托福阅读材料之智能冰箱洗衣机可“对话”

A fridge that talks to your washing machine and a television that instructs your dishwasher. It's all possible at CeBIT, the world's top high-tech fair.

冰箱和洗衣机“交谈”、电视向洗碗机“下令”……在世界高科技展会德国汉诺威通信和信息技术博览会（CeBIT）上，这一切都成为了现实。

But the question is: what's the point?

但问题是：这有什么意义呢？

"Well, for example, you could be sitting on your sofa in your living room and you want to turn on your washing machine," said Christian Prause, a developer of the yet-to-be finalised "Hydra" software.

Hydra软件尚未最终完工，研发人员克里斯汀•普瑞斯说：“比如你正坐在客厅的沙发上，想打开洗衣机。”

"If your smartphone  is equipped with our technology, you can send a message to the washing machine to turn itself on."

“如果你的智能手机安装了我们的技术，你就可以给洗衣机发条信息，命令它自己开工。”

"And if for whatever reason it doesn't work, you can ask your fridge to transmit  the order to the washing machine," he added.

他说：“不管出于什么原因，如果它没有开始洗，你还可以让冰箱当‘传声筒’，让它去‘告诉’洗衣机。”

Prause said vacationers too need not panic if they realise they leave home in haste.

普瑞斯称，度假者如果发现走得太匆忙了，也完全不必担心。

"Imagine you are 200 kilometres (130 miles) away, on holiday, and you realised you have forgotten to close your curtains."

“假如你正在离家有200公里（合130英里）远的地方度假，突然想起来忘记拉窗帘了。”

Not to worry. You can send a quick text message to your curtain remote control. If that doesn't work, you can always get your television or your radio to lend a hand.

不必担心。你可以立即向窗帘遥控器发送一条信息。如果它没有“开工”，你还可以让电视或者收音机帮你传个信儿。

The fruit of four years of research by 10 different partners, including the German Fraunhofer Institute, the Hydra project is financially supported by the European Union.

Hydra项目为欧盟资助，历时4年，由德国弗劳恩霍夫研究院等10所不同的机构合作完成。

Hydra "saves you time, energy and hassle ," Prause insisted. With a bit of luck, "such a system could perhaps eventually appear in the shops."

普瑞斯称Hydra系统“节约了你的时间、精力，给你免去了麻烦。”如果运气不错的话，“你以后就可以在商店里买到这样一个系统了。”