VOA慢速英语2021 希腊邮政使用机器人加速邮件分拣

A group of small robots are helping¹ speed up mail delivery service in Greece's capital city of Athens.

一批小型机器人正在帮助加速希腊首都雅典的邮件递送服务。

Fifty-five, four-wheeled autonomous² mobile robots are working in the mail center of the national mail service called the Hellenic Post.

55台自主移动式四轮机器人正在希腊国家邮政服务中心工作。

They scan postal³ codes, weigh mail pieces and empty them into mail bags.

它们扫描邮政编码、给邮件称重然后将它们倒入邮袋。

The robots are part of the state-owned company's digital restructuring program. It aims to deal with growing numbers of mail pieces from online shopping during the coronavirus pandemic.

这些机器人是这家国有企业数字重组计划的一部分。它旨在应付新冠病毒大流行期间越来越多网上购物产生的邮件。

George Constantopoulos is head of the Hellenic Post. He told Reuters, "Until recently, sorting has been carried out by manual labor⁴ with a high demand in time, often with errors occurring, causing delivery delays for our customers and increased costs for the company."

乔治·康斯坦托普洛斯是希腊邮政的负责人。他对路透社表示：“直到最近，分拣都是由人工进行，时间紧迫，错误频出，导致我们客户的交付延迟并且增加了公司的成本。”

The robots handle up to 80 percent of the mail sorting at the center. Constantopoulos said the process was up to three times faster, and deliveries are nearly guaranteed for the next day.

机器人处理了该中心高达80%的邮件分拣。卡斯坦托普洛斯表示，这个过程加快了3倍，而且几乎保证次日送达。

The robots can handle as many as 168,000 pieces of mail, weighing up to 15 kilograms, each day. The robots only need to be recharged every four hours for 5 minutes.

这些机器人每天可以处理多达16.8万件邮件，可称重高达15公斤。这些机器人只需要每4个小时充电5分钟。

Constantopoulos said, "The purpose is not to replace human workers with robots, but rather to augment⁵ human workforces⁶ and make them more efficient."

卡斯坦托普洛斯表示：“我们的目的不是用机器人取代人工，而是扩充人工并提高他们的效率。”

Meanwhile, the United States Postal Service (USPS) announced that it would slow down mail delivery service in some areas starting in October to cut costs.

与此同时，美国邮政局宣布将从10月开始放慢部分地区的邮件递送服务以降低成本。

USPS said some pieces of mail could take up to two days longer to arrive. And the service also raised the price of sending a letter from 55 to 58 cents.

美国邮政局表示，某些邮件可能需要长达两天时间才能送达。而且该局还将寄信价格从55美分涨到了58美分。

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

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 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

5 augment   

vt.(使)增大，增加，增长，扩张

参考例句：

• They hit upon another idea to augment their income.他们又想出一个增加收入的办法。
• The government's first concern was to augment the army and auxiliary forces.政府首先关心的是增强军队和辅助的力量。

6 workforces   

全体员工( workforce的名词复数 )； （国家或行业等）劳动力； 劳动大军； 劳动人口

参考例句：

• The Web has allowed companies to become more distributed and workforces to become more flexible. 网站已允许各公司更加分散，工作队伍也变得更加灵活。
• They are large centres of business in their own with skilled workforces and business-friendly environments. 从自身条件来说，它们都是大型商业中心，拥有大批技能型劳动力和友好的商业运作环境。