VOA慢速英语:US Technology Students Prepare for 2014 RoboCup

The end of the World Cup does not mean the end of international competition in Brazil this year. A major football event will happen in the South American country later this month, but with teams of robots playing the game, which is known as soccer in the United States. The robot teams are guided by teams of humans from around the world. The event is known as RoboCup.
世界杯的结束并不意味着今年巴西国际竞赛的结束。这个月底，一次重要的足球赛事将在这个南美国家举行，但参加比赛的是机器人球队。足球在美国被称为soccer。这些机器人球队是由来自世界各地的真人球队来引导。该赛事被称作机器人世界杯。

Technology students at the University of Pennsylvania are trying for their fourth victory at the competition, which is held this year in the coastal city Joao Pessoa. The students have won the last three RoboCup competitions.
美国宾夕法尼亚大学的技术学生们正努力第四次赢得这一比赛，今年的比赛在巴西海滨城市若昂佩索阿市举行。这些学生们赢得了上三届机器人世界杯比赛。

Watching robots play football is similar to watching children play the game. The kicks are not good, there's a lot of falling down, and people are there to guide and support the team members. Jian Qiao Li is one of the leaders of the University of Pennsylvania team.
看机器人踢球就像看孩子们踢球。踢得不好，还摔倒很多次。人们在那边指导和支持这些机器人球队成员。Jian Qiao Li是宾夕法尼亚大学球队的负责人之一。

He says one goal he has for the robot team is to make sure the machines can find the goal and the ball. He also wants the robots to be able to know where they are on the playing field. And he wants the team to be able to better control the walking and kicking abilities of the robots.
他说，他对机器人球队的一个目标是确保这些机器能够找到球门和球。他还希望这些机器人能够知道自己在场上的位置。此外他希望球队能够更好的控制机器人行走和踢球能力。

Qin He is another leader of the robot team. She says the abilities of the robots increase every year. Ms. He says the US team is meeting its goals.
Qin He是该机器人球队的另一位负责人。她说，机器人的能力逐年增加。He女士称，这支美国队正在实现它的目标。

The robots know the differences between the colors green and red, and they can decide where to go and where the ball is on the playing field. She says if there are three robot players on the field at the same time, they will communicate with each other to decide the different responsibilities for each robot.
机器人知道绿色和红色的差别，它们在足球场上能够决定去哪，知道球在哪。她说，如果有三名机器人球员同时在场上，它们会互相通信以决定每个机器人的责任。

U.S. team member Christopher Akatsuka hopes for another victory in Brazil. The team has won the RoboCup the past three years in the Netherlands, Mexico and Turkey.
美国队队员Christopher Akatsuka希望在巴西再次获胜。这支队伍获得了过去三年在荷兰、墨西哥和土耳其举行的机器人世界杯。

"They have very good team player right now. As long as their detection is good, I think they'll be very competitive; we just hope to compete against the real good German teams, because the Germans always do very well," says Akatsuka.
Akatsuka说，“现在他们有很好的球员。它们的侦测能力很好。我认为它们会很有竞争力。我们希望和真正的德国强队对决，因为德国人一直做得不错。”

Mr Akatsuka says RoboCup is an exciting technology competition.
Akatsuka先生说，机器人世界杯是一项令人兴奋的科技赛事。
 
"Each team develops their own software; basically it's a competition of who has the best software, who has the best decision-making at a given point... it's really exciting," says Akatsuka.
Akatsuka说，“每支球队开发了自己的软件。基本上这是一场看谁拥有最好的软件，谁在特定地点有最好决断的比赛。这真令人兴奋。”

The event begins July 19th and ends July 25th. Some RoboCup participants hope to develop a team of robots that can play against humans by 2050.
赛事将于7月19日开始，于7月25日结束。一些机器人世界杯与会者希望开发出一支机器人球队能够在2050年前和人类对决。