“An Uber self-driving car hit and killed a woman crossing the street in Arizona，U．S．，”police said on Monday，marking the first death caused by an autonomous vehicle and a potential blow to the technology expected to transform transportation．
The ride services company said it was delaying North American tests of its self-driving vehicles，which are currently going on in Arizona，Pittsburgh and Toronto．
So-called robot cars，when fully developed by companies including Uber，are expected to thoroughly cut down on motor vehicle deaths and create billion-dollar businesses．But Monday’s accident highlighted (凸显)the possible challenges ahead for the promising technology as the cars face real-world situations involving real people．
“This catastrophic accident highlights why we need to be exceptionally cautious when testing and applying autonomous vehicle technologies to public roads，”said Edward Markey， a member of the transportation committee，in a statement．
“Elaine Herzberg，49，was walking her bicycle outside the crosswalk on a four-lane road in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe at about 10 p．m． MST Sunday when she was struck by the Uber vehicle traveling at about 65 kilometers per hour，”police said．The car was in autonomous mode with an operator behind the wheel．U．S． federal safety officials were sending teams to investigate the crash．Canada’s transportation ministry in Ontario，where Uber conducts testing，also said it was reviewing the accident．
“Uber and Waymo on Friday urged Congress to pass a law to speed the introduction of self-driving cars into the united states．However，some congressional(国会的)representatives have blocked the legislation over safety concerns，and Monday’s death could hamper passage of the bill，”congressional assistants said Monday．
1. According to the passage，which is the effect of the accident of the woman’s being killed?| A．People will be cautious while crossing a road． |
| B．The woman’s family will obtain a billion dollars． |
| C．The process of transforming transportation will be affected． |
| D．Self-driving vehicles will cut down on motor vehicles deaths． |
| A．make | B．prevent |
| C．start | D．accelerate |
| A．To arouse the public concerns over a self-driving safety． |
| B．To remind car producers to be more careful when testing vehicles technology． |
| C．To advise the Congress to pass a law to speed self-driving cars test in the U．S． |
| D．To urge the U．S．federal safety regulators to take measures to look into the accident． |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Americans won’t live without cars! Each year there is an increasing number of cars on roads and streets, as millions of new cars are produced. One out of every six Americans work at putting together the parts of cars, driving trucks, building roads or filling cars with gas.
Most Americans find it hard to think what life would be without a car. However, some have realized the serious problem of air pollution by cars. The polluted air is poisonous and dangerous to health.
One way to get rid of the polluted air is to design a new car that does not pollute. That’s what several large car factories are trying to do. But to build the new car is easier said than done. Progress in this field has been slow.
Another way is to take place of the car engine by something else. Engineers are now working on some new cars. Many makers believe that it will take years to develop a practical model that pleases man.
To prevent the world from being polluted by cars, we’ll have to make some changes in the way many of us live. Americans, for example, have to cut down the number of their cars they are encouraged to travel and go to work by bike. Riding a bike is thought to help keep the air clean.
But this change does not come easily, a large number of workers may find themselves with no jobs if a car factory closes down. And the problem of air pollution would become less important than that of unemployment.
1. If the number of cars is cut down, the most serious problem in American workers is_______.| A．to keep the air clean | B．to have no work to do |
| C．to get a better life | D．to go to work by bike |
| A．which is clean itself | B．which does not pollute the air |
| C．which is used to clean streets | D．which is easier to make |
| A．Bicycling is the only way out. |
| B．The number of cars must be cut down. |
| C．Cars bring us nothing but serious problems. |
| D．Cars bring us not only a better life but serious problems. |
Government officials suggest that Chinese people will take to the air, roads and railways 3.62 billion times over a 40-day period around the nation's most important holiday this year as people push their way home for family gatherings or to satisfy their new-found passion for travel.
Getting tickets to all those would-be travelers is a discounting challenge that tries your patience annually. And the pressure for the railway system is always the greatest. Railways are the transport of choice for low-cost long-distance travel, and that's where the ticketing system regularly falls down.
Much of the criticism has focused on the railway's online purchasing system, which has been unable to keep pace with the huge demand and also failed to stop scalpers (票贩子) from easily getting many of the hard-to-find tickets.
Railway officials believed that online sales were the fairest way to get tickets for travelers, and told reporters that the public need to be patient. While by now the railway service is far from satisfying, efforts are being made to provide online identity checks that would reduce the ticket scalping problems, and the situation is expected to get better in a few years. Meanwhile, for those traveling by car, good news is that the country's extremely expensive highway tolls (通行费) will be removed for the period of the official holiday.
1. Which of the following words can replace the underlined word "discounting" in Paragraph 3?
| A．Pleasing. | B．Rewarding. |
| C．Promising. | D．Discouraging. |
| A．is convenient for travelers |
| B．costs more money |
| C．requires great patience |
| D．is just a piece of cake |
| A．there will be 3.62 billion people going home |
| B．many people have to buy railway tickets from scalpers |
| C．the railway system will break down as usual |
| D．not railways but cars are the best choices for traveling |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Satisfied. | D．Worried. |
【推荐3】Over the past year, companies have been rolling out electric scooters (踏板车) by the thousands in cities across the country from Milwaukee to Washington, D. C. to Lubbock, Texas. People download the app, find a nearby scooter and then just unlock and ride. But as these shared scooters have spread, so have concerns about safety.
Portland, Oregon in the middle of a four-month e-scooter pilot program. You see these scooters everywhere — parked on sidewalks (they don't require docking stations, which most shared bikes do), taking fast corners and going through traffic. But something you don't see much of helmets.
On a recent weekend, a 32-year-old woman who didn't want to give her name because she's breaking the city's helmet rule is riding for the first time with some of her friends. None of them are wearing helmets, which both the city and the scooter company require with good reason. “One of our friends almost just got run over. The brake lights on theirs don't work,” she says.
Part of the draw of these scooters is their flexibility — most riders we talked to jumped on a scooter on the spur of the moment. And, given the fact that most people would not want to share helmets with strangers they don't come with helmets attached. So people end up riding without any safety gear.
Yet this is against the rules, but many people just don’t want to carry around helmets. Data from bicycles suggest that people participating in share programs have lower rates of accidents than those using their own vehicle. And many transportation advocates point to the fact that helmet requirements deter bike usage.
Still helmets provide protection. Riding a scooter is very different from riding a bike.
And people on e-scooters are starting to show up in emergency rooms with injuries.” We've seen things from broken bones to punctured (刺穿) lungs.” says Catherine Juillard, a doctor at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.
1. What does the 32-year-old woman want to convey?| A．Riding a scooter is difficult. | B．Riding a scooter is dangerous. |
| C．E-scooters are of poor quality. | D．E-scooters bring great convenience. |
| A．Because of high cost. | B．Because of people's habit. |
| C．Because they are not effective. | D．Because they are not necessary. |
| A．Limit. | B．Allow. | C．Decide. | D．Promote. |
| A．To Wear or Not to Wear helmets? | B．E-Scooters Do More Harm Than Good. |
| C．How to Reduce the Risk of E-Scooters? | D．With E-Scooters Come Safety Concerns. |
【推荐1】No one knows when the first printing press was invented or who invented it. but the oldest known printed text originated in China during the first millennium (千年) AD. The Diamond Sutra (《金刚经》), a Buddhist book from Dunhuang, China during the Tang Dynasty, is said to be the oldest known printed book. The Diamond Sutra was created with a method known as block printing (雕版印刷), which used boards of hand-carved wood blocks in reverse.
It was said that the moveable type was developed by Bi Sheng. He was from Yingshan, Hubei, China, living from 970 to 1051 AD. His method replaced panels of printing blocks with moveable individual Chinese characters that could be reused. The first moveable Chinese Characters were carved into clay and baked into hard blocks that were then arranged onto an iron frame that was pressed against an iron plate.
The earliest mention of Bi Sheng’s printing press is in the book Dream Pool Essays, written in 1086 by Shen Kuo, who noted that his nephews came into possession of Bi Sheng’s typefaces (字体) after his death. Shen Kuo explained that Bi Sheng did not use wood because the texture is inconsistent (不一致的) and absorbs wetness too easily.
By the time of the Southern Song Dynasty, which ruled from 1127 to 1279 AD, books had become popular in society and helped create a scholarly class of citizens who had the capabilities to become civil servants. Large printed book collections also became a status symbol for the wealthy class.
1. When was Bi Sheng’s printing press first introduced in history?| A．After Bi Sheng died and his nephews owned his typefaces. |
| B．When books became popular in the Southern Song Dynasty. |
| C．After the block printing was replaced by the moveable type printing. |
| D．When The Diamond Sutra was printed into a book. |
| A．Shen Kuo made great contributions to printing. |
| B．The moveable type printing was invented earlier than block printing. |
| C．Printed books were hard to get in the Song Dynasty. |
| D．By the Southern Song Dynasty, books had helped people get to higher social positions. |
| A．To show that Buddhism was popular in the Tang Dynasty. |
| B．To introduce the early history of printing. |
| C．To memorize Bi Sheng, developing the moveable type printing. |
| D．To indicate the advantages of moveable type printing. |
【推荐2】Since time immemorial, people have been searching for the fountain of youth. Surprisingly, the dream of human immortality is, according to some scientists, not so far out of reach.
Professor Brian Cox, Google’s Ray Kurzweil, and Tesla head Elon Musk all agree on not only the possibility of human immortality but also that it is not too far away. The solution, they say, is something called the “technological singularity”
The singularity is a combination of humankind with computers, namely uploading the contents of one’s brain onto a hard drive. In that way, a person’s consciousness can stay alive after a physical body gets worse. This is based on the idea that a human brain is simply a machine, and there is, according to Professor Cox, “no reason at all why we cannot simulate (模拟)human intelligence,” using a computer.
Although Professor Cox did not say when the singularity would occur, Google’s Ray Kurzweil predicts that the singularity will happen as early as 2045. By 2100, he says, human body parts will be replaceable by machine parts. Further, by uploading our brains onto a computer, we will be able to toy with it, and become “able to expand the scope of our intelligence a billion fold.
Elon Musk agreed with the assessments of the other scientists, even going so far as saying that the chances that we are not in a computer simulation right now are “one in billions”.
Google is preparing for a future where you can download personalities onto robots. For example, you might be able to download onto your robot a celebrity personality, or of the personality of your deceased grandmother. The search engine giant filed a patent for this download process recently. So they definitely believe that the singularity is just around the corner. All you have to do is hold on until 2045, and soon you can effectively live in the cloud.
1. What does the underlined word “immortality” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Being perfect. | B．Being wealthy. |
| C．Living forever. | D．Continuous improvement. |
| A．By listing data. | B．By presenting quotations. |
| C．By doing experiments. | D．By making comparisions. |
| A．Computers are much smarter than humankind. |
| B．Computers can never surpass humankind at all. |
| C．Computers and humankind are quite different. |
| D．Computers can be another version of humankind. |
| A．Physically and intelligently. | B．Individually and corporately. |
| C．Psychologically and spiritually. | D．Emotionally and materially. |
【推荐3】Denmark is only about half the size of South Carolina, but it produces more of its electricity from wind than any other country in the world. That's not because it's a particularly breezy country; it has pretty ordinary average wind speeds. The reason the Danes now get 47% of their electricity from wind,with more to come,comes down to a combination of history and policy.
First, the history: Paul la Cour was a scientist and inventor who experimented with and engineered early wind power machines at the start of the 20th century. So it's not surprising that Denmark spent money developing wind power early, beginning at a national level in the 1970s.In the 1980s,due to a strong grassroots movement disagreeing with nuclear power plants, Denmark increased production before many other countries were even considering it.
Denmark has also had significant government support for wind-energy projects, as well as support from the country's technology-focused universities. Even back in 2002, the country was taking climate change warnings seriously, aiming to cut fossil-fuel emissions by 20 percent, which it did via renewable energy investment and implementation.
Some of the world's largest companies in the area --- including Vestas, which builds turbines, and Orsted, which specializes in offshore wind projects --- are Danish,so the country has an impact beyond its borders.
The great impact of Denmark's wind-energy business is important because it's a small country, so while an almost 50% rate of electricity from wind is admirable, it's also small in terms of overall global impact.
While Denmark gets almost half of its electricity needs covered from 5,758 megawatts (MW) of capacity, Spain's 23,000 MTW covers just 18 percent of its electricity supply as it's a much bigger country. China is the leader in wind energy at 221,000 MW,and the U.S. comes second in the world at about 96,000 MW.
Denmark's long support for wind-energy technology and its policies made in support of wind energy have proven this approach can work to decarbonize the economy, even on a bigger scale.At the end of 2019, lawmakers in Denmark set a new goal: increasing the percentage of electricity sourced from renewable power to 100%.
1. What can we learn about Denmark in developing wind power?| A．It has the advantage of strong winds. |
| B．Its weather conditions are unfavorable. |
| C．It is experienced in this area. |
| D．It met with strong disagreement at first. |
| A．the bright future of the wind power business |
| B．the fierce competition in the area of wind power |
| C．Denmark's dependence on the wind-energy business |
| D．Denmark's international status in the wind-energy business |
| A．The U.S. |
| B．Denmark. |
| C．Spain. |
| D．China. |
| A．A hopeful future of the green economy. |
| B．The urgent need to develop wind energy worldwide. |
| C．A long way to go to full dependence on clean energy. |
| D．Wind energy's leading role as a form of renewable power. |
【推荐1】As 17-year-old Norwood drove through St. Petersburg, Florida, last February, the laughter and chatter from the four teenage girls inside her car quickly gave way to screams. As they approached a crossroad, another car T-boned them, sending their black car sailing into the yard of a nearby house, coming to a stop only when it crashed into a tree.
As smoke rose from the other car, a bystander shouted, “It’s about to blow up! Get out!” The impact had caved in Norwood’s driver’s side door, jamming it shut. Shaken, but still OK, she crawled out through the window. Along with two of her friends, who'd also managed to free themselves, she ran for her life.
But halfway down the street, she realized that her best friend, Simmons, wasn't with them. Norwood ran back to the seriously damaged car and found Simmons lying in the back seat. “She wasn't moving,” Norwood told the reporter. She threw open the back door and pulled her friend out, avoiding the broken glass as best she could. She dragged Simmons a few feet to safety and laid her on the ground. “I checked her pulse.”Nothing. “I put my head against her chest.” No sign of life. “That's when I started CPR.”
If the accident had happened a few weeks earlier, she might not have known what to do. But Norwood, who wants to pursue a career in medicine, had earned her CPR certificate just the day before. Kneeling on the lawn and looking down at her dying friend, Norwood knew she had precious little time to practice what she'd learned.
She started pressing Simmons's chest with her crossed fingers and breathing into her friend's mouth in hopes of filling her lungs with the kiss of life. No response. And then, after the 30th press, Simmons began coughing and gasping for air. The CPR had worked!
Soon, an ambulance arrived and rushed Simmons to the hospital, where she received stitches (缝合) for a wound in her forehead. And then she heard how her best friend had saved her life. “I wasn't shocked,” said Simmons. “She will always help any way she can."
1. On a day of last February, Norwood and her friends ________.| A．witnessed a crash |
| B．drove into a house |
| C．ran into an accident |
| D．got stuck in a traffic jam |
| A．practice CPR | B．help her friend out |
| C．open the back door | D．stop the explosion |
| A．Brave. | B．Creative. | C．Ambitious. | D．Optimistic. |
| A．Pursuit of dream | B．Breath of life |
| C．Recovery from injury | D．Loss of memory |
【推荐2】On a July afternoon in 1937, 15-year-old Betty Brown was playing with her father’s shortwave radio and searching for her favorite songs when she casually turned the dial on the radio and heard something that made her stop. It was a voice that sounded familiar. Back in those days, news clips (新闻摘要) were played at movie theaters. Brown recognized the voice from one of the news films she had seen.
“I heard Amelia Earhart in a panicked voice, a heartbreaking voice,” Brown recalled in a 2007 interview. “She was saying, ‘This is Amelia Earhart Putnam, please help me. Please hear me.’”
Brown quickly began writing down what she heard --- parts of desperate conversations between the woman she believed was Earhart and an unknown man. Later, she decided that the man must have been Earhart’s navigator (领航员), Fred Noonan. As the signal faded in and out, Brown never left the radio. She scribbled (潦草地写) away as Earhart and Noonan struggled for control of the radio. Earhart tried to prevent Noonan from leaving the plane after they had apparently crash-landed. All the while, Earhart repeated strings of numbers and mentioned rising water. After about three hours, Earhart and Noonan were seemingly forced to abandon the plane as it was filled with water, and the distress calls (遇险呼救) stopped.
Brown and her father both tried to give her notes to the United States Coast Guard, but they were told the situation was under control. The search for Earhart was abandoned after a great effort was made. But Brown kept her notebook. In 2000, people from an organization researching Earhart’s disappearance asked to see it. The researchers were convinced that Brown’s notes were reliable. If the researchers are right, the notes are a priceless, yet sorrowful, record of the sad ending of an American hero.
1. Betty Brown stayed by the radio for so long because she________.| A．was waiting for her music to come back on |
| B．enjoyed recording people’s conversations |
| C．wanted to gather more information about Earhart’s situation |
| D．wanted to take notes for a book about Earhart |
| A．did not want to look for Earhart |
| B．did not believe Brown heard Earhart |
| C．wanted Brown to help them find Earhart |
| D．already knew where Earhart was |
| A．Determined. | B．Forgetful. | C．Independent. | D．Careless. |
【推荐3】It was about 10:15 p.m. Janice Esposito got off the train at the Bellport, New York, got into her car and began driving home. She had traveled the route so many times that she almost drove automatically: a left onto Station Road, then a left on Montauk Highway, and then—bang! Out of nowhere a car crashed into Esposito’s car, pushing her backward some 100 feet onto the railroad tracks. Injured but mostly shocked by the crash and by the airbags that popped up, she got stuck in the vehicle.
As it happened, Pete DiPinto was getting ready for bed when he heard the crash coming from not far outside his bedroom window.
A volunteer firefighter and retired teacher, DiPinto, 64, never stopped to think. He grabbed a flashlight and rushed out. “Any firefighter would have done what I did,” he said. “We’re always on duty.”
The first car he came upon, 2,000 feet from his front yard, was the one that had hit Esposito. Once making sure the driver was OK, he looked around and spotted Esposito’s car straddling (骑跨) the railroad tracks. And then he heard a bell sound, which signaled a coming train.
DiPinto rushed to Esposito’s car and hit on the driver’s side window. She just looked at him, “I don’t know where I am,” she said.
“You’re on the railroad tracks,” DiPinto yelled. “We have to get you off right now!” The train was traveling at a speed of 65 miles per hour toward them. The driver’s door couldn’t be opened due to the crash, so DiPinto ran to the passenger side. He threw open the door, pushed aside the airbags, seized Esposito’s arms, and pulled her toward him across the passenger seat until he finally got her out and walked her to safety as quickly as he could.
Within seconds, the train crashed into the car. “It was like a Hollywood movie, ” DiPinto told reporters the next day.
“Last night,” said Greg Miglino Chief of the South Country Ambulance, “the hero arrived in pajamas, not in a fire truck.”
1. What can we know about the accident from the first paragraph?| A．Esposito was not familiar with the road. |
| B．Esposito was driving too fast. |
| C．The crash was violent. |
| D．It should have been avoided. |
| A．Esposito was badly injured. |
| B．Esposito was to be hit by the train. |
| C．Esposito was firmly stuck in the car. |
| D．The driver’s door couldn’t be opened. |
| A．He is praising DiPinto’s heroic action. |
| B．DiPinto didn’t act as professionally. |
| C．A firefighter should be ready any time. |
| D．Fire trucks are not enough for emergencies. |
| A．Regretful | B．Calm | C．Powerful | D．Nervous |
| A．A woman had an accident on the way home at night. |
| B．A woman had a narrow death escape. |
| C．A firefighter managed to become a hero overnight. |
| D．A firefighter saved a woman from a further accident. |
