本文选自吴应时主编的《大学英语六级阅读真题精读——晨读伴侣》。本书对历年国家大学英语六级考试（CET-6）的仔细阅读部分进行了详尽而精准的分析、翻译和注释，对四六级考生有着事半功倍的效果，对提升整体英语能力也很有帮助。

学习导读：

机器在工业中的使用历来被认为是科技的进步，但在人文思潮中，对于机器却有着不同角度的思考。英文毕竟是文学，是纯文科，所以对于这些科技类的关切也只能是基于人文的视角。这就使得一些本来并没有感情色彩的客体成为了被讨论的对象，而且还能涉及到一系列的道德伦理问题。当然，文章总是跳不出这样的套路，无非是讲讲机器有些什么好处，再讲讲有些什么坏处，最后再中立地讨论一下。

[Amid1 all the job losses], there’s one category2 (of worker) that the economic disruption has been good for: nonhumans3.

在失业大潮中，只有一种工人从经济衰退中受益，那就是非人类工人（机器人）。

注：1. amid prep.在…中间，被…围绕。例：

The president began to speak amid the crowd’s acclamation.

总统在人们的欢呼声中开始演讲。

Amid the good signs for the economy, came a worrying trend in manufacturing, however.

在一片经济良好的迹象之中，却产生了对制造业感到担忧的趋势。

[选自：MSN: Spending, incomes rise as layoffs drop]

2. category n. 种类，类目。例：

There are different categories of books in the library.

图书馆里有各类的书籍。

3. 冒号在这里的作用相当于破折号，把系动词给省略了。还原的话即the economic disruption has been good for is nonhumans.所以“非人类”实际上是表语。

[From self-service checkout1 lines at the supermarket to industrial robots armed with saws and taught to carve2 up animal bodies in slaughter-houses3], these ever-more-intelligent machines are [now] not [just] assisting workers but [actually] kicking them .

从超市里成排的自助结账机到屠宰场里装有锯条并被用来屠宰动物肉体的工业机器人，这些日益智能化的机器人现在不仅仅是在协助工人工作，事实上也正在将这些工人驱逐出工作岗位。

注：1. checkout n. 付款台，结账时间。例：

Holman, the analyst, said mobile self-checkout will have a huge impact on the future of retail.

霍尔曼，该分析师表示，移动自助结账服务将对零售业的未来产生巨大的影响。

[选自：MSN: Welcome valued customer ... to more self-checkouts]

2. carve v. 刻, 雕刻; 切; 切开; 开创; 做雕刻工作; 切开肉。值得注意的是，虽然carve up是切割之意，但在此语境下须译为屠宰。例：

Tom carved the figure of Venus from a piece of wood.

汤姆用一块木头雕刻出了维纳斯雕像。

So it makes no sense to carve out a legal exception for smartphone searches.

所以开拓出智能手机搜索的合法例外领域是没有意义的。

[选自：CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS]

3. slaughter vt. 屠杀，杀戮，屠宰。例：

Himmler knew a lot about how to terrorize and slaughter civilians, but nothing about military affairs.

希姆莱非常了解如何恐吓和屠杀平民，但对军事事务一无所知。

[选自：CNN: Private Ryan was a hero, but there were bums, too]

The workers slaughter thousands of cows each day.

工人们每天屠宰数千头牛。

n. 屠宰。例：

The heartless slaughter of animals for food disgusted the vegetarian.

无情地屠宰动物作食物令素食主义者很反感。

slaughter-houses动词加名词构成，相当于houses for slaughtering

Automation1 isn’t [just] affecting factory workers, [either]. Some law firms [now] use artificial intelligence software [to scan and read mountains of legal documents], work (that previously2) was performed [by highly-paid human lawyers].

自动化不仅影响着工厂的工人。一些律师事务所现在也是用人工智能软件来浏览和阅读堆积如山的法律文件，而这些工作原来是由领着高薪的律师来做的。

注：1. automation n.自动化。例：

Over the years our life has changed a lot with automation.

多年来，自动化给我们的生活带来了很大的变化。

It hopes to avoid duplication, increase automation and introduce new business and asset management systems.

希望能避免重复，提高自动化程度，并引入新的业务和资产管理系统。

[选自：BBC: Guernsey States plans to cut 50 jobs to save money]

2. previously adv. 先前，以前；【派】 previous adj. 早先的，在前的；一般来说形容词作定语修饰名词，而在这里，that previously整个作定语，表明该工作是之前的，而非现在。可以这样理解，that previously是一个定语从句，从句里面that充当主语而previously作时间状语即可。previous 接 to时作副词，表示“在…之前”的意思。例：

Previous to our being there, there was an earthquake in the area.

在我们去那之前，该地区曾经发生过一场地震。

They have opened a previously unimaginable array of possibilities in both developed and developing countries.

他们开启了在发达国家和发展中国家以前可能难以想象的一系列可能性。

[选自：UNCTAD: Office of the Secretary-General]

“Robots continue to have an impact [on blue-collar jobs], and white-collar jobs are under attack [by microprocessors] 1,” says economics professor Edward Leamer. The recession [permanently 2] wiped out 2.5 million jobs. U.S. gross domestic product has climbed back to pre-recession levels, [meaning we’re producing [as much as before],] [only with 6% fewer workers]. [To be sure], robotics are [not] the only job killers (out there), [with outsourcing stealing far more jobs than automation].

经济学教授爱德华·利默尔说：“机器人继续影响着蓝领岗位，而白领岗位也受到了微处理器的冲击。”经济萧条永久性地消减掉了250万个工作岗位。美国的国内生产总值已回升到了萧条前的水平，这意味着我们的生产能力跟从前相同，只是雇佣工人的数量却减少了6%。可以肯定的是，机器人技术并非是导致工作岗位减少的唯一因素，与自动化相比，外包吞噬了更多的工作岗位。

注：1. microprocessor n. 微处理器，现今手机的处理器也就是用这个词，比如高通骁龙805是Qualcomm Snapdragon Processor 805，苹果A8处理器也都是processor。

2. permanently adv. 永存地，不变地；【派】permanent adj. 永久的，持久的。

例：

I hope to get a permanent job here.

我希望能在这里得到一份长期的工作。

Many earthquake survivors worried that the authorities were trying to permanently move them out.

很多地震幸存者担心，当局试图要他们永久搬离。

[选自：BBC: Rain hits Haiti as Tropical Storm Tomas approaches]

Jeff Burnstein, {president of the Robotics Industry Association}, argues that robots [actually] save U.S. jobs. His logic: companies (that embrace1 automation) might use fewer workers, but that’s [still] better [than firing everyone and moving the work overseas].

机器人工业联盟的主席杰夫·伯恩施泰因认为，机器人实际上为美国人保住了工作机会。他的逻辑如下：使用自动化的企业可能会雇佣较少的工人，但这种情况仍比解雇所有工人然后把工厂转移到海外要好。

注：1. embrace v. 拥抱，包含，信奉。例：

The term “mankind” embraces men, women and children.

“人类”包含男人、女人和儿童。

Mr. Lee has repeatedly said North Korea should embrace China's style of economic reform.

李先生曾多次表示，朝鲜应该接受中国经济改革的方式。

[WSJ: Kim Jong Il Meets Chinese Leaders]

It’s [not] that robots are cheaper [than humans], [though often they are.] It’s that they’re better. “[In some cases] the quality requirements are [so] exacting [that [even if you wanted to have a human  1,] you couldn’t,]” Burnstein says.

这并不是因为机器人比人工便宜，尽管有时的确如此。主要是因为机器人能做得更好。伯恩施泰因表示：“在一些质量要求非常严格的情况下，即使想用工人也不行。”

注：1. Have a human do the job，找别人来做，比如have someone’s hair cut，是找别人帮自己剪头发。

Same goes for surgeons 1, (who’re using robotic systems [to perform an ever-growing list] (of operations)) – not [because the machines save money but because, ^thanks to the greater precision of robots^, the patients recover [in less time] and have fewer complications 2,] says Dr. Myriam Curet.  

外科医生的情况也是如此，他们正在使用机器人系统来完成越来越多的手术。马里亚姆·屈雷博士称，他们使用机器人并不是为了省钱，而是由于机器人有更高的精确度，这样患者才能更快地痊愈并减少并发症。

注：1. surgeon n. 外科医生。

2. complication n. 并发症，混乱，复杂。这个单词的形容词是complicated，这是大家熟悉的单词，但名词表示并发症需要掌握。例：

They do not have the capabilities to treat this complication here.

在这，医生没有能力治疗这种并发症。

Right now, somewhere on our planet, someone's mother is dying from a complication of pregnancy or childbirth.

眼下，在我们星球的某个地方，有些人的母亲死于怀孕或分娩。

[CNN: Saving mothers and their babies]

Surgeons may survive the robot invasion 1, but others (at the hospital) might not be [so] lucky, [as iRobot], maker of the Roomba, {a robot vacuum2 cleaner}, has been showing off Ava, (which could be used [in a hospital].) And [once you’re home,] [recovering], Ava could let you talk to your doctor, [so there’s no need [to send someone] [to your house].] That “mobile telepresence” could be useful [at the office]. [If you’re away [on a trip],] you can [still] attend a meeting. [Just] connect [via videoconferencing software], [so your face appears on Ava’s screen.]

外科医生可能会在机器人入侵中幸存下来，但医院的其他工作人员可能就没有这么幸运了，机器人真空吸尘器Roomba的生产商iRobot已经展示了Ava，它在医院可以充当信使。当你在家中疗养的时候，Ava能让你和你的医生交谈，这样一来就没有必要派人到你家里去了。这种“移动式远程监控”在办公室里也很有用。即使在外出差，你依然可以参加会议。只需通过视频会议软件进行连接，你的脸就会出现在Ava的屏幕上。

注：1. invasion n. 侵入，侵略。例：

Tens of thousands of people have died in Iraq since the US-led invasion of March 2003.

2003年3月，以美国为首的入侵中，成千上万人死在伊拉克。

[选自：BBC: Iraq violence, in figures]

2. vacuum n. 真空，真空吸尘器。例：Vacuum cleaner 真空吸尘器；v. 收集。例：

The information firm was busy vacuuming up data from the far corners of the world.

那家信息公司忙于收集来自世界各地的数据。

He imposed the speed of light in a vacuum as the limit of any speed.

他认为真空中的光速是任何速度的极限。

[选自：MSN: Your tributes to Einstein’s feats]

Is any job safe? I was hoping to say “journalist”, but researchers are [already] developing software (that can gather facts and write a news story.) Which means that [a few years from now], a robot could be writing this column 1. And who will read it? [Well], there might be a lot of us (hanging around) [with lots of free time] [on our hands].

还有什么工作安全呢？我本想说“记者”，但研究者已经在开发收集事实然后写出新闻报道的软件了。这就意味着在几年之后，机器人可以写这个专栏。那么谁会是这些专栏的读者呢？可能到时候我们当中会有很多人都有大量的空闲时间来读专栏了。

注：1. column n.专栏，纵队，圆柱。例：

In his first column, he asked why there was such widespread disillusionment with global free trade.

在他的第一篇专栏中，他问道为什么就国际自由贸易有如此广泛的失望。

[选自：NEWYORKER: Inside the Crisis]