VOA慢速英语2012 TECHNOLOGY REPORT - Rights Group Calls for Ban on Fully Autonomous Killer Robots

 

TECHNOLOGY REPORT - Rights Group Calls for Ban on Fully¹ Autonomous² Killer³ Robots

科技报道 - 人权组织呼吁禁止全自主式杀人机器人

From VOA Learning English, this is the TECHNOLOGY REPORT in Special English.

这里是美国之音慢速英语科技报道。

An international rights group has called on world governments to ban fully autonomous weapon systems. Human Rights Watch recently released a report called, “Losing Humanity: The Case against Killer Robots.” It warns that fully autonomous systems could increase risk to civilians⁴ during armed conflict.

人权观察组织呼吁世界各国政府禁止全自主式武器系统。这家国际人权组织最近发布了一份名为《失去人性：反对杀人机器人》的报告。报告警告说，全自主式武器系统在武装冲突中可能会增加对平民的危险。

Militaries around the world are increasingly using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, also called drones, in modern warfare⁵. They say drones make war safer and more effective. The machines can gather intelligence, help identify targets, and provide deadly force - but only if a human operator gives the order.

世界各地的军队在现代战争中越来越多地使用无人机。他们表示，无人机使得战争更安全高效。这种机器可以搜集情报，帮助确定目标，并提供致命武器，但除非人类操作员下达命令。

Human Rights Watch fears that within 30 years developments in technology could remove the need for human operators. David Mepham is the United Kingdom director of Human Rights Watch.

人权观察组织担心在30年内科技发展可能会取消人工操作的必要性。David Mepham是人权观察组织英国负责人。

"One of the things that holds us back from barbarism in contexts of war obviously this distinction between combatants and civilians and we are worried about a robotic weapon of the future not being able to distinguish between a child holding out an ice cream and someone holding a weapon."

“在战争场合中使得我们脱离野蛮战争的事情之一显然是战士和平民之间的区分。我们担心未来的机器人武器不能区分拿着冰激凌的小孩和拿着武器的人。”

The United States and other militaries have stated they have no plans to remove human supervision⁶ over the decision to use deadly force.

美国和其它国家的军队已经表示，他们没有计划在决定使用致命武器上取消人类的监管。

Human Rights Watch says a treaty would help to guarantee that this does not happen. The group says a ban on what it calls “killer robots” would be similar to current bans on the use of landmines⁷ and cluster bombs.

人权观察组织表示，条约将有助于确保这种情况不会发生。该组织表示，对所谓“杀人机器人”的禁令将类似目前对地雷和集束炸弹使用的禁令。

Hugo Rosemont is an independent security expert in Britain. He says discussions about the future of autonomous technology should not be limited to its military uses.

雨果·罗斯蒙特（Hugo Rosemont）是英国一名独立安全专家。他表示，关于未来自主科技的讨论不应该局限于它的军事用途。

"There also needs to be a public discussion around some of the wider applications, such as in the use of disaster management and humanitarian⁸ relief."

“围绕灾害管理和人道救援这类更广泛的应用也需要进行公开讨论。”

For example, France sent remote-controlled robots to Japan last year to help contain the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima power center. This was a job that most people would agree was better left to machines.

例如，去年法国向日本派遣遥控机器人帮助遏制福岛核电站的核灾难。这是一项多数人都会同意最好留给机器人处理的工作。

In a separate but related story, airplane passengers could soon take to the air without a pilot on the plane. In the next few weeks, a group in Britain will carry out test flights of a Jetstream 31 passenger airplane. A pilot on the ground will control the plane through its autonomous flight system. Safety pilots will be on the aircraft to make sure everything operates correctly.

在一件独立但相关的事件中，飞机乘客可以很快在飞机上没有飞行员的情况下飞上天空。在接下来的几个星期内，英国一个小组将进行Jetstream 31客机的飞行试验。一名地面飞行员将通过其自主飞行系统控制这架飞机。安全飞行员将在飞机上确保一切操作正常。

The tests will show how well the plane navigates⁹ and follows the orders it receives from the ground.

这次测试将展示这家飞机导航和执行其接收到的地面命令有多成功。

The Autonomous Systems Technology Related Airborne Evalutaion and Assessment¹⁰ group is leading the project. The flights are set to leave from the Warton Aerodrome in Lancashire, England.

与航空评估有关的自主式系统技术小组负责这一项目。该航班预定从英国兰开夏郡的沃顿机场起飞。

1 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

2 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。

3 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

4 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

5 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

6 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

7 landmines   

潜在的冲突； 地雷，投伞水雷( landmine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The treaty bans the use production and trade of landmines. 该条约规定，禁止使用地雷相关产品及贸易。
• One of the weapon's of special concern was landmines. 在引起人们特别关注的武器中就有地雷。

8 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

9 navigates   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的第三人称单数 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• Dolpins also navigates by some kind of echo system. 原来海豚也是借助某种回声系统寻向的。 来自辞典例句
• Navigates in menus, lists, choice screens and into edited texts. 可以操纵菜单、列表、屏幕选项和进入编辑文本。 来自互联网

10 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？