Tomorrow's Cities: Singapore's plans for a smart nation 明日城市：新加玻的智能國家計畫
You know what it's like. You're waiting for the bus on your way to work and inevitably, you're late. Enter Singapore's Smart Nation solution, which aims to merge technology into every aspect of life on the small island.
你知道那是什麼，當你在等上班的公車時，而不可避免的，你會遲到，進入新加坡以將科技融入這個小島上生活每一個層面為目標的智慧國度計畫。
That includes some bus
stops, which under this plan will now have interactive maps and wi-fi
connectivity - even e-books and a swing. This is all an attempt to make the
journeys of Singapore's commuters more enjoyable and efficient.
這項計畫包含了一些公車站，在這項計畫下，將會有互動地圖與wi-fi連結，甚至是電子書和鞦韆，這都是為了要讓新加坡的通勤族的旅程能夠更愉快且有效率。
If you look at how
important the bus system is to public transport here, it makes sense. With
almost four million daily rides, the bus network makes up the most
significant part of Singapore's transport network.
如果你看看公車系統對於這裏的公共交通有多重要，一切就很合理，每天至少四百萬的搭乘量，公車網路組成了新加坡交通網絡最重要的部分。
- Make up (constitute) 組成。 例句：The human body is made up of cells 人體是由細胞構成的
The delegation is made up of five men and one woman. 代表團是由五個男人和一個女人組成的。
Nowhere is the scale of
the project more evident than at the headquarters of the Land Transport
Authority.
新加坡陸路交通管理局總部是最清楚計畫規模的地方了。
Using GPS data,
researchers and programmers can tell how fast or slow a bus is going and how
many people are on board at any given time.
使用GPS資料，研究者和計畫執行者可以在任何時候告訴我們公車目前有多快或多慢，還有多少人在車上。
"With this
information we know where are the choke points at different times of the
day," said Christopher Hooi Wai Yean, deputy director of the authority's communications
and sensors division, as he demonstrated the movement of the buses on their
screens. "
「有了這樣的資訊，我們可以知道在一天裡的不同時間交通的阻礙在哪」官方通訊與監測部門代表Christopher Hooi Wai Yean一邊在他們的螢幕上指出公車的移動一邊表示。
- Choke point 阻礙、瓶頸、阻塞點
[This way] we can put in
measures to alleviate and dissipate the crowd at choke points across the
island. This will ensure that the whole transport system is more well-oiled
in that sense."
[這樣的方式]我們可以加入測量方法，以緩和並消除島上阻塞點的壅塞，理論上來說這將會確保整個交通系統可以更順暢。
- alleviate減輕；緩和
- dissipate使消散、消除、消失
- well-oiled 順利的、進行狀況良好的、諂媚的
It is an approach that
is being replicated across all sectors - transport, homes, offices and even
hospitals.
這個方法正在所有部門之間如法炮製，包括交通、家庭、辦公室，甚至是醫院。
The KK Women's and Children's Hospital is one of the biggest and busiest in Singapore. On any day, it sees scores of patients - mainly pregnant women or mums with their kids. It began trialling video conferencing for its patients in non-emergency cases in November last year.
KK婦女與幼兒醫院是新加坡最大且最繁忙的醫院，每一天都可以看到許多病患，大多數是懷孕的婦女或是有帶小孩的母親，從去年十一月，他們開始測試提供非緊急情況的病患影像會議。
Gladys Soo is one such
mum. Her five-year old son suffers from eczema and she started treatment for
him in February.
Gladys Soo其中一位母親，她五歲的兒子起濕疹，而她從二月開始給兒子治療。
"We went to the
hospital in person for the first consultation to check for his eczema,"
she told me. "The follow-up was done via video conferencing."
「我們在第一次的診療親自去了這家醫院，以檢查他的濕疹」她告訴我「接下來都是透過影像會議進行」
Mrs Soo said the fact
that she is a working mum was a factor in her decision to go for the
video-conferencing option.
Soo太太表示因為她身為職業主婦，因此她選擇影像會議的這個選項。
"It saves you time
- I don't have to travel, I don't have to take leave. The doctor can actually
view my son's eczema on the video conference. And he can diagnose whether it is
getting better - it is like being with him in person."
「這可以幫你省很多時間，我不用往返兩地，不需要請假，而醫生也可以真的從影像會議中看到我兒子的濕疹情況，然後他可以診斷情況是否有改善，就像是當面見醫生一樣。」
Speech therapy,
lactation consultation services and paediatric home care services are other
aspects of medical care that KKH is using video conferencing to address.
KKH醫院中，其他使用影像會議來提供服務的還包括語言治療、哺乳期診療服務和兒科家庭護理服務。
Prof Low Cheng Ooi, the
chief clinical informatics officer of IHiS, the company that manages the
technology infrastructure for the healthcare aspect of Singapore's Smart Nation
solutions, says the plan is to phase this programme in gradually.
管理新加坡智慧國度計畫中健康護理面科技基礎建設之公司IHiS的最高臨床資訊長官Low Cheng Ooi教授表示這項計畫正在漸進式的逐步執行。
"We already know
that public health services delivered over video and medical consultation via
video works well in larger countries with rural areas," he told me.
"But in Singapore we are very urban, and our citizens can get healthcare
within a very short period of time.
「我們已經知道大眾健康服務透過影像提供，在較大的國家裡，鄉村地區透過影像提供醫療諮詢的效果很好」她告訴我「但我們在新加坡非常都市化，而我們的人民可以在極短時間內得到醫療服務。」
"So we have to
rationalise what it is we are trying to do with this platform. We are moving
cautiously with discipline so that patients will benefit from this kind of
consultation, with no risks."
「所以我們必須要用理論來說明我們要在這個平台上進行的測試是什麼，我們要小心有紀律的移動，如此一來，病患就可以從這種諮詢中獲得效益，而不用面臨風險。」
It's an ambitious goal -
trying to merge technology into every aspect of citizens' lives - but this
grand plan may have already run into some speed bumps.
這是一個很有野心的目標-試著將科技融入市民生活的每一個層面，但這重大的計畫可能已經面臨一些障礙。
- Speed bump 減速帶；障礙
"We really are not
going as fast as we ought to," said the country's Prime Minister Lee Hsien
Loong recently.
新加坡總理李顯龍最近表示：「我們真的沒有像計畫的進行那麼快」
To deliver results,
Singapore has set up a new ministerial committee to push ahead with its Smart
Nation dreams.
為了發表成果，新加玻設置了一個新的部長級委員會，以將其智慧國度的計畫向前推進。
Vivian Balakrishnan, the
minister in charge of the Smart Nation initiative, says that a sense of urgency
is vital in ensuring the future success of Singapore.
負責智慧國度倡議的部長Vivian Balakrishnan表示緊迫感對確保新加坡未來的成功很重要。
"If we don't get this right, jobs are at stake," he told the BBC. "Wages are at stake and any government that doesn't prepare its people for the future and offer the potential for good jobs will be in trouble."
「如果我們沒有把這件事做對，工作也會有危險」他告訴BBC「工資有危險，而且任何沒有為人民未來做準備並提供潛在的好工作的政府將會有危險。」
But Harminder Singh, a
senior lecturer in business information systems at the Auckland University of
Technology in New Zealand, says the main issue with Smart Nation is that there
may be too much government control over it right now for real innovation to
take place.
但紐西蘭奧克蘭理工大學的商業資訊系統資深講師Harminder Singh表示智慧國度的主要議題在於目前政府可能對於真正有創新的地方過度管制。
"Singapore's way of
doing things is that the government leads, then others follow," he told
me. "This might be a problem - it is too centralised and so it may take
too long for plans to trickle down.
「新加坡做事的方法是由政府帶領，然後其他人跟隨」她告訴我「這可能會是一個問題，太過於集中化，所以計畫真正落實可能會花太久的時間。」
"And ideas from the
ground may be neither visible to those on top nor acceptable to them,
especially if they are related to the delivery of services that are
traditionally handled by the government."
「而由民間想出的點子可能無法被上級機關看到，也無法被他們接受，尤其是這些原本就由政府機構處理的相關服務。」
He adds that it is not
clear why Singapore's leaders are so keen to move full steam ahead with this
plan.
他補充新加玻的領導人為何如此期盼這項計畫全速前進的原因並不清楚。
"Smart Nation is
about building national technology infrastructure so that the government can
offer new services, or do what they do now differently. The government may need
to explain more clearly how the Smart Nation project will improve salaries and
jobs in Singapore to get the project moving faster."
「智慧國度要建造國家的科技基礎建設，如此一來政府就可以提供新服務，或是用不同於現在的方式做事，政府可能需要更清楚地解釋智慧國度計畫將會如何改善新加坡的薪資與工作，以讓此計畫能夠加速前進。」
The authorities here are
taking this initiative extremely seriously - it appears to be the big bet
Singapore is taking for its next generation. Because of its size, Singapore has
always had to stay one step ahead of the curve to survive.
官方認真看待此項倡議，它也代表著新加坡為下一代所做的大賭注，因為新加坡的國土大小，他們為了存活必須要未雨綢繆。
- Ahead of the curve 走在前端有遠見
This tiny island nation
has always prided itself on persistence and a strong work ethic to succeed.
Smart Nation is its plan for its future survival - and the shoots of innovation
are beginning to show.
這座小島國一直以來以他們對自己的堅持與強大的職業道德所致的成功感到驕傲，智慧國度是他們為了未來生存的計畫，而這項創新的出擊將要大放異彩。
Singapore now has a
small but growing start-up culture and home-grown companies are starting to
take more risks. But creativity needs to be nurtured - and Singapore may find
that its Smart Nation dreams may take time to reach their full potential.
新加坡目前有一個小卻快速成長的新創文化和本土化企業正開始冒險，但是創意比須被扶持，而新加坡可能會發現他們的智慧國度美夢需要花時間才能發揮他們充分的潛力。
原文出處：https://goo.gl/yiaMMD
原文出處：https://goo.gl/yiaMMD
