A new computer program is being praised as a life-changer for blind people. The new program is known as the KNFB Reader app. It can help users listen to the sound of printed materials.
The application software program costs $99. It is the product of a long relationship between the National Federation of the Blind and Ray Kurzweil, a computer scientist and an employee of Google.
The KNFB Reader makes use of new pattern recognition and image-processing technology, and new hardware for smartphones. People using the app can adjust or change the position of the camera and read printed materials out loud.
Mr Kurzweil started working on what he called “reading machines” in the early 1970s. The idea came after speaking with a blind person who expressed frustrations with the lack of technology to help blind people. His first reading machine was the size of a washing machine. It cost $50,000. The technology has continued to improve over the past 20 years. The. new smartphene app can recognize and take a printed material in one language and change it to another language. But it was not available on a mobile device until now. In the past, it cost more than $1,000 to use he software app with a camera and a mobile phone.
Blind people say the app will make life much easier and it will help with everything from reading restaurant menus to studying papers in the classroom. Users say the app has given some people greater independence. One user, named Gordon Luke, reported that he was able to use the app to read his voting card for the recent vote in Scotland.
Bryan Bashin leads the non-profit group Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired in San Francisco. He is also blind. He says the KNFB app shows the positive impact that technology can have and there are times in his life when he wishes the KNFB app were available to him. He adds that the ability to gain information quickly with something that fits in your pocket will be what he calls “a game changer”.
【小题1】What can the KNFB Reader app be used to do?| A．Print the stories with the smartphone. | B．Adjust the position of the camera. |
| C．Find the way for the blind. | D．Read the books out for the blind. |
| A．The first reading machine was invented by a blind person. |
| B．Mr. Kurzweil’s first reading machme was very expensive. |
| C．The smartphone app can’t be used to translate language. |
| D．The reader app was available on a mobile phone 20 years ago. |
| A．Negative. | B．Positive. | C．Doubtful. | D．Alarming. |
