It used to be a far-flung idea more at home in the world of science fiction, but the Swedish car maker Volvo is bringing driverless cars a step closer by recruiting a hundred people to travel to work next year in computer controlled vehicles. That’s not all. The trial requires the volunteers to read a book, sent texts and e-mails or even watch TV while sitting behind the wheel. The company says the cars will be designed to deal with any emergency so that human won’t have to. Richard Wesker has been giving the technology a try.

无人驾驶——科幻小说里才会出现的漫无边际的想法，但是瑞典汽车制造商沃尔沃要进一步实现这一理想。为此，沃尔沃招募了一百名志愿者明年体验坐计算机控制的汽车去上班。这还不够，试验要求志愿者坐在方向盘后面看书、发信息、邮件或看电视。该公司称，设计这款汽车的目的就是为了代替司机应对一切紧急情况。理查德•韦斯克尝试了这一技术。

To start with, Volvo’s volunteers will only use selected commuter routes. They’ve been picked because they don’t allow cyclists, pedestrians. And bear in mind, it’s Sweden, because they are regularly cleared of snow， the computer needs to see white lines. As we drove along amongst the lorries and buses, the man behind the technology pushed the button, let go of the wheel and started telling me about how it will work.

首先，沃尔沃的志愿者只会在精选路线上开车，因为这些路线禁止自行车和步行。另外记住，在瑞典，路上的雪是定期清扫的，电脑需要看到白线。我们在卡车和巴士中穿行，这项科技的创始人按下按钮，让车轮转起来，然后开始跟我讲述它的工作原理。

I mean, no one wants to say it out loud but computers can crash as well as humans, can’t they?

这话说出来不好听，但是计算机也会像人一样出车祸，对吧？

Oh yeah, computers can crash. So when we designed the system, we designed it with backup computers, with double breaking systems, double steering systems.

没错。计算机也会出车祸。所以我们在设计系统的时候，顺带设计了备用计算机、双刹车系统和双转向系统。

So the cars are gonna do this.

所以汽车会做各种操作。

Driver may be sitting relaxed, reading. We can not count on him or her, so the car has to do it.

司机可以放松地坐着看书。我们不能指望司机，只能靠汽车。

Will anyone actually want to do it? Will they want to commute in the morning with their hands off the steering wheel? Do you think it’s gonna be popular here, the idea of self driving cars?

会有人真的愿意尝试吗？愿意早上不握方向盘开车上班？你觉得这个想法，就是自动驾驶汽车的想法在这儿会受欢迎吗？

No, not for us. I don’t think people trust them.

不，不适合我们。我觉得大家不会相信这种车。

I think that it would be more safe if all the cars were driverless cars because then you take out the human factor.

我觉得如果所有车都是无人驾驶汽车会更安全，因为排除了人的因素。

Would you volunteer to try out the driverless car?

你愿意做志愿者尝试无人驾驶汽车吗？

Yeah, why not?

好啊，有何不可？

I think they will be a bit scary to not be like able to, yeah, you don’t know where it’s gonna turn.

我认为这种汽车会有点吓人，不能……嗯，你不知道它会往哪儿拐。

It could still take a decade or two, but eventually children will marvel at the idea that people actually used to drive their own cars.

可能还需要10年20年的时间才能让大家接受，但最终小孩们会为人类曾驾驶自己的汽车感到吃惊。

What choices are there for men in Sweden who don’t want to be fathers if their partner is pregnant? Well, the youth wing of Sweden’s Liberty Party is proposing that men, like women, should have the right to decide whether or not to have a baby. This would allow them to opt out of paternity until the 18th week of pregnancy, the last week, in which a woman in the country can have a legal abortion.

在瑞典，如果男人不想要即将出生的孩子，可以怎么办呢？听好了，瑞典自由党青年羽翼提议，男性应该像女性一样有权利决定孩子的出生。这就意味着他们可以在孕期第18周选择不做父亲，第18周是瑞典女性可以合法堕胎的最后一周。

We are proposing that a man can do legal abortion on paper and then he has no obligation to pay maintenance to the woman. And then he won’t have either obligations or duties or any rights against the child or the woman.

我们提议，男性可以书面申请合法堕胎，同时解除给女人生活费用的义务，即男性对孩子和产妇没有任何义务和责任。