人类作家团队在有人工智能程序的参与下，创作这种半机械小说。一位参与此项目的教授表示，整部小说有80%左右的内容是由人类完成的。
However, the computers did the hard work — actually writing the text.
不过，计算机完成的20%是比较艰巨的那部分——即写出文本。
Humans decided the plot and character details of the novel, then entered words and phrases from an existing novel into a computer, which was able to construct a new book using that information.
人类作家构思小说情节和人物细节，然后把现有小说里的单词和短语输入电脑，确保这些信息能够构建一部新的作品。
The prize committee didn't disclose which of the four computer co-written entries advanced in the competition. The Japan News reports that one of the submitted books is titled "The Day a Computer Writes a Novel," which ends with the sentences "I writhed with joy, which I experienced for the first time, and kept writing with excitement. The day a computer wrote a novel. The computer, placing priority on the pursuit of its own joy, stopped working for humans."
奖项评审委员会并没有透露哪四部“人机”合作作品在第一阶段胜出。据日本新闻社报道，有部名为《电脑开始写小说的那天》的作品在结尾处说到：“写作让我快乐，这是我之前从未体验过的，我也将继续带着兴奋写作。这是电脑开始写小说的那天。电脑终于不用再为人类工作，而是要首先追寻自身的快乐。”
Novelists probably shouldn't worry about losing their jobs just yet. Although the novel made it past the first round, it didn't win the award.
人类小说家们现在还无需担心饭碗问题。虽然这些“人机”合作作品在第一轮筛选中脱颖而出，但绝不会夺冠。
Still, the book impressed science-fiction novelist Satoshi Hase, who said, "I was surprised at the work because it was a well-structured novel. But there are still some problems [to overcome] to win the prize, such as character descriptions."
不过，这本半机械小说还是引起了科幻小说家中本聪·哈泽的注意。他说：“这部小说结构的严谨令人震惊。但要想夺冠，它还需要在某些方面有所提高，比如人物描写。”
英文来源：洛杉矶时报
