当机器人求你别关掉它，你还忍心按下 turn off 吗？
Lala2018-08-27
Lala
职业双语播音员
资深英语内容架构师
今日导读
能与人类进行社交互动的机器人正日益增多，他们以餐厅服务员、接待员、导游等角色出现在我们身边，似乎已成为人类社会的“新成员”。而最近来自德国研究人员的一项实验结论更令人细思极恐：当机器人乞求受试者不要关闭自己时，大部分受试者会选择顺从它的请求，他们俨然已把机器人视为生命体。那么下面是脑洞时间：如果一个机器人请求你不要关掉它，你还能按下 turn off 吗？
带着问题听讲解
Q1: 你能总结出多少个表示“关闭”的表达？
Q2: “entity”是什么意思？
Q3: 人们会同情 Nao 背后的原因是什么？
新闻正文
'Please do not switch me off!': An experiment with a begging robot shows people hesitate to pull the plug
“求求你别关掉我！”实验表明会哀求的机器人让人们关闭它时犹豫不决
If a little humanoid robot begged you not to shut it off, would you show compassion?
如果一个小小的人形机器人恳求你不要关掉它，你会动恻隐之心吗？
In an experiment designed to investigate how people treat robots when they act like humans, many participants struggled to power down a pleading robot, named Nao, either refusing to shut it off or taking more than twice the amount of time to pull the plug. The experiment was conducted by researchers in Germany whose findings were published in the scientific journal PLOS One, the Verge reported this month.
当机器人的行为像人类时，人们如何对待它们？在一项旨在调查此问题的实验中，许多参与者在关闭乞求状机器人 Nao 时感到内心挣扎，人们要么拒绝关掉 Nao，要么花费两倍之余时间才关机。据本月 the Verge 的报道，这项实验由在德国的研究人员开展，研究结果发表在了科学期刊 PLOS One 上。
“No! Please do not switch me off! I am scared that it will not brighten up again!," Nao said to about half of the participants. Nao did not object in the other half of the tests so that researchers could measure if his pleas affected how people reacted.
Nao 对大约一半的参与者说：“不！求求你别关掉我！我害怕天再也不会亮了！”。而在另外一半的测试中，Nao 没有拒绝关机。由此，研究人员可以衡量它的请求是否影响了人们的反应。
The study builds on existing research that shows humans are inclined to treat electronic media as living beings.
该项研究建立在现有研究的基础上，而现有研究显示人类倾向于将电子媒介视为活物。
In one prior experiment, researchers found that test subjects preferred interacting with robots with complementary personality traits to their own. And since robots can exhibit social traits such as speaking with human voices or taking the shape of a human body, the research suggests that people tend to react “especially social to them.”
在先前的一项实验中，研究人员发现，受试者们更喜欢和性格特征与自己互补的机器人互动。并且由于机器人可以表现出社交特性，比如用人类的声音说话或以人形呈现，研究显示人们倾向于用特别类似人类社交行为的方式给机器人回应。
The researchers said that a possible explanation for their results was that people interpreted Nao’s objections as “a sign of autonomy.” In turn, this may have boosted the perception of the robot as an entity with humanlike traits, according to the study. By expressing emotions and desires, the experiment showed that the robot played on the participants' inclination to treat electronic media as a social entity, and respond to Nao as if it were alive.
研究人员表示，针对研究结果，一个可行的解释是，人们把 Nao 的拒绝解读为“自主意识的表现”。根据这项研究，这反过来又可能加强人们把机器人视作“具有人类特征的独立体”的认知。实验显示，通过表达情感和欲望，机器人利用受试者们将电子媒介视为社会实体的倾向，让受试者们以对待生命体的方式回应 Nao。
————— 文章来源 / 华盛顿邮报
重点词汇
switch (sth.) off
关闭（开关）；不再理睬
e.g.
The talk lasted for ages, and eventually I just switched off.
When a customer walks in, they switch on the charm.
pull the plug
拔掉插头；停止（某事继续）
e.g.
pull the plug on the project
pull the plug on the negotiation
humanoid /ˈhjuːmənɔɪd/
n. 人形机器人
shut (sth.) off
关机；停止供应
e.g.
shut off the water and gas
compassion/kəmˈpæʃn/
n. 同情；恻隐之心
power (sth.) down
关机；停止供应
plead/pliːd/
v. 乞求；恳求
conduct/kənˈdʌkt/
v. 施行；组织
e.g.
conduct a research
conduct an experiment
conduct a survey
brighten up
天亮起来
e.g.
It was rainy this morning, but it brightened up after lunch.
object /ˈɑːbdʒekt/
v. 反对；拒绝 (objection n.)
plea/pliː/
n. 恳求
e.g.
He pleads for mercy. (v.)
He made a plea for mercy. (n.)
be inclined to
倾向于...
e.g.
Tom is inclined to be lazy.
complementary /ˌkɑːmplɪˈmentri/
adj. 互补的
e.g.
Strawberries and cream complement each other perfectly. (v.)
trait/treɪt/
n. 特征；品质
e.g.
His sense of humour is one of his personality traits.
exhibit /ɪɡˈzɪbɪt/
v. 展现；展出
autonomy/ɔːˈtɑːnəmi/
n. 自主意识；自主权
entity /ˈentəti/
n. 实体；独立存在体
e.g.
People regarded Québec as a separate cultural entity.
play on/upon sth.
利用（感情）
e.g.
the marketing strategies that play on/upon people's fears
inclination /ˌɪnklɪˈneɪʃn/
n. 倾向；意向
e.g.
My own inclination would be to look for a job.
拓展内容
Nao 机器人
Nao 机器人是一款人工智能机器人，它拥有着讨人喜欢的外形，而且具备有一定水平的人工智能，能够与人亲切的互动，还如同真正的人类婴儿一般拥有学习能力。
Nao 机器人能够表现出愤怒、恐惧、悲伤、幸福，兴奋和自豪的情感，当它们在面对一个不可能应付的紧张状况时，如果没有人与其交流，Nao 机器人甚至还会为此生气。
它的“脑子”可以让它记住以往好或坏的体验经验，还可以通过学习身体语言和表情来推断出人的情感变化，并且随着时间的推移“认识”更多的人，并能够分辨这些人不同的行为及面孔。
Nao 是在学术领域世界范围内运用最广泛的 humanoid，创造它的公司 Aldebaran Robotics 将 Nao 的技术开放给所有的高等教育项目，并于 2010 年成立基金会支持在机器人及其应用领域的教学项目。目前已经有超过 5000 个 Nao 被全球 50 个国家的 550 间顶尖高校和实验室购买作为研究工具。 当机器人求你别关掉它，你还忍心按下 turn off 吗？
Lala2018-08-27
Lala
职业双语播音员
资深英语内容架构师
今日导读
能与人类进行社交互动的机器人正日益增多，他们以餐厅服务员、接待员、导游等角色出现在我们身边，似乎已成为人类社会的“新成员”。而最近来自德国研究人员的一项实验结论更令人细思极恐：当机器人乞求受试者不要关闭自己时，大部分受试者会选择顺从它的请求，他们俨然已把机器人视为生命体。那么下面是脑洞时间：如果一个机器人请求你不要关掉它，你还能按下 turn off 吗？
带着问题听讲解
Q1: 你能总结出多少个表示“关闭”的表达？
Q2: “entity”是什么意思？
Q3: 人们会同情 Nao 背后的原因是什么？
新闻正文
'Please do not switch me off!': An experiment with a begging robot shows people hesitate to pull the plug
“求求你别关掉我！”实验表明会哀求的机器人让人们关闭它时犹豫不决
If a little humanoid robot begged you not to shut it off, would you show compassion?
如果一个小小的人形机器人恳求你不要关掉它，你会动恻隐之心吗？
In an experiment designed to investigate how people treat robots when they act like humans, many participants struggled to power down a pleading robot, named Nao, either refusing to shut it off or taking more than twice the amount of time to pull the plug. The experiment was conducted by researchers in Germany whose findings were published in the scientific journal PLOS One, the Verge reported this month