双语新闻：机器人还需要“改造”

　　如果让机器人帮助照顾老人小孩以及做一些简单家务，那么每天可为人节省一个多小时的时间。机器人还能为人们朗读书本和帮助老人洗澡。

　　"Seniors are pushing back their retirement until they are 65 years old, day care centres are being built so that more women can work during the day, and there is a move to increase the quota of foreign labourers. But none of these can beat the shrinking workforce," said Takao Kobayashi, who worked on the study.

　　研究人员高尾小林说：“老年人的退休年龄推迟到了65岁，日托中心正在建立，尽管这让女性可以出去工作，而且政府也开始实行增加外来劳动力的举措，但这些都无法从根本上解决劳动力不断减少的问题。”

　　"Robots are important because they could help in some ways to alleviate such shortage of the labour force."

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　　The current fertility rate is 1.3 babies per woman, far below the level needed to maintain the population, while the government estimates that 40 percent of the population will be over 65 by 2055, raising concerns about who will look after the greying population.

　　日本目前的生育率为平均每个妇女生育1.3个孩子，远远不足以维持人口增长。此外，据政府估计，到2055年，日本40%的人口将超过65岁，这种状况让人担忧谁来照顾这些老龄人口。

　　Kobayashi said changes were still needed for robots to make a big impact on the workforce.

　　小林说，如果要让机器人发挥更大的作用，还需对它们进行改造。

　　"There's the expensive price tag, the functions of the robots still need to improve, and then there are the mindsets of people," he said."People need to have the will to use the robots."

　　他说：“机器人价格昂贵，功能仍需改善，同时还有人们的观念，必须要让人们愿意使用机器人。”

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