自助结账机寓言
Business
Bartleby
The parable of the supermarket self-checkout
How imperfect technologies spread.
Imagine an invention that is worse at what it does than humans, threatens jobs and increases the potential for crime.
翻译&笔记
想象一项发明，它比人类做事更差劲，不仅威胁就业，还增加了犯罪的可能性。
You might think it would go nowhere fast.
In fact, the supermarket self-checkout machine is a parable of technology adoption - how something can spread despite imperfections - and also one of management: how real-world trade-offs affect rates of change.
翻译&笔记
事实上，超市自助结账机器就是技术应用的寓言一一尽管存在缺陷，但是某些技术仍能传播开来一一同时也是管理学的寓言:现实中的权衡如何影响变革的速度。
parable：n.寓言
technology adoption：技术应用
trade-offs：n.权衡；交易
Start with its spread.
Before self-checkout came self-service.
翻译&笔记
自助结账出现前有自助服务。
The Piggly-Wiggly grocery chain, which opened in Memphis, Tennessee in 1916, was the first in America to allow customers to pick items from the shelves for themselves rather than asking a clerk to fetch them.
翻译&笔记
1916年在田纳西州孟菲斯市开业的“小猪商店”杂货连锁店，是美国首家允许顾客自行从货架挑选商品，而无需让店员代取的超市。
fetch：v.（去）取来；推导出；吸引，迷住
It took a while for American shoppers to be able to scan and pay for goods themselves.
Kroger, another retailer, introduced self-checkout machines in 1986.
翻译&笔记
另一家零售商克罗格于1986年推出了自助结账机。
introduce：v.介绍；引进，推出
It was not until this century that they became widespread.
翻译&笔记
直到本世纪这种机器才变得普及。
原句：They did not become widespread until this century.
It was + 被强调的部分 + that + 句子剩余部分
All new technologies must get over the problem of forcing people to change their behaviour.
翻译&笔记
所有新技术都必须解决迫使人们改变行为习惯的问题。
force people to：强迫人们去
In Britain, initial encounters with self-scan machines involved a disembodied voice shouting "unexpected item in the baggage area" at you no matter what you did.
翻译&笔记
在英国，初次接触自助扫描机时，无论你做什么，都会听到一个没有实体的声音对你大喊“装袋区有异常物品”。
initial encounters：初次接触
disembodied：adj.无实体的；空洞的
baggage area：n.行李领取区；装袋区
Even now, they bring their own very specific irritations-age-verification checks to buy alcohol even though you remember using faxes; a ten-step process to confirm that the yellow, waxy citrus fruit you put in your basket is a lemon.
翻译&笔记
即便是现在，自助结账机也有它们非常具体的烦人之处一买酒时要进行年龄验证，尽管你是记得如何使用传真机的老人； 要经过十个步骤才能确认你放进篮子里的那颗黄色、蜡质柑橘类水果是柠檬。
A cashier at an assisted lane can handle these thorny problems without having to think; skilled ones can also scan items much faster than customers.
翻译&笔记
人工通道的收银员无需思考就能处理这些棘手问题，熟练的收银员扫描商品的速度也比顾客快得多。
lane：乡间小路；线路；车道；泳道
thorny：带刺的；棘手的
Why then are self-service machines a fixture in most retailers?
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那么为什么自助服务机成为大多数零售商的固定配置呢？
The big reason is economic: the ratio of staff to customers is much lower for self-checkout machines than it is on assisted lanes.
翻译&笔记
主要原因是经济方面的：自助结账机与人工通道相比，员工与顾客的比例要低得多。
还原被省略的部分：the ratio of staff to customers** is much lower for self-checkout machines than (the ratio of staff to customers) is (lower) on assisted lanes.
主干结构：The ratio ... is much lower for sth than it is on/for（根据名词选择对应的介词） sth
The environmental cost is often lower for digital products than it is for physical goods.
数字产品的环境成本通常比实体商品更低。
The error rate is higher for automated translation than it is for human translation.
自动翻译的错误率比人工翻译更高。
The ratio of A to B has reached 3 to 7.
A与B的比例达到了3:7
The lure of cost savings in a highly competitive industry gave supermarkets a strong incentive to stick with them even as customers griped at doing something new.
翻译&笔记
在竞争激烈的零售行业中，节约成本的诱惑让超市有强烈的动力坚持使用这些机器，即便顾客对尝试新事物有所抱怨。
the lure of：...的诱惑/吸引力
a strong incentive to：强烈的动力/动机
griped at doing something：对某事抱怨
griped：v.抱怨；使难受
gripped：vt.紧咬，紧握，抓住（grip的过去式与过去分词）
Persisting with them meant that shoppers became more used to self-checkout, and gave the technology a chance to improve. It will, however, be a long time before assisted lanes disappear entirely.
翻译&笔记
坚持使用自助结账意味着购物者逐渐适应了这种模式，同时也为技术改进提供了机会。 然而，人工通道完全消失仍需很长时间。
meant：mean的过去式和过去分词
When queues build up and stores need to speed up transactions, human cashiers are better.
翻译&笔记
当队伍排起长龙，商店需要加快交易速度时，人工收银员更胜一筹。
build up：逐渐发展；积累
And customers' preferences vary greatly. Older folk still tend to like cashiers; younger ones are less keen.
翻译&笔记
而且顾客的偏好差异很大。 老年人往往仍偏爱人工收银，年轻人则不那么热衷。
Chatty types might want a natter; introverts would prefer an acid bath.
翻译&笔记
话多的人可能想闲聊几句，内向的人宁愿跳进硫酸浴缸也不愿开口。
introvert：n.内向的人；adj. 内向的；v.使内倾
extrovert：n.性格外向者，善于社交的人；adj.外向的，活泼友好的
Levino Perrucci of NCR-Voyix, an American company which develops self-checkout technology, says that users fall into several categories.
翻译&笔记
开发自助结账技术的美国公司NCR-Voyix的莱维诺·佩鲁齐表示，用户分为几类。
fall into：陷入某事；归属于特定的类别或范围
"Tech-enabled shoppers" will seek out the whizziest checkout, for example; "necessity shoppers" will pick the option that enables them to get in and out of the store as quickly as possible.
翻译&笔记
例如，“科技赋能型购物者”会寻找最炫酷先进的结账方式，而“刚需型购物者”则会选择能让他们最快进出商店的选项。
Most supermarkets must cater to them all.
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大多数超市必须迎合所有人的需求。
Self-checkout machines are themselves designed to negotiate several trade-offs.
翻译&笔记
自助结账机本身就是为了平衡多种取舍而设计的。
此处themselves作主语的同位语，起强调作用。
negotiate：v.谈判，磋商；达成协议；解决（难题）
Employers want lower costs. But they also need to provide a decent customer experience and control "shrink", the name that retailers give to lost stock when shoppers - inadvertently or maliciously - fail to pay for things.
翻译&笔记
雇主希望降低成本。 但也需要提供良好的客户体验并控制“损耗”，这是零售商对顾客无意或恶意未付款而造成的库存损失的说法。
decent：adj.得体的；正派的
descent：n.下降
shrink：v.缩小；缩水；畏缩；损耗；n.畏缩
shrink from：回避，面对..畏缩
shrink into oneself：缩成一团
stock：n.库存；资本，股票等
These goals do not line up neatly. Employing fewer cashiers cuts costs, for example, but also opens the door to more shrink.
翻译&笔记
这些目标并不完全一致。 例如，减少收银员数量可以降低成本，但是也可能导致更多商品损耗。
line up：排队；对齐；安排
neatly：adv.整齐地
opens the door to：给...以机会
So lots of self-checkout machines have weight-sensitive surfaces where you have to place each scanned item before proceeding to the next one; some retailers install exit gates that only open for people who have paid.
翻译&笔记
所以许多自助结账机配备了重量感应台面，顾客必须将每件扫描后的商品放在台面上才能继续扫描下一件，部分零售商还安装了出口闸机， 只有完成支付的顾客才能通过。
surface：n.表面；水面，地面，桌面；v. 浮出水面；adj.外表的，表面的；表层的
preface：v.n.序
proceed to：按计划继续进行
Measures like these deter shoplifters, but at the cost of slowing down customers.
翻译&笔记
此类措施虽能震慑顺手牵羊的人，却以拖慢顾客购物速度为代价。
at the cost of：以...为代价
These same trade-offs explain why checkout nirvana is so difficult to achieve.
翻译&笔记
同样的权衡解释了为什么结账的完美境界如此难以实现。
nirvana：涅槃；天堂
In theory, Amazon Go, a sensor-packed store where customers can just walk out without going anywhere near a checkout, offers a perfect customer experience and a way to reduce shrink to nothing.
翻译&笔记
理论上，亚马逊无人超市配备了众多传感器，顾客无需靠近收银台即可直接离开，这种模式提供了完美的购物体验，同时还能将商品损耗降至零。
In practice, industry observers say that it is extremely expensive to track every item in a shop digitally (and consumers are still required to learn strange new behaviour).
翻译&笔记
实际上，行业观察人士指出，对商店内每件商品进行数字化追踪的成本极其高昂（而且消费者仍需学习陌生的新的行为方式)。
RFID tags do work beautifully for higher-margin products like clothes, but the sums don't add up in the cut-throat world of cheap groceries.
翻译&笔记
射频识别标签在服装等高利润产品上的确效果显著，但是在竞争激烈的平价杂货行业，这笔账并不划算。
margin：n.页边空白；利润；余地；v.给...加上边；预付定金
cut-throat：adj.竞争激烈的；杀人的，凶狠的；n.凶手；折叠剃刀
Real-world constraints mean that technologies often take small steps rather than great leaps. Self-checkout technology is no different.
翻译&笔记
现实世界的限制意味着技术发展往往只能小步前进，而非大步跨越。 自助结账技术也不例外。
In the offices of NCR-Voyix in Atlanta, Mr Perrucci's team is working on machines with overhead cameras which use AI to identify items without the need for scanning. These machines can still get confused if items are piled on top of each other.
翻译&笔记
在亚特兰大NCR-Voyix办公室里，佩鲁奇的团队正在研发配备顶部摄像头的机器，这些机器利用人工智能识别商品，无需扫描。 如果商品堆叠在一起，这些机器仍可能识别混乱。
pile：n.一堆；大量，大笔钱财；（地毯的）绒面；痔疮；v.堆放；盘起头发
pile into the bus：挤进公交车
But they fit into existing consumer behaviour. They should also be better at identifying that bloody lemon.
翻译&笔记
但是它们能融入现有消费者的行为。 而且应该也更擅长识别那个烦人的柠檬。
fit into：适合/融入于
fit into society：融入社会
📌 关于数据比较的表达
还原被省略的部分：the ratio of staff to customers** is much lower for self-checkout machines than (the ratio of staff to customers) is (lower) on assisted lanes.
主干结构：The ratio ... is much lower for sth than it is on/for（根据名词选择对应的介词） sth
The environmental cost is often lower for digital products than it is for physical goods.
数字产品的环境成本通常比实体商品更低。
The error rate is higher for automated translation than it is for human translation.
自动翻译的错误率比人工翻译更高。
The ratio of A to B has reached 3 to 7.
A与B的比例达到了3:7
And customers' preferences vary greatly. Older folk still tend to like cashiers; younger ones are less keen.
Users fall into several categories.
These goals do not line up neatly.