“虚拟现实”到底是什么？它只能被用于玩电子游戏，对吧？回答错了。这个新兴的技术可能即将彻底地改变我们生活的方方面面。从我们如何学习新知识，如何经商，到如何社交，虚拟现实为我们呈现了改变的方向与可能。虚拟现实可以模拟真实的情景，而且已被作为一个极其直接有效的培训工具用于各行各业中。它还能帮助有焦虑的人克服心中的恐惧。本期《随身英语》介绍虚拟现实的其他重要用途。
Most people associate virtual reality with the world of gaming or entertainment. What is all the fuss, you may wonder, about a futuristic contraption you wear on your head that makes you look like a creature from Star Wars? But this emerging technology has been spreading rapidly into many other areas and could fundamentally change your life in the future.
Virtual reality, or VR, is a computer-generated technology that creates a three-dimensional digital world that you can not only see and observe, but explore and interact with it as if you are there. Once you put on the special equipment – a helmet or goggles with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors – you become immersed in the virtual world.
VR now has serious applications in fields as wide-ranging as business and medicine. VR has already proved effective as a training tool as it simulates real experiences. One simulation programme educates young drivers about the dangers of bad driving. Participants experience a dangerous car journey and a virtual accident. It is now being used to train surgeons. Connor Pierce of Samsung's IT for UK and Ireland thinks it will impinge on all walks of life: "We'll socialise via VR, we will do business via VR, we'll have VR team-meetings, we'll have VR education, museums will have virtual reality experiences…". Its benefits have been felt in the field of psychology and the treatment of mental health patients. Professor Daniel Freeman at the Warnford Hospital in Oxford uses it to treat vertigo and other anxiety disorders. He explains that by exposing patients to what they fear most in a virtual environment and showing them that nothing bad happens, they can eventually overcome their panic.
In the world of work too, VR may change our lives dramatically. Working individually at home, we can connect to our colleagues in a virtual space. We can be at home and at the office at the same time. For the first time, we can really be in two places at once.
Some VR developers predict that the impact of VR could be as significant as the internet or mobile phones. Google alone has sold 2 million cardboard VR headsets in the last two years. Is a new age of reality about to dawn?
gaming 玩电子游戏
futuristic 未来的，超前的
contraption 奇怪的装置
fundamentally 根本地
computer-generated 计算机生成的
three-dimensional 三维立体的
sensor 传感器
immersed 沉浸在，深陷于
to simulate 模拟
to impinge 对……起作用，影响
vertigo 眩晕
to expose 使（某人）接触……
impact 影响
to dawn 开始
1. 阅读课文并回答问题。
1. True or false? Virtual reality will have little impact on our lives, according to the author of the article.
2. What special equipment is needed to create a virtual world?
3. Give two examples of how virtual reality has been used for training.
4. How does virtual reality help people deal with anxiety?
5. What benefits have VR brought to the world of work?
2. 请你在不参考课文的情况下完成下列练习。选择一个意思合适的单词填入句子的空格处 。
1. The introduction of credit cards in the 1950s brought about a __________change in the way consumers paid for things.
central fundamental basic new
2. Wearing a virtual reality headset enables the wearer to move around and _________ with a virtual world.
impinge impact interact immerse
3. That lens cleaning spray you recommended was really __________! It got rid of all those fingermarks on the screen straight away.
affective educational effective essential
4. Virtual reality is being used to help people with anxiety disorders over __________ their fears.
come treat expose work
5. I don't know why the director rang up the boy's parents. He'd only been late a couple of mornings. As I see it, it was a lot of __________ about nothing!
anxiety anger fuss fear
1. 阅读课文并回答问题。
1. True or false? Virtual reality will have little impact on our lives, according to the author of the article.
False. According to the author, virtual reality will change our lives dramatically.
2. What special equipment is needed to create a virtual world?
A headset or goggles with a screen inside or pair of gloves with sensors
3. Give two examples of how virtual reality has been used for training.
A VR driving programme educates young people about the dangers of bad driving by simulating a car journey and a virtual accident.
4. How does virtual reality help people deal with anxiety?
It exposes them to their greatest fear and by showing that nothing bad happens, helps them to overcome their anxiety.
5. What benefits have VR brought to the world of work?
It allows people to be at home and at the office at the same time, by connecting them to their colleagues in a virtual space.
2. 请你在不参考课文的情况下完成下列练习。选择一个意思合适的单词填入句子的空格处 。
1. The introduction of credit cards in the 1950s brought about a fundamental change in the way consumers paid for things.
2. Wearing a virtual reality headset enables the wearer to move around and interact with a virtual world.
3. That lens cleaning spray you recommended was really effective! It got rid of all those fingermarks on the screen straight away.
4. Virtual reality is being used to help people with anxiety disorders overcome their fears.
5. I don't know why the director rang up the boy's parents. He'd only been late a couple of mornings. As I see it, it was a lot of fuss about nothing!
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