Global Positioning Systems（GPS） are now a part of everyday driving in many countries. These satellite-based systems provide turn-by-turn directions to help people get to where they want to go. But, they can also cause a lot of problems, send you to the wrong place or leave you completely lost. Many times, the driver is to blame. Sometimes a GPS error is responsible. Most often, says Barry Brown, it is a combination of the two.
We spoke to Mr. Brown by Skype （网络电话软件）. He told us about an incident involving a friend who had flown to an airport in the eastern United States. There he borrowed a GPS-equipped car to use during his stay. BARRY BROWN: “And they just plugged in an address and then set off to their destination. And, then it wasn’t until they were driving for thirty minutes that they realized they actually put in a destination back on the West Coast where they lived. They actually put their home address in. So again, the GPS is kind of 'garbage in garbage out'.”
Mr Brown says this is a common human error. But, he says, what makes the problem worse has to do with some of the shortcomings, or failures, of GPS equipment. BARRY BROWN: “One problem with a lot of the GPS units is that they have a very small screen and they just tell you the next turn. Because they just give you the next turn, sometimes that means that it is not really giving you the overview that you would need to know that it’s going to the wrong place.”
Barry Brown formerly served as a professor with the University of California, San Diego. While there, he worked on a project with Eric Laurier from the University of Edinburgh. The two men studied the effects of GPS devices on driving by placing cameras in people’s cars. They wrote a paper based on their research. It is called “The Normal, Natural Troubles of Driving with GPS.”
It lists several areas where GPS systems can cause confusion for drivers. These include maps that are outdated, incorrect or difficult to understand. They also include timing issues(时机问题) related to when GPS commands are given.
Barry Brown says, “ To make GPS systems better we need a better understanding of how drivers, passengers and GPS systems work together.”In paragraph 2, Mr. Brown mentioned his friend in the conversation to _______.
| A．build up his own reputation |
| B．laugh at his stupid friend |
| C．prove the GPS system is only garbage |
| D．describe an example of human error |
What is the disadvantage of small screens in GPS equipment according to the text?
| A．They just provide the next turn. |
| B．They are harmful to eyes. |
| C．They make drivers tired easily. |
| D．They often break down suddenly. |
Which of the following statements would Barry Brown most likely agree with?
| A．GPS units are to blame for most GPS service failures. |
| B．We should introduce higher standards for the driving license. |
| C．Cameras are badly needed to help improve GPS systems. |
| D．Drivers, GPS systems and passengers should unite to improve GPS systems. |
What is Mr. Brown’s attitude towards GPS?
| A．Unconcerned. | B．subjective. |
| C．Objective. | D．Critical. |
Which of the following statements can best describe the main idea of the passage?
| A．Driving with GPS can be difficult. |
| B．Driving confusions can be caused by small screens. |
| C．Driving without GPS should be much more convenient. |
| D．GPS equipment in driving to be given up or improved |
Americans are a strange people. They work like mad, then give away much of what they earn. They play until they are exhausted, and call this a vacation. They live to think of themselves as hard-hearted business men, yet they are push-overs for any hard luck story. They have the biggest of nearly everything including government, motor cars and debts. Yet they like to think of themselves as little people, average men, and they would like to cut everything down to their own size. They show off their tall buildings, high mountains, long rivers, big state, the best country, the best world, the best heaven. Yet they also have the most traffic deaths, the most waste, and the most liars.
When they meet, they are always telling each other, "Take it easy," then they rush off like crazy in opposite directions. They play games as if they were fighting a war, and fight wars as if playing a game. They marry more, and go broke more often. They love children, animals, mother, work, excitement, noise, nature, television shows, comedy, high pace, sports, the underdog, the hero, the flag, Christmas, jazz, shapely women and muscular men, classical recordings, crowds, comics, cigarettes, warm houses in winter and cool ones in summer, thick beefsteaks, coffee, ice cream, informal dress, plenty of running water, do-it-yourself, and a working week limited to forty hours or less.
They crowd their highways with cars while complaining about the traffic, troop to movies and television while blaming the quality and the advertisements, go to church but don't care much for sermons (布道), and drink too much in the hope of relaxing—only to find themselves drunk into even bigger dreams.
There is of course, no typical (典型的) American. But if you added them all together and then divided by 226, 000, 000 they would look something like what this chapter has tried to describe.What may be the best title of the passage?
| A．The Americans. | B．Life in America. |
| C．Strange people. | D．Great America |
What is the meaning of the underlined sentence in Para.1?
| A．They like listening to bad luck stories. |
| B．They push the interesting stories away. |
| C．They can easily be moved by sad stories. |
| D．They are informed of good luck stories often. |
Which one of the following is probably NOT what the Americans love?
| A．noise | B．advertisement |
| C．smoking | D．fresh water |
In what way did the author write this passage?
| A．By comparison. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By experimenting. | D．By telling stories. |
Hello, I'm Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. — The Environmental Children's Organization.
Coming here today, I am fighting for my future. I am here to speak for all generations to come. I am here to speak on behalf of (代表) the starving children around the world whose cries go unheard. I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet because they have nowhere left to go. I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in the ozone (臭氧层). I am afraid to breathe the air because I don't know what chemicals are in it.
You don't know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer. You don't know how to bring back an animal now extinct. And you can't bring back forests that once grew where there is now desert. If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!
Here, you may be delegates of your governments, business people, organizers, reporters or politicians— but really you are mothers and fathers, brothers and sister, aunts and uncles— and all of you are somebody's child.
At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in the world. You teach us: not to fight with others, to respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share— not be greedy. Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?
Do not forget why you're attending these conferences, who you're doing this for— we are your own children. You are deciding what kind of world we will grow up in. But are we even on your list of priorities? My father always says "You are what you do, not what you say."
Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown-ups say you love us. I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words. Thank you for listening.What did the speaker mainly talk about?
| A．politics | B．environment |
| C．economy | D．war |
Where was the speech probably given?
| A．At a meeting held by school teachers. |
| B．At a party where many children played. |
| C．At a ceremony for the speaker’s achievement. |
| D．At a conference representatives of countries attended. |
The speech is meant to be given to the following people EXCEPT .
A. News reporters.
B. Children from E.C.O.
C. Decision makers of the governments.
D. Business men.Why did the speaker mention what she was taught at school?
| A．To praise her teachers and her father. |
| B．To warn children of the importance of study. |
| C．To show her great achievements at school. |
| D．To prove the grown-ups’ words and actions were not consistent. |
Getting into university is hard enough at the best of times—but when your chosen institution is a work of fiction you’re really up against. And that’s why this young joker’s Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) application to Hogwarts University was unsuccessful.
But the admissions services’ response to the young man is still funny.
The unnamed A-Level student wrote a handwritten note to UCAS asking for a place studying ‘Wandology’ at the Harry Potter school.
In the application, he was proud of his skills in “wearing a pointy hat” and “Watching Paul Daniels TV Specials”.
UCAS replied, “We regret to inform you that your application to the stated university cannot be processed at this time for the fact that it does not exist.
“After consultation with our mystic (神秘学的) advisors we have also determined that even if it did exist, the course ‘Wandology’ would be highly in demand and thus require at least two As and a B in any of the following subjects:
Advanced Spellcrafting
Mystimatics
Defence Against the Dark Arts
History of the Mysticism
Shaft Design
“Your handwritten grade sheet claiming top marks in ‘Waving a stick about’, ‘Wearing a pointy hat’ and ‘Watching Paul Daniels TV Specials’ sadly is not suitable for admission, however, by applying through clearing you may be suitable for a selection of Liberal Arts courses.”
“Or, you may wish to resubmit next year by tying your letter to an owl (猫头鹰) and hoping for the best.
“On behalf of UCAS I wish you every success.”What do we know about the underlined word “Wandology” according to the passage?
| A．It is a course that is highly in demand in universities. |
| B．It is a course that does not exist now in real life. |
| C．It is a course that can be applied by anyone. |
| D．It is a course that is forbidden by UCAS. |
What can be inferred in the UCAS’s reply?
| A．Applying for a university is the hardest thing even in the best times. |
| B．The young student will probably start to raise an owl for the next year. |
| C．UCAS may approve the young student’s application for Liberal Arts courses. |
| D．In the end the young student succeeded in applying for Hogwarts University. |
Where may this passage be found?
| A．In a magic magazine. | B．In a history book. |
| C．In a science fiction. | D．In a newspaper. |
What if handheld (掌控型的) tools know what needs to be done and were even able to guide and help inexperienced users to complete jobs that require skill? Researchers at the University of Bristol have developed and started studying a novel concept in robotics—intelligent handheld robots. Historically, handheld tools have been straight, unintelligent instruments that are unaware of the context they operate in, are fully directed by the user, and therefore, lack any understanding about the task they are performing.
Dr. Walterio Mayol-Cuevas and PhD student, Austin Gregg-Smith, from the University's Department of Computer Science, have been working in the design of the robot as well as in understanding how best to be with a tool that “knows and acts”.
Compared to other tools such as power tools that have a motor and perhaps some basic sensors (感应器), the handheld robots developed at Bristol are designed to have more degrees of freedom to allow greater independence from the instructions of the user, and importantly, understand the steps being carried out. This allows for a new level of co-operation between user and tool, such as the user providing directions and the tool performing the detailed task.
Handheld robots, aim to share physical similarity with users but are neither fully independent as is a humanoid robot nor are part of the user’s body. The aim with handheld robots is to develop the intuitiveness (灵性) of using traditional handheld tools while adding planted intelligence and action to allow for new abilities.
Dr. Mayol-Cuevas, Reader in Robotics Computer Vision and Mobile Systems, said, “There are three basic levels of autonomy (自主权) we are considering: no autonomy, semi-autonomous when the robot advises the user but does not act, and fully autonomous when the robot advises and acts even by correcting or refusing to perform incorrect user actions.”What is the new concept in robotics?
| A．Full control by the user. |
| B．Improvement in intelligence. |
| C．Larger size of the robots. |
| D．Help for the experienced users. |
What is the meaning of the underlined word “unaware”?
| A．updated | B．educated |
| C．organized | D．uninformed |
What is the advantage of handheld robots compared to other tools?
| A．They are more dependent on the users. |
| B．They all have a motor and basic sensors. |
| C．They don’t need to follow the instructions at all. |
| D．They have a new level of freedom to perform the task. |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．The handheld robots can never disobey the user’s order. |
| B．The autonomy is the only thing that the scientists are considering. |
| C．There will be more intelligence and independence in the handheld robots. |
| D．The aim of the handheld robots is to correct and refuse the user’s directions. |
Do you want to live with a strong sense of peacefulness, happiness, goodness, and self-respect? The collection of happiness actions broadly categorized (归类) as “honor” help you create this life of good feelings.
Here’s an example to show how honorable actions create happiness.
Say a store clerk fails to charge us for an item. If we keep silent, and profit from the clerk’s mistake, we would drive home with a sense of sneaky excitement. Later we might tell our family or friends about our good fortune. On the other hand, if we tell the clerk about the uncharged item, the clerk would be grateful and thank us for our honesty. We would leave the store with a quiet sense of honor that we might never share with another soul.
Then, what is it to do with our sense of happiness?
In the first case, where we don’t tell the clerk, a couple of things would happen. Deep down inside we would know ourselves as a type of thief. In the process, we would lose some peace of mind and self-respect. We would also demonstrate that we cannot lie trusted, since we advertise our dishonor by telling our family and friends. We damage our own reputations by telling others. In contrast, bringing the error to the clerk’s attention causes different things to happen. Immediately the clerk knows us to be honorable. Upon leaving the store, we feel honorable and our self-respect is increased. Whenever we take honorable action, we gain the deep internal rewards of goodness and a sense of nobility.
There is a beautiful positive cycle that is created by living a life of honorable actions. Honorable thoughts lead to honorable actions. Honorable actions lead us to a happier existence. And it’s easy to think and act honorably again when we’re happy. While the positive cycle can be difficult to start, once it’s started, it’s easy to continue. Keeping on doing good deeds brings us peace of mind, which is important for our happiness.According to the passage, the positive action in the example contributes to our ________.
| A．self-respect | B．financial rewards |
| C．advertising ability | D．friendly relationship |
The author thinks that keeping silent about the uncharged item is equal to ________.
| A．lying | B．stealing |
| C．cheating | D．advertising |
The phrase bringing the error to the clerks attention (in Para.5) means ________.
| A．telling the truth to the clerk |
| B．offering advice to the clerk |
| C．asking the clerk to be more attentive |
| D．reminding the clerk of the charged item |
Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?
| A．How to Live Truthfully |
| B．Importance of Peacefulness |
| C．Ways of Gaining Self-respect |
| D．Happiness through Honorable Action |