Your next vacation may be virtual

Oct.26 · 2019

Japan's biggest airline is betting that the future of travel isn't traveling at all. For the last month, a married couple has been interacting with a robot — called an Avatar — that's controlled by their daughter hundreds of miles away. Made by ANA Holdings Inc., it looks like a vacuum cleaner with an iPad attached. But the screen displays the daughter’s face as they chat, and its wheels let her trundle about the house as though she’s really there.

“Virtual travel” is nothing new, of course. Storytellers, travel writers and artists have been stimulating the senses of armchair tourists for centuries. It's only in recent decades that frequent, safe travel has become available to the non-wealthy.

Yet even as the world's middle classes climb out of the armchair and into economy-class seats, there are hints of a post-travel society emerging. Concerns about sustainability are taking a toll on carbon-intensive airlines. And the aging of affluent societies is both inhibiting physical travel and creating demand for alternative ways to experience the world. For the travel industry, virtual reality offers a tantalizing response to these trends.

Of course, far-out technologies encourage far-out claims. ANA doesn't plan to start selling Avatars until next year. Profits, too, will probably be elusive: By one estimate, the global market for this kind of technology will be worth only about $300 million by 2023. By contrast, ANA’s traditional travel business brought in more than $19 billion last year.

But if the business case for virtual vacations is still weak, the market for technologies that bridge physical distances between families and coworkers seems likely to only expand. ANA's robots may not replace its airplanes any time soon, but they’ll almost certainly be a part of travel's high-tech future.

重点词汇

virtual/ˈvɝː.tʃu.əl/

adj. 虚拟的

搭配短语：virtual reality

bet/bet/

v. 打赌，赌博；敢肯定，非常确定

搭配短语：bet sb. sth. that …

例句：I bet Daniel 10 yuan that it won't rain tomorrow.

例句：I bet that I'm too late for work today.

holding/ˈhoʊl.dɪŋ/

n. 人或机构所拥有或持有的资产

英文释义：any property that is owned or possessed

trundle/ˈtrʌn.dəl/

v.（借助轮子）慢慢地移动，滚动

英文释义：to move slowly on wheels

例句：A train trundled across the bridge.

stimulate/ˈstɪm.jə.leɪt/

v. 激发，激励；促进；使...变得活跃

英文释义：to encourage something to grow, develop, or become active

搭配短语：a policy designed to stimulate economic growth

armchair/ˈɑːrm.tʃer/

adj. 无实际经验的；空谈的

相关词汇：armchair（n. 扶手椅）

搭配短语：an armchair critic

post-travel/poʊst.ˈtræv.əl/

adj. 后旅游的；不再那么依赖外出旅游的

词根词缀：post-（后）

派生词：post-match（adj. 赛后的）

派生词：post-war（adj. 战后的）

sustainability/səˌsteɪ.nəˈbɪl.ə.t̬i/

n. 可维持性

词性拓展： sustain（v. 维持，使持续）

词根词缀：-able（能够）

搭配短语：environmental sustainability

take a toll (on sth./sb.)

造成损失或伤亡

相关词汇：toll（n. 伤亡，损失）

搭配短语：take a heavy toll on sb./sth.

例句：Years of smoking have taken a heavy toll on his health.

carbon-intensive/ˈkɑːr.bən ɪnˈten.sɪv/

adj. 碳排放量很高的

相关词汇：rich

词义辨析：affluent, wealthy

两个词都有“富有”的含义，但 wealthy 一般指的是某人有足够的资产可以让不用工作也能享受高品质的生活，而 affluent 指的是那些通过高收入来维持富足生活的人。一般来说，affluent 的人需要承受更高的风险，一旦失去工作，原来生活的水平可能就会受到直接的影响，而 wealthy 的人就基本不会受到这个因素的影响。

搭配短语：affluent families

inhibit/ɪnˈhɪb.ɪt/

v. 抑制；约束

英文释义：to slow down a process or the growth of something

例句：A lack of oxygen may inhibit brain development in the unborn child.

tantalizing/ˈtæn.t̬ə.laɪ.zɪŋ/

adj. 逗引性的；挑逗性的；诱人的

词性拓展：tantalize（v. 逗弄 ; 引诱）

英文释义： making you want something that you cannot have or do

搭配短语：tantalizing pictures of delicious food

文化补充：单词 tantalize 来源于希腊神话，据说宙斯有一个儿子叫 Tantalus，这个人十分邪恶：他烹杀自己的儿子，邀请众神赴宴。宙斯知道这事之后，勃然大怒，对他实施了一项特殊的惩罚，他把 Tantalus 放进一池深水中央，但是每当他想要去喝水时，池水就会立马流走，在 Tantalus 身后的岸边长着结满了果实的树，可是等他踮脚去摘这些果实时，这些果实就会被吹向空中，除了要忍受这些折磨外，最可怕的痛苦是不间断地被对死亡恐惧所钳制，因为他的头顶上吊着一块随时都会掉下来的大石头，将他压得粉碎。

far-out/ˌfɑːr ˈaʊt/

adj. 不因循守旧的，前卫的；超前的

Your next vacation may be virtual

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