Your next vacation may be virtual
Oct.26 · 2019
Japan's biggest airline is betting that the future of travel isn't traveling at all. For the last month, a married couple has been interacting with a robot — called an Avatar — that's controlled by their daughter hundreds of miles away. Made by ANA Holdings Inc., it looks like a vacuum cleaner with an iPad attached. But the screen displays the daughter’s face as they chat, and its wheels let her trundle about the house as though she’s really there.
“Virtual travel” is nothing new, of course. Storytellers, travel writers and artists have been stimulating the senses of armchair tourists for centuries. It's only in recent decades that frequent, safe travel has become available to the non-wealthy.
Yet even as the world's middle classes climb out of the armchair and into economy-class seats, there are hints of a post-travel society emerging. Concerns about sustainability are taking a toll on carbon-intensive airlines. And the aging of affluent societies is both inhibiting physical travel and creating demand for alternative ways to experience the world. For the travel industry, virtual reality offers a tantalizing response to these trends.
Of course, far-out technologies encourage far-out claims. ANA doesn't plan to start selling Avatars until next year. Profits, too, will probably be elusive: By one estimate, the global market for this kind of technology will be worth only about $300 million by 2023. By contrast, ANA’s traditional travel business brought in more than $19 billion last year.
But if the business case for virtual vacations is still weak, the market for technologies that bridge physical distances between families and coworkers seems likely to only expand. 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.
重點(diǎn)詞匯
virtual/?v??.t?u.?l/
adj. 虛擬的
搭配短語(yǔ)：virtual reality
bet/bet/
v. 打賭，賭博；敢肯定，非常確定
搭配短語(yǔ)：bet sb. sth. that …
例句：I bet Daniel 10 yuan that it won't rain tomorrow.
例句：I bet that I'm too late for work today.
holding/?ho?l.d??/
n. 人或機(jī)構(gòu)所擁有或持有的資產(chǎn)
英文釋義：any property that is owned or possessed
trundle/?tr?n.d?l/
v.（借助輪子）慢慢地移動(dòng)，滾動(dòng)
英文釋義：to move slowly on wheels
例句：A train trundled across the bridge.
stimulate/?st?m.j?.le?t/
v. 激發(fā)，激勵(lì)；促進(jìn)；使...變得活躍
英文釋義：to encourage something to grow, develop, or become active
搭配短語(yǔ)：a policy designed to stimulate economic growth
armchair/?ɑ?rm.t?er/
adj. 無(wú)實(shí)際經(jīng)驗(yàn)的；空談的
相關(guān)詞匯：armchair（n. 扶手椅）
搭配短語(yǔ)：an armchair critic
post-travel/po?st.?tr?v.?l/
adj. 后旅游的；不再那么依賴(lài)外出旅游的
詞根詞綴：post-（后）
派生詞：post-match（adj. 賽后的）
派生詞：post-war（adj. 戰(zhàn)后的）
sustainability/s??ste?.n??b?l.?.t?i/
n. 可維持性
詞性拓展： sustain（v. 維持，使持續(xù)）
詞根詞綴：-able（能夠）
搭配短語(yǔ)：environmental sustainability
take a toll (on sth./sb.)
造成損失或傷亡
相關(guān)詞匯：toll（n. 傷亡，損失）
搭配短語(yǔ)：take a heavy toll on sb./sth.
例句：Years of smoking have taken a heavy toll on his health.
carbon-intensive/?kɑ?r.b?n ?n?ten.s?v/
adj. 碳排放量很高的
相關(guān)詞匯：carbon（n. 碳）
相關(guān)詞匯：intensive（adj. 密集的；加強(qiáng)的）
相關(guān)詞匯：labor-intensive（adj. 勞動(dòng)密集型的）
affluent/??f.lu.?nt/
adj. 富裕的；富足的
相關(guān)詞匯：wealthy
相關(guān)詞匯：rich
詞義辨析：affluent, wealthy
兩個(gè)詞都有“富有”的含義，但 wealthy 一般指的是某人有足夠的資產(chǎn)可以讓不用工作也能享受高品質(zhì)的生活，而 affluent 指的是那些通過(guò)高收入來(lái)維持富足生活的人。一般來(lái)說(shuō)，affluent 的人需要承受更高的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，一旦失去工作，原來(lái)生活的水平可能就會(huì)受到直接的影響，而 wealthy 的人就基本不會(huì)受到這個(gè)因素的影響。
搭配短語(yǔ)：affluent families
inhibit/?n?h?b.?t/
v. 抑制；約束
英文釋義：to slow down a process or the growth of something
例句：A lack of oxygen may inhibit brain development in the unborn child.
tantalizing/?t?n.t??.la?.z??/
adj. 逗引性的；挑逗性的；誘人的
詞性拓展：tantalize（v. 逗弄 ; 引誘 ）
英文釋義： making you want something that you cannot have or do
搭配短語(yǔ)：tantalizing pictures of delicious food
文化補(bǔ)充：?jiǎn)卧~ tantalize 來(lái)源于希臘神話，據(jù)說(shuō)宙斯有一個(gè)兒子叫 Tantalus，這個(gè)人十分邪惡：他烹殺自己的兒子，邀請(qǐng)眾神赴宴。宙斯知道這事之后，勃然大怒，對(duì)他實(shí)施了一項(xiàng)特殊的懲罰，他把 Tantalus 放進(jìn)一池深水中央，但是每當(dāng)他想要去喝水時(shí)，池水就會(huì)立馬流走，在 Tantalus 身后的岸邊長(zhǎng)著結(jié)滿了果實(shí)的樹(shù)，可是等他踮腳去摘這些果實(shí)時(shí)，這些果實(shí)就會(huì)被吹向空中，除了要忍受這些折磨外，最可怕的痛苦是不間斷地被對(duì)死亡恐懼所鉗制，因?yàn)樗念^頂上吊著一塊隨時(shí)都會(huì)掉下來(lái)的大石頭，將他壓得粉碎。
far-out/?fɑ?r ?a?t/
adj. 不因循守舊的，前衛(wèi)的；超前的
相關(guān)詞匯：far（adj. 遙遠(yuǎn)的）
相關(guān)詞匯：out（adv. 向外）
elusive/i?lu?.s?v/
adj. 難以得到的；難以實(shí)現(xiàn)的
相關(guān)詞匯：elude（v. 避開(kāi)，躲避；使無(wú)法做成）
搭配短語(yǔ)：Sleep eludes sb.
例句：The thief managed to elude the police.
搭配短語(yǔ)：elusive objectives
business case
商業(yè)價(jià)值
英文釋義：an explanation or set of reasons describing how a business decision will improve a business, product, etc.
例句：No device exists that makes a compelling business case for 5G.
almost certainly
幾乎可以肯定
例句：The story is almost certainly false.
