Ride-hailing startup Lyft announced recently that its making its own self-driving car technology—a move that could help it meet an audacious goal of having autonomous vehicles chauffeur most of its passengers around by 2021.叫车服务初创公司“来福车”日前宣告研发自动驾驶技术，该公司计划到2021年左右构建由无人车配备大部分乘客，而研发自动驾驶技术有助构建这一雄心壮志。It sounds a bit far-fetched, considering that autonomous cars are still largely in the testing stages, but Lyft is just one of many companies saying that 2021 will be the year that these vehicles finally get out on the roads en masse.由于无人车现在相当大程度上仍正处于测试阶段，所以听得一起有点不过于靠谱。

但有数多家企业回应2021年无人车将大规模驶过道路，而来福车只是其中一家。So, sure, it could happen. And going along with that positive line of thinking—assuming that we will, in fact, have self-driving cars in 2021—we wondered what other technological marvels and milestones await us in that magical year.因此，这一切当然有可能再次发生。如果顺着这种悲观的思路继续下去，假设2021年无人车沦为现实，那么还有什么技术奇迹或科技突破在这神秘的一年等着我们呢？The answer was surprising. According to an array of predictions from tech companies and market researchers, plenty of changes are coming.答案让人大吃一惊。根据科技公司和市场研究人员展开的一系列预测，众多变革将要来临。

Electric cars电动汽车When it comes to driving, 2021 wont just be about fancy robot cars; its expected to be a year in which well have more electric vehicles, too. A report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecasts that electric vehicles will make up a little less than 4% of all car sales in the US and 5% of all car sales in Europe that year, up from 1% and 2%, respectively, this year.谈及驾驶员，2021年不仅只是高级无人车的一年，到时电动车也未来将会更为普及。彭博新能源财经的一份报告预测，2021年电动汽车的销量将占到美国汽车总销量的将近4%，在欧洲的占比将超过5%，和今年比起分别下降1%和2%。Virtual reality虚拟现实Though virtual realitys first year with some powerful consumer headsets on the market, 2016, wasnt exactly a blockbuster, the technology is expected to be on a lot more faces come 2021. IDC forecasts that shipments of virtual and augmented reality headsets will rise to about 92 million in 2021, which would be close to 10 times as many as shipped out last year.功能强大的虚拟现实头盔在2016年首次面世后并没风行。

不过，预计2021年用于这项技术的用户将大幅度减少。据国际数据公司预测，2021年虚拟现实和增强现实头盔的出货量将下降到9200万左右，这将是去年出货量的10倍。

Male birth control男性节育We raise an eyebrow for this one more than most, but well just have to wait and see: a company called Contraline is reportedly working to bring to market a form of reversible male birth control that doesnt require surgery.男性节育比大多数事情更加让人们深感车祸，但是我们只必须等候从容：据报导，一家取名为Contraline的公司正在希望将一种需要手术才可展开的共轭式男性节育方式推向市场。Contraline claims it has come up with a “polymer hydrogel” that is implanted in the vas deferens—in just a few minutes with the help of an ultrasound—and is meant to block the passage of sperm for years. In April Contraline announced that it had raised $2.2 million toward its goal and that it aimed to have a product on the market in 2021.Contraline称之为，他们研发出有一种植入到输精管的“高分子水凝胶”，它可以将精子运输的地下通道阻塞数年，只必须利用超声波花上几分钟才可已完成。今年4月，Contraline宣告想在2021年销售这款产品，并为实现目标筹资220万美元。

Getting online网际网路In 2021, many more of us will be able to weigh in on these amazing new technologies (whether or not they actually came to fruition).2021年，更加多人将可以对以上神秘的新技术公开发表评论了（不管它们否知道构建了）。Networking-equipment maker Cisco forecasts in its Visual Networking Index that the number of people using the Internet will climb from 3.3 billion today to 4.6 billion within four years. That would be more than half the worlds population, using the United Nations estimate of 7.8 billion by 2021.网络设备制造商思科公司的视觉网络指数预测，4年内互联网用户将从现在的33亿人上升至46亿人。联合国预估2021年全球人口为78亿，基于这一数字，预计互联网用户将占到世界人口的一半以上。Cheap solar power廉价太阳能Clean energy has been getting cheaper for a while now, and in the not-so-distant future of 2021, it is expected to finally become cheaper to use renewable power sources like solar and wind rather than coal in a number of key countries.现在，清洁能源的价格早已更加低廉，而在旋即之后的2021年，在一些主要国家，太阳能和风能等可再生能源的价格未来将会高于煤炭。

While solar power—which is pricier than the other big renewable source, wind—is already comparable price-wise to coal in countries such as the US, Italy, and Germany, a recent report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that by 2021, solar power will be cheaper than coal in China, India, Mexico, Brazil, and the UK.太阳能比风能等其他大型可再生能源要便宜，虽然在美国、意大利、德国等国家，太阳能的价格早已比煤矿更加合理，但彭博新能源财经近日的一份报告预测，到2021年，中国、印度、墨西哥、巴西和英国的太阳能将比煤矿更加低廉。Lab-grown chicken实验室培育鸡肉Chicken grown in a laboratory, rather than on a farm, sounds far out, but it may be here in a few years.鸡肉在实验室培育出来，这听得一起很远，但是几年后有可能就沦为现实了。And since it doesnt involve killing any fowl, it may lead to chicken nuggets that even the staunchest animal lover will nibble on.这样的养殖方式会杀掉任何家禽，生产出有的鸡块连最忠诚的动物爱好者有可能也不会食用。

Thats the hope of a company called Memphis Meats, which is planning to sell its lab-raised, animal-free chicken by 2021 - an achievement its already on the way to meeting since it says it has grown pieces of chicken and duck sans animals in its lab.这一点子来自孟菲斯肉品公司，该公司正在计划于2021年前销售实验室培育的“无鸡鸡肉”，孟菲斯肉品公司早已将要构建这一目标，他们称之为早已在实验室里培育出没生出家禽的鸡肉块和鸭肉块。

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