Your next vacation may be virtual

河南睢县高级中学 乔 艳

images/BZ_39_190_1290_1998_1448.png

难词探意

1.stimulate/'stɪmjuleɪt/v.刺激

2.affluent/'æfluənt/adj.富裕的

3.inhibit/ɪn'hɪbɪt/v.阻止；抑制

4.haptic/'hæptɪk/adj.触觉的

Japan's biggest airline is betting that the future of travel isn't travelling at all.For the last month,a married couple in Oita Prefecture has been interacting with a robot called Avatar,which was controlled by their daughter hundreds of miles away in Tokyo.Made by ANA Holdings Inc.,it looks like a cleaner with an iPad attached.But the screen displays the daughter's face as they chat,and its wheels let her trundle around the house as though she's really there,and even join her parents at the dinner table.

“Virtual travel” is nothing new,of course.Storytellers,travel writers and artists have beenstimulatingthe senses of armchair tourists for centuries.It's only in recent decades thatfrequent,safe travel,especially overseas,has become available to the non-wealthy,thanks to low-cost airfares and home-sharing services.

Thetourism boom isstressing popular destinations,and forcing them to look at ways to limit visitors.And the aging ofaffluentsocieties is bothinhibitingphysical travel and creating demand for alternative ways to experience the world and stay connected to others.For the travel industry,virtual reality offers an attractive response to these trends.First Airlines,another Japanese company,now lets customers sit in a model of an airplane in Tokyo,where they're served fancy meals before taking VR tours of selected destinations.The company is targeting elderly travelers who don't want the trouble of a real-life trip,and “flights”to cities such as New York,Paris and Rome arefrequentlyfully booked.

ANA is thinking bigger.It wants to use robotics,haptictechnology,and fast communication to create a “new mode of instantaneous transportation” thatlets people carry their“presence,consciousness,knowledge,and skills”to remote locations.In less-lofty terms,the idea is to make the VR experience more immersive by stimulating multiple senses,including touch.Japan's space agency even hopes to use the company's Avatars for lunar exploration.

ANA doesn't plan to start selling Avatars until next year.Over the past two decades,cheap video-conferencing apps have changed how families and companies around the world communicate.Inexpensive robots that let them interact physically are a naturalnextstep.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.

Reading Check

1.What's the meaning of the underlined word in paragraph 1?

A.Look. B.Roll. C.Turn. D.Gather.

2.What kind of travelers is First Airlines mainly targeting?

A.Children. B.Teenagers. C.Adults. D.Old people.

3.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A.Avatars sell well in the market.

B.Avatars may take the place of airplanes soon.

C.Avatars may be an important part of future travel.

D.Avatars changed the way people communicate in the world.

Language Study

Sentence for writing

It's only in recent decades that frequent,safe travel,especially overseas,has become available to the non-wealthy,thanks to low-cost airfares and home-sharing services.直到最近几十年，频繁、安全的旅行，尤其是海外旅行，对于一些并不富裕的人才变得可行，这多亏了低价机票和住房共享服务。

【信息提取】强调句型：It+be+被强调成分+that(who)...，其中的被强调部分可以是名词或代词，也可是短语或从句。

【句式仿写】直到当我最近重读他的诗歌的时候，我才开始欣赏到这些诗的美。