1 . About 20 years ago Nissan introduced the world's first "talking car". Actually, it was just a recorded voice that would tell you that your door was open, and would continue talking to you until you closed it. Of course, it never caught on.
Times have changed and the talking car of the near future is a car that you talk to, rather than a car that talks to you. You'll be able to control your radio by giving voice orders, get traffic reports and directions, and send and receive e﹣mails. To do this, you needn't push a button at all.
This is good news for those who spend more and more of their lives in their cars. In fact, the new type of cars will be more like offices on wheels, with computers, wireless Internet access, and satellite radio inside. Companies are hoping that time wasted in traffic could be put to better use. If workers are able to check their e﹣mails, faxes, and meeting time on the way to work, they can spend more time at the office doing more important tasks.
Microsoft, of course, is hoping that every one of those mobile offices will use Windows. "It's a great goal. " says Dick Brass, VP of Microsoft's automotive division, "But we'd like to have one of our operating systems in every car on earth. " There are already 650 million cars in the world, and every year about 50 million new cars roll off the production lines. If Brass' wish came true, cars could become a bigger business for Microsoft than computers.
1. Which is TRUE about the world's first "talking car"?
| A．Nissan invented it. |
| B．It was introduced in the late 20th century. |
| C．It could record voices. |
| D．It could not only record but also talk itself. |
2. The radio of the new talking car can be operated by receiving _______.
| A．traffic reports | B．voice orders |
| C．light signals | D．electricity energy |
3. Companies may be happy with new type of cars because _______ .
| A．much time will be wasted in traffic |
| B．their workers will get to the office earlier |
| C．their workers will have more time to do more important work |
| D．their workers will check e﹣mails, faxes, and meeting time at home |
4. The underlined phrase "caught on" in the first paragraph probably means"_______".
| A．turned on | B．took off |
| C．become popular | D．was colourful |
5. We can learn from the passage that
.
| A．all of the mobile offices will use Windows |
| B．about 50 million new cars are produced every year |
| C．the new type of talking car has a recorded voice inside |
| D．the talking car of the near future is a car that talks to you |
