Today our lives are changing faster than at any time in history. Here we report on three important changes that will have a big impact on our everyday lives in the future.
今天我們的生活變化得比歷史上任何時(shí)候都快。下面我們報(bào)道的是未來(lái)將對(duì)我們?nèi)粘Ｉ�活產(chǎn)生重大影響的三個(gè)重要變化。

The cashless society Cash and bank-notes will disappear almost completely. They will be replaced by smart cards -- plastic cards with microchip processors "loaded" with some money. When we pay for goods, the retailer will insert our small card into a payment terminal and money will be transferred from our card to the retailer's card. When all the money is used up, we will be able to "load" it by inserting it into a telephone, dialing our bank account and transferring money to the card from the account. If we want to transfer money from our card to a bank account, we will use the same method. Smart cards will be able to hold several different currencies at the same time, so if we go aboard, we will use our smart cards in the same way.

無(wú)現(xiàn)金社會(huì)

現(xiàn)金和紙幣幾乎將完全消失。取代它們的將是智能卡——存有一定金額的內(nèi)置微芯片處理器的塑膠卡片。當(dāng)我們支付所購(gòu)物品時(shí)，零售商將把我們的智能卡插人一個(gè)付賬終端機(jī)中，這時(shí)支付的金額就從我們的卡中轉(zhuǎn)移到零售商的卡中。當(dāng)所有的金額用完后，通過(guò)將卡插入電話(huà)然后撥打我們的銀行賬號(hào)，就可以重新向智能卡中注入一定金額。假如我們打算從智能卡中向銀行賬號(hào)轉(zhuǎn)賬，我們可以用同樣的方法。這種智能卡可以同時(shí)存入幾種不同的幣種，所以如果我們出國(guó)，我們?nèi)匀豢梢酝瑯拥姆绞绞褂迷摽ā?br />
Interactive telephones Human telephone operators will be sharply replaced by talking computers. These computers will recognize speech, ask us what information we need, access the information from a database, and convert it to speech. If we want to book a fight or pay a bill by phone, we will interact with a talking computer to do so. Of course, this won't happen until all the technology is in place, but when it is we will soon get used to interacting with computers in this way. Human telephone will be used only for more complex operation such as dealing with complaints or solving concrete problems.

交互式電話(huà)

交互式計(jì)算機(jī)將很快取代人工電話(huà)接線(xiàn)員。這些計(jì)算機(jī)能夠識(shí)別聲音，詢(xún)問(wèn)我們需要何種信息，從某個(gè)數(shù)據(jù)庫(kù)中獲取我們所需的信息并把該信息轉(zhuǎn)化為聲音。假加我們希望利用電話(huà)訂購(gòu)機(jī)票或支付賬單，我們將可以接通這種會(huì)說(shuō)話(huà)的計(jì)算機(jī)交由它們?nèi)ネ瓿�。�?dāng)然，這些要等到所有的技術(shù)都準(zhǔn)備就緒后才能變成現(xiàn)實(shí)，但是一旦交互式電話(huà)出現(xiàn)后，我們將很快習(xí)慣通過(guò)這種方式使用交互式計(jì)算機(jī)。將來(lái)只有在諸如撥打投訴電話(huà)或解決具體問(wèn)題等復(fù)雜操作時(shí)才會(huì)用到人工接線(xiàn)員。

Intelligent cars Traffic congestion in cities will be reduced because drivers will use electronic route maps to find the quickest at to their destination and avoid traffic jams. Congestion will also decrease when electronic systems start changing motorists for driving in cities. As soon as motorists have to pay to drive in cities, they will stop using their cars and use public transport instead. Speed control systems will be built into cars. These systems will automatically regulate the speed of the car to take account of traffic and weather conditions and prevent accidents. It will be many years before these changes bring results but when they do, there will be a titanic improvement in road safety.