(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report in Special English.
From New Delhi to Beijing, commuters spend a lot of time stuck in traffic. In the United States, Los Angeles and San Francisco tie for second place for having the worst traffic problems. Washington, D.C. is in first place with the worst traffic, according to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
In Los Angeles, drivers spend sixty-one hours every year stuck in traffic. These drivers know all too well how bad the traffic can be.
Traffic jam in New York City
"It's a prison of cars. There's too many cars, you can't move around a lot."
"I get very frustrated. I try to listen to some music, maybe snap my fingers or something to try to pass the time."
Professor Cyrus Shahabi also knows about traffic jams. He lives more than 65 kilometers from his office at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles. He is always late even with the help of a navigation system.
He and PhD student Ugur Demiryurek decided to develop an app for that. The ClearPath app claims to do what other navigation systems cannot. Professor Shahabi says his program uses historical data to predict traffic conditions even before the driver leaves the house.
"What's unique is that we utilize a lot of data that's currently become available including traffic data, weather data, and we analyze that so that we can predict what's going to happen in front of you when you leave home."
ClearPath uses two and a half years worth of traffic data from 9,000 sensors on the roads of Los Angeles. It also collects information on accidents.
"Now you are driving and there's an accident in front of you, but the accident is 20 minutes away. And you know from historical data that that accident would clear by the time you get there. We can take that into account and send you towards the accident because we think by the time you get there, there wouldn't be any accident."
Professor Shahabi says his system does more than just respond to current traffic conditions. With ClearPath, he says, a driver can enter what time he wants to leave on a specific time and date, and ClearPath will give the fastest route. It looks at the entire road network, including surface streets as well as highways, before the driver hits the road.
Ugur Demiryurek says they will launch the free ClearPath app for roads in Los Angeles in two months. In a year, he and Professor Shahabi hope to have ClearPath available nationwide and overseas once they can collect traffic data from other cities.
"I thought always that L.A. had the worst traffic, but now I know that Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, believe it or not, Singapore, Hong Kong definitely are examples that can immediately utilize this."
Professor Shahabi hopes to license this new technology to companies that already have navigation systems, such as Google and Apple.
英文文本来自51voa,译文属可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载
词汇解释
1.commuter n. 通勤者，经常乘公共车辆往返者；[交] 月季票乘客
In some cities subways have been commuter's first choice.
在部分城市，地铁已经成为通勤人员的第一交通选择。
2. utilize vt. 利用
We must utilize all available resources.
我们必须利用可以得到的一切资源。
3. license vt. 许可；特许；发许可证给
He was licensed to practice as a doctor．
他获得了行医执照。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语科技报道。
从新德里到北京，乘车上班族花了很多时间堵在路上。德州农工大学交通研究所称，在美国，洛杉矶和旧金山是交通状况第二差的地方，而华盛顿是交通问题最糟糕的的地方。
洛杉矶的驾车者每年堵在路上的时间为61小时，他们很清楚交通糟到什么程度。
“简直是车的监狱，车太多了，根本不能挪动。”
“太让人沮丧了，我设法听点音乐、打响指或别的事来打发时间。”
塞勒斯·沙哈比教授也很了解堵车状况，他住的地方距离洛杉矶南加州大学的办公室65公里多，即使有导航系统的帮忙，他也经常迟到。
他和博士生Ugur Demiryurek决定为此开发一个应用，据说ClearPath应用可以做其他导航系统无法做到的事。沙哈比教授称该项目使用历史数据来预测交通状况，甚至在驾车者离开家之前就在预测了。
“有一点与众不同的是，我们利用大量目前可获得的数据，包括交通数据、天气数据，我们分析这些数据，从而在你离家之前就预测未来的情况。”
ClearPath使用了两年半的时间内从洛杉矶9000个传感器获得的交通数据，还收集了事故信息。
“现在你驾车的时候，如果遇到前方出现事故，但到达事故地要20分钟。这样通过历史数据就可知道，等你到那里的时候事故已经清理完了。我们可以考虑这个因素，把你导航到事故发生地，因为我们认为等你到那儿的时候已经没有事故了。”
沙哈比教授说，他的系统不仅可以对目前的交通状况做出应对，他说，驾车者还可以输入离开家的特定日期和时间，然后系统就给出最快的线路。这个应用会在驾驶者上路之前就着眼于整个道路网，包括地面街道和高速公路。
Ugur Demiryurek说，他们两个月后将在洛杉矶的道路上免费启动ClearPath应用。他和沙哈比教授希望一旦收集了其他城市的交通信息，一年后能在全国和海外推广这个应用。
“我总是认为洛杉矶的交通最差，但现在我知道上海、北京、首尔、东京、新加坡、香港都一样糟，这些机会我们要当即抓住。”
沙哈比教授希望能在已经拥有导航系统的公司注册这一新科技，比如谷歌和苹果。
