2018年12月四级第3套仔细阅读 Passage 2 原文翻译及答案解析

Imagine you enter a car with no steering wheel, no brake or accelerator pedals (踏板). Under a voice-activated command, you say an address. "The fastest route will take us 15.3 minutes. Should I take it?" You say "yes" and you are on your way. The car responds and starts moving all by itself. All you have to do is sit back and relax.

想象你进入一辆没有方向盘、没有刹车或油门踏板的汽车。通过语音激活命令，你说出一个地址。“最快路线需要15.3分钟。要走这条路线吗？”你说“是”，然后你便上路了。汽车响应并自动开始移动。你只需坐好放松即可。

How weird would it be if, one day in the future, everyone had such a car? No crazy driving, no insults, no cutting in; traffic laws would be respected and driving much safer. On the other hand, imagine the cost savings for local police enforcement and town budgets without all those speeding and parking tickets.

如果有一天，未来每个人都拥有这样的汽车，那会多么奇怪？没有疯狂驾驶、没有辱骂、没有插队；交通法规将被遵守，驾驶会更安全。另一方面，想象一下，没有那些超速和停车罚单，当地警方执法和城镇预算能节省多少成本。

A new technology has the potential to change modern society in radical ways. There's no question that self-driving vehicles could be an enormous benefit. The potential for safer cars means accident statistics would drop: some 94% of road accidents in the U.S. involve human error. Older drivers and visually-or physically-impaired people would gain a new level of freedom. Maintaining safe speeds and being electric, self-driving cars would drastically reduce pollution levels and dependency on non-renewable fuels. Roads would be quieter, people safer.

一项新技术有可能以根本性的方式改变现代社会。毫无疑问，自动驾驶汽车可能带来巨大好处。更安全汽车的潜力意味着事故统计数据将下降：在美国，约94%的道路事故涉及人为错误。老年司机和视觉或身体残疾人士将获得新的自由水平。保持安全速度且为电动，自动驾驶汽车将大幅减少污染水平和对不可再生燃料的依赖。道路会更安静，人们更安全。

But we must also consider the impact of the new technology on those who now depend on driving for their livelihoods. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, in May 2015 there were 505,560 registered school bus drivers. The American Trucking Association lists approximately 3.5 million professional truck drivers in the U.S.

但我们也必须考虑新技术对那些目前依靠驾驶谋生的人的影响。根据美国劳工部的数据，2015年5月有505,560名注册校车司机。美国卡车运输协会列出了美国约350万名专业卡车司机。

The companies developing self-driving vehicles should be partnering with state and federal authorities to offer retraining for this massive workforce, many of whom will be displaced by the new technology. This is similar to what's happening in the coal and oil industries, a situation that fuels much of the current political discontent in this country.

开发自动驾驶汽车的公司应与州和联邦当局合作，为这支庞大的劳动力提供再培训，其中许多人将被新技术取代。这类似于煤炭和石油行业正在发生的情况，这种情况加剧了当前该国许多政治不满。

New technologies will, and should, be developed. This is how society moves forward. However, progress can't be one-sided. It is necessary for the companies and state agencies involved to consider the ethical consequences of these potential changes to build a better future for all.

新技术将会，并且应该被开发。这就是社会进步的方式。然而，进步不能是片面的。相关公司和州机构有必要考虑这些潜在变化的伦理后果，为所有人建设更美好的未来。