英语PK台 第1050期:无人驾驶智能汽车时代正在到来（在线收听）

Dialogue 1

Jingjing: How's your week going Mark?

京晶：马克，这周过得怎么样?

Mark: Pretty well, Jingjing. What about you? Did you buy lots of stuff for double-eleven?

马克: 不错，你呢？你双十一买很多东西了吗？

Jingjing: Nah, I think it's about time I got a car. So, I'm saving my money for that. I want to buy it free and clear.

京晶：并没有，我想是时候买辆车了。所以，我正在存钱，我想全款买辆车。

Mark: I thought you had a car already.

马克：我以为你已经有车了。

Jingjing: Whatever gave you that idea?

京晶：你怎么会那么想？

Mark: I must have gotten confused. Anyway, don't you want to wait a few years, for self-driving cars to become available?

马克：那我肯定是弄混了。好吧，你不想再等个几年，等到自动驾驶汽车上市吗?

Jingjing: A few years? Don't you mean a few decades? I think that kind of technology is a long way off.

京晶：等几年？你说的难道不是几十年？我认为自动驾驶技术还遥遥无期呢。

Mark: Are you sure about that? It seems like they're ready to hit the roads now. It's just a matter of testing and laws.

马克：你确定？它们看起来已经准备好上路了。现在就剩下测试和一些法律事宜了。

Jingjing: Yeah, but that's what I think will take several years rather than just a few.

京晶：是的，这就是为什么我认为还需要好多年而不是几年的时间。

Mark: You might be right. Oh, that reminds me: I saw an ad for bad drivers, to be used in a testing area for AI.

马克：可能你是对的。哦，这让我想起来我看到的一则广告，驾驶水平差的司机去测试人工智能。

Jingjing: What now? Oh, let me guess: they surround AI cars with human hazards and train them to respond to weird stuff in traffic.

京晶：你说什么? 哦，让我猜猜:他们模拟智能汽车置身于人们遇到的各种危险之中然后训练他们对交通中的各种状况做出正确应对。

Mark: Right on the money!

马克：完全正确！

Jingjing: Now that I think of it, AI could take the hassle out of expressway driving. I mean, if someone has to drive between cities, they could switch on the AI and relax for quite a while.

京晶：现在我想到的是人工智能可以解决人们在高速公路驾驶时碰到的各种问题。我的意思是，如果有人不得不在两个城市间奔波，他们可以切换到自动驾驶然后自己轻松一会儿。

Mark: That'd be great. I almost fell asleep at the wheel on a morning drive between Portland and Seattle.

马克：那太棒了。我早上开车从波特兰去西雅图的路上几乎都睡着了。

Jingjing: What's that: like, a two-hour drive?

京晶：那是什么情况：得开两个小时吗？

Mark: Three hours, all on a straight and flat expressway connecting the two cities. I set my cruise control and had the heat way up.

马克：得三个小时，全在一条笔直平坦连接两个城市的高速公路上开。我设置好巡航状态然后开足暖风。

Jingjing: Well, it's a good thing you didn't cause an accident. Yeah, AI could have helped you there.

京晶：哇哦，还好你没出事故。的确是，人工智能可以在这块帮到你。

Mark: That would have been a nice nap.

马克：那会是个美好的打盹时间。

New words : 习语短语

free and clear (adj) 没有债务；不承担法律索赔

when a person owns something (typically a vehicle like a car or a boat) and does not have to repay a loan to a bank for its purchase

hazards (noun) 危险；危害

potential dangers, unsafe objects or behaviors

Right on the money! 完全正确

a very accurate guess, or a great insight

take the hassle out of (verb phrase) 把麻烦解决掉 变得更便利

make something more convenient (currently it is difficult)

cruise control (noun) 汽车巡航控制系统

（Cruise Control System, 缩写为 CCS）

a feature most cars have, to set a certain speed and have the car automatically continue it

Dialogue 2

Jingjing: Mark, what do you think will change when AI takes over our streets?

京晶：马克，你认为当智能汽车大规模上路后，会有什么改变?

Mark: There was a really cool CNN video about it. They said it might become illegal for humans to drive cars in the future.

马克：关于这方面，CNN制作过一个很酷的视频。里面说在未来人类开车可能会成为非法行为。

Jingjing: That sounds a little farfetched. It might become more difficult to get a license.

京晶：听起来有点牵强。人们可能会更难拿到驾照吧。

Mark: Most interestingly, the video said shared cars will become much more common.

马克：最有趣的是，视频声称共享汽车将变得更加普遍。

Jingjing: Because of AI? I don't see the connection.

京晶：因为人工智能技术吗？我看不出有什么联系。

Mark: Think about how taxis and ride-hailing services are already so popular. If driverless cars were there in place of most taxis, then shared cars would be cheaper than they are now.

马克：想想看，现在出租车和网约车服务已经非常受欢迎了。如果无人驾驶汽车能够取代大多数出租车，那么共享汽车的费用将比现在更便宜。

Jingjing: Then more people would use them. There might even be fewer private cars.

京晶：然后更多的人会使用共享汽车。私家车甚至会更少。

Mark: Wouldn't that be great? Instead of traffic jams and parked cars everywhere, there'd be a good number of robot cars.

马克：这样不是很好吗? 不再是随处可见的堵车和停车场，而是大量的智能汽车。

Jingjing: Hmm, I guess AI could also predict where those cars would be needed most.

京晶：嗯，我想人工智能还可以预测出哪里最需要这些车。

Mark: Yeah, best of all, our streets would have less traffic and fewer parked cars.

马克：是啊，最棒的是，马路上跑的车会更少，路边停放的车辆也会减少。

Jingjing: I like that last part most of all. Nowadays, I can't even go for a walk without weaving my way through a bunch of badly parked cars.

京晶：我最喜欢最后一条。如今，我甚至连出去散步都得来回穿过一堆停得乱七八糟的车。

Mark: Yeah, car storage could be a problem we could leave behind us along with the first quarter of this century.

马克：是的，我们可能在本世纪的前25年解决汽车停放这个问题。

Jingjing: Well that certainly would be nice.

京晶：那最好不过了。

Mark: Imagine, more streets and paths made for walking and biking.

马克：想象一下，有更多的街道和小路可以用作步行和骑自行车。

Jingjing: Yeah, and fewer traffic jams—that sounds pretty good. The scary thing, though, would be all those lost jobs.

京晶：是的，交通堵塞也少了——听起来不错。但可怕的是，那些人全部都会失去工作。

Mark: That's a good point. I read somewhere that 40% or so of the jobs we have today will be replaced by AI.

马克：有道理。我曾读到过说，如今40%左右的工作都将被人工智能取代。

Jingjing: Wow, that's something to think about. But right now, that reminds me: I have to get back to work.

京晶：哇，这真是值得思考的事情。但现在，这提醒了我:我得回去工作了。

Mark: Ha ha. Ok, Jingjing. Talk to you next time!

马克：哈哈。好吧，京晶，下次再聊!

New words : 习语短语

far fetched (adj) adj. 牵强的；乱七八糟的；靠不住的

hard to believe, illogical

ride-hailing services 网约车服务

private cars for hire as taxis