At this year show in Shanghai, visitors could watch a robot lift a camera and take their photo, then hand over the print in about forty seconds. Farther inside, another robot picked up a small teapot and served tea in the slow, steady way of a tea master. A third machine sorted medicine in a mock pharmacy and carried the box to the counter.
What makes this year different is not how well the machines move. It is where they work. Earlier robots on show mainly ran, jumped or danced to prove what their bodies could do. Now companies bring real posts: guiding patients in a hospital, greeting guests at a hotel desk, moving parts on an assembly line, packing parcels.
One company said its robots had completed over sixty-two thousand hours of useful work by October, counted only when a machine finished a task on its own. It calls this a work hour rather than a sales figure, because a robot switched on for eight hours does not always create eight hours of value. Buyers no longer ask for a specification sheet; they ask for a record of real output.
A leading robot maker described the remaining problem in a simple way. The hardest part is not planning, but the last few millimetres between a decision and a real object. A hand that stops two millimetres short of a cup is a failure, and no amount of talk about intelligence fixes it. He expects this gap to narrow within one or two years.
Some tasks are harder than they look. Folding a towel sounds easy, yet cloth changes shape every second and offers no fixed place to hold. This is why engineers now chase small, boring jobs instead of dramatic ones. A machine that reliably folds a towel or seals a box may earn its place in a shop sooner than one that can do a backflip.
Words to know:
- assembly line (装配线、流水线)
- parcel (包裹)
- mock (模拟的、仿真的)
- specification (规格、参数)
- millimetre (毫米)
- reliably (可靠地)
- steady (稳定的)
- output (产出)
长难句拆解 · 名词性从句作表语
原句：What makes this year different is not how well the machines move. It is where they work. 主干：What makes this year different is not how well the machines move —— What 主语从句 + be + how 表语从句。 主语从句：What makes this year different（整个从句当名词用，what 在从句里作主语）。 表语从句：how well the machines move（表示程度，how well 修饰动词 move）。 第二句 It is where they work：where 引导的是表语从句，不是定语从句，因为 is 后面缺的是表语。 语法点：what 引导主语从句时谓语一律用单数 is；表语从句用正常陈述语序，不用倒装。 直译：让今年不一样的地方，不是这些机器动得多好，而是它们在哪儿干活。
长难句拆解 · not…but 并列 + 介词短语后置
原句：The hardest part is not planning, but the last few millimetres between a decision and a real object. 主干：The hardest part is not A, but B —— not…but 并列两个表语。 A：planning（动名词，指「规划」这件事）。 B：the last few millimetres between a decision and a real object（名词短语，between…and 作后置定语修饰 millimetres）。 语法点：介词 between 后面接两个并列名词；the last few 表「最后的那几」，比 some few 更有强调意味。 直译：最难的部分不是规划，而是从做出决定到碰到真实物体之间那最后几毫米。
同义替换 · 雅思阅读利器
雅思阅读最爱把原文换个说法再出题，下面每组左边是原文表达，右边是常见替换，先遮住右边自测。
- visitors could watch a robot lift a camera and take their photo → visitors were able to see a robot raise a camera and shoot their picture / guests could observe a robot pick up a camera and photograph them（watch sb do sth 结构）
- another robot picked up a small teapot and served tea → a second machine lifted a small teapot and poured tea for guests（another 换成 a second，避免重复）
- robots on show mainly ran, jumped or danced → robots on display mostly ran, jumped or danced / the machines exhibited mostly ran, jumped or danced（on show = on display）
- completed over sixty-two thousand hours of useful work → finished more than 62,000 hours of productive work（useful work 换成 productive work，强调产出）
- The hardest part is not planning → The main difficulty lies not in planning（the hardest part is 换成 the main difficulty lies in）
- He expects this gap to narrow within one or two years → He believes this gap will close in one or two years / He predicts the distance will shrink within a year or two（narrow 作动词表缩小）
- A machine that reliably folds a towel → A machine that can fold a towel without mistakes（副词改写成介词短语，写作里更正式）
阅读自测 · 3 题
- True / False / Not Given: This year robots at the show were judged mainly by how fast they could run.
- According to the passage, why does one company count work hours instead of sales figures?
- Choose the best word to complete the sentence: Cloth changes shape every second, so a robot needs to act ______. (A) dramatically (B) reliably (C) slowly
参考答案与解析
- FALSE. 原文明确说 Now companies bring real posts，并对比 earlier years 的「跑、跳、舞」。干扰项套路是把「过去的标准」偷换成「今年的标准」，时间错位是判断题最常见的陷阱。
- Because a robot that is switched on for eight hours does not always create eight hours of value. 也就是「开机时长不等于有效产出」。注意别答成「因为销售额是假的」，原文只说这个数字更接近真实产出。
- (B) reliably. 原文 A machine that reliably folds a towel or seals a box may earn its place in a shop sooner…，整段强调「稳定可靠地完成小事」。干扰项 (C) slowly 是拿泡茶那段的 slow, steady 来混淆。
中文译文
在今年的上海展会上，参观者可以看到一台机器人举起相机为他们拍照，大约四十秒后把照片递过来。再往里走，另一台机器人拿起小茶壶，用茶艺师那种缓慢而稳妥的手法为客人倒茶。还有一台机器在模拟药房里分拣药品，再把药盒送到柜台。
今年真正不同的地方，不在于这些机器动得多好，而在于它们在哪儿干活。早几年展台上的机器人主要靠跑、跳、跳舞来证明身体能力。现在企业带来的都是真实岗位：在医院引导病人，在酒店前台迎接客人，在流水线上搬运零件，在打包包裹。
一家公司说，按只计算机器独立完成任务的统一口径，到十月为止它的机器人已经累计完成六万二千多个小时的有效工作。它把这个数字叫作工时，而不是销量，因为一台开机八小时的机器人，并不一定创造出八小时的价值。买家不再要参数表，而要一份真实产出的记录。
一家领先机器人企业的负责人用很朴素的话描述了剩下的难题。最难的地方不是规划，而是从做出决定到碰到真实物体之间那最后几毫米。一只手在离杯子两毫米的地方停下，就是失败，再怎么谈智能也补不上。他预计这个差距在一两年内会缩小。
有些任务比看上去难得多。叠一条毛巾听起来简单，可布的形状每秒钟都在变，也没有固定的地方可以抓。这也是工程师如今追着小而枯燥的活儿、而不是戏剧性动作的原因。一台能稳定叠好毛巾或封好箱子的机器，可能比一台会后空翻的机器更早在一家店里挣到自己的位置。