VOA慢速英語：日本無懼于機(jī)器人取代人類工作

English @ the Movies: 'Where Do You See Yourself In Five Years?'

日本無懼于機(jī)器人取代人類工作

In a factory near Tokyo, thousands of cans are filled with beer, capped, washed, and put into boxes at speeds of 1,500 cans a minute.

在東京附近一家工廠，數(shù)千個(gè)罐子被裝上啤酒、封口、清洗，然后裝箱，速度達(dá)到了每分鐘1500罐。

However, there are hardly any people in sight as the cans speed through processing.

然而，隨著罐頭的快速加工，卻幾乎看不到什么人。

Japan's Asahi Breweries operates the factory. The machines do almost all of the physical work. Humans make sure that the machines do the work right, and the automated sensing devices are working correctly.

日本的朝日啤酒公司經(jīng)營(yíng)著這家工廠。機(jī)器完成了幾乎所有的實(shí)質(zhì)性工作。人類確保機(jī)器正常工作，同時(shí)自動(dòng)感應(yīng)裝置工作正常。

"Basically, nothing goes wrong. The lines are up and running 96 percent," said Shinichi Uno, a manager at the factory. "Although machines make things, human beings oversee the machines."

該工廠一名經(jīng)理Shinichi Uno表示：“基本上不會(huì)出什么問題。這條生產(chǎn)線啟動(dòng)運(yùn)行了96%的生產(chǎn)能力。雖然是機(jī)器在做事，但是是人類在監(jiān)督機(jī)器的運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)。”

Leading the field

領(lǐng)先于該領(lǐng)域

While some countries, like the U.S., are debating the issue of robots taking jobs from humans, in Japan, the discussion is much different.

雖然美國(guó)之類的一些國(guó)家正在爭(zhēng)論機(jī)器奪走人類工作的問題，日本的討論卻截然不同。

Birth rates in Japan have been decreasing for many years. This has caused many in the country to fear the possibility of a labor shortage.

日本的出生率多年來一直在下降，這導(dǎo)致該國(guó)大部分人都在擔(dān)心勞動(dòng)力短缺的可能性。

The introduction of robots has filled this need for labor. The robots appear to be a welcomed addition to the workforce in Japan.

機(jī)器人的引入填補(bǔ)了這種勞動(dòng)力需求。機(jī)器人似乎成為了日本勞動(dòng)大軍的有益補(bǔ)充。

Starting in the 1990's, Japan began a big push to develop robots for the workforce. It currently leads the world in the use of robots.

日本從上世紀(jì)90年代就開始大力推動(dòng)用作勞動(dòng)力的機(jī)器人的發(fā)展。該國(guó)目前在機(jī)器人應(yīng)用方面領(lǐng)先于世界。

There are 1,562 robots for every 10,000 human workers. This is higher than Germany, with 1,133 robots, or the U.S., with 1,091 for every worker. The numbers come from a White House report submitted to Congress last year.

日本每1萬名人類勞動(dòng)力就對(duì)應(yīng)有1562名機(jī)器人，這高于德國(guó)的1133名以及美國(guó)的1091名機(jī)器人。這一數(shù)字出自于去年白宮提交給國(guó)會(huì)的一份報(bào)告。

The report says Japan also was ahead in robots used outside of the automobile industry, with 219 robots per 10,000 workers, compared to 76 for the U.S. and 147 for Germany.

該報(bào)告稱，日本在汽車工業(yè)以外領(lǐng)域的機(jī)器人應(yīng)用也出于領(lǐng)先地位，達(dá)到了每1萬名員工對(duì)應(yīng)219名機(jī)器人，相比之下美國(guó)對(duì)應(yīng)為76名，德國(guó)為147名機(jī)器人。

A different work culture

不同的工作文化

There are some differences with Japan's work culture that might influence Japanese opinions about giving jobs to robots. One important difference is their "lifetime employment" system.

日本工作文化的某些不同可能影響了日本人對(duì)機(jī)器人就業(yè)的觀點(diǎn)。其中一個(gè)重要區(qū)別就是該國(guó)的“終身就業(yè)”制度。

In Japan, many major companies often keep their workers, even if their skills become outdated. They will use them instead for other tasks, said Koichi Iwamoto, a senior fellow at the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry.

在日本，很多大型企業(yè)通常會(huì)保留他們的員工，即使他們的技術(shù)已經(jīng)過時(shí)。日本經(jīng)濟(jì)產(chǎn)業(yè)研究所高級(jí)研究員Koichi Iwamoto表示，這些企業(yè)會(huì)把員工調(diào)整到其它崗位。

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, gathers information about the use of robots in its member countries.

經(jīng)濟(jì)合作與發(fā)展組織(簡(jiǎn)稱經(jīng)合組織)收集了該組織成員國(guó)在機(jī)器人應(yīng)用方面的信息。

The information shows that increasing the use of robots or computer programs at work decreases the demand for mid-level or repetitive work tasks, such as operating assembly lines. But it increases the demand for low-and high-skilled jobs.

這些信息顯示，在工作中增加機(jī)器人或電腦程序的使用降低了對(duì)中級(jí)技能或重復(fù)性工作任務(wù)(例如操作裝配線)的需求。但是它提升了對(duì)低級(jí)和高技能工作的需求。

However, the OECD data showed employment conditions remained almost unchanged for Japan for the period from 2002 to 2014.

然而，經(jīng)合組織數(shù)據(jù)顯示，2002年到2014年期間，日本的就業(yè)情況幾乎沒有發(fā)生變化。

That means companies in Japan were not trying as hard as those in the U.S. to replace humans with robots. Clerical workers, for example, were keeping their jobs although computers might do their jobs better.

這意味著日本企業(yè)并沒有像美國(guó)一樣竭力用機(jī)器人取代人工。例如，文職人員保住了他們的工作，雖然電腦可以更好地完成他們的工作。

Another example is how Japanese society has so far preferred to keep taxis instead of shifting to online ride services.

另一個(gè)例子是，日本社會(huì)迄今為止更傾向于繼續(xù)乘坐出租車，而不是轉(zhuǎn)向網(wǎng)上叫車服務(wù)。

A "reflective stage"

“反思階段”

But, machines have increasingly replaced people in Japan. Iwamoto says the country now has entered a "reflective stage." He says people are actually interested in having "human harmony with machines."

但是在日本，機(jī)器越來越多地取代人類。Iwamoto表示，該國(guó)目前已經(jīng)進(jìn)入了反思階段。他說，人們實(shí)際上是對(duì)“人類和機(jī)器和諧共處”感興趣。

"Some tasks may be better performed by people, after all," said Iwamoto.

Iwamoto表示：“畢竟有些工作可能由人類來做會(huì)更好。”

Kiyoshi Sakai also is an Asahi employee. He has worked at the company for 29 years. He said that in the past can caps were put into machines by hand. This was a repetitive task that was hard on the body and the mind.

Kiyoshi Sakai也是朝日啤酒的一名員工。他在該公司已經(jīng)工作了29年。他說，以前啤酒罐的瓶蓋(拉環(huán))是用手工裝入機(jī)器。這是一項(xiàng)身心俱疲的重復(fù)性工作。

Now, machines have replaced many of those jobs, and he is grateful for the changes to his work life. Machines at the plant have become more than 50 percent smaller over the years. They are faster and more precise than 30 years ago.

現(xiàn)在，機(jī)器已經(jīng)取代了很多這類工作，他也對(duì)自己工作期的變化感激不盡。多年來，該工廠的機(jī)器已經(jīng)縮小了50%，它們比30年前更快更準(zhǔn)確。

He said in the past, things used to go wrong all the time and people had to check the machines every 10 to 15 minutes. Now, problems with machines are so rare that people do not need to worry.

他說，過去會(huì)不停出現(xiàn)問題，人們不得不每10到15分鐘檢查一次機(jī)器?，F(xiàn)在，機(jī)器很少出問題，人們不用再為此擔(dān)心。

Like many workers in Japan, Sakai is not worried about his job disappearing. After people no longer needed to work on assembly lines, his position was upgraded to the general affairs section, a common administrative department in Japanese companies.

像日本很多工人一樣，Sakai也不擔(dān)心他的工作會(huì)消失。人們不再需要在生產(chǎn)線上工作之后，他的職位升級(jí)到了總務(wù)科，這是日本企業(yè)的普通行政部門。

"I remember the work being so hard. But when I think back, and it was all about delivering great beer to everyone, it makes me so proud," said Sakai, who drinks beer every day.

每天都喝啤酒的Sakai表示：“我記得這項(xiàng)工作很辛苦，但是回想起來，這是在為大家提供好喝的啤酒，這讓我很自豪。”

"I have no regrets. This is a stable job."

“我沒什么遺憾，這是一項(xiàng)穩(wěn)定的工作。”

I'm Phil Dierking. And I'm Alice Bryant.

菲爾·德爾金。我是艾麗絲·布萊恩特報(bào)道。