VOA慢速英語:IBM Says Computers Will See, Taste, Smell, Touch and Hear Things Better in the Future

[00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, [00:02.89]this is the Technology Report in Special English. [00:06.59]Every year, IBM Corporation chooses five new technologies [00:13.70]it believes will change the world within the next five years. [00:18.99]The IBM list is called "Five in Five." [00:23.57]The company says it considers its own research [00:28.35]and the new directions of society [00:31.44]and business when identifying the technologies. [00:35.13]This year, the list describes some future devices [00:40.86]that will extend our five senses. [00:44.34]Imagine looking for clothes online and touching your computer [00:50.52]or smartphone to feel the cloth. [00:54.10]IBM Vice President Bernie Meyerson predicts [00:58.62]that technology could be available in the next five years. [01:02.96]"You're talking about almost reinventing the way computers operate [01:06.69]and how you interact with them as humans." [01:08.73]Touch is just one of the senses that computers will help to extend. [01:14.07]IBM says smart machines will soon be able to listen to the environment [01:21.15]and give us information about the sounds they hear. [01:25.64]For example, Bernie Meyerson says an advanced speech recognition system [01:32.52]will tell new parents why their baby is crying. [01:36.65]"From the sound the baby is creating, [01:39.50]that particular frequency in the voice of the child, [01:41.79]you know the difference between a child for instance [01:44.67]who is sick as opposed to a child who is just lonely. [01:46.96]That kind of understanding would be great for parents. [01:49.79]This kind of thing is not possible today, [01:51.93]but with a sophisticated enough system, it actually is possible." [01:54.77]Smart machines will also help identify medical conditions. [01:59.85]If you sneeze on your computer or cell phone, [02:04.08]the machine will study thousands of molecules in your breath. [02:09.22]Then it can tell you whether you need to see a doctor. [02:13.45]"It can give you an alarm and say; [02:15.82]‘Hey, you may not feel sick yet, [02:17.81]but you have an infection, [02:18.59]which you must go see your doctor immediately.'" [02:20.83]In the near future, built-in cameras in our personal computers [02:25.75]will be able to examine and name colors and recognize images. [02:31.68]Mr. Meyerson says IBM scientists are also developing a computer system [02:38.55]that can examine and combine food molecules [02:43.68]to create the most popular flavors and smells. [02:47.72]"It'll start to be able to recommend to you foods [02:50.51]you'll love the taste of, [02:52.10]but it can also keep track of the caloric limits, [02:54.96]whether you have limits on fat or cholesterol that you can eat. [02:57.69]So it strikes this almost ideal balance [03:00.04]between the best possible taste [03:02.02]and the best possible nutritional outcome." [03:04.41]Mark Maloof is a computer science professor at Georgetown University. [03:09.63]He says he hopes the progress that IBM is predicting [03:14.86]will lead more students to create future inventions. [03:19.30]"It's going to be very exciting to see [03:21.69]what young people do with the increased availability of mobile platforms [03:26.17]and networking and computing power." [03:29.26]Professor Maloof says advances in computer technology [03:33.40]will make what now seems like science fiction a part of our everyday lives.

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