Your next vacation may be virtual
Oct.26 · 2019
Japan's biggest airline is betting that the future of travel isn't traveling at all. For the last month, a married couple has been interacting with a robot — called an Avatar — that's controlled by their daughter hundreds of miles away. Made by ANA Holdings Inc., it looks like a vacuum cleaner with an iPad attached. But the screen displays the daughter’s face as they chat, and its wheels let her trundle about the house as though she’s really there.
“Virtual travel” is nothing new, of course. Storytellers, travel writers and artists have been stimulating the senses of armchair tourists for centuries. It's only in recent decades that frequent, safe travel has become available to the non-wealthy.
Yet even as the world's middle classes climb out of the armchair and into economy-class seats, there are hints of a post-travel society emerging. Concerns about sustainability are taking a toll on carbon-intensive airlines. And the aging of affluent societies is both inhibiting physical travel and creating demand for alternative ways to experience the world. For the travel industry, virtual reality offers a tantalizing response to these trends.
Of course, far-out technologies encourage far-out claims. ANA doesn't plan to start selling Avatars until next year. Profits, too, will probably be elusive: By one estimate, the global market for this kind of technology will be worth only about $300 million by 2023. By contrast, ANA’s traditional travel business brought in more than $19 billion last year.
But if the business case for virtual vacations is still weak, the market for technologies that bridge physical distances between families and coworkers seems likely to only expand. ANA's robots may not replace its airplanes any time soon, but they’ll almost certainly be a part of travel's high-tech future.
重點詞匯
virtual/?v??.t?u.?l/
adj. 虛擬的
搭配短語：virtual reality
bet/bet/
v. 打賭慎菲，賭博坞靶；敢肯定恃锉，非常確定
搭配短語：bet sb. sth. that …
例句：I bet Daniel 10 yuan that it won't rain tomorrow.
例句：I bet that I'm too late for work today.
holding/?ho?l.d??/
n. 人或機構(gòu)所擁有或持有的資產(chǎn)
英文釋義：any property that is owned or possessed
trundle/?tr?n.d?l/
v.（借助輪子）慢慢地移動，滾動
英文釋義：to move slowly on wheels
例句：A train trundled across the bridge.
stimulate/?st?m.j?.le?t/
v. 激發(fā)弥雹，激勵；促進(jìn)；使...變得活躍
英文釋義：to encourage something to grow, develop, or become active
搭配短語：a policy designed to stimulate economic growth
armchair/?ɑ?rm.t?er/
adj. 無實際經(jīng)驗的拖刃；空談的
相關(guān)詞匯：armchair（n. 扶手椅）
搭配短語：an armchair critic
post-travel/po?st.?tr?v.?l/
adj. 后旅游的；不再那么依賴外出旅游的
詞根詞綴：post-（后）
派生詞：post-match（adj. 賽后的）
派生詞：post-war（adj. 戰(zhàn)后的）
sustainability/s??ste?.n??b?l.?.t?i/
n. 可維持性
詞性拓展： sustain（v. 維持贪绘，使持續(xù)）
詞根詞綴：-able（能夠）
搭配短語：environmental sustainability
take a toll (on sth./sb.)
造成損失或傷亡
相關(guān)詞匯：toll（n. 傷亡兑牡，損失）
搭配短語：take a heavy toll on sb./sth.
例句：Years of smoking have taken a heavy toll on his health.
carbon-intensive/?kɑ?r.b?n ?n?ten.s?v/
adj. 碳排放量很高的
相關(guān)詞匯：carbon（n. 碳）
相關(guān)詞匯：intensive（adj. 密集的；加強的）
相關(guān)詞匯：labor-intensive（adj. 勞動密集型的）
affluent/??f.lu.?nt/
adj. 富裕的税灌；富足的
相關(guān)詞匯：wealthy
相關(guān)詞匯：rich
詞義辨析：affluent, wealthy
兩個詞都有“富有”的含義均函，但 wealthy 一般指的是某人有足夠的資產(chǎn)可以讓不用工作也能享受高品質(zhì)的生活亿虽，而 affluent 指的是那些通過高收入來維持富足生活的人。一般來說苞也，affluent 的人需要承受更高的風(fēng)險洛勉，一旦失去工作，原來生活的水平可能就會受到直接的影響如迟，而 wealthy 的人就基本不會受到這個因素的影響收毫。
搭配短語：affluent families
inhibit/?n?h?b.?t/
v. 抑制；約束
英文釋義：to slow down a process or the growth of something
例句：A lack of oxygen may inhibit brain development in the unborn child.
tantalizing/?t?n.t??.la?.z??/
adj. 逗引性的殷勘；挑逗性的此再；誘人的
詞性拓展：tantalize（v. 逗弄 ; 引誘 ）
英文釋義： making you want something that you cannot have or do
搭配短語：tantalizing pictures of delicious food
文化補充：單詞 tantalize 來源于希臘神話，據(jù)說宙斯有一個兒子叫 Tantalus玲销，這個人十分邪惡：他烹殺自己的兒子输拇，邀請眾神赴宴。宙斯知道這事之后贤斜，勃然大怒策吠，對他實施了一項特殊的懲罰，他把 Tantalus 放進(jìn)一池深水中央蠢古，但是每當(dāng)他想要去喝水時奴曙，池水就會立馬流走，在 Tantalus 身后的岸邊長著結(jié)滿了果實的樹草讶，可是等他踮腳去摘這些果實時洽糟，這些果實就會被吹向空中，除了要忍受這些折磨外堕战，最可怕的痛苦是不間斷地被對死亡恐懼所鉗制坤溃，因為他的頭頂上吊著一塊隨時都會掉下來的大石頭，將他壓得粉碎嘱丢。
far-out/?fɑ?r ?a?t/
adj. 不因循守舊的薪介，前衛(wèi)的；超前的
相關(guān)詞匯：far（adj. 遙遠(yuǎn)的）
相關(guān)詞匯：out（adv. 向外）
elusive/i?lu?.s?v/
adj. 難以得到的越驻；難以實現(xiàn)的
相關(guān)詞匯：elude（v. 避開汁政，躲避；使無法做成）
搭配短語：Sleep eludes sb.
例句：The thief managed to elude the police.
搭配短語：elusive objectives
business case
商業(yè)價值
英文釋義：an explanation or set of reasons describing how a business decision will improve a business, product, etc.
例句：No device exists that makes a compelling business case for 5G.
almost certainly
幾乎可以肯定
例句：The story is almost certainly false.
