In a few decades, artificial intelligence (AI) will surpass many of the abilities that we believe make us special. This is a grand challenge for our age and it may require an “irrational” response.
in a few decades,在数十年后 in a few days 过几天;不日;在几天后
在数十年内，人工智能将会超越很多能力(我们人类认为是我们独有的)，这对于我们来说是一个巨大的挑战，并且可能需要一个“不理性”回应(这里是啥意思？)

One of the most significant pieces of news from the US in early 2017 was the efforts of Google to make autonomous driving a reality. According to a report, Google’s self-driving cars clocked 1,023,330 km, and required human intervention 124 times. That is one intervention about every 8,047 km of autonomous driving. But even more impressive is the progress in just a single year: human interventions fell from 0.8 times per thousand miles to 0.2, a 400% improvement. With such progress, Google’s cars will easily surpass my own driving ability later this year.
2017年初美国最重要的新闻之一就是谷歌在实现自动驾驶上的努力。根据报道，谷歌自动驾驶汽车行驶1023330KM只需要人为干预124次，每8000Km一次人工干预。但是更令人印象深刻的是其仅仅一年的进步：人为干预次数从0.8次每千米降低至0.2次每千米，大约有400%的提升。
随着这一进程，谷歌的自动驾驶汽车将会轻松地超越我们的驾驶能力(在今年的年尾)
even more 更
even more impressive 更令人印象深刻的

Driving once seemed to be a very human skill. But we said that about chess, too. Then a computer beat the human world champion, repeatedly. The board game Go（围棋）took over from chess as a new test for human thinking in 2016, when a computer beat one of the world’s leading professional Go players.
驾驶曾经似乎是非常人性化的技能，但是我们曾经也这么看待象棋，然后象棋世界冠军就被计算机反复的吊打了。
在2016年计算机打败了围棋世界大师之后，围棋取代了象棋，成为了新的人类思维测试

With computers conquering what used to be deeply human tasks, what will it mean in the future to be human? I worry about my six-year-old son. What will his place bе in a world where machines beat us in one area after another? He’ll never calculate faster, never drive better, or even fly more safely. Actually, it all comes down to a fairly simple question： What’s so special about us? It can’t be skills like arithmetic, which machines already excel in. So far, machines have a pretty hard time emulating creativity, arbitrary enough not to be predicted by a computer, and yet more than simple randomness.
随着计算机征服着曾经深入人类自身的任务，人类的未来还有啥意义？我很担心我六岁的儿子，他在这个 （机器在一个又一个领域中打败了了我们的） 世界中将会处于什么一个位置。他不会计算的更快，开车也不能更好，甚至开飞机也不能更安全。事实上，所有这一切都可以归结为一个相当简单的问题：我们有什么特殊的？这肯定不能是算术技能，机器已经非常擅长了。迄今为止，机器都非常难于去模仿创造力，因为他足够多变，以至于计算机无法预测，而且不仅仅是简单的随机性。
it all come down to：所有的一切都归结为
excel 擅长 excel in在某方面擅长

Perhaps, if we continue to improve information-processing machines, well soon have helpful rational assistants. So we must aim to complement the rationality of the machine, rather than to compete with it. If I’m right, we should foster a creative spirit because a dose of illogical creativity will complement the rationality of the machine. Unfortunately, however, our education system has not caught up to the approaching reality. Indeed, our schools and universities are structured to mould pupils to be mostly obedient servants of rationality, and to develop outdated skills in interacting with outdated machines. We need to help our children learn how to best work with smart computers to improve human decision-making. But most of all we need to keep the long-term perspective in mind: that even if computers will outsmart us, we can still be the most creative. Because if we aren’t, we won’t be providing much value in future ecosystems，and that may put in question the foundation for our existence.

如果我们继续的改进信息处理的机器，大概不久之后我们就会有一个非常理性化的助手，所以我们必须把目光盯在补充机器的理性化上，而不是和其比较。(意思是，机器能干这种很死板很有规则的事情，我们就把目标放在别处，作为机器的补充，而不是和机器抢饭吃)。
如果我是对的，那么我们应该发展创造性精神，因为不合逻辑的创造性将会是机器的逻辑性的一个互补。不幸的是我们的教育系统没有赶上这即将来临的事实。确实，我们的学校和大学是结构化的，去让学生培养成理性和逻辑的仆人，去发展与过时的机器交互的过时的技能。我们需要帮助孩子们学习如何与智慧的计算机工作而改善人类的决策，我们需要一个长远的眼光：即使计算机比我们更聪明，我们依然can be最有创造性的，因为如果我们不这样，我们在未来的生态系统中就没有价值，我们的存在也会受到质疑。
soon 很快、不久之后
assistants 助手
illogical 没有逻辑的
caught up 赶上
improve human decision-making 改善人类决策
to mould pupils 这里的 mould 是霉菌、发霉的意思，这里取其中的：to try to change or influence someone这个意思，例句He kept trying to mould me into something he wanted me to be.
put in question 提出质疑

When I re-entered the full-time workforce a few years ago after a decade of solitary self-employment, there was one thing I was looking forward to the most: the opportunity to have work friends once again.
当我重新开始做全职工作的时候，有一件事我最渴望的事情：在有一个工作上的朋友
这里面 a few years ago after a decade of solitary self-employment 不是主要内容，是对当时时间节点的补充说明 to have work friends once again用于修饰opportunity

It wasn’t until I entered the corporate world that I realized, for me at least, being friends with colleagues didn’t emerge as a priority at all.
直到我进入企业我才意识到，和同事朋友对我来说不是很优先(不是很重要)
这里要注意， It wasn’t until I entered the corporate world that I realized 中 It wasn’t that I realized.是主句，意思是我没有意识到，后面that代指I realized，然后前面的wasn’t 是对这个that的否定。我没有意识到，直到我进入企业，意思就是直到我进入企业之后我才意识到。

从这里可以看出，作者在从自己独立个体工作很长时间后，可能比较孤独，进入企业首先想要有一个好朋友，但是进入企业之后才，意识到这对他来说不是很重要。

This is surprising when you consider the prevailing emphasis by scholars and trainers and managers on the importance of cultivating close interpersonal relationships at work.
要记住emphasis on xxx
This is surprising当你想到这么多专家学者和管理人员都很强调培养密切的人际关系的重要性at work.
So much research has explored the way in which collegial ties can help overcome a range of workplace issues affecting productivity and the quality of work output such as team-based conflict, jealousy, undermining, anger, and more.

Perhaps my expectations of lunches, water-cooler gossip and caring, deep-and-meaningful conversations were a legacy of the last time I was in that kind of office environment.
expectations 是期望的意思 ，主干：我的期望是遗留下的，其中期望被一系列定语修饰，后面的都是补充说明是我上一次在这种工作环境下留下的。
Whereas now, as I near the end of my fourth decade, I realize work can be fully functional and entirely fulfilling without needing to be best mates with the people sitting next to you.
现在呢，在我接近四十岁的时候，我意识到工作可以是完全功能化并且完美完成的，而不需要最好的伙伴坐在旁边。

In an academic analysis just published in the profoundly-respected Journal of Management, researchers have looked at the concept of “indifferent relationships”. It’s a simple term that encapsulates the fact that relationships at work can reasonably be non-intimate, inconsequential, unimportant and even, dare I say it, disposable or substitutable.
在一个学术分析中，研究者研究了一个概念：冷漠关系
这个简单的词概括了一个事实：在工作中的关系可以合理地不亲近的、无关紧要的、甚至不重要可替换。
这个句子里面有两个嵌套的从句。

Indifferent relationships are neither positive nor negative. The limited research conducted thus far indicates they’re especially dominant among those who value independence over cooperation, and harmony over confrontation.
研究表明，他们(Indifferent relationships)在这些人中占据主导地位，这些人更独立更和谐。
limited  和 conducted 都是 research 的修饰词，表示 进行的有限研究 ，迄今为止 thus far 是个补语。
thus far是迄今为止的意思
Indifference is also the preferred option among those who are socially lazy. Maintaining relationships over the long term takes effort. For some of us, too much effort .
Indifference 也是懒与社交的人的首选
too much effort . 太费力了

As noted above, indifferent relationships may not always be the most helpful approach in resolving some of the issues that pop up at work. But there are nonetheless several empirically proven benefits. One of those is efficiency. Less time chatting and socializing means more time working and（产出）.
就像上面说的， indifferent relationships 不总是能帮助解决问题，但，经验证明，还是有一些好处的。其中之一就是效率，……
empirically 经验的
proven 证明

The other is self-esteem. As human beings, we’re primed to compare ourselves to each other in what is an anxiety-inducing phenomenon. Apparently, we look down on acquaintances more so than friends. Since the former is most common among those inclined towards indifferent relationships, their predominance can bolster individuals’ sense of self-worth.
另一个（好处）是自尊，作为人类，我们总是把自己和别人比这是一种引起焦虑的现象。
显然，我们更看不起 acquaintances 一些(相对于 friends )，因为在 indifferent 中 acquaintances 比 friends 多一点，所以我们可以加强自我价值感（这个作者是什么鬼逻辑）
predominance 优势
bolster 加强

Ego aside, a third advantage is that the emotional neutrality of indifferent relationships has been found to enhance critical evaluation, to strengthen one’s focus on task resolution, and to gain greater access to valuable information. None of that might be as fun as after-work socializing but, hey, I’ll take it anyway.
除了自我外，第三个优势是感情上的中立可以增强批判性的评价，加强对解决任务的注意力，并且获取更多有价值的信息。
Ego 自我