VOA标准英语2012--Passwords Could Soon Be Obsolete

Passwords Could Soon Be Obsolete¹

The American technology company released its 6th annual Five-in-Five, a list of five innovations the firm expects to see within five years.
One of them will enable us to generate small amounts of energy to supplement the electric power we use in our homes.
“You can do micro-electronic generation,” says Bernie Meyerson, vice² president of Innovation at IBM. “For instance, you can have somebody in the third world who has access to a phone or a smart phone, but doesn’t have access to a power grid³, which is a very common thing and literally⁴ in a shoe has something that recovers energy from walking and can charge the battery to enable that person to actually become connected with the rest of the world.”
Another innovation will make those hard-to-remember passwords obsolete. Soon, in order to access our e-mail or bank account, we'll use a technology known as biometrics. A tiny sensor⁵ could confirm your identity by recognizing the unique patterns in the retina of your eye.
“Imagine that things recognize you," Meyerson says. "You walk up to an ATM. It takes one look at you and says, ‘Yep, you’re you.’”
Within five years, it's possible we'll no longer be inundated⁶ with junk mail, because a new electronic device will delete it before we ever see it.
“That device, as you act upon it, as you eliminate mail, you don’t read it, you just look at it and kill it," Meyerson says, "after a while it learns your habits and works as your assistant by eliminating stuff you never wanted anyway.”
IBM also sees us controlling many of our electronic devices telepathically.
“A simple ability to command a system to do something without actually doing or saying anything, literally thinking and having something happen, as a result, that’s accurate," Meyerson says. "Something with deep capability⁷ so that a person, for instance, who is paraplegic or quadriplegic, can actually utilize⁸ brain waves to make things happen and basically run their own lives independently.”
The fifth innovation on IBM’s list is the elimination⁹ of the so-called “digital divide,” between those who are and aren't connected.
"We anticipate that, in five years, better than 80 percent of coverage¹⁰ of the world populations by cellular¹¹ phones and smart phones," Meyerson says. "At this point, imagine having, for instance, the ability to speak openly with anybody anywhere, anytime and in any language, real-time translation - literally the old Star Trek¹² idea of a universal translator coming to be.”
IBM’s track record of predictions over the past five years has been mixed. Some predictions are still not reality. In 2006, for example, IBM researchers predicted there would be a 3D Internet by now.
However, in 2009, they predicted city buildings would “sense and respond” like living organisms. Three years later, that future is here. At a New York art museum, sensors¹³ are detecting subtle fluctuations¹⁴ in temperature, humidity, air flow and light levels, and adjusting the building’s environment to help preserve the works of art.
What’s important about the Five-in-Five list, says IBM’s Meyerson, is it encourages the researchers to turn as much of their innovative¹⁵ imagination as possible into practical realities.

1 obsolete   

adj.已废弃的，过时的

参考例句：

• These goods are obsolete and will not fetch much on the market.这些货品过时了，在市场上卖不了高价。
• They tried to hammer obsolete ideas into the young people's heads.他们竭力把陈旧思想灌输给青年。

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

4 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

5 sensor   

n.传感器，探测设备，感觉器（官）

参考例句：

• The temperature sensor is enclosed in a protective well.温度传感器密封在保护套管中。
• He plugged the sensor into a outlet.他把传感器插进电源插座。

6 inundated   

v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• We have been inundated with offers of help. 主动援助多得使我们应接不暇。
• We have been inundated with every bit of information imaginable. 凡是想得到的各种各样的信息潮水般地向我们涌来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

8 utilize   

vt.使用，利用

参考例句：

• The cook will utilize the leftover ham bone to make soup.厨师要用吃剩的猪腿骨做汤。
• You must utilize all available resources.你必须利用一切可以得到的资源。

9 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。

10 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

11 cellular   

adj.移动的；细胞的，由细胞组成的

参考例句：

• She has a cellular telephone in her car.她的汽车里有一部无线通讯电话机。
• Many people use cellular materials as sensitive elements in hygrometers.很多人用蜂窝状的材料作为测量温度的传感元件。

12 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

13 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

14 fluctuations   

波动，涨落，起伏( fluctuation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table. 他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• There were so many unpredictable fluctuations on the Stock Exchange. 股票市场瞬息万变。

15 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。