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 These include maps that are outdated, incorrect or difficult to understand.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 |
Like many lovers of books, Mary and her husband, Richard Goldman, seldom walked past a bookstore without stopping to look inside. They often talked of opening their own store one day.
When Mary was hospitalized with heart trouble in 1989, they decided it was time to get serious. Richard, who worked for a business company, was eager to work for himself, and Mary needed to slow down from her demanding job.
They started by talking to bookstore owners and researching the industry. “We knew it had to be a specialty（专业） store because we couldn’t match the big chains dollar for dollar,” says Mary. One figure caught her attention: She’d read somewhere that roughly 20 percent of books sold were mysteries (推理小说), and many buyers spent more $300 a year on books. She and Richard were themselves mystery readers.
On Halloween 1992, they opened the Mystery Lovers Bookshop and Café near their home. With three children in college, the couple could not spend all the family’s money to start a shop. To cover the $100,000 cost, they drew some of their savings, borrowed from relatives and from a bank.
The store merely broke even in its first year, with only $120,000 in sales. But Mary was always coming up with new ways to attract customers. The shop had a coffee bar and it offered gifts to mystery lovers and served dinners for book clubs that met in the store. She also invited dozens of writers to discuss their stories.
Today Mystery Lovers makes sales of about $420,000 a year. After paying taxes, business costs and the six part-time sales clerks, Richard and Mary together earn about $34,000.
“The job you love may not go hand in hand with a million-dollar income,” says Richard. “This has always been about an enjoyable life for ourselves, not about making a lot of money.”
1．When Mary was in hospital, the couple realized that ____.
A. they had to put their plan into practiceB. health was more important than wealth
C. heart trouble was a serious illnessD. they both needed to stop working
2．After Mary got well from her illness they began _____.
A. to study industrial management
B. to buy and read more mystery books
C. to do market research on book business
D. to work harder to save money for the bookstore
3．According to Richard, the main purpose of running the bookstore is _____.
A. to pay for their children’s education B. to get to know more writers
C. to set up more bookstores D. to do what they like to do
Houston, Texas (June 8, 2002) ---In 2004, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will send two robots (机器人) to separate places of Mars to seek out past or present signs of water. It is an exciting idea to send two robots driving over very different places of Mars at the same time, to be able to see what is on the other side of the hill.
Last month, NASA announced it was sending one robot to Mars, but after two weeks, it decided there was enough money for two. The robots will be sent up within two weeks of each other in May and June of 2003 from Kennedy Space Center. If all goes well, the two spacecraft (宇宙飞船) will touch down on Mars，after a seven-and-a-half-month space flight，on January 2 and 20, 2004.
The robots, each weighing 150 kilograms, can cover 100 meters per day. They are designed to be able to examine the mineral content of the soil, and their special camera will take pictures of the lands and hills. Although they will be under control from Earth, the robot, are able to move more freely compared to those sent up before them.
The actual landing points have not been determined yet, but the scientists say it will be in areas where they hope to find water.
1. According to the news report, scientists plan to send robots up to Mars to ______.
A. find out whether there is water on Mars B. see if robots can find minerals there
C. test how fast robots can drive there D. prove that robots can work on Mars
2.How long in between will the two robots be sent to Mars?
A.1 year B.7.5 months. C.2 months. D.2 weeks.
3. One of the important jobs for the robots on Mars is to ________.
A. study the soil B. walk everywhere
C. test the new camera D. find a suitable landing point
4. We can infer from the last sentence that scientists _______.
A. have changed the landing points many times
B. hope to land the robots on the surface of water
C. are still working on the plan
D. know where they can find water
The year is 2094. It has been announced that a comet (彗星) is heading towards the Earth . Most of it will miss our planet, but two pieces will probably hit the southern half of the Earth.
On 17 July , a piece four kilometers wide enters the Earth’s atmosphere with a massive explosion . About half of the piece is destroyed, but the remaining part hits the South Atlantic at 200 times the speed of sound. The sea boils and a huge hole is made in the sea bed. Huge waves are created and spread outwards from the hole. The wall of water, a kilometer high, rushes towards southern Africa at 800 kilometers an hour. Cities on the African coast are totally destroyed and millions of people are drowned.
Before the waves reach South America, the second piece of the comet lands in Argentina. Earthquakes and volcanoes are set off in the Andes Mountains. The shock waves move north into California and all around the Pacific Ocean. The cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Tokyo are completely destroyed by earthquakes. Millions of people in the southern half of the earth are already dead, but the north won’t escape for long. Because of the explosions, the sun is hidden by clouds of dust, temperatures around the world fall to almost zero. Crops are ruined. The sun won’t be seen again for many years. Wars break out as countries fight for food. A year later, no more than 10 million people remain alive.
Could it really happen? In fact, it has already happened more than once in the history of the Earth. The dinosaurs were on the Earth for over 160 million years. Then 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared. Many scientists believe that the Earth was hit by a piece of object in space. The dinosaurs couldn’t live through the cold climate that followed and they died out. Will we meet the same end?
1．What is mainly described in the passage?
A．A historic discovery . B．An event of imagination
C．A research on space . D．A scientific adventure.
2．When the first piece hits the South Atlantic, it causes________ .
A．an earthquake B．damages to citiesC．an Earth explosion D．huge waves
3．Why can’t the northern half of the earth escape for long ?
A．Because the land is covered with water
B．Because the light and heat from the sun can not reach the earth .
C．Because people there can not live at the temperature of zero .
D．Because wars break out among countries .
4．By giving the example of dinosaurs , the author tries to prove________ .
A．animals could not live in the cold climate
B．what happened 65 million years ago was an invented story
C．the human beings will die out in 2094
D．the Earth could be hit by other objects in space
第三节：阅读理解（共25小题; 每小题2分, 满分50分）
It was 3:12 a. m. when nine-year-old Glenn Kreamer awoke to the smell of burning. Except for the crackling（爆裂声）of flames somewhere below there was not a sound in the two-storey house at Baldwin, Long Island.
With his father away on night duty at a local factory, Glenn was worried about the safety of his mother, his sister Karen, 14 and his 12-year-old brother Todd. He ran downstairs through the smoke filled house to push and pull at Karen and Todd until they sat up. Then he helped each one through the house to the safety of the garden. There, his sister and brother, taking short and quick breaths and coughing, collapsed on the lawn (草坪).
The nine-year-old raced back into the house and upstairs to his mother’s room. He found it impossible to woke her up. Mrs. Kreamer, a victim of the smoke, was unconscious, and there was nobody to help Glenn carry her to the garden. But the boy remained calm and, as a fireman said later, “acted with all the self-control of a trained adult.”
On the bedroom telephone, luckily still working, Glenn called his father and, leaving Mr. Kreamer to telephone the fire brigade and ambulance service, got on with the task of saving his mother.
First he filled a bucket with water from the bathroom and threw water over his mother and her bed. Then, with a wet cloth around his head he went back to the garden.
He could hear the fire engine coming up, but how would the firemen find his mother in the smoke-filled house where flames had almost swallowed up the ground floor?
Grasping firmly a ball of string from the garage, Glenn raced back into the house and dashed upstairs to his mother’s room. Tying one end of the string to her hand he ran back, laying out the string as he went, through the hall and back out into the garden.
Minutes later he was telling fire chief John Coughlan: “The string will lead you to mother.” Mrs. Kreamer was carried to safety as the flames were breaking through her bedroom floor.
1．Why did Glenn run downstairs first?
A．He wanted to find out what was happening.
B．He was worried about his mother’s safety.
C．He wanted to save his sister and brother.
D．He went to see if his father had come back from work.
2．How did Glenn help the firemen to save his mother?
A．By throwing water all over her and her bed.
B．By carrying her to safety with his brother.
C．By pushing and pulling at her.
D．By tying a string to her hand.
3．Who called the fire brigade and ambulance service?
A．Glenn. B．Glenn’s father. C．Glenn’s sister. D．Glenn’s neighbor.
4．What did Glenn do to protect himself?
A．He put a wet cloth around his head. B．He threw water all over himself.
C．He hid himself in the bathroom. D．He rushed out to the lawn.
5．Glenn saved his family because___________.
A．his father had taught him to do so on the phone
B．he had learned something about first aid
C．he had dealt with the emergency calmly and wisely
D．he had followed his mother’s instruction
“Here, waiter! Look at your soup. What’s this? Is it vegetable soup? No. It’s fly(苍蝇) soup! Look at the bluebottle! Terrible! Pour it onto the face of the cook. Who wants such a wonderful soup?” shouted a middle-aged lady. In less than a second, the customers gathered around her table. A young waiter was already holding the soup plate, searching for the fly with a spoon. The lady was angry. The manager came out to see what the trouble was. “Bring her another bowl of soup” was his order. The lady wanted to show the fly to the manager. As she reached for the spoon, she pointed at something blue in it. “Look, that’s the fly!” she shouted.
The crowd pressed closer and stared at the spoon in the young waiter’s hand. Just before they could see it clearly, the man put the spoon full of soup into his mouth. Biting slightly, after a while, he smiled and nodded, “It’s really a piece of burnt green onion. I firmly believe that is worthy of our fame.” On hearing this, people laughed and walked away. The woman was at a loss and didn’t know if she could drink the soup or leave it there.
The whole incident lasted only a few minutes. Not long after that the waiter who had saved the restaurant form disgrace (不光彩) soon got a rise.
1. The “bluebottle” the lady mentioned means .
A. a kind of soup B. a kind of fly C. the soup plate D. the spoon
2. Seeing what had happened, the manager .
A. knew that the fault would make this restaurant lose face
B. scolded the waiter to smooth down (消除) the lady’s anger
C. said sorry to the woman for the soup
D. sent away the cook who had caused so much trouble
3. Form the passage we can infer that the young waiter ate the fly, just because .
A. it’s really his fault to make the lady angry
B. he didn’t want others to drive the cook out of the restaurant
C. he wanted to show what he ate was nothing but a piece of green onion
D. he was afraid he would be sent away by the manager
4. The young waiter saved the restaurant’s fame by .
A. eating the fly in soup B. telling the truth to everyone
C. saying sorry to the lady D. pointing out what the lady said was wrong