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我是机器人,这是您要的咖啡

你没有来到一个假的咖啡店!这家Cafe X里没有一个真人咖啡师,也没有店员。全部都由机器人来进行点单和制作咖啡。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识:

occupation职业;占有[ɒkjʊ'peɪʃ(ə)n]

full automation完全自动化

barista咖啡师[bə'rɪstə]

artisanal手工艺性的['ɑːtɪzənəl]

homespun简朴的;手织的['həʊmspʌn]

forgo放弃;停止;对…断念[fɔː'gəʊ; fə-]

utilitarian功利主义的;实利的[jʊ,tɪlɪ'teərɪən]

humanoid像人的['hjuːmənɒɪd]

阅读马上开始,建议您计算一下阅读整篇文章所用的时间,对照下方的参考值就可以评估出您的英文阅读水平。

I,robot am serving your coffee(680 words)

By Tim Bradshaw

It can be hard to figure out how terrified of robots and artificial intelligence we working humans ought to be — very or extremely?

It depends on how far ahead you want to look. McKinsey believes that less than 5 per cent of today’s occupations are candidates for full automation using“current technology”. However,the consultancy also estimates that 45 per cent of the activities people are paid to do could be automated by using“already demonstrated technology”.

The latest occupation in the robots’firing line is the barista. Café X,a new shop in San Francisco’s Metreon mall,delivers a coffee,from bean to finished cup,without human intervention.

The robocup,as I call it,works in place of human coffee makers and servers. It strikes at the heart of one of San Francisco’s prime directives: that we all must queue at artisanal coffee shops.

A few years ago,a wave of venture capital and tech wealth steamed into the city’s homespun coffee-shop market. Twitter’s Jack Dorsey,for example,became an investor in Sightglass Coffee,which has three slick bleached-wood bars in San Francisco.

But Café X forgoes this aesthetic in favour of utilitarian industrial chic.

Its whole site — one robot,a couple of tables and a few chairs — is tucked into a corner of the mall next to the lifts that go to the cinema upstairs; it is where you might find a photo booth.

Visitors expecting humanoid robots like those found in Japanese department stores will be disappointed. For“robocup”is a mechanical arm of the kind you can see in a car factory,encased in a glass booth. Behind the arm are tubes of coffee beans of different varieties and roasts,a stack of paper cups and two coffee makers that would not look out of place in an office kitchen.

I bought a flat white using an app that Café X has set up for customers’orders. Next to the robot there are two iPads with credit-card swipes. Futuristically,it does not take cash.

Speed and multitasking are the robot’s advantage over humans. It can produce two cups simultaneously in less than a minute. This is ideal for Snapchat or Instagram. Many Café X customers enjoy filming the process on their phone,even though robocup is more like a giant coffee machine than a robot barista.

Because it can cut out the humans,it is also pretty cheap: $2.25 for a straight espresso or $2.95 for a latte,about a dollar less than a brew at one of the city’s hipster coffee shops. Swapping Peet’s for Verve coffee beans adds a dollar but flavoured syrups and sugar are free.

People were in the queue ahead of me,and the app said my coffee would take three minutes. Barely a minute later,or so it seemed,my brew was ready. I entered a pin code from the app on to a screen fixed to the robot’s booth. The giant arm spun round,picked up my cup and placed it on a small platform. It then slowly lowered my coffee into the opening where I could grab it.

The preparation was hardly theatrical. The arm took a cup and put it under the coffee maker,which poured in the espresso and the milk,then picked it up again and put it to the side while I tapped in my code.

It is hard to fault the coffee. It tasted as good as any flat white I have had in San Francisco,helped by the freshly ground beans and a good temperature of milk.

Verdict

Café X’s decision not to give its barista human characteristics such as a voice or anthropomorphic form may make it less attention-seeking than some robots but it plays to its biggest strength: efficiency. After queueing for as much as 15 minutes at high-end coffee shop Blue Bottle just a few blocks away,Café X seems almost instantaneous. When I want chit-chat or a heart in the foam,I can go elsewhere for that. The rest of the time,Café X’s robotic utilitarianism is welcome.

请根据你所读到的文章内容,完成以下自测题目:

1.How many percent of the today’s human workers could be replaced by robots as McKinsey said?

A.3%

B.5%

C.45%

D.78%

答案 (1)

2.Where is this completely automatic Café X with robots?

A.San Francisco

B.Los Angeles

C.New York

D.London

答案 (2)

3.Which one is not right about this Café X?

A.there is one robot,a couple of tables and a few chairs

B.immediate trauma death

C.it is next to the lifts that go to the cinema upstairs

D.visitors could buy coffee by credit-card

答案 (3)

4.What is the robot’s advantage over humans as barista?

A.filming the process automatically

B.speed and multitasking

C.wide variety of coffee beans

D.accurate and efficiency

答案 (4)


(1) 答案:C.45%解释:事实上很少有职业会完全被自动化取代,这个机率甚至小于5%。但是45%的职业活动可由现代机器人代替。

(2) 答案:A.San Francisco解释:Cafe X 坐落于旧金山的 AMC Metreon 中心,产品种类从意式浓缩咖啡到奶基咖啡一应俱全。

(3) 答案:C.it is next to the lifts that go to the cinema upstairs解释:这些机器咖啡师并人形的,而是像在汽车工厂中的机械手臂。

(4) 答案:B.speed and multitasking解释:机器人咖啡师在速度和多工作业上要优于人类。 0gL1LSwifKMq66ds9ZshI7SixWR5R+lP91q0q3lVikb9AP+g7l/S8wMUuzUQKjyU

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