英语学习：Robots、androids造成失业？
日本有百货公司最近出现一位特别的接待员，她经常面带笑容，非常有礼貌。她的名字是Akio Chihira。服务业有这种服务态度的从业员真的可喜可贺，不过她不是人，而是机械人。机械人是robot。但这个robot却不是铁手铁脚满身螺丝的那种，而是与真实年轻日本女士一样，骤眼看真的会以为是真人︰
Akio Chihira is an android made by Toshiba and
now she works at Mitsukoshi, the high-end department
store in Nihonbashi.
酒店接待
Android是a robot that looks completely human(外貌与真人一模一样的机械人)。Akio Chihira只是四月底在百货公司“展出”几天，不会长期“服务”顾客。不过要看像真的android“美女”不难。日本有酒店便打算在七月开始用多位androids接待客人，负责不同工作岗位。
When the first guests check into at Henn-na Hotel in Nagasaki(长崎) this July, they will be greeted by 10 eerily lifelike(栩栩如生的) robots -and the mechanical service will not stop there.
The robots will check in new guests before carrying their luggage and cleaning their rooms -
and all with a smile.
这些机械美女不只会打招呼，还会为酒店客人搬行李和打扫房间。这样的robots更似人类，所以可称为humanoids︰"Something, especially a machine, that is humanoid has a human shape and qualities"，具有人形特性的机器人。
While human staff will be on hand to make sure everything runs smoothly in the hotel, company
president Hideo Sawada said that he hopes the robots will carry out 90 per cent of tasks in the hotel.
酒店总裁希望这些androids最终可负责百分之九十的工作。酒店仍会有真人职员，但他们的作用只是确保运作顺畅。
大抢饭碗
大家起初可能对这些非人类职员有新鲜感，但若你半夜三更游玩一整天回到酒店看到大堂都是
这些假人，不知你会否觉得舒服。有人就认为这些超像真的机器有点令人毛骨悚然。
Robots越来越流行，最大的忧虑是抢走人的工作。就像这家酒店，用robots等于九成职位会被取代。这个论调很久以前便有人提出，有人仍觉得这是科幻小说的情节，但看来这一天已经到来。
Claims made byan expert in artificialintelligence(人工智能) predict that in less than five years, office jobs will disappear completely to the point where machines will replace humans.
The idea that robots will one day be able to do all low-skilled jobs(低技术工作) is not new, but Andrew Anderson from UK artificial intelligence company, Celaton, said the pace(步伐) of advance is much faster than originally thought.
Martin Ford的Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future，探讨了这个问题。
(星岛日报)
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