美国有线新闻 CNN 新冠肺炎疫情下 机器人推销电话数量减少

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: An interesting side effect that the global coronavirus pandemic — robocalls are down. And we're not hearing too many complaints about that. Welcome to CNN 10. I'm Carl Azuz.

CNN10分钟新闻主持人卡尔·阿祖兹：全球冠状病毒疫情的一个有趣副作用是——机器人电话（指自动拨号播放录音信息的推销电话）减少了。我们并没有听到太多有关机器人电话的投诉。欢迎收听CNN10分钟新闻节目。我是卡尔·阿祖兹。

Any phone call that features a recorded message instead of an actual person is a robocall. It could be a reminder¹ to make a payment, refill a prescription² or vote for a political candidate. It could be an illegal attempt to sell you something or to scam you out of money for things like fake coronavirus tests. But with international call centers shutdown because of COVID-19 and with governments trying to prevent scams related to the disease, robocalls dropped 40 percent between February and April according to a U.S. robocall prevention service.

任何使用录音信息而不是真人讲话的电话都是机器人电话。这种电话可能是提醒你支付费用、重新开处方或是为政治候选人投票。也可能是某种非法企图，比如向你推销东西或以虚假冠状病毒检测为由骗取你的钱财。但由于国际呼叫中心因新冠肺炎而关闭，再加上各国政府努力防范与新冠肺炎有关的诈骗行为，2月至4月间的机器人电话数量下降了40%，这是美国一家推销防范服务公司提供的数据。

But the head of YouMail says he expects a lot of these calls to be ringing again by the end of the summer as social distancing rules are relaxed and businesses come back online. There's a lot of tension in the United States and beyond about when, where and how to reopen areas that have been shutdown.

但YouMail公司的负责人表示，他预计在社交距离规定放松和企业重新上线之后，很多这种电话将在夏末重新响起。在美国及其他地方，有关何时、何地以及如何重新开放已经关闭的地区存在很多对立观点。

Businesses that have seen zero revenue for six weeks or more have still had to pay their rent and taxes and some have continued to pay their employees. People who've been laid off haven't been able to earn a living and they have bills of their own that are stacking up.

连续六周或更长时间收入为零的企业仍要支付租金和税收，有些企业还要继续支付员工工资。被解雇者无法谋生，他们自已的账单也越积越多。

On the other side of that are concerns that allowing stores to reopen too soon and allowing people to gather in large numbers again could lead to more coronavirus cases and deaths. So there's no one clear answer that economists³, health officials and workers agree on when it comes to lifting lockdowns.

另一方面，人们担心允许商店过早重新开放、允许民众再次大规模聚集，会导致冠状病毒新增病例和死亡病例增加。因此，就解封来说，经济学家、卫生官员以及工人尚未商定出明确的答案。

1 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

2 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

3 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》