BBC英语六分钟-每天坚持口语Will robots take our jobs

Willrobotstakeourjobs

BBC英语六分钟练起来(2023.03.9)

Transcript

Note:Thisisnotawordforwordtranscript

Neil

Helloandwelcometo6MinuteEnglish.I'mNeil...

Finn

...andI'mFinn.Hello.

Neil

Hellothere,Finn.Now,whatdoyouknowaboutrobots?

Finn

Robots?Well,(Finndoesanimpressionofarobotvoice)theytalkina

funnyway...likethat!

Neil

Yes.Yousoundquiteconvincingthereactually,Finn.

Finn

Doyoulikeit?

Neil

Yes,Ido.Isthereanythingelseyouknowaboutrobots?

Finn

Well,thereare...thereareacoupleofgoodonesintheStarWars,aren't

there?

Neil

Oh,yes.R2-D2andC-3PO.C-3POtalksincuiteahumanvoice.

Finn

Hedoes.Butofcoursethafssciencefictionnotreallife.

Neil

No.Butthingshavemovedoninreallife.Theuseofmachinestodov/ork

thatpeopledoorusedtodoiscalledautomationandthat'sthesubject

oftoday'sshow.

Finn

Butbeforewetalkmoreaboutthis,I'dlikeyou,Neil,toanswertoday's

quizquestion.Whatmakesajobmorelikelytobedonebyrobots?Isitif

ajobinvolves...

a)manipulatingsmallobjects?

b)workinginopenspaces?

Orc)socialandemotionalskills?

Neil

Hmm...OK.Well,I'mgoingtoguess.Manipulatingsmallobjects,Ithink.

Finn

Interesting.OK,we'llfindoutifyou'rerightorwronglateron.Now,two

UKacademicshavecalculatedhowsusceptibleto-thatmeanslikelyto

beaffectedby-howsusceptibletoautomationeachjobisbasedon

somekeyskills.Andtheseincludenegotiation,persuasion,caringfor

others,originality,andmanualdexterity-nowthatmeansbeinggood

withyourhands.

Neil

Sodoyouthinkintelligentmachinescouldreplaceus?

Finn

Well,maybeyou,Neil.Notme,no.Ihaveallthekeyskillsyouknow-I'm

original...persuasive...ofcourseverycaringandverygoodwithmy

handsaswell,Ithink.

Neil

WellTmverygladthatyou'resafe,Finn!

Finn

Thankyou.

Neil

However,astudyfromOxfordUniversityhassuggestedthat35%of

existingUKjobsarebeingautomatedinthenext20years.Lefslistento

MichaelOsbornefromOxfordUniversitytalkingaboutthis.

INSERT

MichaelOsborne,UniversityofOxford

Computersareincreasinglyabletolearninawaythatinshorthasbeena

reserveofhumanbeings.Sointheirabilitytolearn,computersareable

toperformamuchwiderrangeoftasksthanthey'vebeenabletodoin

thepast.Soasaresultit'snotjustmanuallabourthat'scomingunder

threatofautomation.It'sincreasinglycognitivelabour-thelabourofthe

mind.

Finn

MichaelOsborne.Andcognitivelabourmeansusingyournoggin一

that'susingorhead!Socomputersandmachinesareusingtheirnoggins

andgettingsmarter.Andofficeworkerswhodorepetitivejobssuchas

drawingupspreadsheetscouldbereplacedwithsoftware.Butsurelyjobs

likebeingadoctororalawyeraresafe,Neil?

Neil

Well,somewhite-collarjobsmaybelesssafethanyouthink.Atonecity

lawfirmjuniorstaffhavetoreadthroughcontracts,assessingthemfor

risks.Butnowanartificialintelligenceprogrammecandothatfasterand

better.

Finn

Sowhitecollarreferstoajobthatyoudoatanofficeratherthana

factory.Andartificialintelligencereferstoacomputer'sabilitytocopy

intelligenthumanbehaviour.Nowlet'slistentoMatthewWhalleyfroma

citylawfirmtofindoutwhathethinks.

INSERT

MatthewWhalley,BerwinLeigtonPaisner

Whatyou'reseeingtherobotdonow,therobotcandointhreeseconds

whatwouldtakeagroupoflawyersdaystodo.Andtheadvantageisthat

itcandohugevolumes,incrediblyreliablyinunbelievabletimes.Thereis

ahugeamountofthisworktodoandlawyershavefarbetterhigher-value

legalanalysistoworryabout.

Neil

Wellhethinksthatthereisworkforthelawyersandthecomputers.In

factitsoundslikeagooddivisionoflabour-thecomputersdotheboring

stuffandthelawyersdothemoreinterestingwork!

Finn

Yes.Well,let'skeepourfingerscrossedthatwe'vegotgoodprospects.

Youknow,Idon'twantourlistenersto(robotvoice)startlisteningtorobot

presentersanytimesoon!

Neil

Indeed,weneed!Wetalkaboutkeepingourfingerscrossedwhenwe

hopethatthingsaregoingtoturnoutinthewaywewantthemtointhe

future.

Finn

That'sright.Soshallweheartheanswertotoday'squizquestion?Neil,I

askedyou:Whatmakesajobmorelikelytobedonebyrobots?Isitifa

jobinvolves...a)manipulatingsmallobjects?b)workinginopenspaces?

Orc)socialandemotionalskills?

Neil

Well,Isaida)manipulatingsmallobjects...andI'mkeepingmyfingers

crossedthatI'vegottherightanswer.

Finn

OK.You'rekeepingthemcrossed?

Neil

Yes,Iam.

Finn

You'vegottheanswerright!Welldone!

Neil

Brilliant!I'mgladmycognitiveskillsarestillfunctioning.Now,howabout

hearingthosewordsagain?

Finn

OK,thewordsweheardtodaywere:

automation

susceptibleto

manualdexterity

cognitivelabour

noggin

whitecollar

artificialintelligence(Al)

and...keepingyourfingerscrossed

Neil

Well,thatbringsustotheendofthis6MinuteEnglish.Wehopeyou

enjoyedtheprogramme.Pleasejoinusagainsoon.

Both

Bye.

Transcript(双语版)

NeikHelloandwelcometo6MinuteEnglish.I'mNeil.

大家好，欢迎来到六分钟英语。我是尼尔。

Finn:AndI'mFinn.Hello.

我是菲恩，大家好。

NeikHellothere,Finn.Now,whatdoyouknowaboutrobots?

你好,菲恩。现在我们进入正题，你对机器人都了解些什么？

Finn:Robots?Well,(Finndoesanimpressionofarobotvoice)theytalkina

funnyway...likethat!

机器人？啊，（菲恩模仿着机器人的口音）它们说起话来很搞笑，就像这样！

NeikYes.Yousoundquiteconvincingthereactually,Finn.

是的。菲恩其实你模仿得很像。

Finn:Doyoulikeit?

你喜欢吗？

NeikYes,Ido.Isthereanythingelseyouknowaboutrobots?

喜欢。关于机器人你还知道些什么？

Finn:Well,thereare...thereareacoupleofgoodonesintheStarWars,aren't

there?

啊，在《星球大战》中有几个很棒的机器人，是吧？

NeikOh,yes.R2-D2andC-3PO.C-3POtalksinquiteahumanvoice.

哦，是的。R2-D2和C-3PO。C-3Po说起话来很像人。

Finn:Hedoes.Butofcoursethat'ssciencefictionnotreallife.

是的。但是，当然它们是科幻影片里的，而不是真实生活当中的。

NeikNo.Butthingshavemovedoninreallife.Theuseofmachinestodo

workthatpeopledoorusedtodoiscalledautomationandthat'sthesubject

oftoday'sshow.

确实。但是现实生活中机器人领域也在发展。机器做人们现在或以前做的工作被称为

自动化，这是我们节目今天的话题。

Butbeforewetalkmoreaboutthis,I'dlikeyou,Neil,toanswertoday'squiz

question.Whatmakesajobmorelikelytobedonebyrobots?Isitifajob

involvesa)manipulatingsmallobjects?b)workinginopenspaces?Orc)

socialandemotionalskills?

但在聊这个之前，菲恩,我想让你回答一下今天的一个小测试题：什么样的工作更有

可能由机器人来做？它的工作内容应当涉及a)操纵小物件？b)在户外工作？还是c)

社交与情感？

NeikHmm...OK.Well,I'mgoingtoguess,socialandemotionalskills,Ithink.

嗯……好的。啊，我要猜了。我猜社交与情感。

Finn:Interesting.OK,we'llfindoutifyou'rerightorwronglateron.Now,two

UKacademicshavecalculatedhowsusceptibleto-thatmeanslikelytobe

affectedby-howsusceptibletoautomationeachjobisbasedonsomekey

skills.Andtheseincludenegotiation,persuasion,caringforothers,originality,

andmanualdexterity-nowthatmeansbeinggoodwithyourhands.

有意思。好吧，我们稍后就会知道你的答案是对还是错。两位英国学者基于每种工作

所需的关键技能计算了它们被自动化的影响的程度（susceptible意思是受影响）这

些技能包括谈判、游说、照看他人、创造力和手工熟练度。（manualdexterity的

意思是手工熟练度）

NeikSodoyouthinkintelligentmachinescouldreplaceus?

那么，你觉得智能机器能够取代我们吗？

Finn:Well;maybeyou,Neil.Notme,no.Ihaveallthekeyskillsyouknow-

I'moriginal...persuasive...ofcourseverycaringandverygoodwithmy

handsaswell,Ithink.

啊，或许可以取代你，尼尔。我是不会被取代的。我有以上所有的技能一一我有创造

力、能言善辩，当然也很有爱心，手也很灵巧。

NeikWellI'mverygladthatyou'resafe,Finn!

你没有受到威胁我很为你感到高兴，菲恩！

Finn:Thankyou.

谢谢。

NeikHowever,astudyfromOxfordUniversityhassuggestedthat35%of

existingUKjobsarebeingautomatedinthenext20years.Let'slistento

MichaelOsbornefromOxfordUniversitytalkingaboutthis.

然而，一项牛津大学的研究表明在未来的20年里英国现有工作的35%将会实现自动

化。让我们来听听关于这项研究牛津大学的迈克尔噢斯本是怎么说的吧。

Computersareincreasinglyabletolearninawaythatinshorthasbeena

reserveofhumanbeings.Sointheirabilitytolearn,computersareableto

performamuchwiderrangeoftasksthanthey'vebeenabletodointhepast.

Soasaresultit'snotjustmanuallabourthat'scomingunderthreatof

automation.It'sincreasinglycognitivelabour-thelabourofthemind.

电脑的学习能力不但在增强，简单来说，它们就是人类能力的储备。所以由于电脑的

学习能力，它们现在能执行的任务比原来多很多。因此，不仅仅是体力劳动面临着被

自动化，脑力劳动（cognitivelabour是指脑力劳动）也逐渐加入到了这一行列。

Finn:MichaelOsborne.Andcognitivelabourmeansusingyournoggin-

that'susingorhead!Socomputersandmachinesareusingtheirnogginsand

gettingsmarter.Andofficeworkerswhodorepetitivejobssuchasdrawing

upspreadsheetscouldbereplacedwithsoftware.Butsurelyjobslikebeinga

doctororalawyeraresafe,Neil?

以上是迈克尔•奥斯本。脑力劳动是指用大脑或脑力工作。所以电脑和机器也在用它

们的大脑,而且它们的大脑越来越聪明了。办公室工作人员，比如那些绘制电子表格

的人,可以被电脑软件取代了。但当然像医生、律师这样的职业不会受到威胁，是吧

尼尔？

NeikWell,somewhite-collarjobsmaybelesssafethanyouthink.Atonecity

lawfirmjuniorstaffhavetoreadthroughcontracts,assessingthemforrisks.

Butnowanartificialintelligenceprogrammecandothatfasterandbetter.

啊，一些白领工人的工作可能不会像你想的那样有保障。在市里的一家律师事务所里

的资历较浅的员工要浏览合同、评估风险。但是现在有一个人工智能程序能把这项工

作完成地又快又好。

Finn:Sowhitecollarreferstoajobthatyoudoatanofficeratherthana

factory.Andartificialintelligencereferstoacomputer'sabilitytocopy

intelligenthumanbehaviour.Nowlet'slistentoMatthewWhalleyfromacity

lawfirmtofindoutwhathethinks.

白领指的是在办公室而不是在工厂的工作。人工智能指的是电脑模仿需要人类智能执

行的行为的能力。现在让我们来听一听在一家律师事务所工作的马修・威利是怎么说

的，以了解他的想法。

Whatyou'reseeingtherobotdonow,therobotcandointhreesecondswhat

wouldtakeagroupoflawyersdaystodo.Andtheadvantageisthatitcando

hugevolumes,incrediblyreliablyinunbelievabletimes.Thereisahuge

amountofthisworktodoandlawyershavefarbetterhigher-valuelegal

analysistoworryabout.

你现在看到电脑做的工作可以在三秒钟内被完成，而相同的工作需要一个小组的律师

花几天的时间才能完成。自动化的优势在于它可以在超短时间内完成巨大的工作量，

速度快到令人难以置信。这种工作的量很大，而律财有其他更有价值的法律分析案件

要处理。

NeikWellhethinksthatthereisworkforthelawyersandthecomputers.In

factitsoundslikeagooddivisionoflabour-thecomputersdotheboring

stuffandthelawyersdothemoreinterestingwork!

他认为律师和电脑各有各的工作要做。事实上这听起来是一项很好的劳动分工一一电

脑做枯燥的工作律师做相对有意思的工作。

Finn:Yes.Well,let'skeepourfingerscrossedthatwe'vegotgoodprospects.

Youknow,Idon'twantourlistenersto(robotvoice)startlisteningtorobot

presentersanytimesoon!

是啊。让我们祈祷我们有好的未来吧。你也知道，我不想让我们的听众(模仿机器人

语调)在将来的某一天听机器人主持节目。

Neiklndeed,weneed!Wetalkaboutkeepingourfingerscrossedwhenwe

hopethatthingsaregoingtoturnoutinthewaywewantthemtointhe

future.

我们确实需要祈祷！我们用keepingourfingerscrossed表达我们希望事情在将来

发展成我们期待的那样。

Finn:That'sright.So