外刊学习：你的智能音箱有多可怕？

今日导读

天猫精灵、小爱同学、小度、叮咚……这几个名字是不是有点儿耳熟？如今，各种智能音箱正在强势进入人们的生活。人们在享受智能音箱带来的便利的同时，关于隐私泄露的讨论也不绝于耳。比如，亚马逊推出的智能助手 Alexa 近日被曝会录下用户对话用于分析。智能音箱是否在窥探我们的隐私？它们到底安不安全？让我们跟着 Roxy 老师一起来看看《经济学人》的这篇文章吧。

新闻原文

How creepy is your smart speaker?

 The Economist

“Alexa, are you recording everything you hear?” It is a question more people are asking, though Amazon’s voice assistant denies the charges. “I only record and send audio back to the Amazon cloud when you say the wake word, ” she insists, before referring questioners to Amazon’s privacy policy. Apple’s voice assistant, Siri, gives a similar answer. But as smart speakers from Amazon, Apple and other technology giants proliferate, concerns that they might be digitally snooping have become more widespread.

As Alexa herself contends, smart speakers are not sending every utterance into the tech giants’ digital vaults. Despite their name, the devices are simple-minded. They listen out for wake words, and then send what follows to the cloud as an audio clip; when an answer arrives, in the form of another audio clip, they play it back.

But Amazon notes that users can delete these clips at any time. There’s always the mute button if you are worried about accidentally triggering your speaker and sending a clip into the cloud during a sensitive conversation. Users, the firm insists, are in control.

Not everyone is convinced by such assurances, however. Are their makers using them to snoop on people and then exploiting that information to target online ads or offer them particular products?

If eavesdropping is your problem, eschewing smart speakers does not solve it. Smartphones, which people blithely carry around with them, are even worse. Spy agencies are said to be able to activate the microphone in such devices.

The chief thing is that consumers should be able to choose how to balance convenience and privacy. If this magical technology is to reach its full potential, the tech giants need to do more to convince users that Alexa and her friends can be trusted.

带着问题听讲解

银行的“保险箱”用英文怎么表达？

为什么新闻说避开智能音箱不能解决窃听问题？

Alexa 的名字有哪几种含义？

新闻正文

How creepy is your smart speaker?

你的智能音箱有多可怕？

“Alexa, are you recording everything you hear?” It is a question more people are asking, though Amazon’s voice assistant denies the charges. “I only record and send audio back to the Amazon cloud when you say the wake word,” she insists, before referring questioners to Amazon’s privacy policy. Apple’s voice assistant, Siri, gives a similar answer. But as smart speakers from Amazon, Apple and other technology giants proliferate, concerns that they might be digitally snooping have become more widespread.

“Alexa，你正在录你听到的所有东西吗？”越来越多的人在问这个问题，但是亚马逊的语音助手否认这些指控。“在你说出唤醒词的时候，我才会录音，并把音频发送回亚马逊的云端。”她坚持说道，然后再向提问者提及亚马逊的隐私政策。苹果的语音助手，Siri，也给出相似的回答。但随着亚马逊、苹果和其它科技巨头出品的智能音箱大量涌现，越来越多的人担心她们可能在通过数字化的手段窥探（我们的隐私）。

As Alexa herself contends, smart speakers are not sending every utterance into the tech giants’ digital vaults. Despite their name, the devices are simple-minded. They listen out for wake words, and then send what follows to the cloud as an audio clip; when an answer arrives, in the form of another audio clip, they play it back.

正如 Alexa 她自己所说，智能音箱没有把听到的每一句话都发送至科技巨头的数字保险箱中。尽管她们的名字（是“智能音箱”），但这些设备头脑简单。她们等着听到唤醒词，再将（唤醒词）之后的内容作为音频片段发送到云端；当收到另外一条音频形式的答案时，她们就播放给用户。

But Amazon notes that users can delete these clips at any time. There’s always the mute button if you are worried about accidentally triggering your speaker and sending a clip into the cloud during a sensitive conversation. Users, the firm insists, are in control.

但是亚马逊指出，用户可以随时删除这些音频片段。如果你担心在一个敏感的对话中不小心触发了音箱，以至于她把音频片段发送至云端的话，这些音箱始终有一个静音按钮。（亚马逊）公司坚称，掌控权在用户手里。

Not everyone is convinced by such assurances, however. Are their makers using them to snoop on people and then exploiting that information to target online ads or offer them particular products?

但是并不是每个人都被这些保证所说服。制造商是否正在利用她们来窥探用户，然后再利用这些信息来定向投放在线广告，或者给用户推销特定的产品？

If eavesdropping is your problem, eschewing smart speakers does not solve it. Smartphones, which people blithely carry around with them, are even worse. Spy agencies are said to be able to activate the microphone in such devices.

如果你的担忧是窃听，那么不用智能音箱并不能解决问题。人们无忧无虑随身携带的智能手机，它的情况更加糟糕。据说间谍机构能够激活这类设备中的麦克风。

The chief thing is that consumers should be able to choose how to balance convenience and privacy. If this magical technology is to reach its full potential, the tech giants need to do more to convince users that Alexa and her friends can be trusted.

首要的事是消费者应该能够选择如何平衡便利和隐私。如果这项神奇的技术将来能够充分发挥其潜力的话，科技巨头们需要做更多来说服用户 Alexa 和她的朋友们可以被信任。

重点词汇

creepy
/ˈkriːpi/
adj. 怪异的，令人毛骨悚然的；让人起鸡皮疙瘩的
词根词缀：creep（v. 蹑手蹑脚地行进）
例句：What a creepy ghost story!
例句：That stranger is creepy!

proliferate
/prəˈlɪfəreɪt/
v. 激增
英文释义：to increase a lot and suddenly in number
例句：BTS fans proliferate recently.
近义词：surge; soar

snoop
/snuːp/
v.（对别人的私生活）窥探
搭配短语：reporters snooping on celebrities（跟踪、偷拍明星的狗仔）
例句：Don’t snoop into my affairs!

contend
/kənˈtend/
v. 声称，断言；竞争，争夺
例句：They are contending for a prize.
例句：He contended that he was innocent and denied the charges.

utterance
/ˈʌtərəns/
n. 说话，讲话
词根词缀：utter（v. 讲，说出）
utter 例句：He did not utter a word.
词根词缀：-ance（动作、行为过程或状态）

vault
/vɔːlt/
n. 保险库
例句：He is a vault.
近义词：safe（n. 保险箱）

listen out for
等着听，注意听
例句：Listen out for my call!

mute
/mjuːt/
n. 静音
词性拓展：mute（adj. 沉默的；无声的）
搭配短语：a mute appeal（无声的恳求）

trigger
/ˈtrɪɡər/
v. 引起，引发（坏事）
词性拓展：trigger（n. 枪的扳机）
例句：He pulled the trigger and killed the robber.
例句：The incident triggered World War I.

assurance
/əˈʃʊrəns/
n. 保证
词性拓展：assure（v. 保证）
例句：I give you my assurance that the work will be done by Friday.
派生词：self-assurance（n. 自信）

eavesdrop
/ˈiːvzdrɑːp/
v. 偷听
相关词汇：eave（n. 屋檐）
相关词汇：drop（v. 滴水）
搭配短语：anti-eavesdropping device（防窃听装置）
词义辨析
overhear, eavesdrop
overhear 指无意中听到，偶尔听到；eavesdrop 指故意偷听。

eschew
/ɪsˈtʃuː/
v. 回避，避开；放弃
近义词：avoid
搭配短语：eschew political discussions（回避政治方面的讨论）
搭配短语：eschew violence（避免使用暴力）

blithely
/ˈblaɪðli/
adv. 快活地；无忧无虑地
英文释义：happily and without worry
例句：They are blithely chatting, ignoring the customers.

拓展阅读

Alexa 名字的由来

一款语音助手的名字通常与技术公司的营销决策有关。亚马逊的 Alexa 也不例外。

首先，从发音上来说，作为语音助手的名字，它必须容易拼读，但不能过于常见，以免被用户在无意之间激活。除此之外，它还需要具备独特的发音，跟其他的词汇有明显的区别，这样比较容易让人记住，在被呼唤时也能够准确地被语音助手捕捉到。Alexa 中的“x”便符合以上的预期。

其次，从内涵上来说，亚马逊的这款语音助手最初的灵感来自科幻小说和古埃及的亚历山大图书馆。正如《星际迷航》（Star Trek）中的那台计算机能够对人类的语音指令作出回应，亚马逊想研发一款“再现《星际迷航》中计算机”设备。另外，Alexa 这个名字还会让人们联想到亚历山大图书馆——它曾是世界上最大的图书馆，因而其寓意为“知识的守护者”，设计师希望自己设计的智能音箱像图书馆一样无所不知，能够回答用户的任何问题。

最后，Alexa 的名字还符合公司已有的和想要创建的品牌形象。不难发现，各种语音助手的默认语音为女性语音，这部分是因为女性语音听起来更让人愉悦。Alexa 也是众多语音助手中最接近人名的名字。