SAN FRANCISCO—A phone app (应用程序) in San Francisco gives information about open parking spots. City officials in San Francisco introduced the app to try to reduce traffic jams in the city, but some say it raises safety concerns.
In this city, drivers searching for parking spots lead to 30 percent of all downtown jams, city officials think. Now San Francisco has found a solution—a phone app for spot-seekers that displays information about areas with available spaces. The system, introduced last month, relies on wireless sensors (感应器) fixed in streets and city garages that can tell within seconds if a spot has opened up.
Monique Soltani, a TV reporter, said she and her sister spent 25 minutes on Friday trying to park. “We were praying to the parking god that we’d find a spot,” she said. “If we had the app, we would not have to pray to the parking god.” But the system could come with serious consequences.
Some people say that drivers searching for parking could end up focusing on their phones, not the road. “It could be really distracting (使分心的),” said Daniel Simons, a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois.
City officials acknowledge the potential problem. They are urging drivers to pull over before they use the city’s iPhone app, or to do so before they leave home. Nathaniel Ford, executive director of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, said safety could actually improve if drivers quickly found a spot instead of circling and getting frustrated.
San Francisco has put sensors into 7,000 parking spots and 12,250 spots in city garages. If spaces in an area open up, the sensors communicate wirelessly with computers that in turn make the information available to app users within a minute, said Mr. Ford, of the transportation agency. On the app, a map shows which blocks have lots of places (blue) and which are full (red).
More than 12,000 people have downloaded San Francisco’s app, which is available now only for the iPhone but which city officials say they hope to bring to all similar devices.
When it is started up, the city’s parking app warns drivers not to use the system while in motion. But safety advocates said that might not be sufficient. After all, they say, texting while driving is illegal in California and in many states, but a number of surveys, including one by the Pew Research Center, show that many Americans do it anyway.
Elizabeth Stampe, executive director of Walk San Francisco, a pedestrian advocacy group, said she hoped the new parking app would lead to fewer accidents.
“It’s an innovative idea,” she said. “The safe way for people to use the device is for them to pull over, which they know they should do. The question is whether they will.”
But Ms. Soltani, the TV reporter, said using the app would probably join the group of activities already performed by drivers.
“We’re already looking at Google Maps and Facebook on the phone while we drive,” she said. “Aren’t we always looking at something on our phone, or changing the radio, or drinking coffee? You’re always slightly distracted when you’re driving.”What is the phone app mentioned in the text mainly aimed at?
A.Making full use of the parking spots. |
B.Making the traffic flow smoothly. |
C.Preventing traffic accidents. |
D.Benefiting iPhone users. |
According to the text, San Francisco city officials ______.
A.don’t consider the app distracting |
B.advise drivers to park cars slowly |
C.are aware of the app’s disadvantages |
D.believe more parking spots are needed |
How do drivers locate the parking spots?
A.Sensors"computers"app. | B.App"computers"sensors. |
C.Sensors"app"computers. | D.Computers"app"sensors. |
The phone app mentioned in the text ______.
A.is a bit slow in reacting |
B.hasn’t been put into service |
C.was introduced several years ago |
D.can’t be downloaded to all phones |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
A.Daniel Simons thinks the app convenient. |
B.San Francisco will put more sensors into use. |
C.Most drivers open the app once they start their cars. |
D.Nathaniel Ford doesn’t doubt the practical use of the app. |
Thanksgiving Day is a very special day for people in the United States. In that country they celebrate Thanksgiving Day on the fourth Thursday in November. Canadians also celebrate Thanksgiving Day, but they do it on the second Monday of October. In Britain, where the festival is called “ Harvest Festival”, people celebrate earlier in the year, in September.
A harvest is the fruit you take from the trees and the crops you take from the ground. In North America, Europe, and England, harvest time for most fruit and crops is in the special day of the year. They thank God for the good things that have happened during the year and for the good harvest they have had. People usually take small boxes of fruit, flowers, and vegetables to their churches to show their thanks.
The first thanksgiving service in North America took place on 4 December 1610 when 38 English people arrived in America to make their home in the new country. They held this service not to thank God for the harvest, but to thank God for their safe journey. The next year, many more English people arrived. They had a bad winter, but fortunately the harvest was good. They decided to celebrate with a big meal. They shot and killed small animals to eat and cooked everything outside on large fires. About 90 Indians also came to the meal. Everyone ate at tables outside their houses and played games together. The festival lasted three days.
A Thanksgiving Day celebration was held every year for a long time, but not always on the same day of the year. Then, in 1789, President George Washington named 26 November as the Day of Thanksgiving. Almost a hundred years later, President Abraham Lincoln changed the date, and said that the last Thursday in November should be Thanksgiving Day.
Nowadays, North Americans around the world get together with their families on this day to eat good food and have a happy time.
39. The story is about ____.
A. festivalsB. an American festival
C. English people in America D. giving thanks for everything
40. The last Thursday in November in November is ____.
A. a festival in every country in the world
B. Thanksgiving Day in the United States
C. the day farmers pick fruit from the trees
D. the day the first English People came to America
41. On thanksgiving Day people ____.
A. plant their crops. B. celebrate a safe journey
C. thank God for a good harvest
D. harvest their fruit and crops.
42. At the first thanksgiving service in North America, the people ____.
A. shot a lot of small animals
B. thanked God for a safe journey
C. thanked God for a good harvest
D. had a big dinner outside their houses.
Stories about Kites in Japan
People have flown kites in Japan for more than 1000 years. There are many different kinds of kites there. Some look like bats; others look like birds. Most have pictures on them.
There are many interesting stories about kites in Japan.
One story tells us about a thief who used a kite to fly. He wanted to steal the gold from the top of an old tower. The thief and his friends made a large kite. One dark windy night, the thief caught hold of(抓住) the kite. His friends raised the kite into the air. Then they moved the kite near the top of the tower. The thief was able to steal the gold.
Another story tells about a father and a son who were on a small lonely island in the middle of the Japanese sea. There were no bouts or ships. They couldn’t go back to the mainland. So they made a big kite. His son flew on it back to Japan.
There is a K-Day in Japan. The young men of Japan have kite matches. When the kites are flying the match starts. The young men try to break each other’s kite string(细线). The last kite left in the sky is the winner.
35. Most kites in Japan ____.
A. are very large B. are very small C. look like bats D. look nice with pictures.
36. In the kite match, the young men try to ____.
A. make their kites fly high
B. stop each other’s kites from flying in the sky
C. make very large kites themselves
D. draw beautiful pictures on their kites.
37. The father in the passage made a big kite to help his son to ____.
A. return home B. fly over Japan C. win the match D. steal the gold.
38. which of the following is NOT true?
A. The last kite left in the sky is the winner in the kite match.
B. The thief stole the gold from the top of an old tower.
C. The father and the son in the story were dead in the sea at last.
D. There is K-Day in Japan.
The word “cool”
“Cool” is a word with many meanings. Its old meaning is used to express a temperature that is a little cold. As the world has changed, the word has had many different meanings.
“Cool” can be used to express feelings or interest in almost anything.
When you see a famous car in the street, maybe you will say “It’s cool.” You may think “He’s so cool.” You can use it instead of many words such as “new” or “surprising”. Here an interesting story we can use to show the way the word is used. A teacher asked her students to write about the waterfall they had visited. On one student’s paper was just the one sentence, “It’s cool.” Maybe he thought it was the best way to show what he saw and how he felt.
But the story also show a scarcity(缺乏) of words. Without “cool”, some people have no words to show the same meaning. Can you think of any other words that make your life as colorful as the word “cool”? I can. And I think they are also very cool.
31. We know the word “cool” has had ____.
A. many different meanings B. only one meaning
C. the same meaning D. no meaning
32. If you are ____ something, you may say “It’s cool.”
A. afraid of B. unhappy with C. interested in D. angry with
33. The sentence “It’s cool.” On the student’s paper may mean “It looks really ____.”
A. careful B. wonderful C. thankful D. painful
34. The writer takes an example to show he ____ the way the word is used.
A. strange to B. pleased with C. worried about D. excited at
Have you ever been at a meeting while someone was making a speech and realized suddenly that your mind was a million miles away? You probably felt sorry and made up your mind to pay attention and always have been told that daydreaming is a waste of time.
“On the contrary,” says L. Giambra, an expert in psychology, “daydreaming is quite necessary. Without it, the mind couldn’t get done all the thinking it has to do during a normal day. You can’t possibly do all your thinking with a conscious(有意识)mind. Instead, your unconscious mind is working out problems all the time. Daydreaming then may be one way that the unconscious and conscious states of mind have silent dialogues.”
Early experts in psychology paid no attention to the importance of daydreams or even considered them harmful. At one time daydreaming was thought to be a cause of some mental illnesses. They did not have a better understanding of daydreams until the late 1980s. Eric Klinger, a professor of psychology, is the writer of the book Daydreaming. Klinger says, “We know now that daydreaming is one of the main ways that we organize our lives, learn from our experiences, and plan for our futures. Daydreams really are a window on the things we fear and the things we long for in life.”
Daydreams are usually very simple and direct, quite unlike sleep dreams, which may be hard to understand. It’s easier to gain a deep understanding of your life by paying close attention to your daydreams than by trying to examine your sleep dreams carefully. Daydreams help you recognize the difficult situations in your life and find out a possible way of dealing with them.
Daydreams cannot be predicated(预料). They move off in unexpected directions which may be creative and full of ideas. For many famous artists and scientists, daydreams were and are a main source of creative energy.
72.The writer of this passage considers daydreams .
A.hard to understand B.important and helpful
C.harmful and unimportant D.the same as sleep dreams
73.The writer quoted(引用)L. Giambra and Eric Klinger to .
A.point out the wrong ideas of early experts B.list two different ideas
C.support his own idea D.report the latest research on daydreams
74.Which of the following is TRUE?
A.An unconscious mind can work all the problems out.
B.Daydreaming can give artists and scientists ideas for creation.
C.Professor Eric Klinger has a better idea than L. Giambra.
D.Early experts fully understood what daydreams were.
75.What is the main difference between daydreams and sleep dreams?
A.People have daydreams and sleep dreams at different times.
B.Daydreams are the result of unconscious mind while sleep dreams are that of conscious
mind.
C.Daydreams are more harmful. D.Daydreams are more helpful in solving problems.
Here are some advertisements taken from a newspaper.
(1)
Dear Drew Carter,
Your first year on this earth has been a pleasure ride for all of us. We love you!
Love,
Dad and Mom and many friends
(2)
Lawlis—Clarke
The Doctors Virgil and Marjorie Lawlis are pleased to announce the engagement(订婚)of their daughter Diana Susan to Mr. Robert Brent Clarke, son of Mr. and Mrs. James Clarke of Herford, Texas.
A spring wedding is planned in Houston.
(3)
Isbell—Foss
Mr. And Mrs. Davis K. Isbell announce the marriage of their daughter Dang to Mr. Stanley Foss, son of Mrs. John Sipe of Ada, Minnesota.
The wedding will be early April at Abiding Love Lutheran Church.
(4)
Story—Kurio
Miss Stephanie Story and Mr. Warren Kurio married on February 5, at half past seven o’clock in the evening at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas. The bride(新娘)is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs, Herbert Brule Story Jr. of Dallas. The groom(新郎)is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Stanley Kurio of Austin.
68.What would be the best title for the first advertisement?
A.We Love You B.Happy 1st Birthday
C.One Year Old D.Our One-Year-Old Son
69.Lawlis and Clarke are going to get married .
A.in a church B.where Clarke’s parents live
C.against their parents’ will D.to Lawlis’s parents’ joy
70.Who got or will get married in spring?
A.Not only Lawlis and Clarke but also Isbell and Foss.
B.Neither Lawlis and Clarke nor Isbell and Foss.
C.Either Isbell and Foss or Story and Kurio.
D.Neither Lawlis and Clarke nor Story and Kurio.
71.Who are now a married couple?
A.Lawlis and Clarke. B.Dand Isbell and Foss.
C.Story and Kurio. D.The text doesn’t say.