驾车Driving

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Alice…
大家好，欢迎收听六分钟英语，我是爱丽丝。
And I’m Neil.What do you think about autonomous cars, Alice?
我是尼尔。你怎么看自动驾驶汽车？
An autonomous – or independent and driverless – car is a vehicle that is capable of sensing its environment and navigating without human input.I think they’re a great idea.
自动驾驶或者说无人驾驶汽车，是指汽车可以感应周围环境，不用人类介入就可导航。我觉得这是个不错的主意。
And navigate means to find the way to get to a place.I’m not sure I would trust a computer to drive me.It might go wrong and crash into a wall.
导航是指找到去某地的路。我不确定我会信任一个电脑载着我。它有可能走错路，撞倒墙。
Maybe, but actually most car accidents involve an element of human error,and human error means the mistakes we make because we’re human.For example, people who are behind the wheel while tired or drunk – or distracted.
也许吧，但事实上大多数车祸都是人为错误造成的。人为错误是指因为我们是人而犯的错误。例如，人在驾驶时可能会因疲惫或喝多了而分心。
Behind the wheel: in other words, in control of a car. Yes, I often see people talking on their mobile phones – or texting – instead of looking at the road.
Behind the wheel换句话说，就是驾驶控制车辆。是的，我经常看到人们开车在讲电话或发短信，都不看路。
They are being irresponsible drivers, Neil.Driving is the subject of today’s show.I have a question for you.On average, how many people around the world die each day from road accidents? Is it…a) 300?b) 3,000?Or c) 30,000?
他们都是不负责任的司机。开车就是今天的主题。我有一个问题要问你。世界上平均每天多少人死于交通事故？a) 300人？b) 3,000 人？Or c) 30,000 人？
And I’m going to say b) 3,000.
我选b) 3,000 人。
Well, we’ll see if you were right or not later on in the show.Are you a petrol head, Neil?
之后我们再看你回答得是否正确。你是热衷驾车旅行的人吗？
No, I’m not a petrol head – which is somebody who loves cars and driving.But I know Eddie Jordan, a racing team owner, is.And what does he love about driving? He’ll answer this question himself. Let’s listen.
不，我不是petrol head，也就是喜欢汽车和驾驶的人。 但是我知道埃迪·乔丹是如此，他是车队老板。关于驾驶，他喜欢什么呢？他会自己回答这个问题。我们来听听。
When I get in a car I feel a different person, I feel that I’m now in control.I can turn on the music or I can turn it off.I can do all sorts of different things that I feel good about.When I was flat out with the Jordan team I did have a driver and that was one to be able to make calls and to be able to receive calls and to be able to work in the car,not because I didn’t want to driveand I always felt cheated because there was a driver there taking the pleasure that I should be having.So when I get in a car it has to be a fun experience.
但我坐进车里，我感觉像是换了一个人，我感到我在掌控东西。我可以打开音乐或关掉音乐。我可以做所有让我开心的事。当我竭尽全力打造乔丹团队，这时我确实有了一个司机，可以在车里打电话、接电话和工作，不是因为我不想开车，我感到自己被骗了，因为有一位司机享受着我本来享受的乐趣。所以当我坐进车里，必须得是有趣的经历。
Eddie Jordan there. And doing something flat out means at maximum capacity.Do you feel like a different person when you’re driving, Alice?
上述是埃迪·乔丹的观点。做某事竭尽全力，是指用最大的努力。当你开车时，你会感觉像是换了一个人吗？
No. And – unlike Eddie Jordan – I’d love to have a driver or a driverless car, for that matter.It gives you time to do other things, like getting some work done.I certainly wouldn’t feel cheated of the pleasure of driving!
不会。而且不像埃迪·乔丹，我喜欢有位司机或者是无人驾驶汽车。这样可以让你有时间做其他事，如完成一些工作。我当然也不会感觉被骗了，被剥夺了驾驶的快乐。
I agree with Eddie Jordan.I would feel a bit cheated. And I have to admit: I’m a bit of a backseat driver.I sit in the passenger seat and give the driver unwanted advice.
我同意埃迪·乔丹的观点。我会感觉有点受骗了。而且我得承认，我是有点指手画脚的人。我坐在乘客座位上，忍不住给司机不需要的建议。
Well just think, Neil, in a driverless car, you wouldn’t need to give the computer advicebecause it would be making the right decisions to get you to your destination safely.
想想，尼尔，你在无人驾驶汽车里，就不用给电脑建议了，因为电脑可以做出正确的选择，把你安全的送到目的地。
But can you override the computer? You know, if you felt that it was making bad decisions?
但是你能修改电脑呢？你知道的，如果你觉得电脑做出的选择不对怎么办？
Override in this context means to stop an automatic action by taking control yourself. Airline pilots do that, don’t they? They fly on autopilot for most of the journey, but override it in order to take control of the plane for take-off and landing.
Override在这里是指停止自动程序，自己操控。航空公司飞行员不就是这么做吗？大多数时间都依靠自动驾驶仪，但会在起飞和降落时自己掌控飞机。
I would feel happier if I could take back control of an automated car if I wanted to.
如果在我想自己掌控自动驾驶汽车时，就可以自己掌控，那我会感到开心点。
Well, let’s listen now to Brian Fung, a technology reporter, who’s experienced what it is to be in a driverless car that has no steering wheels, no brake pedals, no emergency brake, no gear shifter. Google is developing a car in which everything will be self-contained.
现在我们听听科技记者布莱恩·冯的看法。他体验了没有方向盘、没有刹车踏板、没有紧急刹车和没有变速杆的无人驾驶汽车。谷歌正在研发完全独立驾驶的汽车。
Well, the biggest thing you notice right off the bat is that the car accelerates a little bit more aggressively than a regular car mightand it brakes a little more aggressively than a regular car mightbut other than that it takes about ten seconds for you to get pretty comfortable.And the car knew how to stop for red lights;it knew how to run through yellow lights, it could detect pedestrians and navigate its way around parked cars.All in all, it felt very similar to a regular car-driving experience. And I think that’s one of the most surprising and exciting things about it – it’s how mundane it was.
你立刻就能注意到的最明显的事，是无人驾驶汽车加速时，比普通汽车势头大。刹车时也比普通汽车猛。但除此之外，它只花费十秒钟就能让你感到很舒服。无人驾驶汽车知道如何在红灯前停车，知道如何通过黄灯，它能探测到行人，绕过停靠的车辆。总之，和普通的车驾驶经验类似。我觉得最让人惊讶和兴奋的就是驾驶起来很平常。
Brian Fung says he noticed right off the bat that the Google car accelerated and braked more aggressively than a regular car – and right off the bat means immediately.
布莱恩·冯说，他立刻就注意到谷歌无人驾驶汽车加速和刹车时比普通车猛。 right off the bat是指立刻，马上。
But he also says it took him only ten seconds to get used to it and feel comfortable, as the car navigated appropriately and responded to different traffic situations, including pedestrians and parked cars.
但是他也说了，不到十秒钟，他就习惯了，而且感觉很舒服。汽车会合理导航，回应不同的交通状况，包括行人和停靠的车辆。
Well, that all sounds very nice, but I think I’d still prefer to be in the driving seat – and that means in control of a situation. You can take the driverless car, and do your work, Alice.
这听上去很不错，但我比较喜欢掌控，也就是掌控某个情形。爱丽丝，你可以乘坐无人驾驶汽车，然后做你的工作。
Well, the future is likely to be all about automated transport – planes, trains, buses, and cars– and you simply won’t have a choice, Neil.
未来很有可能都是自动交通，飞机、火车、公交和汽车。你很可能没有选择。
Maybe you’ll be allowed to hire a car you can drive yourself, just for fun.
也许可以租一辆车自己驾驶，为了娱乐。
Maybe. But I like the idea of a future with safe driverless roads.
也许。但我喜欢未来都是安全的无人驾驶道路。
I still need some convincing. And that brings us back to today’s quiz question.Can you tell us the answer, now please, Alice?
我还不是很信服。这回到我们今天的问题。你能告诉我问题的答案吗？
Of course I can!I asked: On average, around how many people around the world die each day from road accidents? Is it… a) 300, b) 3,000 or c) 30,000?
当然了。我的问题是：世界上平均每天有多少人死于交通事故？a) 300人， b) 3,000人，还是 c) 30,000？
And I said 3,000.
我选的是3,000人。
And unfortunately Neil that’s right! Nearly 1.3 million people die in road crashes each year, on average 3,287 deaths a day. That’s according to Annual Global Road Crash Statistics.
不幸的是，确实如此！每年将近有130万人死于交通事故，平均每天就有3287人。这一数字来自年度全球道路事故统计数据。
Now, here are the words we learned today:
现在，我们听听今天学到的单词。
autonomous
自主的
navigate
导航
human error
人为错误
behind the wheel
在驾驶，掌舵
petrol head
非常热衷于驾车旅行的人
flat out
竭尽全力
backseat driver
指手画脚的人
override
推翻，不顾
right off the bat
立刻
in the driving seat
有控制权，掌权
And that’s the end of today’s 6 Minute English. Don’t forget to join us again soon!
今天的六分钟英语就到这里。我们下期再见。
Bye!
再见！