Surveillance (监视) is a fact of life. Your boss is monitoring your performance at work. Supermarkets are collecting data on your grocery shopping.
In a few months, European Union law-makers are due to approve proposals that will make driver assistance systems mandatory (强制的) in cars within three years. All new models of car will come with black boxes (event data recorders), intelligent speed assistance, lane-keeping assistance and more besides.
A large number of technologies will soon be monitoring a driver’s every move. Are we prepared for devices that watch how we drive and try to help us do it better?
| A．Now there is a new field: the automobile. |
| B．There is concern about these technologies, however. |
| C．The tech is reducing costs because it’s reducing the number of crashes. |
| D．Safety isn't much discussed, principally because cars are already very safe. |
| E．While the EU is taking the boldest steps, these technologies aren't far behind in other parts of the world. |
| F．As a result, what may at first glance seem like a surveillance technology is actually a benefit for society. |
| G．The European Commission says that introducing these advanced driver assistance systems will make driving safer. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Travelling through airport security can be a troublesome experience, with most travelers at one time or another forgetting that they have packed a bottle of water, fork or hand cream that subjects them to the anger of the guards.
But a new report has shown that many Brits have far more bizarre items to worry about in their luggage.
A recent survey of more than 2,000 Britons has revealed the top five strangest items confiscated(没收) at the airport and they include handcuffs and even live animals.
The poll by flight comparison website JetCost showed many passengers like to try their luck with a bizarre range of souvenirs when returning home from vacation.
Top of the list of items removed by security was handcuffs, with l4 percent of respondents revealing the strange bedroom accessory (配件) was the reason they had gotten into trouble with airport security guards.
Many claimed they had forgotten the item was in their hand luggage, but some admitted they were intending to use them during their plane journey.
Second on the list was sand or plant from the place the person had visited, with nine percent of respondents admitting their souvenir had been against security rules.
Bizarrely，third on the list of items confiscated was living animals, with eight percent of people admitting they'd had creatures including lizards and spiders removed from their hand luggage before boarding their flight. Rounding up the list were tent pegs at number four and dead animals, such as wild chickens, at number five.
The survey also questioned 1,000 residents of Spain, Italy, Germany and France to find out what were the most common items confiscated by people from those countries.
In Spain, the most common item removed at security was knife, in Italy it was hair dye(染发剂) and in Germany it was dead animals.
Meanwhile in France, the survey showed that locals were most likely to have fireworks taken off them from their hand luggage.
1. Which word has the closest meaning to the underlined word "bizarre" in the passage?
| A．Strange | B．Fantastic. | C．Common | D．Beautiful |
| A．Handcuffs | B．Plant | C．Lizards | D．Lipstick |
| A．Some French like to challenge the airport. |
| B．Some French like to bring fireworks home from other countries. |
| C．Some French like to dye their hair before going back home from overseas. |
| D．France is a very famous tourist country. |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
A city without cars would be very strange, right? But Venice is such a city.
Venice is in the northeast of Italy. It wasn’t built on land, like Beijing or Shanghai, but on more than 110 islands. Seawater is everywhere around the city.
Even so, travel isn’t difficult. The waterways have always been the best way to get around. There are 117 waterways and more than 400 bridges that can guide you where you want to go. People in Venice move from place to place by boat.
Water makes the city special, but it is also a big problem. Sometimes tourists will have such strange experiences. One moment they walk across the Rialto Bridge, and there’s nothing special. But when they come back to the bridge an hour later, it’s underwater and everyone is wearing rain shoes.
Once, people used too much underground water. This made the city get lower little by little. Now the city has gone down by 23 centimeters. Another problem is the rising seawater. The temperature has risen over the years. This has made the ice of the Arctic Ocean (北冰洋) melt (融化). Every year, high waters hit the city in autumn and winter. When a lot of water comes, more than half of the city is underwater.
Scientists are trying different ways to stop the city from getting even lower. The Italian government has asked some of Italy’s biggest companies to build the MOST project, which was planned to be built under the seawater to stop the rising water. Anyway, this project is helping solve the problem.
1. Which is the best way to travel in Venice?
| A．The waterways. | B．Taxis and cars. |
| C．400 bridges. | D．Boats and rain shoes. |
| A．The ice of the Arctic Ocean melt. |
| B．Seawater is everywhere around the city. |
| C．People used too much underground water |
| D．The temperature has become higher over the years. |
| A．Venice is sure to stop getting lower. |
| B．High waters won’t hit Venice any more. |
| C．Scientists can solve the problems easily. |
| D．Some possible ways help to solve the problem. |
| A．The History of Venice |
| B．The MOST Project of Venice. |
| C．The Places of Interest of Venice |
| D．The Specials and Problems of Venice |
【推荐3】Clear winners are hard to pick in the race to develop self-driving vehicles, but autonomous trucks have built a convincing lead. Robotrucks have completed thousands of automated journeys and a new era of driverless delivery appears to lie in store for the world.
Big-name vehicle manufacturers like Daimler, alongside AV (autonomous vehicle) innovators like Aurorae have sunk billions of dollars into making self-driving trucks work, which is a solid investment in road freight (货运).
Fitted with complex LIDAR road scanning systems, computer vision, and AI predictive software, the vehicles serve the so-called “middle mile” between distribution centers, where loads are picked up and dropped off for human drivers to complete deliveries to homes and businesses.
Texas, with its spacious highways, prosperous road freight market, and relaxed regulations, provides ideal conditions to road test the trucks. Other states have their own regulations in place to allow AV testing on public roads.
There are six levels of vehicle automation (from 0 to 5) and level five — full autonomy, drive anywhere — is the end goal. Autonomous journeys often run at level four, which turns out safe, with a backup driver in the cab ready to take control in case an accident happens. In December 2021 a level 4 semi-truck drove 80 miles on public roads, between a railyard in Tucson, Arizona, and a distribution center in Phoenix.
Analysts say that up to 90 percent of long-distance trucking jobs could be lost to self-driving technology once it becomes widespread. Safety is another concern. Questions of whether authorities are ready to deal with the new technology followed a crash between a Waymo Via class 8 truck and another human-driven semi-truck near Ennis, Texas. The human driver was at fault, but the safety operator in the Waymo truck did not take control during the incident and a report exposed the weaknesses of the way the crash was dealt with.
AV industry representatives say their vehicles with self-driving technology are safer and more efficient than cars driven by people and will improve road safety. But doubts from road safety campaigners, transport workers, and city authorities exist about rapid change without stricter controls. All agree that new laws will be necessary.
1. What is paragraph 3 of the text mainly about?| A．The complex system of the vehicles. |
| B．The process of picking up and dropping off loads. |
| C．Ways of completing deliveries to homes and businesses. |
| D．The function of autonomous vehicles in road freight. |
| A．More often than not, trucks running at level 4 are secure. |
| B．Levels of vehicle automation serve different purposes. |
| C．“Full autonomy, drive anywhere” is the ultimate target. |
| D．A backup driver in the cab is crucial in avoiding an accident. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Approving. | C．Objective. | D．Dismissive. |
| A．The Evolution and Implications of Self-Driving Vehicles |
| B．Robotrucks to Deliver a New Era of Driverless Technology |
| C．A Solid Investment from Big-Name Vehicle Manufacturers |
| D．The Testing of Autonomous Trucks on Public Roads with Level 4 |
