A Japanese toy company is offering to make tailor-made robot Mini-Mes for its customers.
Robotics firm Little Island claim they can create a tiny likeness of anyone - even replicating the sound of their voice.
Customers place their £1,500 order and simply submit a photo of the person they'd like their new toy to resemble.
Six months later, and their very own Mini-Me will turn up on their doorstep.
The dolls can be taught to sound like the customer via an in-built microphone, a computer and voice recognition software.
The robots, which are created in a technology centre just north of Tokyo, are equipped with 80 gigabytes of storage and a webcam.
The advanced version can even download the latest news and weather and then read back the reports - in your voice. (ananova)
《字詞解析》
tailor-made – (adj.) 定做的。
tiny likeness – (n.) 縮小版的外觀、外貌。
replicate – (v.) 複製。
place an order – (v.) 下訂單。place an order for something (下單訂購某物)；place an order with someone/a company (向某人或某公司下單)；place an order with someone/a company for something (向某人或某公司下單訂購某物)。
resemble – (v.) 相像；類似。
turn up – (phr. v.) 出現。
doorstep – (n.) 門階。在英國，doorstep 還意為 1. (n.) 厚三明治；厚麵包片 2. (v.) (新聞記者) 上門採訪。另外，on one's doorstep 也意為「在某人家附近」：You’re lucky having the school and supermarket on your doorstep. (你很幸運，學校和超市都在你家附近)。
in-built – (adj.) 內建的。
voice recognition software – (n.) 語音辨識軟體。
80 gigabytes of storage – (n.) 80 GB 的儲存容量。
webcam – (n) 網路攝影機。
advanced version – (n.) 進階版；高級版。
read back – (phr. v.) 再唸，重讀一遍 (給先前唸的人聽)
延伸閱讀：新聞英語的語法結構