自动驾驶可靠吗？汽车业应该以波音为鉴

汽车业应该以波音为鉴

Makers of self-driving cars should study Boeing crashes

英国《金融时报》 布鲁克•马斯特斯

2019.04.08

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I am not normally a nervous flyer. But the similarities between the recent Ethiopian Airlines disaster and the October crash of another Boeing 737 Max 8 flown by Indonesia’s Lion Air were enough to make me applaud the decision to ground the planes while authorities figure out what went wrong.

我坐飞机通常是不紧张的。但最近埃塞俄比亚航空公司(Ethiopian Airlines)空难与去年10月印尼狮航(Lion Air)执飞的另一架波音(Boeing) 737 Max 8客机坠毁事件的相似之处，足以让我对当局在调查事故原因的同时停飞该机型的决定表示赞赏。

ground

这个词在近期的波音飞机事件中可谓高频出境，比如前天的「波音CEO致歉声明」一文中就出现了，昨天也有朋友在「才思汇」社群里问grounding（飞机停飞）是什么意思。

今天的文章中又出现了ground，一起来吃透其偏僻的意思：

1) 此处表示“使停飞”，及物动词，英文解释为“If an aircraft or its passengers are grounded, they are made to stay on the ground and are not allowed to take off.”举个🌰：

The civil aviation minister ordered all the planes to be grounded. 

该民航部长命令所有飞机不得起飞。

2) 表示“限制外出”，及物动词，英文解释为“When parents ground a child, they forbid them to go out and enjoy themselves for a period of time, as a punishment.”举个🌰：

His parents grounded him for a month, and banned television.

他爸妈罚他一个月不能外出，并且不能看电视。

3) 表示“使搁浅；搁浅”，及物/不及物动词，英文解释为“If a ship or boat is grounded or if it grounds, it touches the bottom of the sea, lake, or river it is on, and is unable to move off.”举个🌰：

The boat finally grounded on a soft, underwater bank. 

那条船最终在一个松软的水下浅滩搁浅了。

4) 表示“使变得现实”，及物动词，英文解释为“If something grounds you, it causes you to have a sensible and practical attitude toward life and not to have unrealistic ideas.”举个🌰：

These things have grounded me and made me who I am. 

这些事使我变得很实际，造就了现在的我。

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Boeing has been working on fixes for the 737 Max's flight control software ever since the October crash was blamed in part on an anti-stall system going awry. The software, known as MCAS, appears to have repeatedly forced the plane's nose down because an “angle of attack” sensor misread the plane's angle to the ground. The pilot tried repeatedly to pull the nose up but the plane fell into a fatal dive.

波音一直在努力修复737 Max机型的飞行控制软件，因为去年10月印尼狮航坠机被部分归咎于防失速系统出了故障。这款名为MCAS的软件似乎多次迫使飞机机头朝下，因为一个“迎角”传感器误读了飞机与地面的夹角。飞行员多次尝试拉起机头，但飞机陷入致命的俯冲。

go awry

awry /əˈraɪ/

表示“未按计划进行的”，英文解释为“If something goes awry, it does not happen in the way it was planned.”举个🌰：

She was in a fury over a plan that had gone awry. 

她很恼怒事情未按计划进行。

misread

1) 表示“读错，念错，看错”，英文解释为“to read something incorrectly”举个🌰：

The doctor must have misread the notes.

医生一定是看错了记录。

2) 表示“对…判断错误”，英文解释为“to make a wrong judgment about a person or situation”举个🌰：

He may be misreading her intentions.

他也许误解了她的意图。

「积累」

迫使飞机机头朝下

force the plane's nose down

拉起机头

pull the nose up

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We are still waiting for a report on the cause of the Ethiopian crash, which killed 157 people. But on Monday, the US Federal Aviation Administration poured cold water on the company's hopes of getting the jets back in the air quickly. “Time is needed for additional work . . . to ensure that Boeing has identified and appropriately addressed all pertinent issues,” it said.

我们仍然在等待有关埃航空难原因的报告，此次事故造成157人死亡。但最近，美国联邦航空管理局(FAA)给波音让此型飞机迅速复飞的希望泼了冷水。“需要时间进行额外的工作……确保波音公司已经确定并妥善处理了所有相关问题。”

pour the cold water on

表示“（对想法或建议）泼冷水”，英文解释为“If you pour cold water on an idea or suggestion, you show that you have a low opinion of it.”举个🌰：

People pour cold water on his optimism. 

人们对他的乐观态度泼了冷水。

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Initial reports suggest that flight recorder data from the Ethiopian crash shows resemblances to the Lion Air tragedy. If the two disasters do turn out to have similar roots, that should serve as a warning in other areas where technology is taking over part, though not all, of crucial tasks from human experts.

初步报告似乎表明，埃航坠机的飞行记录仪数据显示这起事故与狮航悲剧存在相似之处。如果这两场空难被证实原因相似，那么这应该为技术正从人类专家接手一部分（尽管不是全部）关键任务的其他领域敲响警钟。

「积累」

飞行记录仪数据

flight recorder data

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The Lion Air pilots' desperate struggle with the anti-stall software holds critical lessons for carmakers experimenting with self-driving technology. It has emerged that Boeing and the FAA had agreed MCAS could be installed without extensive retraining of pilots who had flown other 737 models.

狮航飞行员试图纠正防失速软件差错的绝望努力，为正在实验自动驾驶技术的汽车制造商提供了重要教训。有消息称，波音和美国联邦航空管理局曾达成协议，安装MCAS无须对曾驾驶过其他737机型的飞行员进行大量再培训。

experiment

此处作动词，表示“做实验”，英文解释为“If you experiment with something or experiment on it, you do a scientific test on it in order to discover what happens to it in particular conditions.”举个🌰：

In 2016 LR started experimenting with peas in a laboratory. 

2016年LR开始在实验室里用豌豆做实验。

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Questions are now being raised whether that made it harder for human pilots to take control when MCAS erroneously forced the nose down. Boeing argues that pilots were always able to override the system by flipping switches in the cockpit. But some pilot unions have said their members did not know enough about it. (US enforcers are looking into the approval process.)

人们正在提出的问题是，这是否意味着，在MCAS错误地把机头往下压的情况下，人类飞行员更难接手对飞机的控制了？波音公司辩称，飞行员总是能够通过切换驾驶舱中的开关来恢复人工控制。但一些飞行员工会已经表示，其成员对相关操作程序不是太清楚。（美国执法人员正在调查审批流程。）

override

1) 表示“推翻”，英文解释为“If someone in authority overrides a person or their decisions, they cancel their decisions.”举个🌰：

The president vetoed the bill, and the Senate failed by a single vote to override his veto.

总统否决了议案，而参议院因一票之差未能推翻他的否决。

「注」

此处在翻译的时候把the system的指代具体化，也就是指MCAS这款软件控制飞机的系统，而且在翻译的时候译者也很巧妙地处理为“恢复人工控制”，而不是“推翻这个系统”之类的。

2) 表示“比…更重要”，英文解释为“If one thing in a situation overrides other things, it is more important than they are.”举个🌰：

The welfare of a child should always override the wishes of its parents. 

孩子的幸福应该永远比其父母的心愿更重要。

「积累」

切换驾驶舱中的开关

flipping switches in the cockpit

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Similar issues have started to arise as carmakers launch vehicles that can sometimes operate without human intervention, but are not fully self-driving. Tesla's “autopilot” software keeps a car in lane, matches its speed to the traffic and leaves a motorway at the right exit. But drivers are told to stay alert, keep hold of the wheel and take over in tricky situations. That has not always happened, leading to fatal accidents.

随着汽车制造商推出可以时而在无人干预的情况下行驶（但并非完全自动驾驶）的汽车，类似的问题已经开始出现。特斯拉(Tesla)的Autopilot自动辅助驾驶软件可以让汽车保持在车道上行驶，使行驶速度与交通状况相匹配，并在正确的出口驶离高速公路。但驾驶员被告知要保持警觉，手放在方向盘上，准备好在棘手情况下恢复人工驾驶。实际情况并不总是这样，结果酿成致命事故。

take over

此处的翻译技巧跟上一段提到的一样，根据语境选择最符合译文习惯的表达，所以此处译者不是译为“接管或取代”之类，而是“恢复人工驾驶”。

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The chief executive of Volvo Cars, Hakan Samuelsson, warned last week that introducing such semi-automation can be “irresponsible” and cause accidents when misplaced confidence leads to “over-reliance” by consumers.

沃尔沃汽车(Volvo Cars)首席执行官汉肯•塞缪尔森(Håkan Samuelsson)最近警告称，引入此类半自动驾驶系统可能是“不负责任的”，当不该有的信心导致消费者“过度依赖”系统时，可能会造成事故。

misplaced

表示“（感情或行动）不适当的；定位不当的”，英文解释为“If you describe a feeling or action as misplaced, you are critical of it because you think it is inappropriate, or directed towards the wrong thing or person.”举个🌰：

A telling sign of misplaced priorities is the concentration on health, not environmental issues. 

首要问题定位不当的一个显著标志就是专注于健康而非环境问题。

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What we know so far about the Boeing crashes offers another perspective on the same issue. Asking a highly skilled pilot to seize back control from a system he knew little about proved deeply problematic in the Lion Air case. It would be that much harder for an unwary and ill-prepared driver to seize control just as a problem looms. Consider how scary it is to have to brake suddenly after a long period of monotonous driving. Having to do it after a period of not driving at all feels like a recipe for disaster.

我们迄今对波音坠机事件的了解，为此类问题提供了另一个视角。狮航空难的事实证明，要求一位技术高超的飞行员在千钧一发之际关掉他不甚了解的系统，恢复人工控制，是一个很有问题的构想。而对于一个粗心大意、准备不足的驾驶员来说，在危险扑面而来时恢复人工驾驶的难度要大得多。想想在长时间单调驾驶后不得不急刹车是多么可怕。在汽车自动驾驶一段时间后不得不自己踩下刹车，感觉像是遭遇灾难的配方。

unwary

表示“不警觉的”，英文解释为“If you describe someone as unwary, you mean that they are not cautious or experienced and are therefore likely to be harmed or deceived.”举个🌰：

With its quicksands the river usually drowns a few unwary visitors every season. 

这条有流沙的河每季都要淹死一些不警觉的游客。

a recipe for sth

表示“可能会造成某事（常指坏的结果）”，英文解释为“to be likely to cause a particular result, often a bad one”举个🌰：

She said that two small boys on skis was a recipe for disaster, not a holiday.

她说两个来滑雪的小男孩就不是来度假的，而是来闯祸的。

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Yet the reach of semi-autonomous cars is expanding. EU officials last week considered requiring new cars to be fitted with devices that cap a vehicle's speed at the legal limit. Such systems, which can be overridden by pushing hard on the accelerator, could cut fatalities by 20 per cent overall, but also make hazards worse for drivers who are ill-prepared to speed up. The EU ultimately shied away, and new cars will instead warn drivers they are speeding.

然而，半自动驾驶汽车的触角正在扩大。欧盟官员最近曾考虑要求新车配备限速装置，以便把车速限制在法定上限以内。驾驶员可以通过猛踩油门来推翻系统控制。此类系统总体上可以使车祸死亡人数减少20%，但对于那些对加速准备不足的驾驶员，也会加剧危险。欧盟最终退缩了，取而代之的是，新车会在车辆超速行驶时向驾驶员发出警告。

cap

表示“限制（尤指金钱）”，英文解释为“to limit the amount of something, especially money, that can be used, allowed, or spent”，如：the only county to have its spending capped by the government 唯一一个开支受控于政府的县。

翻译

此段中的“can be overridden”译者处理为“推翻系统控制”，个人认为不如之前的巧妙，“推翻”与“控制”搭配欠妥。你觉得呢？

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But I can't help wondering how many “assistive technologies” are being added to daily life without our fully understanding their effect. As Daimler chief executive Dieter Zetsche warned on Tuesday, it only “takes one spectacular incident” to undermine confidence, even in systems that on balance make us safer.

但我不禁想知道，有多少“辅助技术”在我们尚未完全了解其影响的情况下就被应用于日常生活。正如戴姆勒(Daimler)首席执行官蔡澈(Dieter Zetsche)最近警告的那样，只要“发生一起重大事故”，就会削弱人们的信心，即便相关系统总体而言会提高安全性。

-◆-

Boeing has agreed to equip all of its planes with alarms to alert pilots that key sensors disagree. Carmakers should start thinking now what they need to do to prevent the accidents that could befall unwary drivers.

波音已同意为所有飞机配备警报装置，以在关键传感器出现问题时提醒飞行员。汽车制造商现在应该开始思考，他们需要采取何种措施来防止粗心大意的驾驶员发生事故。

befall

表示“（不幸或危险）降临到，发生在（某人身上）”，英文解释为“if something unpleasant or dangerous befalls you, it happens to you”举个🌰：

We prayed that no harm should befall them.

我们祈求他们平安无事。

译者/马柯斯

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