Unit3 Tomorrow’s World單元學案

wearables are also slowly making their way into the auto-repair market. a company called microvision (mvis ) recently introduced its nomad head-mounted display. it covers one eye, but it's see-through, allowing auto technicians to examine the innards of a car and check them against on-screen computer drawings at the same time. it comes as a baseball cap clip-on, to be more unobtrusive. so far, it's a hit: at jim fisher volvo dealership in portland, ore., which has been testing the system for about seven months, productivity of technicians went up 10% to 20%, says service manager john prosser. better yet, customers talking to technicians who are wearing these contraptions also are more likely to agree to repairs, pushing revenue up 15% to 18%. says prosser: "this makes [technicians] want to get involved and to cross this bridge of reluctance" in using a new technology. indeed, many more people will want to cross that bridge in the coming years -- making for a booming market for wearable computers that don't look like something out of an old star trek episode. 最新型的可穿著電腦產品在外觀方面與普通衣物幾乎沒有什么兩樣，而售價的降低和功能的豐富也許會使它成為未來人類不可或缺的工具之一。    the latest generation of these ever-smarter garments look like ordinary clothes, assembled together with velcro that conducts electricity, these pieces form a bag that looks, feels, and weighs like your typical leather purse.     你能否想象一臺僅僅4英寸大小的電腦？用戶可以方便地隨身攜帶，重量與一件普通的皮夾克差不多。它，就是“可穿著式電腦”。最新型的可穿著電腦產品在外觀方面與普通衣物幾乎沒有什么兩樣，而售價的降低和功能的豐富也許會使它成為未來人類不可或缺的工具之一。     據美國《商業周刊》3月8日報道，這種“小家伙”可以幫助用戶通過無線方式與主人的其他財物保持聯系，并隨時隨地提醒用戶一些生活細節。當用戶離開房間的時候，它會乖巧地提醒主人不要忘記攜帶錢包；在主人出行時，它會自動查詢天氣預報，幫助主人做到未雨綢繆；它甚至還可以在主人穿著的圍脖中加入喜歡的歌曲。     的確，這些高科技的電腦更多情況下只能出現在科幻小說的情節當中。不過，根據市場調查機構idc提供的預測數據，下一代“可穿著式電腦”產品在未來幾年中將成為市場上的常見商品。idc預測，這種高科技產品的銷量，包括電腦錢包、電腦手表、電腦t恤，將從去年的26萬臺提高到XX年的139萬臺。     高科技電腦產品的背后都有著堅實的技術支柱。過去兩年中，美國杜邦公司發明了一種新型的纖維材質，名為aracon。這種材料具有超高強度并可導電，最重要的是，它可以被任意地折疊并制作成衣服。芯片制造商英飛凌（infineon）公司也開發了一款專門用于可穿著電腦產品的芯片包，這種芯片包可以在衣物電腦被水洗的過程中保護芯片的安全。