英語沙龍十年合集珍藏版第三輯Three Things That Will Change Your life
Three Things That Will Change Your life
Today our lives are changing faster than at any time in history．Here we report on three important changes that will have a big impact on our everyday lives in the future．
The cashless1) society Cash and bank－notes will disappear almost completely．T hey will be replaced by smart cards －－plastic cards with microchip2) processors“loaded”with some money．When we pay for goods，the retailer will insert our smart card into a payment terminal and money will be transferred from our card to the retailer' s card．When all the money is used up，we will be able to“reload3)”it by inserting it into a telephone，dialing our bank account and transferring money to the card from the account．If we want to transfer money from our card to a bank account，we will use the same method．Smart cards will be able to hold several different currencies at the same time，so if we go aboard，we will use our smart cards in the same way．
Interactive4) telephones Human telephone operators will be sharply replaced by talking computers．These computers will recognize speech，ask us what information we need，access the information from a database，and convert it to speech．If we want to book a flight or pay a bill by phone，we will interact with a talking computer to do so．Of course，this won't happen until all the technology is in place，but when it is we will soon get used to interacting with computers in this w ay．Human telephone operators will be used only for more complex5) operations such as dealing with complaints or solving concrete problems．
Intelligent cars Traffic congestion in cities will be reduced because drivers will use electronic route maps to find the quickest route to their destination and avoid traffic jams．Congestion will also decrease when electronic systems start changing motorists for driving in cities．As soon as motorists have to pay to drive in cities，they will stop using their cars and use public transport instead．Speed control systems will be built into cars．These systems will automatically regulate the speed of the car to take account of traffic and weather conditions and prevent accidents．It will be many years before these changes bring results but when they do，there will be a titanic6) improvement in road safety．
改變你生活的三樣事物
今天我們的生活變化得比歷史上任何時候都快。下面我們報道的是未來將對我們日常生活產生重大影響的三個重要變化。
無現(xiàn)金社會 現(xiàn)金和紙幣幾乎將完全消失。取代它們的將是智能卡---存有一定金額的內置微芯片處理器的塑膠卡片。當我們支付所購物品時，零售商將把我們的智能卡插入一個付賬終端機中，這時支付的金額就從我們的卡中轉移到零售商的卡中。當所有的金額用完后，通過將卡插入電話然后撥打我們的銀行賬號，就可以重新向智能卡中注入一定金額。假如我們打算從智能卡中向銀行賬號轉賬，我們可以用同樣的方法。這種智能卡可以同時存入幾種不同的幣種，所以如果我們出國，我們仍然可以同樣的方式使用該卡。
交互式電話 交互式計算機將很快取代人工電話接線員。這些計算機能夠識別聲音，詢問我們需要何種信息，從某個數(shù)據(jù)庫中獲取我們所需的信息并把該信息轉化為聲音。假如我們希望利用電話訂購機票或支付賬單，我們將可以接通這種會說話的計算機交由它們去完成。當然，這些要等到所有的技術都準備就緒后才能變成現(xiàn)實，但是一旦交互式電話出現(xiàn)后，我們將很快習慣通過這種方式使用交互式計算機。將來只有在諸如撥打投訴電話或解決具體問題等復雜操作時才會用到人工接線員。
智能汽車 城市交通阻塞將得以減少，因為司機將使用電子地圖幫助他們尋找到達目的地的最快捷路線并避開交通阻塞。另外當電子系統(tǒng)開始對城市司機駕車提出變更要求時，城市的交通阻塞也會減少。一旦司機們在城市開車需要付錢時，他們將不用自己的汽車，而使用公共交通工具。汽車中將裝有速度控制系統(tǒng)。這些系統(tǒng)會自動調節(jié)車速以適應交通情況和天氣狀況，避免發(fā)生事故。當然這還需要許多年的時間才能變成現(xiàn)實，但是一旦成為現(xiàn)實，道路的安全將會得到巨大的改善。
NOTE 注釋：
cashless [`kAFlIs] adj. 無現(xiàn)款的,無現(xiàn)金的
microchip [5maIkrEJtFIp] n. [計] 微芯片
reload [5ri:5lEud] vt. 重新注入
interactive [7intEr5Aktiv] adj. 交互式的
complex [5kCmpleks] adj. 復雜的, 合成的
titanic [taI5tAnIk] adj. 巨大的
