今年早些时候，一段视频在美国彻底火了一把。前总统奥巴马一本正经地坐在镜头前，说：“President Trump is a total and complete dipshit.”（特朗普是一个彻头彻尾的笨蛋）不要惊讶，这种出格的言论显然不是奥巴马能说出来的，一切都是通过 AI 技术合成的。
眼见也未必为实——无论是史前的洞穴画，还是现在被安上名人面孔的色情片，人的眼睛一直都在被欺骗。视觉骗术在过去一直都被广泛地应用在艺术领域，17世纪的法国人民可能被错位画迷乱了眼睛，虔诚的教徒也曾真情或假意地相信巴洛克教堂的穹顶即是天堂。但是令人遗憾的是，拥有了更先进技术的现代人，似乎志不在此，偏偏走上了下三路。
我们已经进入了视觉骗术的黄金年代，技术可以制造出任何假象。作为普通人，我们还是擦亮眼，更谨慎地对待眼前的“事实”吧。
本篇课程选自 The Economist Espresso APP
难度系数：
无用系数：
Heaven to hell: the history of deception
① Pornography is awash with videos in which celebrity faces have been pasted onto the writhing, naked bodies of adult actors.
② Earlier this year Jordan Peele, an American comedian, used an artificial-intelligence face-swapping tool to create a clip of what appears to be Barack Obama calling his presidential successor "a total and complete dipshit".
③ These examples show the power of technology to bend reality.
④ But "Thrill of Deception", a new exhibition at the Kunsthalle in Munich, shows that humans have manipulated the senses for millennia.
⑤ The earliest known examples are cave paintings of overlapping bison and mammoths—like the rabbit-duck illusion—dating back 15,000 years.
⑥ Seventeenth-century audiences were bewitched by trompe-l'oeil, a realist-painting technique in which objects seem to emerge from the frame.
⑦ Baroque churches are famous for their ceiling frescos that lift the pious gaze into the heavens.
⑧ Modern virtual reality promises this too, only now we're more likely to be transported to hell.
▍生词好句
deception /dɪˈsepʃən/: n. 骗术；欺骗
· deceive /dɪˈsiːv/: vt. 欺骗
· trick /trɪk/: vt. 欺骗；诱骗
· fool /fuːl/: vt. 欺骗；愚弄
pornography /pɔːˈnɒɡrəfi, pɔːrˈnɑːɡrəfi/: n. 淫秽作品；色情书刊 (或电影等)
be awash with /əˈwɒʃ, əˈwɑːʃ/: 充斥着
be pasted onto /peɪst/: 被贴到……上
writhing /ˈrʌɪðɪŋ/: adj. 翻滚的；扭动的
comedian /kəˈmiːdiən/: n. 喜剧演员
face-swapping tool: 换脸工具
· swap /swɒp, swɑːp/: vt./vi. 交换
clip /klɪp/: n. (电影或电视节目的) 剪辑/片断
what appears to be: 貌似是 (用于弱化语气，减少肯定)
dipshit /ˈdɪpʃɪt/: n. 笨蛋
bend reality: 扭曲现实
· bend /bend/: vt. 扭曲；歪曲
manipulate the senses /məˈnɪpjəleɪt/: 操控感官
millennium /mɪˈleniəm/: n. 一千年 (复数 millennia)
bison /ˈbaɪsən/: n. 野牛
mammoth /ˈmæməθ/: n. 长毛象
be bewitched by /bɪˈwɪtʃt/: 受到……的迷惑/蛊惑
trompe-l'oeil: n. 错视；假象
realist-painting technique: 现实主义绘画技巧
baroque /bəˈrɒk, bəˈrɑːk, bəˈrəʊk/: adj. 巴洛克式的
ceiling frescos /ˈfreskəʊ/: 穹顶壁画
pious gaze /ˈpaɪəs/: 虔诚的注视
transport /trænˈspɔːt, trænˈspɔːrt/: vt. 流放；运输
▍补充例句
1. deceive: vt. 欺骗
我以为她是爱我的，但我只是在骗自己而已。
I thought she loved me, but I was deceiving myself.
我只是在骗自己。
I was just fooling myself.
2. be awash with: 充斥着
所有人行道上全都是垃圾。
All the pavements were awash with rubbish.
3. swap: vt./vi. 交换
我们俩决定互换角色一天。
We decided to swap roles for the day.
4. what appears to be: 貌似是 (用于弱化语气，减少肯定)
这类案子似乎是中国的第一例，她决定起诉这个人。
In what appears to be the first such case in China, she decided to sue this person.
5. bend: vt. 扭曲；歪曲
有时记者会歪曲事实。
Reporters sometimes bend the truth.
the rabbit-duck illusion
trompe-l'oeil
▍责任编辑
李焕、杨晶妍、陈鑫悦、章晓丹
网友评论