Able Robots
神通广大的机器人
Not long ago, the only time you’d see a robot was when you were reading a story or watch a movie, such as Star Wars Today, however, science stories are becoming true. More and more robots are starting to be used in our everyday life.
不久前，你唯一能够看到机器人的时候就是你在读小说或是在看《星球大战》这类电影的时候。可如今科幻小说正在成为现实。在我们日常生活中，越来越多的机器人正在得到使用。
These robots are different in size, shape and color, but all of them have the same type of man-made “brain”. The robots that work in factories are called industrial robots. These kinds of robots are cleverer and faster than the old ones.
这些机器人大小不一，形状各异，色彩不同，但是他们全都具有同样类型的人造“大脑”。工厂里的机器人被称为工业机器人。这些机器人比旧的机器人聪明，工作速度快。
Industrial robots can do different kinds of jobs that are often boring and sometimes dangerous. Robots are also coming into our homes, though not as quickly as they are into factories.
工业机器人能够做不同种类的工作，这些工作时常是乏味的，或者是危险的。机器人也正在进入家庭，虽然不像进入工厂那么快。
We have made robots to work in the home. They can do some housework like cooking, cleaning the house, or playing with people just for fun.
我们已经造出了家用机器人。它们能做一些家务，如烹饪、打扫房间或者只是与人做游戏。
These robots aren’t as friendly and clever as those you saw in Star Wars. But their makers say, today’s home robots can “walk", find objects in their way. But sometimes they may knock into them. They can even carry objects, but sometimes they may drop them. Well, nobody is perfect.
这些机器人不像你在《星球大战》中见到的机器人那么友好而聪明。但是，这些机器人的制造者说，如今的机器人能够“行走”，看见他们前面的东西。但是有时候还是会撞到前面的东西。他们能够携带物品，但是有时候会把物品掉下来。可不是，没有十全十美的人嘛。
We may laugh at home robots today, but some day they may see and hear better than man does. We humans can only see certain length of light, and hear certain sounds. That’s because our eyes and ears are not as good as those of robots.
现在我们可能嘲笑家用机器人，但是有朝一日它们会比人类看得清，听得明。我们人类只能看见一定波长的光，听到部分声波。那是因为我们的眼睛和耳朵不像机器人那么好。
Robots, however, can do much better than we do. Robots may also pick up information faster and better than man, and when they have learned to do something, they’ll never forget it.
然而，机器人能够做得比我们好得多。机器人接受信息也比人类快得多，好得多。而且，当他们学会了做某件事情之后，永远都不会忘记。