托福阅读背景知识（六）

　　“The computer knows where the drone wants to go by tracking where the person is,” explained Leigh. “We are feeding that data from the computer to the drone so that it can move smoothly to the required position.”

　　利解释道：“电脑通过追踪人的位置，就能知晓飞翔的家具应去往何处。我们将电脑中的数据传输给家具，使其准确移动到指定位置。”

　　Currently, the duo faces two main challenges: stabilizing the drone, and feeding it a regular power supply (at the moment, it’s connected to a power socket).

　　如今，两位研究者面临着两大挑战：增强飞翔家具的稳定型，并实现充电功能(现在它们仍依赖电源插座)。

　　Drones can’t support much weight yet, so the team opted for a paper tabletop. They soon found, however, that if they placed the tabletop directly on top of the drone, it blocked airflow. To solve this problem, they made the distance between the drone base and its paper tabletop greater so it could keep flying.

　　飞翔家具还无法承受过多的重量，因此研究团队选用了纸质台面。然而他们很快发现，如果直接将台面搁到飞翔家具上，会阻碍飞行。为了解决这个问题，他们加大了飞翔家具底座和纸质台面的距离，以保证它能飞行。

　　Agrawal said that in the future, they could optimize stability by replacing a hovering desk with one that parks in front of users when they need it, then clears off when the user has finished their task.

　　阿格拉瓦尔认为，在未来，他们将优化飞翔家具的性能，用飞翔的桌子代替用户面前静态的桌子，当使用者工作完成后，桌子能自动离开。

　　Ultimately, the researchers are set on enchanting everyday appliances so that they surpass their limitations as static objects, and have a more socially collaborative relationship with their human owners.

　　最终，研究者将让日常家电也魔力四射，它们将超越传统静态物品的局限，与人类建立更好的协作关系

　　Vocabulary

　　sentient: 有感情的;有感觉力的

　　lampshade: 灯罩

　　power socket: 电源插座

四、托福阅读背景知识：“安妮•海瑟薇综合症”

　　When you work hard, when that work is awarded, when your body and beauty match societal standards, when you check every box, and still everyone tells you you're doing it wrong, that's Anne Hathaway Syndrome.

　　当你辛勤工作，当你付出的努力获得了认可，当你的身材和美貌已符合大众标准，当你做到十全十美时，每个人却都告诉你，你的所作所为都是错的，这就是安妮•海瑟薇综合症。

　　对于完美如她却如此招恨的原因，各界众说纷纭：

　　Hathaway could simply be a victim of what the British call "tall poppy syndrome" — the bloom that pokes above the others is the first to get cut, according to The New York Times.

　　据《纽约时报》分析，海瑟薇可能只是英国人所说的“高罂粟花综合征”的受害者——长得最高的花是第一个被摘掉的。

　　"We love authenticity, that's why we have a billion reality shows," said Neal Gabler, an author of several best-selling books on Hollywood culture and history. "And here comes Anne Hathaway. Everything she does seems managed, calculated or rehearsed. Her inauthenticity - or the feeling of her inauthenticity - is now viral."

　　写过好几部关于好莱坞文化历史畅销书的尼尔•加布勒表示：“我们都热爱真实，这就是为什么我们有那么多的真人秀。而现在来说说安妮•海瑟薇，她做的每件事似乎都是精心策划、经过计算或事先排练过的。她的不真实——或者说她给人的不真实的感觉——是如今的大忌。

　　No one, it should be noted, accuses her of doing anything wrong. Rather, Hathaway seems to have become a mirror for our own inadequacies, said Sarah Nicole Prickett, a writer for Vice and The New Inquiry, a culture and commentary site. "It's not really Anne Hathaway I 'hate,'" she said. "It's all the lesser, real-life Anne Hathaways I have known — princessy, theater-schooled girls who have no game and no sex appeal and eat raisins for dessert."

　　Vice网站和文化与评论网站The New Inquiry的撰稿人莎拉•妮科尔•普里克特称，必须指出的是，没人认为她做错了什么。相反，海瑟薇似乎成了一面照亮我们不足的镜子。“其实我‘讨厌’的不是安妮•海瑟薇，而是我认识的所有那些不那么优秀的、更真实的安妮•海瑟薇——那些上过戏剧学校的、公主般的女孩，她们没有心计，不性感，把葡萄干当甜点。”

　　"Why Do Women Hate Anne Hathaway (But Love Jennifer Lawrence)?" Ann Friedman asked on New York magazine's fashion and women's issues blog, The Cut. "We simply don't find successful 'perfect' women all that likable," she wrote, adding that women prefer sassy best-friend types like Jennifer Lawrence, with her Oscar-night podium stumbles and self-effacing jokes about Spanx and cheese steaks.

　　“为什么女人讨厌安妮•海瑟薇却喜爱詹妮弗•劳伦斯呢?”安•弗里德曼在《纽约》杂志关于时尚和女性话题的博客The Cut中这样问道。“我们只是觉得成功、‘完美’的女人不那么可爱，”她写道。她又补充说，女人更喜欢活泼的、闺蜜型的女人，比如詹妮弗•劳伦斯，她在奥斯卡领奖台上摔倒以及关于塑身裤和奶酪牛排的谦逊笑话都显得那么可爱。