2020年经济学人 道路安全--挑剔的司机(1)

Step inside most modern cars and instead of all the dials and switches

坐进大多数现代汽车里，你很可能会发现，

that used to clutter¹ the dashboard you are likely to find it dominated by a touchscreen.

以前挤在仪表盘里的刻度盘和开关现在都是触屏操作。

Often there is more than one screen, and some are bigger than those on a laptop.

车内通常不止一个屏幕，一些甚至比电脑平面还大。

But, though touchscreens provide a convenient way to operate a multitude of controls and settings,

虽然触屏提供了便捷的操控方式，

the latest research shows they can also be dangerous distractions².

但最新研究表明它们也可能是危险的干扰。

To discover how badly touchscreens distract drivers, Neale Kinnear and his colleagues at the Transport Research Laboratory,

为了探究触碰对司机的干扰有多严重，前英国政府机构、现独立检测机构——

a former British-government agency now run as an independent test facility, arranged a series of experiments.

运输研究实验室的Neale Kinnear和他的同事进行了一系列试验。

They recruited two groups of 20 drivers. One consisted of regular users of Google's Android Auto³,

他们雇佣了两组司机，每组20人。其中一组是谷歌的Android Auto的老用户，

a popular "infotainment" app which lets drivers interact with their phone through a car's touchscreen.

这是一款很受欢迎的“娱乐信息节目”应用，能够让司机通过汽车的触屏与他们的手机互动。

The others were partisans⁴ of Android Auto's main rival, Apple CarPlay.

另一组是Android Auto的主要竞争对手苹果CarPlay的支持者。

Each participant completed three 15 minute journeys along a set virtual route using the laboratory's sophisticated driving simulator.

每位参与者使用实验室先进的驾驶模拟器，沿着设定的虚拟路线完成3次15分钟的旅程。

On one of these trips they had to carry out tasks using only the touchscreen.

在其中一次旅行中，他们只能使用触屏来完成任务。

These tasks included navigating⁵ to a restaurant, playing a particular song on Spotify (a music service),

这些任务包括导航区一家餐厅、在音乐软件Spotify上播放某一首歌、

changing radio channels, getting the system to read out a text message, and making a "hands-free" telephone call.

调换广播电台、让系统朗读一条短信，以及打“免提”电话。

On the second trip they had to do the same, but using only the car's voice-activated controls instead. The third journey was a control, with no assigned tasks.

在第二次旅程中，他们需要做同样的任务，但只使用汽车内的声控系统。第三次旅程是一个对照组，不需要做任务。

Whenever a red bar flashed on the windscreen the researchers measured

每当挡风玻璃上的红色条带闪烁时，

how long it took a driver to react by pulling the indicator⁶ stalk to flash the car's lights.

研究人员就会通过拉动指示杆来闪动车灯，以此来测量司机的反应时间。

As they expected, drivers using touch controls on the screen took longer to respond to the flashing bar than did those using voice controls.

正如他们所料，与使用声控系统的司机相比，使用触屏操作的司机需要更长的时间来响应闪烁的工具条。

Though the difference might be less than a second, at motorway⁷ speeds this would result in an increased stopping distance of up to 25 metres.

虽然差异可能不足一秒，但在高速公路上，这将导致停车距离增加到25米。

Dr Kinnear was, however, surprised by the amount of time drivers' attention was diverted by the series of glances needed to operate the screen.

但Kinnear博士惊讶地发现，驾驶员的注意力被触屏操作所吸引的时间如此之长。

Among the worst outcomes were a mean of 20 seconds of cumulative⁸ glances using Android Auto to play a song on Spotify,

最糟糕的结果是，使用Android Auto在Spotify上播放一首歌，平均需要20秒的累积浏览时间，

and of 16 seconds to set up the route to a restaurant with CarPlay.

使用CarPlay设置去餐馆的路线需要16秒。

1 clutter   

n.零乱，杂乱；vt.弄乱，把…弄得杂乱

参考例句：

• The garage is in such a clutter that we can't find anything.车库如此凌乱，我们什么也找不到。
• We'll have to clear up all this clutter.我们得把这一切凌乱的东西整理清楚。

2 distractions   

n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱

参考例句：

• I find it hard to work at home because there are too many distractions. 我发觉在家里工作很难，因为使人分心的事太多。
• There are too many distractions here to work properly. 这里叫人分心的事太多，使人无法好好工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

4 partisans   

游击队员( partisan的名词复数 )； 党人； 党羽； 帮伙

参考例句：

• Every movement has its partisans. 每一运动都有热情的支持者。
• He was rescued by some Italian partisans. 他被几名意大利游击队员所救。

5 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

6 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

7 motorway   

n.高速公路，快车道

参考例句：

• Our car had a breakdown on the motorway.我们的汽车在高速公路上抛锚了。
• A maniac driver sped 35 miles along the wrong side of a motorway at 110 mph.一个疯狂的司机以每小时110英里的速度在高速公路上逆行飙车35英里。

8 cumulative   

adj.累积的，渐增的

参考例句：

• This drug has a cumulative effect.这种药有渐增的效力。
• The benefits from eating fish are cumulative.吃鱼的好处要长期才能显现。