【推荐1】People in several American states may be surprised to see cars on city streets without a driver. Experimental driverless vehicles now are legal in Florida, Nevada and California. They are pointing the way to a future that is not far down the road. The high-tech company Google has a number of self-driving cars, which had covered 480,000 kilometers by August. Volvo is among the companies doing road tests and says it plans to sell driverless cars by 2020.
In September, California Governor Jerry Brown signed an act to allow autonomous vehicles on the roads of his state. “Today we’re looking at science fiction becoming tomorrow’s reality—the driverless car.” The technology for these cars includes cameras, radar and motion sensors. The systems have been improved through competitions sponsored by the US government agency DARPA. Engineer Richard Mason of the Rand Corporation helped design driverless vehicles for DARPA challenge races.
“Cars have become much more fuel-efficient, and new electronic features are making Hondas safer,” said Angie Nucci of Honda America. “A camera on the passenger-side mirror actually engaged on your guiding screen so you can safely change lanes.” Other safety features include warning systems on the front and the sides of the cars. These systems help drivers, but don’t replace them. Curator Leslie Kendall of the Petersen Automotive Museum said autonomous cars will make the high ways safer．
“By taking out drivers, you also remove most risks of an accident,” Kendall said. He said consumers, however, may be unwilling to lose control. “It may take them time to come to realize that the technology is indeed reliable, but it will have to prove itself first.”
Mason said the technology already works and the biggest challenge now is getting down the cost for driverless vehicles from hundreds of thousands of dollars to something more affordable. He said this will happen as the technology is improved.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph l?

A．Volvo will be the first to sell driverless cars.

B．Driverless cars are pointing us a faraway future.

C．Driverless vehicles are now legal in the whole USA.

D．Google’s self-driving cars have covered a long distance.

2. We learn that Governor of California Jerry Brown_________.

A．helped design self-driving cars

B．supports self-driving cars on roads

C．considers self-driving cars science fiction

D．improved the self-driving car systems

3. According to Richard Mason, what is the biggest challenge for driverless cars?

A．They are not allowed to run on the road.

B．Their technical problems remain to be solved.

C．They are now too expensive for consumers.

D．They are more dangerous for people on the street.

4. Which is the best title for the passage?

A．The Benefits of the Self-driving Cars

B．The Biggest Challenge of the Self-driving Cars

C．Safer or More Dangerous Self-driving Cars

D．Self-driving Cars—Science Fiction Future Is Near

【推荐3】One rainy evening, a student named Paula Ceely brought her car to a stop on a remote road in Wales. She got out to open a metal gate that blocked her path. That’s when she heard the whistle sounded by the driver of a train. Her Renault Clio was parked across a railway line. Seconds later, she watched the train drag her car almost a kilometre down the railway tracks.

Ceely’s near miss made the news because she blamed it on her GPS. She had never driven the route before. It was dark and raining heavily. Ceely was relying on her GPS, but it made no mention of the crossing. “I put my complete trust in the device and it led me right into the path of a speeding train,” she said.

Who is to blame here? Rick Stevenson, who tells Ceely’s story in his book When Machines Fail Us, points the finger at the limitations of technology. We put our faith in digital devices, he says, but our digital helpers are too often not up to the job. They are filled with small problems. And it’s not just GPS devices: Stevenson takes us on a tour of digital disasters involving everything from mobile phones to wireless keyboards.

The problem with his argument in the book is that it’s not clear why he only focuses on digital technology, while there may be a number of other possible causes. A map-maker might have left the crossing off a paper map. Maybe we should blame Ceely for not paying attention. Perhaps the railway authorities are at fault for poor signaling system. Or maybe someone has studied the relative dangers and worked out that there really is something specific wrong with the GPS equipment. But Stevenson doesn’t say.

It’s a problem that runs through the book. In a section on cars, Stevenson gives an account of the advanced techniques that criminals use to defeat computer-based locking systems for cars. He offers two independent sets of figures on car theft; both show a small rise in some parts of the country. He says that once again not all new locks have proved reliable. Perhaps, but maybe it’s also due to the shortage of policemen on the streets. Or changing social circumstances. Or some combination of these factors.

The game between humans and their smart devices is amusing and complex. It is shaped by economics and psychology and the cultures we live in. Somewhere in the mix of those forces there may be a way for a wiser use of technology.

If there is such a way, it should involve more than just an awareness of the shortcomings of our machines. After all, we have lived with them for thousands of years. They have probably been fooling us for just as long.

1. The phrase “near miss” (Paragraph 2) can best be replaced by ________.

A．close hit

B．heavy loss

C．big mistake

D．narrow escape

2. Which of the following would Rick Stevenson most probably agree with?

A．Modern technology is what we can’t live without.

B．GPS error is not the only cause for Ceely’s accident.

C．Digital devices are more reliable than they used to be.

D．Digital technology often falls short of our expectation.

3. In the writer’s opinion, Stevenson’s argument is ________.

A．one-sided

B．reasonable

C．puzzling

D．well-founded

4. What is the real concern of the writer of this article?

A．The shortcomings of digital devices we use.

B．The human unawareness of technical problems.

C．The relationship between human and technology.

D．The major causes of traffic accidents and car thefts.

【推荐2】Industrial agriculture is often held up as the solution to feeding the world’s growing population. But small farms of about 25 acres or less produce over 70 percent of the world’s food. To raise awareness of the contribution of these farmers, a global photo exhibition, We Feed the World, is to open on October 12 in London.

“Industrial agriculture, which mainly focuses on a few types of crops, is not the only answer,” says art director Francesca Price. “We want these images to empower people to support their local food system.”

By growing traditional and non-commercial varieties, small farms support biodiversity and increase food security. With only 12 plants and five animal species making up 75 percent of what the world eats, food systems will be easily hurt by natural disasters and disease outbreaks. However, traditional farming communities are working to preserve their ancient seed diversity.

Keeping variety alive is very important in the face of climate change. In the future, researchers might need to get particular genes from—one variety to help another to adapt to warmer, stormier, or drier weather, or to save a prized variety from disease.

Contrary to the false impression held by the public, small farms that practise traditional agriculture can be highly productive. Studies show that the output of crops rises when there’s a wider diversity of crops being grown on a farm, and money is saved since the need for harmful fertilizer(化肥)and other chemicals is reduced.

“The photographs of family farmers may tell just a few local stories, but the message is universal,” says photographer Cheryl Newman. “I hope that the images will leave viewers thinking deeply about where their food comes from and the impact it has on the world around us.”

1. What is the purpose of the photo exhibition?

A．To help small farmers to sell their produce.

B．To show the challenges faced by small farmers.

C．To help farmers to fight against industrial agriculture.

D．To draw attention to small farmers’ contribution.

2. What can we say about the industrial agriculture?

A．It produces more food than small farms in total.

B．It harms biodiversity and decreases food security

C．It has been competing unfairly with small farms.

D．It is the only way to feed the world’s population.

3. Why is it important to preserve the traditional and non—commercial crops?

A．Their genes are much better.

B．Their output is much higher.

C．They may help improve the other crops.

D．They don’t need chemical fertilizers at all.

4. What would be the best title for the text?

A．Industrial agriculture or traditional agriculture, hard to decide

B．Agriculture needs diversity

C．Small farms, big impacts

D．Traditional agriculture, highly productive

【推荐1】It’s often said that creative people see the world differently from the rest of us and a Harvard study is providing one explanation. Scientists studied brain scans of people after asking them to come up with creative uses for everyday objects. And they found a specific pattern of connectivity (连接) that correlated (与……相关) with the most creative responses.

“What this shows is that the creative brain works differently,” said Roger Beaty, the first author of the study. Beaty and his colleagues examined brain data from previous studies and found that, by simply measuring the strength of connections in these people’s brain networks, they could estimate the originality of these people’s ideas.

While the data showed that regions across the brain were involved in creative thought, Beaty said the evidence pointed to three subnetworks. And they were the default mode (默认状态) network, the salience (突出) network and the executive (管理的) control network. They appear to play key roles in creative thought. The default mode network influences memory and mental acting (心理活动), so theoretically it plays an important role in processes like mind­wandering, imagination, and natural thinking. The salience network notices important information. Lastly, the executive control network works to help people keep their focus on useful ideas while getting rid of those that aren’t working. Beaty said, “People who think more flexibly and come up with more creative ideas are better able to use these networks that don’t typically work together and bring these systems online.”

Based on the results of that study, Beaty and his colleagues have achieved a lot. “We used already­-published data ... we found that based on how strong the connections are in this networks, we could guess pretty accurately how creative you’re going to be on a task,” Beaty said. He added, “It’s also not clear whether this can be improved with some kind of training. Creativity is complex, and we’re only working on the surface here.”

1. What were the participants asked to do in the study?

A．To tell scientists their different ways of seeing the world.

B．To show their special ways to connect with others.

C．To talk about their most exciting experiences.

D．To think of new uses of ordinary objects.

2. What does the underlined word “estimate” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Improve.	B．Judge.
C．Spread.	D．Praise.

3. The default mode network will influence a person when the person is ________.

A．giving up useless ideas	B．organizing thoughts
C．making decisions	D．brainstorming (集思广益)

4. What can we infer from Beaty’s words in the last paragraph?

A．The study is very helpful in determining one’s creativity levels.

B．We can become more creative with the help of some training.

C．Enough work has been done to better understand creativity.

D．Some people can be born with higher levels of creativity.

【推荐2】When she was studying to become a scientist, Megan Strauss rode in a small airplane to study giraffes. While a pilot flew over the Serengeti in Tanzania, Africa, the researchers looked down carefully and counted giraffes.

"I am always amazed how easily we can spot warthogs and other small animals, yet we sometimes have trouble seeing giraffes. Giraffes are slender in shape, and they may not throw a good shadow, " says Dr. Strauss, who has since become a wildlife scientist.

The Serengeti is about the size of Vermont, a state in the northeastern US, so the scientists could not study the entire area. Instead, they surveyed three areas where giraffes were studied in the 1970s. As they expected, they saw far fewer of these animals.

To find out if lions had been killing more giraffes in recent years, the team looked at the survival of young giraffes. Lions kill more young giraffes than adults, but the team found no decrease in young giraffes' survival after they are born, compared with the 1970s.

The team then looked at whether too many giraffes were being killed by parasites(寄生虫).The researchers counted parasite eggs in giraffe droppings, and they found too few to harm the giraffe population.

They looked into whether poachers (盗猎者)were killing too many giraffes. Two of the areas they studied are where giraffe meat is sometimes sold in local markets. Poachers catch more adult males than other giraffes. Researchers spotted too few males compared with females in those two areas, a sign of poaching.

When the food supply is short, the environment supports fewer giraffes and the females have fewer young giraffes. A lot of new trees have grown in the Serengeti, but many are a type that giraffes do not like to eat. The researchers found fewer young giraffes today than in the 1970s compared with the number of adult females, a sign that food was in short supply.

Dr. Strauss is working on an environmental education program for Tanzania including books for students. These materials will educate Tanzanians and help them to help giraffes. As knowledge grows and changes are made, they hope the giraffe population will increase.

1. What did Dr. Strauss find while studying giraffes in the Serengeti?

A．It was too costly to study giraffes.

B．It was hard to spot giraffes from the air.

C．The number of giraffes had increased slowly.

D．Giraffes lived in smaller areas than in the 1970s.

2. How did the team study the lion-giraffe relationship?

A．By analyzing giraffe droppings.

B．By comparing young giraffes with adults.

C．By comparing male giraffes and females.

D．By surveying the survival of young giraffes.

3. What is Dr. Strauss doing to help giraffes?

A．She is founding a national park in Tanzania.

B．She is counting giraffes in the entire Serengeti.

C．She is educating students to write about giraffes.

D．She is raising environmental awareness in local people.