今天我們的生活變化得比歷史上任何時候都快。下面我們報導的是未來將對我們日常生活產生重大影響的三個重要變化。
The cashless society Cash and bank-notes will disappear almost completely. They will be replaced by smart cards -- plastic cards with microchip processors "loaded" with some money. When we pay for goods, the retailer will insert our small card into a payment terminal and money will be transferred from our card to the retailer's card. When all the money is used up, we will be able to "load" it by inserting it into a telephone, dialing our bank account and transferring money to the card from the account. If we want to transfer money from our card to a bank account, we will use the same method. Smart cards will be able to hold several different currencies at the same time, so if we go aboard, we will use our smart cards in the same way.
無現金社會
現金和紙幣幾乎將完全消失。取代它們的將是智慧卡——存有一定金額的內置微晶片處理器的塑膠卡片。當我們支付所購物品時，零售商將把我們的智慧卡插人一個付賬終端機中，這時支付的金額就從我們的卡中轉移到零售商的卡中。當所有的金額用完後，通過將卡插入電話然後撥打我們的銀行賬號，就可以重新向智慧卡中注入一定金額。假如我們打算從智慧卡中向銀行賬號轉賬，我們可以用同樣的方法。這種智慧卡可以同時存入幾種不同的幣種，所以如果我們出國，我們仍然可以同樣的方式使用該卡。
Interactive telephones Human telephone operators will be sharply replaced by talking computers. These computers will recognize speech, ask us what information we need, access the information from a database, and convert it to speech. If we want to book a fight or pay a bill by phone, we will interact with a talking computer to do so. Of course, this won't happen until all the technology is in place, but when it is we will soon get used to interacting with computers in this way. Human telephone will be used only for more complex operation such as dealing with complaints or solving concrete problems.
互動式電話
互動式計算機將很快取代人工電話接線員。這些計算機能夠識別聲音，詢問我們需要何種信息，從某個資料庫中獲取我們所需的信息並把該信息轉化為聲音。假加我們希望利用電話訂購機票或支付賬單，我們將可以接通這種會說話的計算機交由它們去完成。當然，這些要等到所有的技術都準備就緒後才能變成現實，但是一旦互動式電話出現後，我們將很快習慣通過這種方式使用互動式計算機。將來只有在諸如撥打投訴電話或解決具體問題等複雜操作時才會用到人工接線員。
Intelligent cars Traffic congestion in cities will be reduced because drivers will use electronic route maps to find the quickest at to their destination and avoid traffic jams. Congestion will also decrease when electronic systems start changing motorists for driving in cities. As soon as motorists have to pay to drive in cities, they will stop using their cars and use public transport instead. Speed control systems will be built into cars. These systems will automatically regulate the speed of the car to take account of traffic and weather conditions and prevent accidents. It will be many years before these changes bring results but when they do, there will be a titanic improvement in road safety.
※本文作者：佚名※