VOA慢速英语2016 虚拟现实电影让观众身临其境

New Technology Aims to Put Audiences ‘Inside’ the Movie 虚拟现实电影让观众身临其境

A new technology might change the way people watch movies in the theater.

一项新技术可能会改变人们在影院观看电影的方式。

Instead of watching a film on the screen, you would enter the scene and watch the action take place all around you.

人们并非在屏幕上观看电影，而是身临现场观看身边发生的各种情节。

This is what Virtual Reality, or VR, and 360-degree video promise to give audiences. The idea is to make you feel like you are in the movie.

这就是虚拟现实技术和360度视频能给观众提供的体验，目标就是让你感觉身临其境。

Online websites like YouTube and Vimeo already offer some VR films.  Both professionals and amateurs have made these kinds of films. To watch, people wear expensive headsets that cover their eyes and ears. 

YouTube和Vimeo等网站已经提供了一些虚拟现实电影。专业人们和业余爱好者都制作了这种类型的电影。要观看这种电影，人们要佩戴昂贵的、覆盖了眼镜和耳朵的虚拟现实头盔。

There are less costly 2 ways to see VR films. Many people use their smart phones, placed in a special cardboard box. Then, they hold it up to their eyes to watch.  The boxes can be bought from Google for $15.

还有些成本更低的方式来看虚拟现实电影。许多人把他们的智能手机放入一个特制的盒子中，然后把盒子拿到眼前观看。这些盒子可以花15美元从谷歌公司买到。

People are experiencing the technology in many places.

人们在很多地方体验到这种技术。

South by Southwest (SXSW) is a media and technology conference held every year in Austin, Texas. This March, people put on headsets there to watch part of a funny crime film shot in VR in Baltimore, Maryland.

西南偏南是德克萨斯州奥斯汀市每年举办的媒体和技术大会。今年3月，人们在这里戴上虚拟现实头盔观看了一段有趣的犯罪电影片段，这部电影是在马里兰州巴尔的摩市利用虚拟现实技术拍摄的。

The people who produced “Career Opportunities in Organized Crime,” say it is the first full-length film made in 360-degree Virtual Reality.

《Career Opportunities in Organized Crime》这部电影的制作方表示，这是第一部完全用360度虚拟现实技术拍摄的电影。

But with 360-degree filming, there is a problem. If viewers looked away from the main action on their headset and “turned around,” they could see the crew shooting the film.

但是360度拍摄存在一个问题。观众把视线从虚拟现实头盔中看到的主要情节转移开，扭头就能看到拍摄电影的工作人员。

To solve this problem, they made the film a “mockumentary,” in other words, a fake documentary. In this way, making the film became part of the story.

为了解决这个问题，他们让这部影片成为一部伪纪录片。通过这样，让电影成为故事的一部分。

VR headsets are also being used to view films that allow people to travel around the world without leaving home.

虚拟现实头盔还被用于观看各种让人们足不出户环游世界的影片。

A company called YouVisit has films that can be used to advertise trips. It can also help people who cannot physically 3 travel, but want to feel the experience of going places.

一家名为YouVisit的公司拥有可用于宣传旅行的影片。它还能帮助到无法真实旅行却又想亲身感受的人们。

VR headsets have been used in some computer games. But many people experience sea sickness, or nausea 4, when using them.

虚拟现实头盔已经被用于一些电脑游戏，但是很多人在使用时感觉眩晕或恶心。

Also at South by Southwest recently, companies showed off other movie technologies. Some used special screens.

同样是在最近的西南偏南大会上，各个公司展示了其它电影技术。有些使用了特殊的屏幕。

One company, Japanese NHK Media Technology Company, showed their 8K resolution 3-D, or three dimensional, film. The sound system for the film used 24 speakers. As music played around the people watching, images appeared to jump out of the screen in sharp detail.

日本NHK媒体技术公司展示了他们8K分辨率的三维电影。这部电影采用了24扬声器的声音系统。观看时音乐在四周响起，图像的锐利细节像是要跳出屏幕来。

But this high technology comes at a high cost. A company spokesman said the video and sound system costs $500,000 to set up. That is more than average movie theaters would pay.

但是这种高科技耗费巨大。该公司发言人表示，设立该视频和声音系统需要耗资50万美元，这比一般影院愿意支付的高出很多。

Another system shown at South by Southwest was more accessible.

西南偏南大会上展示的另一种系统则更容易获得。

A Utah company, Fulldome.pro 1, uses a dome 5—a structure that is shaped like half a ball. The company set up a dome at an angle to the floor with a film playing inside. Viewers sit back in comfortable seats inside the dome to watch the images in front of them with a 180-degree view. 

犹他州的Fulldome.pro公司采用了一个半球结构。该公司在地板上以一定角度设置了一个半球，放映机放置在半球内部。观众们坐在半球内部舒适的座椅上以180度视角观看在他们面前呈现的画面。

It is too early to know how these technologies will change the movie business. Theater owners are not quick to invest a lot of money in devices that might be popular for only a short time.

想知道这些技术将会如何改变电影业尚为时过早。影院老板不会很快就在可能只会短暂流行的设备上投入大量资金。

However, the movie theater business faces tough competition from home theater systems, online streaming and piracy 6.

然而，电影院生意面临着家庭影院系统、在线观看和盗版影片的激烈竞争。

Changing the way people see movies in a theater might give the business new life. Theaters may have a brighter future if they can provide a movie experience that people cannot get at home.

如果电影院能够提供一种观众在家无法获得的电影体验，它可能就会前途光明。

Words in This Story

amateur – n. not professional

nausea – n. the feeling in your stomach when you might vomit 7

accessible – adj. able to reach or be approached

angle – n. used to describe a something that leans or goes to the side instead of straight up and down

streaming – v. watching or sending out audio or video on the internet

piracy – n. the act of illegally making television or radio broadcasts