VOA慢速英语2013 科技报道 - 可以预测交通状况的导航应用程序

 

Technology Report - Navigation App Helps Predict Traffic Conditions

科技报道 - 可以预测交通状况的导航应用程序

From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report in Special English.

这里是美国之音慢速英语科技报道。

From New Delhi to Beijing, commuters spend a lot of time stuck in traffic. In the United States, Los Angeles and San Francisco tie for second place for having the worst traffic problems. Washington, D.C. is in first place with the worst traffic, according to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.

从新德里到北京，上班族浪费了大量时间堵在路上。根据德州农工大学交通研究所的报告，美国洛杉矶和旧金山的交通拥堵程度并列第二，华盛顿特区最为拥堵排名首位。

In Los Angeles, drivers spend sixty-one hours every year stuck in traffic. These drivers know all too well how bad the traffic can be.

洛杉矶的司机们每年有61个小时堵在路上，他们太清楚交通状况有多糟糕了。

“It’s a prison of cars. There’s too many cars, you can’t move around a lot.”

“这是一座汽车监狱。车太多了，你根本走不动。”

“I get very frustrated¹. I try to listen to some music, maybe snap² my fingers or something to try to pass the time.”

“我变得非常诅丧。我试图听点音乐，可能打个响指之类的打发时间。”

Professor Cyrus Shahabi also knows about traffic jams. He lives more than 65 kilometers from his office at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles. He is always late even with the help of a navigation system.

Cyrus Shahabi教授也清楚交通拥堵情况。他住的地方离他在洛杉矶南加州大学的办公室超过了65公里。即使有导航系统的帮助他也总是迟到。

He and PhD student Ugur Demiryurek decided³ to develop an app for that. The ClearPath app claims to do what other navigation systems cannot. Professor Shahabi says his program uses historical data to predict traffic conditions even before the driver leaves the house.

他和博士生Ugur Demiryurek决定就此开发一个应用程序。这个名为ClearPath的应用程序声称可以做到其它导航系统无法做到的。Shahabi教授说，他的程序使用历史数据在司机离家之前就开始预测交通状况。

"What’s unique is that we utilize⁴ a lot of data that’s currently⁵ become available including traffic data, weather data, and we analyze⁶ that so that we can predict what’s going to happen in front of you when you leave home.”

“它的独特之处在于，我们利用当前可以获得的包括交通、气象在内的大量数据并加以分析，这样我们就能预测出你离开家之后的交通状况。”

ClearPath uses two and a half years worth of traffic data from 9,000 sensors⁷ on the roads of Los Angeles. It also collects information on accidents.

ClearPath使用了不下两年半的交通数据，这些数据来自于洛杉矶道路上的9000个传感器。这个应用程序还会收集事故信息。

“Now you are driving and there’s an accident in front of you, but the accident is 20 minutes away. And you know from historical data that that accident would clear by the time you get there. We can take that into account and send you towards the accident because we think by the time you get there, there wouldn’t be any accident.”

“当你开车时前方发生了交通事故，但事故发生地点距你还有20分钟车程。而从历史数据中获知在你到达该地之前，事故会清理完毕。我们会把这些考虑在内，将你导向事故发生地点。因为我们认为在你到达那里时事故已经清理完毕。”

Professor Shahabi says his system does more than just respond to current traffic conditions. With ClearPath, he says, a driver can enter what time he wants to leave on a specific time and date, and ClearPath will give the fastest route. It looks at the entire road network, including surface streets as well as highways, before the driver hits the road.

Shahabi教授表示，他的系统所做的不仅仅是应对当前交通状况。他说，有了ClearPath，司机可以输入他想要出发的时间，ClearPath将给出最快的路线。它会在司机上路之前查看整个路网，包括平面道路和高速公路。

Ugur Demiryurek says they will launch the free ClearPath app for roads in Los Angeles in two months. In a year, he and Professor Shahabi hope to have ClearPath available nationwide and overseas once they can collect traffic data from other cities.

Ugur Demiryurek说，他们将在两个月内推出面向洛杉矶道路的免费ClearPath应用程序。一旦他们能够收集其它城市的交通数据，他和Shahabi教授希望在一年内让ClearPath在国内和海外面世。

“I thought always that L.A. had the worst traffic, but now I know that Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, believe it or not, Singapore, Hong Kong definitely are examples that can immediately utilize this.”

“我一直以为洛杉矶的交通状况最糟糕，但现在我知道，上海、北京、首尔、东京、新加坡、香港绝对是可以立即利用该程序的一些例子，信不信由你。”

Professor Shahabi hopes to license⁸ this new technology to companies that already have navigation systems, such as Google and Apple.

Shahabi教授希望将这项新技术授权给已经拥有导航系统的公司，像谷歌和苹果公司。

1 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 snap   

n.啪地移动，突然断掉；v.猛咬，咬断，谩骂，砰然关上

参考例句：

• He broke off the twig with a snap.他啪地一声把那根树枝折断了。
• These earrings snap on with special fasteners.这副耳环是用特制的按扣扣上去的。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 utilize   

vt.使用，利用

参考例句：

• The cook will utilize the leftover ham bone to make soup.厨师要用吃剩的猪腿骨做汤。
• You must utilize all available resources.你必须利用一切可以得到的资源。

5 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

6 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

7 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

8 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。