考研英语阅读理解中的文章，很多来自一些外刊杂志方面的题材。接下来，北京文都考研网为扩宽2020考研学子的知识面，整理了考研英语经济学人外刊:智能音箱正在窃取隐私，供考生参考。
2020考研英语经济学人外刊:智能音箱正在窃取隐私
How creepy is your smart speaker?
你的智能音箱有多恐怖?
Worries about privacy are overstated, but not entirely without merit. Your move, Alexa
对隐私的担忧被夸大了，但并非完全没有道理。你的一举一动尽在Alexa眼中
“Alexa, are you recording everything you hear?” It is a question more people are asking, though Amazon’s voice assistant denies the charges. “I only record and send audio back to the Amazon cloud when you say the wake word,” she insists, before referring questioners to Amazon’s privacy policy.
“Alexa，你把你听到的都录下来了吗?”尽管亚马逊的语音助手否认了这一指控，但越来越多的人在提这个问题了。她坚称：“只有当你说出唤醒词时，我才开始录音并把音频发回到亚马逊云端。”随后，她会向提问者介绍亚马逊的隐私政策。
Apple’s voice assistant, Siri, gives a similar answer. But as smart speakers from Amazon, Apple, Google and other technology giants proliferate (global sales more than doubled last year, to 86.2m) concerns that they might be digitally snooping have become more widespread.
苹果的语音助手Siri也会给出类似的答案。但随着来自亚马逊、苹果、谷歌和其他科技巨头的智能音箱销量的激增(去年智能音箱的全球销量增长了一倍多，达到了8620万台)，人们普遍开始担心智能音箱可能正在对他们进行数字监听。
And now that these devices are acquiring other senses beyond hearing—the latest models have cameras, and future ones may use “lidar” sensors to see shapes and detect human gestures—the scope for infringing privacy is increasing. So how worried should you be that your speaker is spying on you?
现在，这些设备正在获得除了听觉之外的其他感官(最新型号的智能音响装有摄像头，未来的型号甚至可能会使用“激光雷达”传感器来观察体型以及探测人类的手势)，侵犯隐私的范围正在扩大。那么，你应该担心你的智能音箱正在监视你吗?
For years the tech industry has dreamed of computing appliances that are considered unremarkable items of household machinery, like washing machines or fridges. The smart speaker has finally realised this promise.
多年来，科技行业一直梦想着用不起眼的家用设备来控制家用电器(例如洗衣机或冰箱)。智能音箱的诞生终于让这个梦想得以实现。
It can sit on a kitchen counter and summon the wonders of the internet without the need for swiping or typing. Using it is like casting a spell. Say the magic words and you can conjure up dodgy Eighties rock while up to your elbows in washing-up, or prove to your mum that Ronaldo has scored more goals than Messi.
把它放在厨房的柜台上，无需刷卡或打字就能实现唤起互联网的奇迹。使用智能音箱就如同念咒语一般。说出神奇的咒语，你就能在洗碗时变戏法般地听到80年代的摇滚音乐，或是向你妈妈证明罗纳尔多的进球比梅西多得多。
This hands-free convenience has a cost: the speakers are constantly listening out for commands. As with any advanced and apparently magical technology, however, myths quickly grow up about how they work.
这种免提式的便利是需要付出代价的：扬声器会持续不断地听取命令。然而，就像任何先进的、明显具有魔力的技术一样，关于它们使如何工作的神话很快就形成了。
So start with some myth-busting. As Alexa herself contends, smart speakers are not sending every utterance into the tech giants’ digital vaults. Despite their name, the devices are simple-minded.
所以就从打破神话开始吧。正如 Alexa 自己所说的那样，智能音箱不会把每一句话都发送到科技巨头的数据保险库。除了名字简单外，这些智能音箱的“头脑”也很简单。
They listen out for wake words, and then send what follows to the cloud as an audio clip; when an answer arrives, in the form of another audio clip, they play it back. Putting all the smarts in the cloud means these speakers can be very cheap and acquire new skills as their cloud-based brains are continually upgraded.
它们会听取唤醒词，然后将后面的内容以音频片段的形式发送到云端;随后，它们会把答案(以另一个音频片段的形式)播放出来。将所有的智能储存在云端意味着这些智能音箱的价格可以做到很低，并且随着基于云端的大脑不断地升级，它们还可以获得新的技能。
As part of this improvement, manufacturers (such as Amazon) store sound clips of queries, so they can be assessed by humans if necessary. But Amazon notes that users can delete these clips at any time.
作为改进的一部分，智能音箱的制造商(如亚马逊)会储存用户询问的声音片段，以便在必要时进行人工评估。但亚马逊指出，用户可以随时删除这些音频片段。
There’s always the mute button if you are worried about accidentally triggering your speaker and sending a clip into the cloud during a sensitive conversation. Users, the firm insists, are in control.
如果你担心在一次敏感的谈话中不小心触发了你的扬声器并将音频片段发送到云端，你可以按下静音按钮。亚马逊坚称，一切都在用户的掌控之中。
Not everyone is convinced by such assurances, however. What if hackers infiltrate the devices? Could governments require manufacturers to provide back doors? Are their makers using them to snoop on people and then exploiting that information to target online ads or offer them particular products? Some people refuse to let Alexa and Siri into the house.
然而，并非所有人都相信这种保证。如果智能音箱被黑客侵入了怎么办?政府会要求制造商提供后门吗?制造商是否会利用智能音箱来窥探用户，然后利用这些信息发布定向在线广告或向用户提供特定的产品?因此，有些人拒绝让 Alexa 和 Siri 进入家里。
【重难点词汇】
creepy ['kripi] adj. 诡异的;令人毛骨悚然的;爬行的
proliferate [prə'lɪfə'ret] vi. 增殖;扩散;激增 vt. 使激增
snoop [snuːp] v. 窥探，调查，打探 n. 窥探者，私家侦探;窥探
infringe [ɪn'frɪndʒ] vt. 侵犯;违反;破坏 vi. 侵犯;侵害
swipe [swaɪp] vt. 猛击;偷窃;刷…卡 n. 猛击;尖刻的话 vi. 猛打;大口喝酒
conjure ['kʌndʒɚ] vt. 念咒召唤;用魔法驱赶;提出，想象;恳求 vi. 施魔法;变魔术
utterance ['ʌtərəns] n. 表达;说话;说话方式
trigger ['trɪɡɚ] n. 扳机;起因，引起反应的事;触发器，引爆装置 v. 触发，引起;开动(装置)
infiltrate [ɪn'fɪltret] vt. 使潜入;使渗入，使浸润 vi. 渗入 n. 渗透物
exploit [ɪkˈsplɔɪt] vt. 开发，开拓;剥削;开采 n. 勋绩;功绩
以上是北京文都考研网给出的“2020考研英语经济学人外刊:智能音箱正在窃取隐私，希望对备考2020考研英语的考生有所帮助!祝2020考研顺利!
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