會說三國語言的日本機器人迎賓小姐
Meet Chihira Junco, a tourist greeter at a shopping mall in Tokyo.
來見見地平Junco(Chihira Junco)吧，她是東京一個購物中心的遊客迎賓員。
In her crisp blue button-down shirt, white blazer and pinstripe skirt, she stands in sensible pumps behind a counter in Aqua City Odaiba on Tokyo Bay, dispensing directions to local sites and shops in Japanese, Chinese and English.
她身穿湛藍色前係扣襯衫、白色上衣和細條紋半身裙，腳踩實用的輕便鞋，站在東京灣臺場海洋城(Aqua City Odaiba)的一個櫃檯後面，用日語、中文和英語分發當地景點和商店的指南。
She is not, however, human.
不過，她不是人。
Ms. Junco — if you can use an honorific for a machine — joins an incipient group of androids springing up around Japan.
Junco小姐——如果可以把敬語用在一個機器身上的話——是日本各地涌現的初代機器人中的一員。
There are also Yumeko, a receptionist at the Hen-na Hotel, a robot-operated boutique in Nagasaki, and Matsukoloid, who appears in a popular television variety show with her human doppelgänger, Matsuko Deluxe.
其他的機器人還有前臺接待員夢子(Yumeko)和松子機器人(Matsukoloid)。夢子在位於長崎的精品酒店奇特酒店(Hen-na Hotel)工作，這家酒店由機器人運營；而松子機器人和她的人類分身松子Deluxe(Matsuko Deluxe)一起出現在一個熱門電視綜藝節目上。
Toshiba, the electronics company, developed Chihira Junco in collaboration with technology labs at several Japanese universities.
電子公司東芝(Toshiba)與日本幾所大學的技術實驗室合作開發了地平Junco。
She and four other androids cost ￥10 million (about $93,000) to produce, but only Ms. Junco — Chihira? — is currently out in public, while the others remain with their maker.
她和另外四名機器人的總造價爲1000萬日元（約合9.3萬美元），不過目前只有Junco小姐——還是該叫她地平小姐？——公開亮相，其他機器人依然和製造者在一起。
The company said it planned to develop 1,000 more androids in 2017.
該公司表示，計劃於2017年再開發1000個機器人。
By 2020, it hopes to make 10,000 a year.
到2020年時，希望每年製造1萬個機器人。
At Aqua City, which is popular with tourists and where a small replica of the Statue of Liberty stands in a park near the mall entrance, visitors can tap on a screen to ask Chihira questions like Where are you from? (I was born in Mizuho-machi, Nishitama-gun in Tokyo.
在海洋城——這個購物中心很受遊客歡迎，入口附近的公園裏有一個自由女神像(Statue of Liberty)的小型複製品——遊客們可以點擊屏幕，向地平提問，比如你來自哪裏？（我出生於東京西多摩郡瑞穗町。
I now live alone in the Minato ward) and What’s your favorite food? (I especially like watermelons and Japanese pears).
現在我獨自住在港區）和你最喜歡的食物是什麼？（我特別喜歡西瓜和日本梨）。
Up close, Chihara’s robotic arm movements give her away, as do her eyes, which blink only halfway.
從近處看，地平的機械臂的動作出賣了她，她的眼睛也讓她露餡——她眨眼時，眼睛只閉一半。
When she talks, she looks more like someone chewing gum than speaking.
她說話的樣子更像在嚼口香糖。
During a recent rendition of My Heart Will Go On, from the movie Titanic, her mouth barely moved and her gestures suggested a crossing guard directing traffic.
前不久她演唱《泰坦尼克號》(Titanic)的主題曲《我心依舊》(My Heart Will Go On)時，嘴巴幾乎沒動，手勢像是一個交警在指揮交通。
For those visitors who still long for genuine human contact, two actual human greeters stand at an information counter about 20 feet away.
對於那些依然渴望與真正的人類交流的遊客來說，約20英尺外的諮詢臺站着兩名真正的人類迎賓員。
