每日口說挑戰【CNN10】自動駕駛汽車試乘體驗 | 2021年11月23日 (Test Driving A "Self Driving" Car On A Busy Street | November 23, 2021)

[TRANSCRIPT]

Welcome to the CNN10 news report. I'm Leila.

City of Gardens Smothered in Smog As Residents Call for More Action

Lahore is Pakistan's second-largest city, a major center for commerce, banking, and industry. Known to locals as the “City of Flowers” and the “City of Gardens”, it is widely regarded as the cultural capital of Pakistan. Unfortunately, Lahore also regularly ranks as one of the most polluted cities in the world.

After the summer monsoon season ends, there is less moisture and movement in the atmosphere in the fall. Nothing to sweep the smog away. Cold winter temperatures also hold smoke down so it can’t rise, keeping more pollutants trapped at ground level.

Some point to farmers as the source for extra pollution because they typically burn old crops in order to prepare their fields at this time of year. Others point to low-quality fuel in the country. Yet another source is all the industry in the city.

According to a paramedic at a local hospital, locals have been coming in with sore throats, not from Covid, but from the smog instead. Pollution causes irritation to the eyes and makes it difficult to breathe.

Lahore residents are asking the government to take action, but the government says it already has. Anti Smog Squads have been deployed across Lahore. They’re tasked with identifying and sealing factories that don’t meet the city’s EPA standards. The government has also banned low-quality gasoline. Plans are underway to require higher efficiency motorcycle engines, and the government is also looking at ways to plant more trees throughout the city.

Fully Autonomous Cars Not Yet Ready for Public Use, Says CNN

High-tech cars offer increasingly autonomous modes, but even with computer-assisted driving becoming more common, how realistic are fully self-driving cars? Despite regularly updating its software, Tesla has come under fire for a number of accidents blamed on its assisted driving programming.
Three years ago in a CNN10 special report, experts predicted a city filled with driverless cars was still decades away. In today’s episode, CNN revisited the topic to see if that was still the case.

Michael Ballaban, the Transportation Editor for CNN Business, found out first hand that he isn’t quite ready for Tesla’s full self-driving mode to take total control of the wheel. When you watch the video, you’ll hear Ballaban exclaim “whoa” several times as he grabs the steering wheel to correct the Model 3 before anything unfortunate can occur.

According to Ballaban, the self-driving mode seems to need human input, or “an interruption” as he puts it, “every couple of blocks or so. When you’re going down a straight road with not a lot of pedestrians, the car actually seems to [do] okay.” But as any experienced driver will know, straight roads with few pedestrians aren’t the problem--it’s the combination of commuters, trucks, cyclists, pedestrians, interchanges and intersections that often create problems. Experience teaches us how to handle these challenging situations. What of the self-driving mode software?

Ballaban concludes the full self-driving mode is “not truly ready for public consumption” for many reasons, one being that the name itself is not quite accurate. The car cannot yet fully drive itself. A human must still sit behind the wheel, ready to intervene at any second. If it really were self-driving as promised, as Ballaban points out, you’d be able to take a nap while the car drove you along.

Now, it bears noting that Ballaban admits to some researcher bias. He admits to being a little skittish, so he might have taken over more than someone else who was more used to the way the car drives. Ballaban likens the experience to teaching a teenager how to drive. As the more experienced person in the car, you’re always watching and waiting, never knowing when the learner might make a mistake, thus keeping you in a more anxious state.

Truly fully autonomous cars may not be decades away as experts once said, but according to Ballaban, we’re at least still years away.

And now, our Sentence of the Day:

In the fall, after monsoon season ends, the rains and winds die down, so there's less moisture and movement in the atmosphere to sweep the pollutants away.
秋天季風季節結束後，隨著風和雨逐漸減弱，空氣不夠潮濕、流通欠佳，就不足以吹走環境中的汙染物。

Let’s look at some vocabulary from the sentence:

monsoon
KK[mɑnˋsun] IPA /mɑːnˈsuːn/
the season of heavy rain during the summer in hot Asian countries
i.e. During a weak monsoon, this dam on the river can hold the entire amount of water.
在弱季風期間，河上的這座大壩可以容納全部的水量。

moisture
KK [ˋmɔɪstʃɚ] IPA /ˈmɔɪs.tʃɚ/
a liquid such as water in the form of very small drops, either in the air, in a substance, or on a surface
i.e. Excessive use of hairdryers and ceramic straightening tongs can drain the moisture out of your hair.
過度使用吹風機和平板夾會讓頭髮中的水分被排掉。

atmosphere
KK[ˋætməs͵fɪr] IPA /ˈæt.mə.sfɪr/
as used in the Sentence of the Day:
the mixture of gases around the earth

also means:
a mixture of gases that surrounds any planet

also means:
the character, feeling, or mood of a place or situation
i.e. Instead of meeting in the conference room, I thought we could all meet in a more relaxed atmosphere, like the café around the corner.
與其在會議室開會，我想我們可以在更輕鬆的氛圍下開會，比如轉角的咖啡廳。

Today's CNN10 video left me with some gray-area questions.

Innovation and industry have driven progress since the dawn of humankind, but there is always a price to pay for industrialization, whether it be monetary or other. What is the price of continuing the very industries that keep our societies running? What price must governments and citizens pay as we push those industries to change for our future?

Will we drive innovation or will innovations drive us, as in the case of fully autonomous self-driving cars? And if humans are responsible for programming the very software that drives the vehicle, who is actually driving whom?

These are the questions that come to my mind as I consider the gray area. I’m Leila, and that’s the news for now.

今天一直吃螺絲

☺In the fall, after monsoon season ends, the rains and winds die down, so there's less moisture and movement in the atmosphere to sweep the pollutants away.
秋天的季風季節結束後，風、雨都會逐漸減弱，空氣因此不夠潮濕、又缺乏流動，就無法清除環境中的汙染物。
【心得】原來風雨還有這種功能，以後不能太討厭它們:p
■monsoon [mɑnˋsun] (n.C) (炎熱的亞洲國家的)季風季節、雨季
■moisture [ˋmɔɪstʃɚ] (n.U) 濕氣；水氣；水分
■atmosphere [ˋætməs͵fɪr](n.S)(包圍地球的)大氣(層)；(某特定場所的)空氣
(n.U)氣氛、氛圍；情調
(n.C)(包圍天體的)氣體；(標準)氣壓
■die down (ph. vi.)逐漸減弱(或降低、察覺不到等)；逐漸消失

In the fall, after monsoon season ends, the rains and winds die down, so there's less moisture and movement in the atmosphere to sweep the pollutants away.

Day 118

#Day_1306
In the fall, after monsoon season ends, the rains and winds die down, so there's less moisture and movement in the atmosphere to sweep the pollutants away.
秋天季風季節結束後，隨著風和雨逐漸減弱，空氣不夠潮濕、流通欠佳，就不足以吹走環境中的汙染物。

這個自動駕駛，我也不敢恭維
_29th_Nov_2021_CAD

In the fall, after monsoon season ends, the rains and winds die down, so there's less moisture and movement in the atmosphere to sweep the pollutants away.
秋天季風季節結束後，隨著風和雨逐漸減弱，空氣不夠潮濕、流通欠佳，就不足以吹走環境中的汙染物。