间的心情，如此你就能很直观地感同身受。

　　Our cities will be made from living, dynamic materials that respond to the environment.

　　未来的城市将由能对环境做出反应的活性、动态材料构成。

　　The urban environment of 2045 blends architecture with living materials that are mouldable, adaptable³, responsive and disposable. Entirely⁴ new synthetic⁵ life forms, or biological machines, made of engineered living cells from bacteria, fungi⁶ and algae⁷ will grow and evolve with the changing needs of a building’s inhabitants. They breathe in pollutants⁸, clean wastewater, and use sunlight to make useful chemicals, energy, heat and vibrant⁹ vertical¹⁰ gardens.

　　2045年，都市建筑将采用可以模塑、适应性强、感应性好的一次性活性材料。由细菌、真菌和水藻的活细胞制成的全新合成生命体，或者说生物机器，将随时根据建筑中居民的需要而生长进化。他们吸入污染物，清理废水，并利用阳光制造有用的化学品、能量、热和生气勃勃的垂直花园。

　　Humans will upgrade themselves continuously.

　　人类将不断自我升级。

　　Those who can afford it will have better eyesight and hearing, and just the right cocktail¹¹ of food/medication to be the very best that they can be for the day ahead, based on micro performance analysis of the day just gone.

　　只要有钱，就能获得更好的视力和听力，并且能够根据前一天的微表现分析，计算出今天饮食用药的最佳搭配和分量，让明天的自己获得最佳状态。

　　Your phone, car or home can read your feelings and adapt accordingly

　　手机、汽车或房子将能读取人类情感并相应地做出调整。

　　Machines will be able to sense and then adapt themselves to the emotional state of an individual user. At the moment machines can work out where someone is, who someone is and perhaps what they are doing or "like" but that’s about it. The next stage will be for machines to intuit human feelings. This can be done by ‘harvesting’ facial expressions, body language, heart rate, voice and so on. If you are typing text into a computer the computer might consider the speed you are typing, decide you are stressed and conclude that this isn’t the best time to allow you to read negative emails.

　　机器将有感知能力，能根据用户的情感状态自我调整。而且，机器能分析出位置信息、用户身份，甚至可能判断出用户在做什么事或者用户“喜欢”什么，不过也仅限于此了。更高级的机器有望凭直觉感知人类情感，这需要机器“收集”人类的面部表情、身体语言、心率、声音等等。如果你在计算机上打字，计算机可能根据你的打字速度，判断出你心情低落而且目前不适合阅读消极邮件。

　　If you are driving a car, the car might consider how you are driving and infer certain conclusions. If the car decides you are angry and in danger of driving unsafely it might adapt itself to make things safer. On the other hand a shop might use this technology to work out when customers are more likely to buy things, including things they probably don’t really want.

　　如果你在开车，车子能参考你的开车状态，做出相关推断。如果车子认为你在生气，而且无法安全驾驶，它可能自我调整，保证你的安全。另一方面，商店也可以使用这项技术，分析出客人什么时候更可能购物，包括他们可能不想买的东西。

　　Robotic insect swarms¹² will help farmers and the military

　　昆虫机器人将有助于农业和军事。

　　By 2045 we should see insect-sized robotic insects capable of flying in co-ordinated swarms. They might be used for crop pollination¹³ purposes or as battlefield or crowd control cameras. These flying robots could be fitted with air sniffing¹⁴ or sampling technology to test air quality, search for pollution or give early warning about biological or gas attacks. They could also be programmed to interact with real insects.

　　到2045年，世界上将有昆虫大小的昆虫机器人，他们能协调地成群飞，可用于作物授粉、战场或群体监控摄像机。这些飞行机器人也可用于空气嗅探或取样，以检测空气质量，寻找污染，在生物或毒气袭击前发出预警。他们经编程后，也可与真实的昆虫互动。

　　3D printed pizza

　　3D打印比萨饼

　　An invention that featured in Back to the Future II was the Black & Decker Hydrator. This was a kitchen device that could turn raisins¹⁵ back into grapes and stale pizza into a freshly delivered snack. By 2045 many kitchens will feature a 3D Printer that can turn out a fairly respectable printed pizza, biscuits, pretzels and so on.

　　《回到未来2》中的一个特色发明是水化器（Black & Decker Hydrator）。这是一种厨房设备，能把葡萄干变回葡萄，把变了味的比萨饼变成新鲜出炉的样子。到2045年，很多厨房都将有3D打印机，能做出相当不错的打印比萨、饼干、椒盐脆饼等等。

　　Vocabulary

　　outlandish: 奇异的

　　algae: 海藻

　　stale: 不新鲜的；走了味的

　　pretzel: 椒盐卷饼，椒盐脆饼干

1 pitfalls   

（捕猎野兽用的）陷阱( pitfall的名词复数 )； 意想不到的困难，易犯的错误

参考例句：

• the potential pitfalls of buying a house 购买房屋可能遇到的圈套
• Several pitfalls remain in the way of an agreement. 在达成协议的进程中还有几个隐藏的困难。

2 fad   

n.时尚；一时流行的狂热；一时的爱好

参考例句：

• His interest in photography is only a passing fad.他对摄影的兴趣只是一时的爱好罢了。
• A hot business opportunity is based on a long-term trend not a short-lived fad.一个热门的商机指的是长期的趋势而非一时的流行。

3 adaptable   

adj.能适应的，适应性强的，可改编的

参考例句：

• He is an adaptable man and will soon learn the new work.他是个适应性很强的人，很快就将学会这种工作。
• The soil is adaptable to the growth of peanuts.这土壤适宜于花生的生长。

4 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

5 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

6 fungi   

n.真菌，霉菌

参考例句：

• Students practice to apply the study of genetics to multicellular plants and fungi.学生们练习把基因学应用到多细胞植物和真菌中。
• The lawn was covered with fungi.草地上到处都是蘑菇。

7 algae   

n.水藻，海藻

参考例句：

• Most algae live in water.多数藻类生长在水中。
• Algae grow and spread quickly in the lake.湖中水藻滋蔓。

8 pollutants   

污染物质（尤指工业废物）( pollutant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Pollutants are constantly being released into the atmosphere. 污染物质正在不断地被排放到大气中去。
• The 1987 Amendments limit 301(g) discharges to a few well-studied nonconventional pollutants. 1987年的修正案把第301条（g）的普通排放限制施加在一些认真研究过的几种非常规污染物上。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

9 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

10 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

11 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

12 swarms   

蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They came to town in swarms. 他们蜂拥来到城里。
• On June the first there were swarms of children playing in the park. 6月1日那一天，这个公园里有一群群的孩子玩耍。

13 pollination   

n.授粉

参考例句：

• The flowers get pollination by insects.这些花通过昆虫授粉。
• Without sufficient pollination,the growth of the corn is stunted.没有得到充足的授粉，谷物的长势就会受阻。

14 sniffing   

n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了，一个劲地抽鼻子，打喷嚏。
• They all had colds and were sniffing and sneezing. 他们都伤风了，呼呼喘气而且打喷嚏。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

15 raisins   

n.葡萄干( raisin的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These raisins come from Xinjiang,they taste delicious. 这些葡萄干产自新疆，味道很甜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mother put some raisins in the cake. 母亲在糕饼中放了一些葡萄干。 来自辞典例句