Now we are talking.

來(lái)源：http://econ.st/2iL7HZL

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ANY sufficiently/s?'f???ntl?/ advanced technology, noted Arthur C. Clarke, a British science-fiction writer, is indistinguishable/'?nd?'st??gw???bl/ from magic. The fast-emerging technology of voice computing proves his point. Using it is just like casting/k?st/ a spell: say a few words into the air, and a nearby device can grant your wish.

The Amazon Echo, a voice-driven cylindrical /s?'l?ndr?kl/ computer that sits on a table top and answers to the name Alexa, can call up music tracks and radio stations, tell jokes, answer trivia/‘tr?v??/ questions and control smart appliances; even before Christmas it was already resident /'r?z?d?nt/ in about 4% of American households. Voice assistants are proliferating /pr?'l?f?'ret/ in smartphones, too: Apple's Siri handles over 2bn commands a week, and 20% of Google searches on Android-powered handsets in America are input by voice. Dictating/d?k'tet/ e-mails and text messages now works reliably /r??la??bl?/ enough to be useful. Why type when you can talk?

This is a huge shift. Simple though it may seem, voice has the power to transform computing, by providing a natural means of interaction. Windows, icons and menus, and then touchscreens, were welcomed as more intuitive ways to deal with computers than entering complex keyboard commands. But being able to talk to computers abolishes /?’bɑl??/ the need for the abstraction of a “user interface” at all. Just as mobile phones were more than existing phones without wires, and cars were more than carriages /'k?r?d?/without horses, so computers without screens and keyboards have the potential to be more useful, powerful and ubiquitous /ju'b?kw?t?s/ than people can imagine today.

ubiquitous /ju’b?kw?t?s/

* adj. 普遍存在的；無(wú)所不在的

Voice will not wholly /'holli/ replace other forms of input and output. Sometimes it will remain more convenient to converse /k?n'v?s/ with a machine by typing rather than talking (Amazon is said to be working on an Echo device with a built-in screen). But voice is destined/'d?st?nd/ to account for a growing share of people's interactions with the technology around them, from washing machines that tell you how much of the cycle they have left to virtual assistants in corporate call centres/'sent?/. However, to reach its full potential, the technology requires further breakthroughs-and a resolution of the tricky/?tr?ki/ questions it raises around the trade-off between convenience and privacy.

wholly /'holli/

* adv. 完全地；全部；統(tǒng)統(tǒng)

* converse /k?n'v?s/

* adj. 相反的，逆向的；顛倒的

* vi. 交談，談話；認(rèn)識(shí)

* n. 逆行，逆向；倒；相反的事物

* n. (Converse)人名；(英)康弗斯

* destined/‘d?st?nd/

* adj. 注定的；命定的；去往…的

* v. 注定（destine的過(guò)去式和過(guò)去分詞）

* centres/'sent?/

* n. 中心；中心機(jī)構(gòu)（centre的復(fù)數(shù)）

* tricky/?tr?ki/

ADJ If you describe a task or problem as tricky, you mean that it is difficult to do or deal with. 難對(duì)付的

Alexa, what is deep learning?

Computer-dictation /d?k'te??n/ systems have been around for years. But they were unreliable /??nr?'la??bl/ and required lengthy/'l??θi/ training to learn a specific user's voice. Computers' new ability to recognise almost anyone's speech dependably/di'pend?bli/ without training is the latest manifestation /'m?n?f?'ste??n/ of the power of “deep learning”, an artificial-intelligence technique in which a software system is trained using millions of examples, usually culled /k?l/ from the internet. Thanks to deep learning, machines now nearly equal humans in transcription /tr?n'skr?p??n/ accuracy, computerized translation systems are improving rapidly and text- to-speech systems are becoming less robotic /ro'bɑt?k/ and more natural-sounding. Computers are, in short, getting much better at handling natural language in all its forms.

dictation /d?k’te??n/ N-UNCOUNTDictation is the speaking or reading aloud of words for someone else to write down. 口授; 聽(tīng)寫

manifestation /‘m?n?f?'ste??n/

* n. 表現(xiàn)；顯示；示威運(yùn)動(dòng)

* culled /k?l/ fromvt. 挑選, 剔除

Although deep learning means that machines can recognise speech more reliably and talk in a less stilted /'st?lt?d/ manner, they still don't understand the meaning of language. That is the most difficult aspect of the problem and, if voice-driven computing is truly to flourish/'fl???/, one that must be overcome. Computers must be able to understand context in order to maintain a coherent? /ko’h?r?nt/ conversation about something, rather than just responding to simple, one-off voice commands, as they mostly do today (“Hey, Siri, set a timer for ten minutes”). Researchers in universities and at companies large and small are working on this very problem, building “bots” that can hold more elaborate /?'l?b?ret/ conversations about more complex tasks, from retrieving /r?'triv/ information to advising on mortgages /'m?rɡ?d?/ to making travel arrangements /?'rend?m?nt/. (Amazon is offering a $1m prize for a bot that can converse “coherently and engagingly /in'geid?i?li/” for 20 minutes.)

stilted /'st?lt?d/

* adj. 不自然的；呆板的；僵硬的

* v. 使踩高蹺（stilt的過(guò)去分詞）

* flourish/'fl???/

* n. 興旺；茂盛；揮舞；炫耀；華飾

* vt. 夸耀；揮舞

* vi. 繁榮，興旺；茂盛；活躍；處于旺盛時(shí)期

* coherent? /ko’h?r?nt/

* adj. 連貫的，一致的；明了的；清晰的；凝聚性的；互相耦合的；粘在一起的

* elaborate /?'l?b?ret/

* adj. 精心制作的；詳盡的；煞費(fèi)苦心的

* vt. 精心制作；詳細(xì)闡述；從簡(jiǎn)單成分合成（復(fù)雜有機(jī)物）

* vi. 詳細(xì)描述；變復(fù)雜

* mortgages /‘m?rɡ?d?/

* vt. 抵押

* n. 抵押

* 房屋抵押貸款

* arrangements /?'rend?m?nt/.

* n. 布置；整理；準(zhǔn)備

* engagingly /in'geid?i?li/

* adv. 動(dòng)人地；吸引人地

When spells replace spelling

Consumers and regulators /'r?ɡjulet?/ also have a role to play in determining how voice computing develops. Even in its current, relatively primitive /'pr?m?t?v/ form, the technology poses a dilemma /d??l?m?/: voice-driven systems are most useful when they are personalised /'p?:s?n?laiz/, and are granted/?ɡr?nt?d/ wide access to sources of data such as calendars, e-mails and other sensitive information. That raises privacy and security concerns.

regulators /‘r?ɡjulet?/

* n. 調(diào)整者；監(jiān)管者；校準(zhǔn)器

* primitive /'pr?m?t?v/

* adj. 原始的，遠(yuǎn)古的；簡(jiǎn)單的，粗糙的

* n. 原始人

* dilemma /d??l?m?/

* n. 困境；進(jìn)退兩難；兩刀論法

* granted/?ɡr?nt?d/

* 準(zhǔn)予

To further complicate matters, many voice-driven devices are always listening, waiting to be activated. Some people are already concerned about the implications of internet-connected micro-phones listening in every room and from every smartphone. Not all audio is sent to the cloud-devices wait for a trigger phrase (“Alexa”, “OK, Google”, “Hey, Cortana”, or “Hey, Siri”) before they start relaying/r?'le/ the user's voice to the servers that actually handle the requests-but when it comes to storing audio, it is unclear who keeps what and when.

relaying/r?’le

* n. 繼電保護(hù)；[廣播][電視] 轉(zhuǎn)播；中繼利用

* v. 分程傳遞；使接替；中繼轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)（relay的ing形式）

* relay

* vt. 轉(zhuǎn)播；使接替；分程傳遞

Police investigating a murder in Arkansas /?ɑrk?n?s?/, which may have been overheard by an Amazon Echo, have asked the company for access to any audio that might have been captured. Amazon has refused to co-operate, arguing (with the backing of privacy advocates/'?dv?k?t/) that the legal status of such requests is unclear. The situation is analogous /?'n?l?ɡ?s/ to Apple's refusal/r?'fjuzl/ in 2016 to help FBI investigators unlock a terrorist's/'t?r?r?st/ iPhone; both cases highlight the need for rules that specify /'sp?s?fa?/ when and what intrusions /?n'tru?n/ into personal privacy are justified/'d??st?fa?d/ in the interests of security.

overheard

* vt. （過(guò)去式）偶爾聽(tīng)到；無(wú)意中聽(tīng)到；偷聽(tīng)

* analogous /?’n?l?ɡ?s/

* adj. 類似的；[昆] 同功的；可比擬的

* refusal/r?'fjuzl/

* n. 拒絕；優(yōu)先取舍權(quán)；推卻；取舍權(quán)

* intrusions /?n'tru?n/

* n. 侵入；闖入

* justified/'d??st?fa?d/

* adj. 有正當(dāng)理由的；合乎情理的；事出有因的

* v. 調(diào)整（justify的過(guò)去分詞）；證明…正當(dāng)

Consumers will adopt voice computing even if such issues remain unresolved. In many situations voice is far more convenient and natural than any other means of communication. Uniquely, it can also be used while doing something else (driving, working out or walking down the street). It can extend the power of computing to people unable, for one reason or another, to use screens and key-boards. And it could have a dramatic impact not just on computing, but on the use of language itself Computerised simultaneous /?sa?ml'ten??s/ translation could render the need to speak a foreign language irrelevant /?'r?l?v?nt/ for many people; and in a world where machines can talk, minor languages may be more likely to survive. The arrival of the touchscreen was the last big shift in the way humans interact with computers. The leap to speech matters more.

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Sentences

so computers without screens and keyboards have the potential to be more useful, powerful and ubiquitous /ju'b?kw?t?s/ than people can imagine today.

Voice will not wholly /'holli/ replace other forms of input and output.

in short, getting much better at handling natural language in all its forms.

That raises privacy and security concerns.

In many situations voice is far more convenient and natural than any other means of communication.

It can extend the power of computing to people unable, for one reason or another,