英式新闻英语第 86 课：Voice Recognition Becomes More Intelligent 语音识别系统智能化程度更高-2

Now, in Germany when they tried a similar system, men reacted against being given directions by a female voice so it had to be taken off the market. Old people, by the way, take advice more readily from young people than from people their own age. 目前在德国，他们试用了一种类似的系统，而男性则反对使用女性声音来提供方向信息，因此该系统不得不退出市场。顺便提一下，老年人更容易接受年轻人的建议，而不是那些与他们一样大年纪的人。

Tone matters to drivers. Professor Nass is working on a system where the machine-voice changes according to how you address it. 语调对于司机而言很重要。纳斯教授正在研究一种系统，该系统的机器声音可以根据人对其发话的方式发生改变。

He's discovered that irritable drivers can calm down if the voice on the navigation system is subdued -- though, for some reason that he doesn't quite understand, calm drivers get wound up by subdued, low-key voices that don't vary in pitch. 他发现如果导航系统的声音很柔和，易怒的司机则能平静下来；但是出于某些他不能理解的原因，平静的司机可能因为没有音调变化的柔和、低调声音而变得容易激动。

So the next task is to vary the navigation system's voice according to how grumpy you, the driver, are. If you sound aggressive to the machine, the machine will change tone to calm you down. 因此下一步任务就是根据司机的脾气暴躁程度来改变导航系统的声音。如果你的声音在机器听来具有挑衅的味道，机器就会改变语调使你平静下来。

The technology is improving all the time. Basically, machines that speak first involve a human actor recording countless different words and syllables and a computer then re-assembling the sounds into coherent sentences, according to what it thinks you've said to it. 科技始终在向前发展。从根本上而言，说话机器首先需要人类演员对不同的单词和音节进行录音，然后计算机根据它认为你对其所说的话语将这些声音重组成连贯的句子。

These machines are getting better and better, better able to recognise more accents and variations. 这些机器正变得越来越强，强大到可以识别出更多的口音和变调。

They're also better able to talk back without sounding like a machine. It seems the androids are getting very good indeed. 它们也足够好到回话的声音听起来不像是由机器发出来的。似乎机器人确实已经变得很人性化了。

And companies like them a great deal. They even construct personas around the voices on the machines that speak for them. One of the Canadian telephone companies published a biography of the imaginary woman its machine was imitating. 而公司也非常钟意它们。他们甚至根据为其发言的机器声音塑造了外表。加拿大的一家电话公司发表了一名虚构女子的传记，目前这名女子正由该家公司的机器模仿。

She was Emily, a nice small-town girl who had a history degree and went back-packing round Asia after college. 她叫艾米丽，是名来自小镇的好女孩。她拥有历史学位，在亚洲读完大学之后就打着背包回国了。

With some panache, a local radio host decided to call her up. Emily, of course, being a machine could only answer his chat with lines like "You're calling to check your account balance. Is that right?" 带着一些炫耀的色彩，当地一家广播台的男主播决定打电话给她。当然作为一台机器艾米丽只能对他的谈话回以类似这样的对白：“您打电话来是要核对你的账户结余，对吗？”

It may be, though, that the company has the last laugh. Emily is paid no wages and the telephone company reckons it saves three million dollars a year by employing her instead of a crowd of expensive, high-maintenance human-beings. 不管怎样，这家公司可能会赢得最后的胜利。由于不用向艾米丽支付任何薪资，该家电话公司估计每年能省下三百万美元的费用，因为有了她就不用雇用一群昂贵的、高生活费的人类。

There's no doubt that soon the androids will speak better than we do -- and they're much, much cheaper -- they're much, much cheaper -- much, much cheaper. 毫无疑问不久之后机器人们会比我们说得更棒，而且它们更便宜——非常非常便宜。