People Like Electronic Announcers

Computers are being given elocution lessons so that they can announce the comings and goings of French trains in regional accents. Computer-controlled synthesized voices are said to be more reassuring for passengers than man-made announcements from railway staff.

According to a survey, travellers bristle when they hear announcements in the refined tones adopted at airports. What they like best is a deep voice with a touch of regional homeliness, even when they know it comes from an electronic throat. Apparently, not even the voice of the stationmaster can produce the effect as well as computers.

Experiments to find the perfect electronic announcer were started two years ago when the station in the Champagne town of Rheims was used for tests. Those were considered a success but after trying out the voice at other stations it was found that the reassuring effect was increased if regional accents were added.

The generalised use of synthetic announcers will be put into effect during the next few months but the reason is not entirely psychological. The synthesiser is considered more reliable and flexible. It will not depend on recorded messages: the announcements will be put together on computer keyboard just before they are needed.

In the meantime, the voices are being put into service elsewhere, including information offices. Already, travellers at Paris Austerlitz can consult an experimental audio-visual information robot that chats away in four languages. Ticket offices

are also to be equipped with. automatic dispensers that respond to travellers oral commands because half of the system's passengers are said to prefer talking to an inanimate object that does not answer back or go on strike.

But there are no statistics available on the train drivers reaction to electronic voices.

Some drivers on main line services are now getting their instructions from robot voices, linked to/with ' centralised computers who nag them when they go too fast.

Vocabulary.

announce - объявлять, извещать

announcement - объявление

announcer - диктор

elocution - красноречие, ораторское искусство

coming - прибытие

going - отбытие, уход

reassuring - убедительный

staff - кадры, сотрудники

survey - исследование

bristle - здесь: сердиться

refined - рафинированный, очищенный

adopted - принятый

touch - здесь: оттенок

throat - горло

apparently - очевидно

stationmaster - начальник ж/д станции

increase - увеличиваться

add - добавлять

put* into effect - вводить в дейcтвие

entirely - абсолютно, полностью

reliable - надежный

flexible - гибкий

depend (on) - зависеть (от)

keyboard - клавиатура

in the meantime - а тем временем

put* into service - вводить в действие

chat - разговаривать

be equipped (with) - быть оборудованным

respond (to) - реагировать (на)

oral - устный

include - включать

inanimate - неодушевленный

strike - здесь: отбивать, парировать

linked to - подсоединенный к

Comprehension Check.

Ex. Answer the following questions.

1. What is the function of electronic announcers?

2. Why are they introduced at French railway stations?

3. What kind of experiment was conducted two years ago?

4. When will the results be put into effect?

5. Will the announcements be recorded beforehand?

6. What will ticket offices be equipped with?

7. Are there any statistics available on train drivers' reaction?

8. What instructions do train drivers get from centralised computers?

Topics to discuss.

1. Elocution lessons to computers.

2. Travellers' preferences concerning voices of announcers.

3. Synthetic announcers and their future.

4. Train drivers and centralised computers.

Text 4

Here are two extracts from a chapter in a book. Read them both and then

answer the questions.

Part 1. GESTURES.

A gesture is any action that sends a visual signal to an outlooker.

To become a gesture, an act has to be seen by someone else and has to communicate (передавать, сообщать) some piece of information to them. It can do this either (либо) because the gesture deliberately (намеренно) sets out to send a signal - as when he waves (махать) his hand - or it can do it only incidentally (случайно, непреднамеренно) - as when he sneezes (чихать). The hand-wave is a Primary (основной) Gesture, because it has no other existence or function. It is a piece of communication from start to finish. The sneeze, by contrast (напротив), is a secondary (вторичный), or Incidental Gesture. Its primary function is mechanical and is concerned (быть связанным с) with the sneezer's personal breathing (дыхание) problem. In its secondary role, however, it cannot help but transmit (передавать) a message to his companions, warning (предупреждать) them that he may have caught a cold (простыть).

Most people tend to limit their use of the term "gesture" to the primary form - the hand-wave type - but this misses (упускать) an important point. What matters (фвляться важным) with gesturing is not what signals we think we are sending out, but what sygnals are being received (получать). The observers (наблюдатели) of our act will make no distinction (различие)

between our intеntional (преднамеренный) Primary Gestures and our unintentional, incidental ones. In some ways, our Incidental Gestures are more illumination (соединение) of the two, if only the very (сам) fact that we do not think of them as gestures, and therefore (следовательно) do not

censor (отслеживать)and manipulate them so strictly (строго). This is why it is preferable (предпочтительно) to use the term "gesture" in its wider meaning as an "observed (наблюдаемый) action".

A convenient way to distinguish (различать) between Incidental and Primary Gestures is to ask the question: Would I do it if I were completely (абсолютно) alone? If the answer is NO, then it is a Primary Gesture. We do not wave, wink (подмигивать) or point (указывать) when we are by ourselves; not, that is, unless we have reached the unusual condition of talking animatedly to ourselves.

Comprehension Check.

Ex. Answer the following questions.

1. What is a gesture?

2. What is needed for a signal to become a gesture?

3. What is the difference between intentional and incidental gestures?

4. What do a sneeze and a wave of the hand have in common?

5. What kind of gesture is a yawn (зевание)?

6. What kind of gesture is a raised fist (поднятый кулак)?

7. How can we distinguish between Incidental and Primary actions?

Topics to Discuss.

1. Two types of gestures.

2. Meanings of intentional gestures.

Text 5

Part 2. SYMBOLIC GESTURES.

(from "Manwatching" by Desmond Morris).

A Symbolic Gesture indicates (обозначать) an abstract quality (качество) that has no simple equivalent in the world оf objects and movements (движения). How, for instance (например), would you make a silent sign for stupidity (глупость)? You might tap (постучать) your forefinger

(указательный палец) against your temple (висок), but this lacks (не хватать) accuracy (точность), since you might do precisely (точно) the same thing when indicating that someone is brainy (мозговитый). All the tap does it to point to (указыть на) the brain. To make the meaning (значение) more clear, you might instead twist (повертеть) your forefinger against your temple, indicating a "screw loose" (болтики развинтились). Alternatively, you might rotate (покрутить) your forefinger close to your temple, signalling that the brain is going round and is not stable (стабильный).

Many people would understand these temple-forefinger actions, but others would not. They would have their own local, stupidity gestures, which we in our turn (в свою очередь) would find confusing (приводить в замешательство), such as tapping the elbow (локоть) of the raised forearm, flapping (шлепать) the hand up and down in front of half-closed eyes, rotating a raised hand, or laying one forefinger flat across (поверх) the forehead (лоб).

The situation is further complicated (осложняться) by the fact that some stupidity signals mean totally (абсолютно) different things in different countries. To take one example, in Saudi Arabia stupidity can be signaalled by touching (касаться) the lower eyelid (веко) with the tip (кончик) of the forefinger. But this same action, in various other countries, can mean disbelief (неверие), approval (одобрение), agreement, mistrust (недоверие), scepticism, alertness (настороженность), secrecy, craftiness (сноровка), danger or criminality. The reason for this apparent (видимый) chaos of meanings is simple enough. By pointing to the eye, the gesturer is doing no more than stress (подчеркивать) the symbolic importance of the eye as a seeing organ. Beyond (помимо) that, the action says nothing, so that the message can become either: "Yes, I see", or "I can't believe my eyes", or "I like what I see", or almost any other seeing signal you care to imagine. In such a case it is essential (существенно) to know the precise (точный) "seeing" property (свойство) being represented by the symbolism of the gesture in any particular culture.

So we are faced (стфлктваться с) with two basic problems where Symbolic Gestures are concerned (затрагивать): either one meaning can be signalled by different actions, or several meanings may be signalled by the same action, as we move from culture to culture. The only solution (решение) is to approach (подход) each culture with an open mind and learn their Symbolic Gestures as one would their vocabulary (словарный запас).

Comprehension Check.

Ex. Answer the following questions.

1. What is a Symbolic Gesture?

2. What meanings can be designated (обозначаться) by tepmple-forefinfer actions?

3. What is needed to be understand Symbolic Gestures rights?

4. How many different signs does the writer describe for stupidity?

5. Why should we learn the gestures of different countries?

Topics to Discuss.

1. Examples of Symbolic Gestures.

2. Symbolic Gestures in different cultures.

Text 6