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NewsWorthy Clips: Biometrics could become main source of ID 生物辨识（译注：或译生物统计）可望成为身分辨识的主力

详细资料: 创建于 2010年2月08日; 最后更新于 2024年5月25日; 发布于 2012年3月20日; 作者：Mike Lee; 点击数：262

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Biometrics could become main source of ID 生物辨识（译注：或译生物统计）可望成为身分辨识的主力

Iris scanners and facial recognition cameras aren’t just for spies anymore. The futuristic technology once seen in James Bond movies and science fiction novels is becoming increasingly pervasive throughout the United States, showing up everywhere from hospitals and high schools to docks and airports.

虹膜扫描仪和脸孔辨识摄影机将不再是只有间谍才会使用的利器了，因为过去只在００七詹姆斯．庞德电影和科幻小说里看到的这种未来科技，如今在全美各地已经愈来愈常见，无论是医院、高中校园，乃至于港区或机场，到处都可以看得到。

“Biometrics have become fairly ubiquitous now,” said James Ziglar, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and the recently retired president and CEO of a biometrics firm. To comply with federal privacy laws, a growing number of hospitals require doctors and nurses to scan their fingerprints before accessing patients’ medical records.

「如今生物辨识产品简直已经无所不在了，」移民政策研究院资深研究员詹姆斯．席格拉指出，席格拉过去曾担任一家生物辨识公司的总裁兼执行长，不久前才退休。愈来愈多医院为了遵守联邦隐私权相关法案，开始要求医护人员在取得病患的医疗纪录前，必须先扫描指纹。

Even some schools are exploring ways to use the technology. “Students, teachers, staff and parent volunteers register and have their photograph taken,” said Ziglar. “If the camera sees a face it doesn’t recognize, it sends an alarm to the security people.”

甚至有些学校也想尝试使用这种新科技。「学生、教师、职员和志愿参与的家长，都已经登记好了，也照了相，」席格拉表示，「如果摄影机照到无法辨识的生面孔，就会向警卫人员发出警报。」

Critics see biometric technology as a threat to privacy and freedom. “There is an enormous and ever-increasing amount of data being collected about Americans today,” Christopher Calabrese of the American Civil Liberties Union told senators at a recent immigration hearing. “Once the government or other powerful forces gain the ability to draw together all this information, privacy will really be destroyed.”

反对人士则认为，辨识技术可能会危害到个人隐私和自由。「如今美国人往往被大量搜集资料，而且搜集的量也愈来愈多，」美国公民自由联盟的克里斯多福．卡拉布里斯最近在一次移民听证会上，如此告诉在座的参议员，「一旦政府或其他权力机构取得授权来搜集所有这类资料，那么隐私权无疑就将荡然无存了。」

But Joseph Atick, a biometrics pioneer, said he sees the technology as a way to enhance, not destroy, democracy. He said biometrics has helped ensure the authenticity of elections in Africa and Latin America. In Europe, e-passports embedded with biometrics move travelers through airport security more quickly. And soon, the technology will enable laptops to scan users’ irises and use that information to call up their files, Atick said.

不过，生物辨识先驱约瑟．亚提克却表示，在他看来，生物辨识科技其实不但不会破坏民主，反而有助提升民主。他指出，生物辨识有助确认非洲和拉丁美洲等地选举的真实性；而在欧洲，嵌入生物辨识系统的电子护照，则让旅客能更快速地通过机场安检。亚提克也指出，不久之后，笔记本电脑（译注：或译膝上型计算机）就能利用这种技术来扫描用户的虹膜，透过扫描到的正确虹膜数据，才能叫出档案。

“Five or 10 years ago, biometrics was all about law enforcement,” Atick said. “Today, it’s about making the lives of ordinary citizens better and more convenient. I think people will say, ‘If this improves my life, I want it.’”

「在五年或十年前，生物辨识被认为只是和执法有关的技术，」亚提克表示，「但如今，它却能让一般民众的生活变得更美好，也更便利。在我看来，大家会认为，『如果这真能改善我的生活，我就愿意用它。』」

−by Erin Kelly

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biometrics [͵baɪəˋmɛtrɪks] n. 生物特征识别；生物辨识; 生物测定学；生物统计学

show up 出现, 露面; 揭露; 出席 to be clearly visible

dock [dɑk] n. 码头；港区 a long platform built over water where passengers can get on or off a boat or where goods can be transferred

ubiquitous [juˋbɪkwətəs] adj. 到处存在的，普遍存在的

fellow [ˋfɛlo] n.（大学的）研究员

comply [kəmˋplaɪ] v.（对要求、命令等）依从，顺从，遵从[（+with）]

access [ˋæksɛs] v.【计算机】取出（数据）；使用；接近

authenticity [͵ɔθɛnˋtɪsətɪ] n. 可信赖性；确实（性）

e-passport 电子护照 a combined paper and electronic passport that uses biological characteristics such as fingerprints or iris patterns to identify a person to an electronic system

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Personalized airspace 量身打造的空气

Few of us want to live in a bubble, but how about working inside a cone of clean air? Office-furniture maker Humanscale has rethought the air purifier by developing the Humanair, a unit that aims to give users personalized airspace. The product sprang from collaboration with Swedish inventor Andrzej Loreth.

很少有人会想住在气泡里，但如果换做是能在一团清新的空气中工作呢？（译注：cone指锥形或圆锥形，此指这款空气清净机能在机器和使用者头部之间，形成一块圆锥状、空气清净的区域）办公家具制造商人体尺度公司重新定义了空气清净机，研发出名为「人类空气」的清净机，能让使用者享受到量身定做的空气。该产品是和瑞典发明家安德采．罗瑞携手合作的成果。

“He was doing air purification for big warehouses and subway tunnels,” says Humanscale global product manager Shane Cohen. “We’ve been working with him to create a product on a much smaller scale that can be used on a personal level.”

「罗瑞当时正在为大型仓库和地铁隧道设计空气清净系统，」人体尺度全球产品经理善恩．科恩表示，「我们公司和他连手打造出规模更小的产品，以供消费者个人使用。」

The technology uses a very low-powered electrical field to charge particles without generating ozone, a byproduct of some air purifiers from the previous generation. Four fans then pull air gently through the machine, trapping particles against oppositely charged filter paper.

这项技术利用极低功率的电场使微粒充电，而不至于产生臭氧这种部份上一代空气清净机的副产品（译注：臭氧虽然常被用来作为杀菌消毒之用，但臭氧本身其实具有毒性）。这款新型清净机利用四座风扇，缓和地将空气吸入机器内，使微粒被电荷相反的滤纸所捕捉（译注：带有正电荷的东西只会被负电荷的东西所吸引，反之亦然）。

Unlike most filter-based purifiers, everything happens in slow motion, so the machine generates little noise or breeze, which allowed Humanscale’s big move: relocating the unit – about the size of a flat-panel monitor – to the desktop.

和大多数以滤纸为主的清净机不同的是，这款机型的运作方式相当缓慢，因此不至于产生太多噪音或风，而这点也让人体尺度公司得以做出重大变革：那就是把这款平板监视器大小的清净机，改变了放置的地点，改成可以放到桌上（译注：一般清净机往往放在地上）。

Rather than attempting to clean air in an entire room, which is nearly impossible in today’s open-plan office, “we’re able to blanket the user in a cone of clean air,” Cohen says.

在如今往往采用开放式空间设计的办公空间内，如果企图在整个室内注入清净的空气，简直是痴人说梦。「我们公司的产品却能让用户笼罩在一团清净的空气之中，」科恩如此表示。

−by Tim McKeough

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airspace [ˋɛr͵spes] n. 上空；空间；领空

cone [kon] n. 圆锥体；圆锥形

ozone [ˋozon] n. 臭氧 a colorless gas that is a form of oxygen

open-plan [ˋopənˋplæn] adj.【建】自由式平面布置的，开敞式平面布置的

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Whistler means winter for Vancouverites 温哥华人眼中冬季的代名词：惠斯勒

Eight snow competitions in the 2010 Winter Olympics will take place in the mountain ski resort of Whistler, two hours north of the comparatively balmy Vancouver.

二０－０年冬季奥运有八种雪上赛事都将在滑雪胜地惠斯勒山举行，而从气候较为温和的温哥华北上到惠斯勒的车程有两小时。

“We represent the winter experience,” said Breton Murphy of Tourism Whistler.

「这里就是冬季体验的代名词，」惠斯勒观光局的布雷顿．莫非表示。

Expecting 55,000 people to converge on the alpine town, organizers are ready. The bobsled-luge-skeleton runs at the Sliding Center are still under construction, but Olympic Park, where the ski jump, cross-country and biathlon events will be held, is already open. Up to 130 buses will transport people back and forth to Vancouver daily.

本届冬运估计会有五万五千人蜂拥而至这座高山城镇，而主办单位也已作好万全准备。雪车、雪橇和俯卧式雪车比赛，将在目前仍在兴建中的滑雪中心举行，但举行飞跃滑雪、越野滑雪和冬季两项等赛事的奥运公园则已经对外开放了。届时最高达一百三十辆车将肩负着每天载运乘客往返温哥华的任务。

Whistler was created in the 1960s as a ski resort. Now it’s a city with its own post office, although one with snowboarders in June, chi-chi shops and expensive lodgings.

惠斯勒这个在一九六０年代成立的滑雪胜地，如今已是拥有自己的邮局系统的城市了，虽然这里在六月街上还会看到雪地滑板客，而除了有时髦精品店之外，住宿也很昂贵。

Two fine new tourist attractions are worth seeing beyond the Olympics: The new Peak-2-Peak Gondola is a 2.7-mile scenic trip linking Whistler Mountain (the site of Olympics downhill events) and Blackcomb Mountain. The new Squamish Lilwat Cultural Centre showcases two First Nations tribes from the area, displaying a gorgeous 40-foot canoe, baskets, clothing, rugs, musical instruments and more.

除了冬奥之外，也相当值得一看的二处新景点：包括连结了惠斯勒山（奥运下坡赛事举办地）和黑梳山的双峰缆车，这条新建的缆车线全长二点七哩，沿途风景如诗如画；还有就是新成立的史夸密许莱瓦特原住民文化中心，展示了当地两个第一民族部落的文物，包括壮丽无比的四十呎长的独木舟、篮子、服饰、毯子、乐器，和更多其他文物。

“We are really fortunate to be here at the same time as the Olympics,” says guide Tanina Williams, who sees it as an opportunity for people to learn about Canada’s native tribes.

「能在奥运期来到这里，真的非常幸运，」导游坦妮纳．威廉斯表示，她认为，这是能让人深入了解加拿大原住民部落的大好时机。

−by Ellen Creager

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