你想要一个机器人伴侣吗？

你认识刚开始学英语的人吗？我们专门为他们推出了全新的简易视频系列《伦敦字母挑战赛》。三支队伍在伦敦展开竞赛，寻找八个字母，这些字母将带领他们赢得冠军王冠。立即在我们的网站上观看该系列节目。Bbclearningenglish.com。

Do you know someone who is starting to learn English? We have a new easy video series just for them, the London Letter Challenge. Three teams race around London to find eight letters, which will take them to the winning crowns. Watch the series on our website now. Bbclearningenglish.com.

六分钟英语。

Six Minute English.

来自bbclearningenglish.com。

From bbclearningenglish.com.

大家好。这里是BBC学习英语的《六分钟英语》。我是尼尔。

Hello. This is Six Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

我是贝丝。

And I'm Beth.

最近新闻中频繁出现的一个技术领域是机器人学——机器人的设计与建造。人形机器人，即外观和行为类似人类的机器人，正被开发用于帮助我们完成从洗碗到照看孩子的各种任务。

One area of technology which has been in the news a lot recently is robotics the design and building of robots. Humanoid robots meaning robots which appear and behave like humans are being built to help us do everything from washing the dishes to babysitting the kids.

但并非所有人都对邀请一个类人机器人进入家中的想法感到自在。尼尔，和机器人一起生活你会作何感想？

But not everyone feels comfortable with the idea of inviting a human like robot into their home. Neil, how would you feel about living with a robot?

我真的不想和机器人一起生活。我家里已经够多人了。

I really don't want to live with a robot. I have enough people in my house.

随着人工智能的进步，机器人正变得足够聪明，能够与人类发展有意义的关系。有报道称，人们会向机器人治疗师倾诉秘密，甚至爱上他们的机器人朋友。在本期节目中，我们将认识一款名为Abby的家庭陪伴机器人，它正在与澳大利亚墨尔本的老年居民交朋友。和往常一样，我们还会学习一些有用的新词汇，所有这些内容都可以在我们的网站bbclearningenglish.com上找到。

With advances in AI, robots are becoming smart enough to develop meaningful relationships with humans. There are reports of people telling their secrets to robot therapists and even falling in love with their robot friend. In this episode, we'll meet a home companion robot called Abby who's making friends with the elderly residents of Melbourne in Australia. And as usual, we'll learn some useful new vocabulary, all of which you'll find over on our website bbclearningenglish.com.

首先，我有一个问题要问你，Beth。因为让人们感觉在机器人身边安全很重要，工程师们将它们设计成皮克斯和梦工厂等工作室动画电影中看到的友好角色。那么，皮克斯那个在公元2805年无人居住的地球上捡垃圾的友好机器人叫什么名字？是a) Roz b) 瓦力还是c) R2D2？

First, I have a question for you, Beth. Because it's important people feel safe around robots, engineers design them to look like the friendly characters seen in animated movies by studios like Pixar and DreamWorks. So what is the name of Pixar's friendly robot who picks up garbage on an uninhabited planet Earth in the year 02/1300? Is it a) Roz b) Wally or c) R2D2?

我相当肯定答案是b) 瓦力。

I am pretty certain that the answer is b) Wally.

好的，我们将在节目稍后揭晓答案。在新冠疫情期间，澳大利亚工程师格蕾丝·布朗有五个月没有与人接触。她利用这段时间建造了一款家庭陪伴机器人Abby，初衷是为其他遭受孤独的人提供陪伴。现在格蕾丝经营着自己的公司Andromeda，专门为养老院中访客不多的老年居民建造作为伴侣的机器人。她在BBC世界服务节目《对话》中进一步介绍了Abby。

Well, we'll find out the answer later in the programme. For five months during the COVID pandemic, Australian engineer Grace Brown had no human contact. She used this time to build a home companion robot, Abby, with the idea it would provide companionship to other people suffering loneliness. Now Grace runs her own company, Andromeda, building robots specially designed as company for elderly residents in care homes who don't get many visitors. Here she explains more about Abby to BBC World Service programme, The Conversation.

Abby是我们在Andromeda建造的人形机器人，人们没想到人形机器人会有如此鲜明的个性。她非常非常伶牙俐齿。她很好奇，充满求知欲。我认为当人们见到她时，总会有点惊讶，哦，她好像有自己的主见。

Abby, who's the humanoid robot that we build at Andromeda, people don't expect humanoid robots to have, like, so much personality. She's very, very sassy. She's very inquisitive and curious. And I think when people meet her, they're always kind of taken back by, oh, she's, like, got a mind of her own.

当人们见到Abby时，会对她伶牙俐齿的个性感到惊讶。形容词sassy意思是大胆、自信且厚脸皮的。

When people meet Abby, they are surprised by her sassy personality. The adjective sassy means bold, confident and cheeky.

有些人会感到吃惊，意思是他们对艾比说的话感到震惊或惊讶。她看起来真的很关心并照顾她遇到的人。艾比也能表达观点。格蕾丝说她有自己的主见——这个短语用于描述像机器人这样的非生物体似乎独立于人类控制而行为或行动。

Some people are taken aback, meaning they are shocked or surprised by the things Abby says. She really seems to be interested and to take care of the people she meets. Abby can also express opinions. And Grace says she has a mind of her own a phrase used when a non living object, like a robot, seems to be behaving or acting independently of human control.

与科幻电影中有时描绘的不可预测且暴力的机器人不同，艾比更加平易近人且友好，甚至很有趣。她能从手中吹出泡泡。她更柔和的设计是格蕾丝有意为之的决定，她希望儿童和老年人能自然地与艾比互动而不感到恐惧，正如她向BBC国际服务节目《对话》解释的那样。

Unlike the unpredictable and violent robots which are sometimes portrayed in sci fi movies, Abby is much more approachable and friendly, even funny. She can blow bubbles from her hand. Her softer design was a conscious decision by Grace who wanted children and elderly people to interact with Abby naturally and without fear, as she explained to BBC World Services, The Conversation.

我最初是按照一个小孩子的体型来设计她的，就像六、七岁的孩子那样。所以她大约110厘米高。她身上有一大片各种颜色。她有一双大而富有表现力的眼睛。所以我非常努力地想要复制那种亲切感和可爱感，就像你在所有这些电影中看到的皮克斯角色那样。

I originally modeled her off the size of, like, a young child, so, like, a six, seven year old child. So she's about a hundred and ten centimeters tall. She's got a whole splash of different colors. She's got, you know, large expressive eyes. So that was I was very much trying to replicate the kind of approachableness and the endearingness of, like, these different, like, Pixar characters that you'd watch in all of these films.

艾比看起来像皮克斯电影中的一个友好角色。她有一个六、七岁孩子的大小，并用一抹色彩装饰——这个短语用于描述添加一点颜色来使单调或无趣的东西变得明亮。

Abby looks like a friendly character from a Pixar film. She's the size of a six or seven year old child and decorated with a splash of colour a phrase used when a bit of colour is added to brighten up something which is dull or unexciting.

艾比还有一双大而富有表现力的眼睛。如果你形容某物富有表现力，意思是它能显示某人的想法或感受。

Abby also has large expressive eyes. If you describe something as expressive, you mean it shows what someone thinks or feels.

经常与艾比聊天的老年居民表示，这个机器人伴侣给他们带来了快乐和社区感。

Elderly residents who regularly chat with Abby say the robot companion brings them joy and a sense of community.

嗯，听到科技的积极面真是太好了，尽管科技有时仍然显得有点奇怪或可怕。我很想看看艾比从手中吹泡泡的样子。现在是不是该揭晓你问题的答案了，尼尔？

Well, it is good to hear the positive side of technology, which can still seem a bit strange or frightening. And I would like to see Abby blowing bubbles from her hand. Now isn't it time you revealed the answer to your question, Neil?

我问你皮克斯动画中那个在公元02/1300年无人居住的地球上捡垃圾的友好机器人叫什么名字。

I asked you for the name of Pixar's friendly robot who picks up garbage on an uninhabited planet Earth in the year 02/1300.

我说是瓦力。

And I said it was Wally.

你说对了。是的。这是正确答案。好的。让我们回顾一下学到的词汇，从humanoid开始，这是一个形容词，意思是具有人类的外貌和行为。

And you were correct. Yes. That is the right answer. Okay. Let's recap the vocabulary we've learned starting with humanoid an adjective meaning to have the appearance and behaviour of a human.

某人如果sassy，就是指他大胆、自信且厚脸皮。

Someone who is sassy is bold, confident and cheeky.

如果你被某事taken aback，意思是你对此感到震惊或惊讶。

If you are taken aback by something, you are shocked or surprised by it.

如果你说某物has a mind of its own，意思是它似乎在没有人类控制的情况下独立行动。

If you say an object has a mind of its own, you mean that it seems to be acting independently without human control.

短语a splash of colour用于描述添加一点颜色来点亮原本单调或无趣的事物。

The phrase a splash of colour is used when a bit of colour is added to brighten something which is dull or unexciting.

最后，形容词expressive表示表达某人想法或感受的。我们的六分钟时间又到了。如果您喜欢本期节目，请前往

And finally, the adjective expressive means showing what someone thinks or feels. Once again, our six minutes are up. If you've enjoyed this episode, then head over to

我们的

our

网站bbclearningenglish.com，您可以在那里找到测验和工作表来练习所学词汇。很快再见。但现在，要说再见了。

website bbclearningenglish.com where you'll find a quiz and worksheets to practise the vocabulary you've learnt. See you again soon. But for now, it's goodbye.

再见。六分钟英语。

Goodbye. Six Minute English.

来自bbclearningenglish.com。

From bbclearningenglish.com.