介绍:
Automation 自动化
I’m afraid I can’t do that 人工智能取代人? 臣妾做不到哇
主播：凤梨君 个人微信号：fenglisama 微信公众号：EnglishQiPa
Reasons to be less afraid about the march of the machines
Jun 4th 2016 | From the print edition
ARE robots coming to steal our jobs? For those manning the tills at pizza restaurants, the answer seems to be yes. In late May Pizza Hut announced that by the end of the year a robot called Pepper would start taking orders and payment at some of its Asian restaurants, providing a “fun, frictionless user experience”.
1 man |mæn| verb 在…岗位上工作；操纵（机器等）；配备（人员）2 till |tɪl| （大商店中的）交款处，收银台 3 frictionless [f'rɪkʃnles] 无摩擦的，无障碍的 4 hut |hʌt|简陋的小房子（或棚、舍）5 pepper |ˈpepə(r)| 胡椒粉
There is plenty of research to suggest that restaurant workers are not the only ones at risk. One widely cited paper by Carl Frey and Michael Osborne at Oxford University found that as many as 47% of Americans work in jobs that will be highly susceptible to automation over the next two decades. But a new working paper by Melanie Arntz, Terry Gregory and Ulrich Zierahn of the Centre for European Economic Research paints a slightly brighter picture. The earlier study quizzed experts on the chance that a particular occupation could be automated, and then totted up the proportion of American workers in such jobs. But the newer study suggests that this method was too blunt.
1cite |saɪt| 引用；引述；援引 2 susceptible |səˈseptəbl| 易受影响（或伤害等）；敏感；过敏 3 quiz |kwɪz| 盘问；查问；询问；讯问 4 tot |tɒt; 美 tɑ:t| 合计，共计 tot sth↔up 把…加起来；计算…
Digging into more detailed data, the researchers find that many jobs involve bundles of tasks, only some of which machines can easily handle. Take clerks in book-keeping, accounting and auditing: the earlier study said the odds of computers supplanting them over the next 20 years were 98%. But the newer study finds that three-quarters of those jobs involve some group work or face-to-face interaction—tasks robot struggle with. Applying a similar analysis to all jobs, they find that only 9%, not 47%, are at high risk of automation.
1 bundle |ˈbʌndl| （一）捆，包，扎 2 clerk |klɑ:k; 美 klɜ:rk| 职员；簿记员；文书 3 odds |ɒdz; 美 ɑ:dz| 可能性 4 supplant|səˈplɑ:nt; 美 -ˈplænt| 取代，替代
Some caveats are in order: employers could restructure jobs to disentangle tasks that are more or less easy to automate. If that proves difficult, another possibility is that they simply forgo the human interaction now built into many occupations. A smile and some chit-chat once seemed an integral part of paying for groceries, until automated tills became commonplace. And finally, even if the 9% figure is closer to the truth, that still threatens the livelihood of millions. For the poorest quarter of the population, the proportion of jobs at risk rises to 26%, since more of them work in the sort of routine jobs most susceptible to automation.
1 caveat |ˈkæviæt| 警告 2 disentangle |ˌdɪsɪnˈtæŋgl| 使解脱；使脱出；使摆脱 3 forgo |fɔ:ˈgəʊ; 美 fɔ:rˈgoʊ| 放弃，弃绝 4 chit-chat [tʃit tʃæt] 闲聊；聊天；闲谈 5 integral|ˈɪntɪgrəl; ɪnˈteg-|必需的；不可或缺的 6 grocery |ˈgrəʊsəri; 美 ˈgroʊ-| 食品杂货 7 automated tills 自动收款机
