VOA慢速英语--纪念“五月花号”航海400年:IBM推自动驾驶AI研究船

A high-tech¹ ship is marking the 400th anniversary² of the sailing of the Mayflower -- the ship that carried a group of European settlers to North America.

The famous trip prepared the way for England's colonization³ of what Europeans in 1620 called the New World.

The anniversary was marked this week in Plymouth, England – the starting point for the historic⁴ Mayflower crossing of the Atlantic Ocean.

Local officials gathered with sea travelers and scientists for the launch⁵ of the new ship. It is called the Mayflower Autonomous⁶ Ship. It is an ocean research ship that is fully⁷ autonomous and powered by artificial⁸ intelligence (AI).

The sun-powered ship is set to sail across the Atlantic without a captain or crew on it.

The 15-meter ship is a joint⁹ project of ocean research group ProMare and IBM, the American computing¹⁰ company. It will take the same route as the 1620 Mayflower, from Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, in the American state of Massachusetts.

ProMare and IBM hope the autonomous Mayflower will be the first in a new generation of crewless, ocean traveling machines. They say such ships could be used to explore parts of oceans that are too difficult or dangerous for people to reach.

Andy Stanford-Clark is chief technology officer for IBM in Britain and Ireland. He told The Associated Press the ship's launch marked "a very exciting stage of the journey towards autonomous shipping¹¹." He added that AI-powered ships like the new Mayflower could be used in the future to transport goods, carry out research and serve as water taxis.

The ship will first complete six months of sea trials and short trips before beginning its Atlantic crossing early next year. The ship is equipped with instruments designed to measure the health of ocean waters. It will examine the effects of climate change, gather information on microplastic pollution and study ocean populations of whales and dolphins.

Along the way, the ship's AI system will have to make complex decisions, reacting to severe weather conditions and movements of other ships.

Brett Phaneuf is co-director of the Mayflower Autonomous Ship project. He told the AP he sees strong similarities between the two Mayflower trips even though they were four centuries apart.

"Neither of us are sure we were going to make it," Phaneuf said.

"But our risk is much smaller than their risk," he said, "if we don't make it, no one will be injured, no one will die."

Words in This Story

autonomous – adj. independent and having the power to operate automatically¹² without human involvement

artificial intelligence – n. the power of a machine to copy intelligent human behavior

route – n. the roads or path a person follows to get from one place to another

journey – n. an act of traveling from one place to another

1 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

2 anniversary   

n.周年(纪念日)

参考例句：

• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。
• Today is my parents'30th wedding anniversary.今天是我父母结婚30周年纪念日。

3 colonization   

殖民地的开拓，殖民，殖民地化； 移殖

参考例句：

• Colonization took place during the Habsburg dynasty. 开拓殖民地在哈布斯堡王朝就进行过。
• These countries took part in the colonization of Africa. 这些国家参与非洲殖民地的开发。

4 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

5 launch   

vt.发动，推出；发射；n.发射，下水，投产

参考例句：

• The makers are about to launch out a new product.制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。
• Would it be wise to launch into this rough sea?在这样汹涌的大海中游泳明智吗？

6 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 artificial   

adj.人工的，人造的，人为的；做作的，假装的

参考例句：

• The new dam will form a large artificial lake behind it.新筑的水坝将会在后面形成一个人工湖。
• We don't use any artificial flavourings in our products.我们的产品不使用任何人工调味剂。

9 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

10 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

11 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

12 automatically   

adv.不加思索地，无意识地，自动地

参考例句：

• The machine cycles automatically.这台机器自动循环运转。
• She had automatically labelled the boys as troublemakers.她不假思索地认定这些男孩子是捣蛋鬼。