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1、T,t A Sunshade for the Planet地球防曬霜 　　Even with the best will1 in the world, reducing our carbon emissions is not going prevent global warming. It has become clear that even if we take the most strong measures to control em

2、issions, the uncertainties in our climate models still leave open the possibility of extreme warming and rises in sea level. At the same time, resistance by governments and special interest groups makes it quite possible that the actions suggested by climate scientists might not be implemented soon

3、enough. 　　Fortunately, if the worst comes to the worse2, scientists still have a few tricks up their sleeves3. For the most part they have strongly resisted discussing these options for fear of inviting a sense of complacency that might thwart efforts to tackle the root of the problem. Until now, t

4、hat is. A growing number of researchers are taking a fresh look at large-scale “geoengineering” projects that might be used to counteract global warming. “I use the analogy of methadone4,” says Stephen Schneider, a climate researcher at Stanford University in California who was among the first to dr

5、aw attention to global warming. “If you have a heroin addict, the correct treatment is hospitalization, and a long rehab. But if they absolutely refuse, methadone is better than heroin. 　　Basically the idea is to apply “sunscreen” to the whole planet. One astronomer has come up with a radical plan

6、to cool Earth: launch trillions of feather-light discs into space, where they would form a vast cloud that would block the sun’s rays. It’s controversial, but recent studies suggest there are ways to deflect just enough of the sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface to counteract the warming produced

7、by the greenhouse effect. Global climate models show that blocking just 1. 8 per cent of the incident energy in the sun’s rays would cancel out the warming effects produced by a doubling of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. That could be crucial, because even the most severe emissions-control meas

8、ures being proposed would leave us with a doubling of carbon dioxide by the end of this century, and that would last for at least a century more. A Sunshade for the Planet地球防曬霜 ? ? 就算懷著最美好的愿望，僅僅減少二氧化碳的排放量還是不能制止全球變暖。很明顯，即便采取最強(qiáng)硬的措施來控制排放，氣候的變化無常仍能導(dǎo)致極速變暖和海平面上升。另一方面，受到政府和特殊利益群體的阻撓，氣候?qū)W家往往不能將措施很快實(shí)施徹底。? ?

9、 ’ ? ? 幸好，如果被逼上絕路，科學(xué)家們還有最后幾招。在大多數(shù)情況下，他們拒絕討論這些施，害怕人們會因此沾沾門喜而使這個問題不能被徹底解決。至少目前是這樣。越來越多的研究者相信一項(xiàng)大型的地質(zhì)丁程建設(shè)可用來抵御全球變暖。斯坦福大學(xué)的一位氣象學(xué)家Stephen Schneider最早提出氣候變暖這項(xiàng)議題的學(xué)者之一。他說：“我把它比作美沙酮。如果你那里有一個海洛因癮者，那么正確的治療方法就是住院，接受長時間的康復(fù)治療。拒絕正常住院治療，那服用美沙酮是一種緩解海洛因毒癮的有效方法?！? ? ? ? 總體思路是給地球也涂上防曬霜。一個天文學(xué)家突發(fā)奇想，想借此冷卻地球：發(fā)射億萬輕如羽毛的碟片進(jìn)入

10、太空形成巨大“云層”以阻礙太陽光。這個想法備受爭議，但最近的研究表明，有—些方法可以控制到達(dá)地球表面的陽光以抵消溫室效應(yīng)產(chǎn)生的氣候變暖。全球氣候模型表明，阻斷百之一點(diǎn)八的太陽能剛好可以抵消大氣中雙倍的溫室氣體所引起的氣候變暖現(xiàn)象。這個想法影響深遠(yuǎn)，因?yàn)榧词共扇∽顕?yán)格的控制氣體排放措施，到本世紀(jì)末，二氧化碳量仍會翻倍。并且這種情況將再持續(xù)至少一個世紀(jì)。 An Intelligent Car智能汽車 Driving needs sharp eyes, keen ears, quick brain, and coordination between hands and the brain.

11、Many human drivers have all (1) these and can control a fast-moving car. But how does an intelligent car control itself? There is a virtual driver in the smart car. This virtual driver has “eyes,”“brains”，“hands” and “feet”，too. The mini-cameras (2) on each side of the car are his “eyes,” which obs

12、erve the road and conditions ahead of it. They watch the (3) traffic to the car’s left and right. There is also a highly (4) automatic driving system in the car. It is the built-in computer, which is the virtual driver’s “brain. ” His “brain” calculates the speeds of (5) other moving cars near it an

13、d analyzes their positions. Basing on this information, it chooses the right (6) path for the intelligent cars, and gives (7) instructions to the “hands”and “feets”to act accordingly. In this way, the virtual driver controls his car. What is the virtual driver’s best advantage? He reacts (8) quickl

14、y. The mini-cameras are (9) sending images continuously to the “brain”. It (10) completes the processing of the images within 100 milliseconds. However, the world’s best drier (11) at least needs one second to react. (12) Besides, when he takes action, he needs one more second. The virtual driver i

15、s really wonderful. He can reduce the accident (13) rate considerably on expressway. In this case. Can we let him have the wheel at any time and in any place? Experts (14) warn that we cannot do that just yet. His ability to recognize things is still (15) limited. He can now only drive an intelligen

16、t car on expressways. An Intelligent Car智能汽車 開車需要目光銳利，耳朵靈敏，反應(yīng)敏捷和手腦間的協(xié)作。許多人類司機(jī)這些條件都具備，并可控制一輛急速行駛的汽車。但一輛智能車如何進(jìn)行自控? 智能車中有一位虛擬駕駛員。這位司機(jī)同樣有“眼”有“腦”有“手”有“腳”。車兩側(cè)的微型攝像頭就是他的眼，負(fù)責(zé)觀察車前方的路況。他們注意著車兩側(cè)的交通情況。車中也有高度自動化的駕駛系統(tǒng)。這就是內(nèi)置的電腦，也就是虛擬司機(jī)的大腦。這個大腦計(jì)算出車近旁正在運(yùn)動車輛的速度，并分析它們的位置?；谶@些信息，它為智能車選擇最佳路徑，并給出指示以讓手腳做出相應(yīng)運(yùn)動。通過這樣的方式，虛

17、擬司機(jī)就對車輛實(shí)行了控制。 虛擬司機(jī)的最大優(yōu)點(diǎn)是什么?他的反應(yīng)速度很快。微型攝像頭不斷向大腦發(fā)送圖像數(shù)據(jù)。他完成圖像處理的時間為100毫秒。然而，世界上最優(yōu)秀的人類司機(jī)也至少需要1 秒鐘的反應(yīng)時間。當(dāng)他作出行動時，又多需一秒。 虛擬司機(jī)的確很棒。在高速公路上，他可大大減少事故發(fā)生率。鑒于此，我們是否可以讓他在任何時間任何地點(diǎn)都駕駛汽車呢?專家們警告說我們現(xiàn)在還不能這樣做。智能 車辨別事物的能力還很有限。目前，這種車只能在高速公路上行駛。 Car Thieves could Be Stopped Remotely遠(yuǎn)程制止偷車賊 Speeding off in a stolen

18、 car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch. But he is in a nasty surprise. The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer and a radio signal from a control center miles away will ensure that once the thief switches the engine1off, he will not be able to start it again. For now, such devices 2 ar

19、eonly available for fleets of trucks and specialist vehicles used on construction sites. But remote immobilization technology could soon start to trickle down to ordinary cars, and 3should be available to ordinary cars in the UK 4intwo months. The idea goes like this. A control box fitted to the c

20、arincorporates5aminiature cellphone, a microprocessor and memory, and a GPS satellite positioning receiver. 6If the car is stolen, a coded cellphone signal will tell the unit to block the vehicle’s engine management system and prevent the engine7beingrestarted. There are even plans for immobilizer

21、s 8that shut down vehicles on the move, though there are fears over the safety implications of such a system. In the UK. an array of technical fixes is already making 9lifeharder for car thieves. “The pattern of vehicles crime has changed,” says Martyn Randall of Thatcham, a security research orga

22、nization based in Berkshire that is funded in part 10 bythe motor insurance industry. He says it would only take him a few minutes to 11teacha novice how to steal a car, using a bare minimum of tools. But only if the car is more than years old. Modern cars are a far tougher proposition, as their

23、 engine management computer will not 12allow them to start unless they receive a unique ID code beamed out by the ignition key. In the UK, technologies like this 13have helpedachieve a 31 per cent drop in vehicle-related crime since 1997. But determined criminals are still managing to find other w

24、ays to steal cars. Often by getting hold of the owner’s keys in a burglary. In 2000, 12 per cent of vehicles stolen in the UK were taken using the owner’s keys double the previous year’s figure. Remote-controlled immobilization system would 14put a major new obstacle in the criminal’s way by makin

25、g such thefts pointless. A group that includes Thatcham, the police, insurance companies and security technology firms have developed standards for a system that could goon the market sooner than the15customer expects. Car Thieves could Be Stopped Remotely遠(yuǎn)程制止偷車賊 超速駕駛在偷來的汽車?yán)?，偷車賊以為自己大獲全勝。但是他馬上就會又驚又

26、惱。車上已經(jīng)被裝了遠(yuǎn)程制動裝置，一個幾英里以外的控制中心發(fā)來的無線信號將確保盜賊一旦啟動引擎，他就不能再次發(fā)動汽車了。 目前，這種裝置只用于卡車隊(duì)或者用于建筑工地的特殊車輛上。但是遠(yuǎn)程制動技術(shù)很快就會逐步應(yīng)用到普通汽車上。并且應(yīng)該在兩個月之內(nèi)用在英國的普通汽車上。 計(jì)劃是這樣的。把一個集合有微型無繩電話，微量處理器，存儲器以及全球定位系統(tǒng)的衛(wèi)星接收器的控制盒子安裝在汽車上。如果汽車被盜，一個被編碼的無繩電話信號就會告訴這個裝置停止車輛引擎控制系統(tǒng)來阻止弓I擎再次被啟動。 甚至還有一些人主張計(jì)劃將制動裝置裝在運(yùn)行著的車輛上，可是這樣一來人們就會擔(dān)心這個系統(tǒng)的安全性o 在英國，一系列的技術(shù)

27、裝置已經(jīng)讓盜車賊步履維艱了?，敹√m多來自位于貝克郡的一個由汽車保險(xiǎn)工業(yè)投資成立的名為撒策姆的安全研究機(jī)構(gòu)，他說，“車輛盜竊的手法已經(jīng)有所改變?！? 他還聲稱只要是10年以上的汽車，他就能用幾樣簡單的工具在幾分鐘之內(nèi)教會一個新手怎樣偷車。 現(xiàn)代車卻遠(yuǎn)沒有這么簡單，因?yàn)樗鼈兊囊婀芾碛?jì)算機(jī)裝置只有接收到一個獨(dú)一無二的由點(diǎn)火鑰匙發(fā)送過來的身份密碼才可以啟動汽車。自1997年以來，在英國，技術(shù)人員已經(jīng)利用此項(xiàng)技術(shù)幫助減少了31%的涉及車輛犯罪案。 但是不死心的盜賊們卻還在一直想方設(shè)法偷車。例如很多時候，他們在夜里盜走主人的汽車鑰匙進(jìn)而偷車。在2000年，英國12%的車輛被盜案是由于主人的鑰匙被盜，

28、這個數(shù)字比前一年增長了1倍 遠(yuǎn)程控制的制動系統(tǒng)給盜賊設(shè)置了一個全新的障礙。包括撒策姆、公安部門、保險(xiǎn)公司以及安全技術(shù)公司在內(nèi)的一個群體已經(jīng)為體系開發(fā)出了一些標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，它們將比顧客所預(yù)期的更早地被推廣到市場上。 Chicken Soup for the Soul：Comfort Food Fights Loneliness心靈雞湯：爽心食品排解孤獨(dú)感 Mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, may be bad for your arteries but according to a study in Psychological S

29、cience, they’re good for your heart and emotions．The study focuses on “comfort food” and how it makes people feel． "For me personally ,food has always played a big role in my family,‖ says Jordan Troisi, a graduate student at the University of Buffalo, and lead author on the study．The study came

30、out of the research program of his co—author Shira Gabriel．It has looked at non-human things that may affect human emotions．Some people reduce loneliness by bonding with their favorite TV show, building virtual relationships with a pop song singer or looking at pictures of loved ones．Troisi and Gabr

31、iel wondered if comfort food could have the same effect by making people think of their nearest and dearest. In one experiment, in order to make participants feel lonely, the researchers had them write for six minutes about a fight with someone close to them．Others were given an emotionally neu

32、tral writing assignment. Then, some people in each group wrote about the experience of eating a comfort food and others wrote about eating a new food．Finally ,the researchers had participants complete questions about their levels of loneliness． Writing about a fight with a close person made peop

33、le feel lonely．But people who were generally secure in their relationships would feel less lonely by writing about a comfort food．"We have found that comfort foods are consistently associated with those close to us．"says Troisi．"Thinking about or consuming these foods later then serves as a reminde

34、r of those close others．"In their essays on comfort food, many people wrote about the experience of eating food with family and friends. In another experiment, eating chicken soup in the lab made people think more about relationships, but only if they considered chicken soup to be a comfort foo

35、d．This was a question they had been asked long before the experiment, along with many other questions, so they wouldn’t remember it. Throughout everyone’s daily lives they experience stress, often associated with our connections with others," Troisi says．"Comfort food Can be an easy remedy for l

36、oneliness． Chicken Soup for the Soul：Comfort Food Fights Loneli心靈雞湯：爽心食品排解孤獨(dú)感 土豆泥，通心粉和奶酪可能對動脈血管有害，但是，據(jù)《心理科學(xué)》一項(xiàng)研究表明，它們對心臟有利并且能抑制不利情緒。其 研究對象是爽心食品，目的是探究人們對爽心食品的感覺。 “就我而言，食品在我的家庭一直是比較關(guān)注的問題”，JordanTroisi如是說。他是布法羅大學(xué)的研究生并且是本次研究的首席作者。該研究出自于他與ShiraGabriel合作的一個研究項(xiàng)目。它關(guān)注的是可能影響人類情感的物質(zhì)的東西。有些人用諸如綁定喜愛的電視節(jié)目，和流行音

37、樂歌手建立虛擬的關(guān)系或?yàn)g覽親人的照片來排遣孤獨(dú)。Troisi和Gabriel想知道爽心食品是否能通過使 人們想到他們最親近和最愛的人，同樣達(dá)到排遣孤獨(dú)的效果。 在一個實(shí)驗(yàn)中，為使參與者感覺孤獨(dú)，研究者讓他們用六分鐘的時間描寫一次與最親近的人吵架的經(jīng)歷。而要求另外一些人寫一個情感中性的作業(yè)。然后，每一組的一些人描寫食用爽心食品的經(jīng)歷；而其他的人描寫食用新食品的經(jīng)歷。最后，研究者讓參 與者書面回答關(guān)于孤獨(dú)程度的問題。 描寫與親人吵架的經(jīng)歷使人感到孤獨(dú)。但是，一般來說，人們的關(guān)系若處于穩(wěn)定狀態(tài)，通過描寫他們吃爽心食品的經(jīng)歷會排遣 一些孤獨(dú)感。Troisi說道： “我們已經(jīng)得出這樣的結(jié)論：爽心

38、食品與我們的親人密切相連，想一想或之后真正食用這種食品會提醒 人們注意到他們的親人。 ”在所有關(guān)于爽心食品的文章中，許多人都描述了與家人和朋友共同進(jìn)餐的經(jīng)歷。 在另外一個實(shí)驗(yàn)中，在實(shí)驗(yàn)喝雞湯令人想到和其他人的關(guān)系，但是，這只有在他們把雞湯認(rèn)為是爽心食品的時候才會發(fā)生。參與者被要求回答這個問題和許多其他問題是在這個實(shí)驗(yàn)很久以 前，因此他們不會記得。 “在每一個人的日常生活中，都會經(jīng)歷緊張，而這往往與人際 關(guān)系有關(guān)， 爽心食品可能是排遣孤獨(dú)的便利食品”。Troisi如是說。 Dangers Await Babies with Altitude高海拔地區(qū)的嬰兒有危險(xiǎn) Wome

39、n who live in the world’s highest communities tend to give birth to under-weight babies, a new study suggests. These babies may grow into adults with a high risk of heart disease and strokes.1 Research has hinted that newborns in mountain communities are lighter than average. But it wasn’t clea

40、r whether this is due to reduced oxygen levels at high altitude or because their mothers are under-nourished — many people who live at high altitudes are relatively poor compared with those living lower down. To find out more, Dino Giussani and his team at Cambridge University studied the recor

41、ds of 400 births in Bolivia during 1997 and 1998. The babies were bom in both rich and poor areas of two cities: La Paz and Santa Cruz. La Paz is the highest city in the world, at 3.65 kilometers above sea level, while Santa Cruz is much lower, at 0.44 kilometers. Sure enough, Giussani found th

42、at the average birthweight of babies in La Paz was significantly lower than in Santa Cruz. This was true in both high and low-income families. Even babies bom to poor families in Santa Cruz were heavier on average than babies born to wealthy families in lofty La Paz. “We were very surprised by this

43、result,” says Giussani. The results suggest that babies born at high altitude are deprived of2?oxygen before birth. “This may trigger the release or suppression of hormones that regulate growth of the unborn child.3?‘‘ says Giussani. His team also found that high-altitude babies tended to

44、have relatively larger heads compared with their bodies4. This is probably because a fetus starved of oxygen will send oxygenated blood to the brain in preference to the rest of the body5. Giussani wants to find out if such babies have a higher risk of disease in later life. People born in La P

45、az might be prone to heart trouble in adulthood, for example. Low birthweight is a risk factor for coronary heart disease. And newborns with a high ratio of head size to body weight are often predisposed to high blood pressure and strokes in later life. Dangers Await Babies with Altitude高海拔地區(qū)的嬰兒有危險(xiǎn)

46、 　　一項(xiàng)新的研究表明，住在世界高海拔地區(qū)的女人通常生下體重不足的嬰兒。這些嬰兒在長大成人后患心臟病和中風(fēng)的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)很大。 　　研究暗示，在山區(qū)出生的新生兒低于平均體重。但是還不清楚這是由于在高海拔地區(qū)氧氣不足，還是由于他們的母親沒有獲得足夠的營養(yǎng)――許多住在高海拔地區(qū)的人相對比住在低海拔地區(qū)的人窮。 　　為了了解更多情況，劍橋大學(xué)的Dina Giussani 和他的團(tuán)隊(duì)研究了1997年至1998年玻利維亞的400個新生兒的記錄。這些嬰兒出生于兩個城市的富有和貧困地區(qū)：拉巴斯和圣克魯斯。拉巴斯是世界上海拔最高的城市，海拔3.65千米，而圣克魯斯低很多，海拔440米。 　　當(dāng)然，Giussa

47、ni發(fā)現(xiàn)拉巴斯的新生兒的平均出生體重明顯低于圣克魯斯的新生兒，無論高收入家庭還是低收入家庭都是如此。甚至圣克魯斯的貧窮家庭的嬰兒比拉巴斯的富有家庭的嬰兒平均體重還要重。Giussani說：“我們對這個結(jié)果感到吃驚?！? 　　這個結(jié)果表明在高海拔地區(qū)出生的嬰兒出生前就缺氧。Giussani說：“這可能會觸發(fā)調(diào)節(jié)胎兒成長的荷爾蒙的釋放或抑制?！? 　　他的團(tuán)隊(duì)還發(fā)現(xiàn)高海拔地區(qū)出生的嬰兒通常有相對身體來說較大的頭部。這可能是因?yàn)橐粋€缺氧的胚胎會首先把充氧的血液輸送到腦部，然后才送到身體的其他部位。 Giussani想要查出這樣的嬰兒在今后的生活中是不是更容易患病。例如在拉巴斯出生的人在成年之后更可

48、能患心臟病。出生時體重輕是患冠心病的一個危險(xiǎn)因素。頭部相對身體較大的新生兒在今后的生活中通常更容易患高血壓和中風(fēng)。 Driven to Distraction 分散注意力駕駛 Joe Coyne slides into the driver’s eat, starts up the car and heads to town. The empty stretch of interstate gives way to urban congestion, and Coyne hits the brakes as a pedestrian suddenly crosses the s

49、treet in front of him. But even if he hadn’t stopped in time, the woman would have been safe. She isn’t real. Neither is the town. And Coyne isn’t really driving. Coyne is demonstrating a computerized driving simulator that is helping researchers at Old Dominion University (ODU) examine how in

50、-vehicle guidance systems affect the person behind the wheel. The researchers want to know if such systems, which give audible or written directions, are too distracting—or whether any distractions are offset by the benefits drivers get from having help finding their way in unfamiliar location

51、s. “We’re looking at the performance and mental workload of drivers,” said Caryl Baldwin, the assistant psychology professor leading the research, which involves measuring drivers’ reaction time and brain activity as they respond to auditory and visual cues. The researchers just complete

52、d a study of the mental workload involved in driving through different kinds of environments and heavy vs. light traffic. Preliminary results show that as people “get into more challenging driving situations, they don’t have any extra mental energy to respond to something else in the environment,” B

53、aldwin said. But the tradeoffs could be worth it, she said. This next step is to test different ways of giving drivers navigational information and how those methods change the drivers’ mental workload. “Is it best if they see a picture…that shows their position, a map kind of display?” B

54、aldwin said. “Is it best if they hear it?” navigational systems now on the market give point-by-point directions that follow a prescribed route. “They’re very unforgiving,” Baldwin said. “If you miss a turn, they can almost seem to get angry.” That style of directions also can be frustra

55、ting for people who prefer more general instructions. But such broad directions can confuse drivers who prefer route directions, Baldwin said. Perhaps manufacturers should allow drivers to choose the style of directions they want, or modify systems to present some information in a way that mak

56、es sense for people who prefer the survey style, she said. Interestingly, other research has shown that about 60 percent of men prefer the survey style, while 60 percent women prefer the route style, Baldwin said. This explains the classic little thing of why men don’t like to stop and ask for

57、 directions and women do, Baldwin added. Driven to Distraction分散注意力駕駛 JoeCoyne滑進(jìn)駕駛室，發(fā)動汽車朝城里開去?？帐幨幍哪嵌沃蓦H公路結(jié)束了，進(jìn)入到擁塞的城市。這時，一個行人突然從Coyne的車前穿過，他急忙緊急剎車。 但是，就算Coyne來不及剎車，那個婦女也不會有事兒。因?yàn)椋且粋€假人。整座城市也是假的。Coyne并不是真的在開車。他只是在演示一個計(jì)算機(jī)操控的駕駛模擬器，幫助OldDominion大學(xué)的研究者們檢測車內(nèi)導(dǎo)向系統(tǒng)如何影響開車人。 研究者們希望了解駕駛員在陌生環(huán)境里從這一

58、系統(tǒng)提供的那些語音或書面的說明中得到的導(dǎo)路指南等益處是否抵消了這些東西引起的注意力不集中的問題。 主持研究的心理學(xué)副教授CarylBaldwin說：“我們一直關(guān)注著駕駛員的表現(xiàn)和精神負(fù)荷”這包括駕駛員在對聽覺和視覺提示做出反應(yīng)時的反應(yīng)時間和大腦活動。 研究人員剛剛完成了一項(xiàng)關(guān)于在不同環(huán)境中，如交通暢通或交通擁擠時駕駛員精神負(fù)荷的調(diào)查。Baldwin說，初步的調(diào)查結(jié)果顯示人們“在更富有挑戰(zhàn)性的環(huán)境中駕駛時，并不會對周圍環(huán)境的變化做出更大的反應(yīng)?！? 她說，兩種提示的交替使用還是有效的。下一步，他們將測試為駕駛員提供導(dǎo)向信息的不同方法以及這些方法如何改變駕駛員的精神負(fù)荷

59、。 Baldwin說：“是給駕駛員看類似地圖那樣的顯示圖片好，還是讓他們聽到指示信息好呢？” 現(xiàn)在市場上的導(dǎo)向系統(tǒng)會給出點(diǎn)對點(diǎn)的方向信息，同時還會提供預(yù)定的路線。Baldwin說：“這些系統(tǒng)通常不會原諒人的錯誤。如果駕駛員錯過了一個轉(zhuǎn)變，它們就會變得非常生氣?！? 這種提供方向信息的方式通常會使更喜歡籠統(tǒng)信息的駕駛員產(chǎn)生一種受挫感。Baldwin說，籠統(tǒng)的信息卻會使更喜歡線路批示的駕駛員感到困惑。 她說，也許，是系統(tǒng)制造商們應(yīng)該允許駕駛員能夠選擇自己喜歡的指示方式，或者使系統(tǒng)能夠?yàn)楦矚g調(diào)查信息方式的駕駛員提供有用的信息。 有意思的是，其他研

60、究者表示60%的男性更喜歡這種提供調(diào)查信息的導(dǎo)向系統(tǒng)，而60%的女性則更喜歡線路指示系統(tǒng)。Baldwin說，這也就可以解釋那個為什么女人喜歡下車問路，而男人卻不的經(jīng)典例子。 Digital Realm數(shù)碼王國 In the digital realm, the next big advance will be voice recognition. The rudiments are already here but in primitive form. Ask a computer to “recognize speech,” and it is likely to think

61、 you want it to “wreck a nice beach.” But in a decade or so we’ll be able to chat away and machines will soak it all in5. Microchips will be truly embedded in our lives when we can talk to them. Not only to our computers; we’ll also able to chat our automobile navigation systems, telephone consoles6

62、, browsers, thermostats, VCRs, microwaves and any other devices we want to boss around7. That will open the way to the next phase of the digital age: artificial intelligence. By our providing so many thoughts and preferences to our machines each day, they’ll accumulate enough information about

63、 how we think so that they’ll be able to mimic our minds and act as our agents. Scary, huh? But potentially quite useful. At least until they don’t need us anymore and start building even smarter machines they can boss around. The law powering the digital age up until now has been Gordon Moore

64、’s: that microchips will double in power and halve in price every 18 months or so. Bill Gates rules because early on he acted on the assumption that computing power—the capacity of microprocessors and memory chips—would become nearly free; his company kept churning out more and more lines of complex

65、 software to make use of the cheap bounty. The law that will power the next few decades is that the bandwidth (the capacity of fiber-optic and other pipelines to carry digital communications) will become nearly free. Along with the recent advances in digital switching and storage technologies,

66、 this means a future in which all forms of content—movies, music, shows, books, data, magazines, newspapers, your aunt’s recipes and home videos—will be instantly available anywhere on demand. Anyone will be able to be a producer of any content; you’ll be able to create a movie or magazine, make it available to the world and charge for it, just like Time Warner! The result will be a transition from a mass-market world to a personalized one. Instead of centralized factories and studios that