翻译练习十五

2024年3月27日发(作者：为什么不建议买微蓝6)

《翻译理论与实践》练习十五

Passage translation

Technology could stop speeding and crashes

[1] A device that could dramatically reduce the number of collisions by eliminating driver

error is to be tested in Europe. The system uses technology similar to wi-fi to enable vehicles

to communicate with each other, sharing information about their speed and location, to

determine when a crash is imminent. It can then warn the driver or take over the controls.

[2] Known as the Cohda intelligent transport system, the technology uses a GPS locator

and a chip that allows cars to communicate their speed and location, 10 times per second

over a radio frequency, to other similarly equipped vehicles within a 500ft radius. The device

will alert drivers if, for example, a car jumps a red light, or advise them when it is unsafe to

overtake. If it detects the potential for a collision, the system can give an audible warning or

take over the reins if the driver’s reactions prove too slow.

[3] “The first trial systems will only give a warning,” says Paul Alexander, chief technical

officer for Cohda. “But the ultimate vision is to pretty much remove driver error by allowing

the car to react for you.”

[4] This will initially take the form of tightening seatbelt tensions and intensifying braking

pressure prior to a crash. In the future it will include controlling the steering, applying the

brakes autonomously and even lowering a “curtain or shield” over the windscreen,

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preventing the panicking driver from seeing what is happening and making rash decisions;

instead the car’s chip would take over.

[5] Alexander has been working on the Cohda system for five years. He claims its

technology is more effective than rivals’ because of its specially designed chips which can

maintain a reliable connection even when moving at speed. Ordinary wi-fi chips, of the kind

used in laptop computers, say, are intended for use primarily when static. The system can

also work in conjunction with roadside beacons, which can relay information about traffic

flow to highways agencies and could also be used to administer road-charging systems,

although this significantly increases the cost.

[6] Cohda is not alone in rushing towards a future in which drivers are marginalized by

computer power. BMW has been researching similar systems for more than two years in

conjunction with the Car 2 Car Communication Consortium, a partnership of car

manufacturers and technology suppliers that includes Audi, Fiat, Honda and Renault.

Together they have been working to ensure that the various systems under development will

be compatible.

[7] “Our aim is to develop a software system which works in many vehicles and will be

able to co-ordinate the appropriate response to a given emergency situation,” says Thomas

Batz, a researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Information and Data Processing in Germany.

“If all the vehicles are reacting automatically and in a co-ordinated way to the dangerous

situation, there is more chance of averting a fatal crash than if each driver is reacting

independently. Left to this own devices, an individual driver can often do exactly the wrong

thing and make the collision much worse than it needs to be.” Beyond this, Batz is also

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