| Animal Translator | |
August 11, 2014
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| In this society a special machine was invented, an animal translation device. Through this device, people can understand animals' languages. Of course animals can't think about complicated things. So with this machine there was a kind of trick. The programmer, a female engineer who liked animals very much, added some flavor to the translations that humans liked. For example, if the owner is an aged widow, and her pet is a cat who is dependent on her says (by the translator), "Meow, meow, I would like you to stroke my head." The cat's demands would feel pleasant to her owner. Sometimes veterinarians who didn't have confidence in their diagnosis bought the machine, it was not so useful for them though. A veterinarian might ask, "What part of you hurts?" But, sometimes animals don't know what their body part (for example :stomach) is called in their language, so the machine would reply, "I feel something bad in my body." The machine avoided specifics, because the company of the device knew they had a chance to be sued if it was an incorrect translation. There were people who never bought these machines: farmers. They don't want to know their livestock's
However, there was a farmer who was a little eccentric, and he simply wanted to know what his animals said before going to a slaughter house. He thought, "Is it really like the movies for kids? Like saying, 'Help! Help!'" When he set the machine in his cow barn on the day of sending them to the slaughter house, an idea came up to him. He set his smartphone to video-mode to send a live stream to the web. He asked one of the cows, "You are going to a slaughter house today. How do you feel?" The cow shouted, "Moo! Moo!" Soon the translated voice sounded in the barn, "Help! Help!" The video was sent to the web. It was sensational. There were a lot of viewers. Some of them claimed animal cruelty on the web's bulletin board. Soon, the video was taken down. However, many copies spread on the Internet. Soon, the effects appeared. In butcher shops and supermarkets, less meat was being sold. The company of the machine soon held a press conference and told that the translation contained a programmer's trick who was a strict vegetarian and hated livestock farmers; they apologized. But, people didn't trust their announcement because the cow's voice was so urgent and the translation voice was also elaborate like a dubbing in movies. The number of people stop eating meat increased, and eventually some farms went bankrupt. The government announced that from recent research, some cows felt happy to be eaten by humans. Some people who heard this got mad, and accused the government of lying. The situation became worse and worse. (The End) |
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*invented 発明された
*device 装置
*would だろう
*diagnosis 診断
*specific 特定
*sue 訴える
*incorrect 不正確な
*sty 豚小屋
*coop 鶏小屋
*bulletin board 掲示板
*conference 会議
*contain 含む
*livestock 畜産
*dubbing 吹き替え
*accuse 非難する