2017 6月
D
I read somewhere that we spend a full third of our lives waiting. But where are we doing all of this waiting, and what does it mean to an impatient society like ours? To understand the issue, let‟s take a look at three types of “waits”.
The very purest form of waiting is the Watched-Pot Wait. It is without doubt the most annoying of all. Take filling up the kitchen sink (洗碗池) as an example. There is absolutely nothing you can do while this is going on but keep both eyes fixed on the sink until it‟s full. During these waits, the brain slips away from the body and wanders about until the water runs over the edge of the counter and onto your socks. This kind of wait makes the waiter helpless and mindless.
A cousin to the Watched-Pot Wait is the Forced Wait. This one requires a bit of discipline. Properly preparing packaged noodle soup requires a Forced Wait. Directions are very specific. “Bring three cups of water to boil, add mix, simmer three minutes, remove from heat, let stand five minutes.” I have my doubts that anyone has actually followed the procedures strictly. After all, Forced Waiting requires patience.
Perhaps the most powerful type of waiting is the Lucky-Break Wait. This type of wait is unusual in that it is for the most part voluntary. Unlike the Forced Wait, which is also voluntary, waiting for your lucky break does not necessarily mean that it will happen.
Turning one‟s life into a waiting game requires faith and hope, and is strictly for the optimists among us. On the surface it seems as ridiculous as following the directions on soup mixes, but the Lucky-Break Wait well serves those who are willing to do it. As long as one doesn‟t come to rely on it, wishing for a few good things to happen never hurts anybody.
We certainly do spend a good deal of our time waiting. The next time you‟rstanding at the sink waiting for it to fill while cooking noodle soup that you‟ll have to eat until a large bag of cash falls out of the sky, don‟t be desperate. You‟re probably just as busy as the next guy.
我在某个地方读到过,我们花了整整三分之一的时间在等待。但是,我们在哪里做这些等待呢?对于像我们这样一个没有耐心的社会来说,这意味着什么呢?为了理解这个问题,让我们来看看三种类型的“等待”。
等待是最纯粹的等待。毫无疑问,这是最令人讨厌的。以厨房洗涤槽为例。当这一切发生的时候,你绝对不能做任何事情,但要让双眼紧盯着水槽,直到它满了为止。在等待的过程中,大脑会从身体上滑出,四处游荡,直到水从柜台边缘流到你的袜子上。这种等待使侍者变得无助和没有头脑。
守望者的表弟是被迫等待的。这需要一点自律。做好包装的面汤,需要有强迫的等待。非常具体的方向。将三杯开水煮沸,加入混合物,煮三分钟,从火中取出,放五分钟。我怀疑是否有人严格遵守了程序。毕竟,强迫等待需要耐心。
也许最强大的等待是幸运的等待。这种等待是不寻常的,因为它大部分是自愿的。不像强迫等待,这也是自愿的,等待你的幸运休息并不一定意味着它会发生。
天津汽车
把一个人的生命变成等待的游戏需要信念和希望,这对我们中间的乐观主义者是严格的。表面上看,这似乎很荒谬,就像在汤混合上的说明一样,但幸运的是,那些愿意去做的人却在等待。只要你不依赖它,希望有几件好事不会伤害到任何人。
我们确实花了很多时间等待。下次你“站在水池边,等着它装满你要吃的面条汤,直到一大袋现金从天上掉下来,不要绝望。”你可能和下一个人一样忙。
C
This month, Germany‟s transport minister, Alexander Dobrindt, proposed the first set of rules for autonomous vehicles( 自主驾驶车辆). They would define the driver‟s role in such cars and govern how such cars perform in crashes where lives might be lost.
The proposal attempts to deal with what some call the “death valley” of autonomous vehicles: the grey area between semi-autonomous and fully driverless cars that could delay the driverless future.
Dobrindt wants three things: that a car always chooses property(财产)damage over personal injury; that it never distinguishes between humans based on age or race; and that if a human removes his or her hands from the driving wheel—to check email, say—the car‟s maker is responsible if there is a crash.
“The change to the road traffic law will permit fully automatic driving,” says Dobrindt. It will put fully driverless cars on an equal legal footing to human drivers, he says.
Who is responsible for the operation of such vehicles is not clear among car makers, consumers and lawyers. “The liability(法律责任)issue is the biggest one of them all,” says Natasha Merat at the University of Leeds, UK.
An assumption behind UK insurance for driverless cars, introduced earlier this year, insists that a human “be watchful and monitoring the road” at every moment.
But that is not what many people have in mind when thinking of driverless cars. “When you say „driverless cars‟, people expect driverless cars,” Merat says. “You know—no driver.”
Because of the confusion, Merat thinks some car makers will wait until vehicles can be fully automated without human operation.
Driverless cars may end up being a form of public transport rather than vehicles you own, says Ryan Calo at Stanford University, California. That is happening in the UK and Singapore, where government-provided driverless vehicles are being launched.
That would go down poorly in the US, however. “The idea that the government would take over driverless cars and treat them as a public good would get absolutely nowhere here,” says Calo.
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