1 . With the emergence (出现) of intelligent transportation systems and the internet of things, the world is entering the next stage of movement — smart transportation.
In recent years, Chinese technology companies have worked hard to speed up the commercial use of robotaxis. In March, Beijing gave autonomous driving permits to tech giant Baidu and self-driving startup Pony.ai to run fully driverless robotaxis on open roads. In June, Baidu carried out its driverless ride-hailing (叫车) service in Shenzhen, Guangdong. Its Apollo Go robotaxis have been put into use across an area of 188 square kilometers in Shenzhen from 7 am to 10 pm daily.
Passengers can download apps like Apollo Go or Baidu Map to their smartphones, and tell the app where they are and where they want to go. Then, a car will appear. With sensors and cameras placed all over the car, a computer takes full control of the drive. A screen on the back seats shows how the robotaxi’s software looks at the space around the car to see other cars, humans, bikes, and anything else that might get in its way.
“The robotaxi goes at about the same speed, providing a good driving experience,” a user posted on Xiaohongshu. As of the first quarter of 2023, the user satisfaction rating for the Apollo Go app has reached 4.9 out of 5, with the latest data showing that 97.12 percent of the reviews are five-star ratings.
Meanwhile, drivers in the city can also enjoy the conveniences of smart transportation. In Guiyang, Guizhou, at some smart parking lots, drivers only need to park their cars at an induction (感应) line. A smart system can put the vehicles into a specific area. When drivers want to get back their cars, they make a request on the terminal (终端的) device and the car will come out of the parking lot by itself in about one minute.
All in all, smart transportation uses new technologies to make moving around a city easier and safer.
1. What do we know from paragraph 2?A.Baidu competes fiercely against Pony. |
B.Robotaxis begin to run in some cities in China. |
C.Robotaxis can run on open roads without driving permits. |
D.Tech companies do little research on smart transportation. |
A.How to work robotaxis. | B.Why to use smartphones. |
C.Where to download apps. | D.Who to control computers. |
A.To compare speed ratings. |
B.To show the users’ satisfaction. |
C.To check the safety of robotaxis. |
D.To introduce a driving experience, |
A.Robotaxis: A New Development |
B.Smart transportation: A Better Life |
C.Giant Baidu: A Leader in Technology |
D.Tech companies: Hope for the Future |
At the 10th anniversary of China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI), the
China and Croatia are far apart,
Hai Tao, the head of the company, talked about the changes it has brought to local people’s
The bridge realizes “the centuries-old dream of
3 . Every evening, my journey begins with a one-stop hop from Victoria Station to Clapham Junction, where I catch the main
The atmosphere was nice and the seats were
There was
“That’s not a first class ticket,” he said.
My
“I was told I could sit in First Class,” she said
The man
“Then whoever the person was, he gave you the bad advice,” said the inspector.
While their
A.bus | B.line | C.station | D.road |
A.empty | B.new | C.hard | D.full |
A.simple | B.strange | C.bad | D.strong |
A.waiter | B.driver | C.inspector | D.passenger |
A.go through | B.go for | C.go across | D.go after |
A.comfortable | B.narrow | C.smooth | D.straight |
A.somewhere | B.nowhere | C.everywhere | D.anywhere |
A.second | B.first | C.next | D.last |
A.hide | B.take | C.lend | D.produce |
A.ears | B.eyes | C.heart | D.mind |
A.anxiously | B.coldly | C.sadly | D.excitedly |
A.worried | B.turned | C.passed | D.smiled |
A.argument | B.translation | C.discussion | D.business |
A.technique | B.magic | C.method | D.trick |
A.got off | B.got on | C.pulled up | D.pulled down |
A.In the police station. | B.In the street. | C.In a university. |
1. What happened to the woman’s flight?
A.It failed to take off on time. |
B.It was called off without notice. |
C.It arrived about two hours earlier. |
A.In a restaurant. | B.On a plane. | C.At the airport. |
A.Asking for information. | B.Giving directions. | C.Waiting for a bus. |
1. What is the man doing?
A.Introducing the woman to his neighbors. |
B.Giving the woman advice on how to find a flat. |
C.Showing the woman around the neighborhood. |
A.Visit the night market. | B.Jog in the high school. | C.Shop in convenience stores. |
A.To get some information. | B.To find a map of the city. | C.To borrow some books. |
A.To a restaurant. | B.To a bookstore. | C.To a park. |
A.Kennedy. | B.London. | C.New York. |
9 . It was the dawn of 1863, and London’s not-yet-opened subway system, the first of its kind in the world, had the city in a disturbance. Digging a hole under the city and putting a railroad in it seemed the stuff of dreams. Pub drinkers laughed at the idea and a local minister accused the railway company of trying to break into hell. Most people simply thought the project, which cost more than 100 million dollars in today’s money, would never work.
But it did. On January 10, 1863, 30,000 people ventured underground to travel on the world’s first subway on a four-mile stretch of line in London. After three years of construction and a few setbacks, the Metropolitan Railway was ready for business. The city’s officials were much relieved. They’d been desperate to find a way to reduce the terrible congestion (拥挤) on the roads. London, at the time the world’s largest and most prosperous city, was in a permanent state of congestion, with carts, tradesmen, cows, and commuters (通勤者) jamming the roads.
It’d been a Victorian visionary, Charles Pearson, who first thought of putting railways under the ground. But how could you get a railway through the center of a city? The answer was “cut and cover”. Workers had to dig a huge trench (壕沟), construct a tunnel out of brick archways, and then refill the hole over the newly built tunnel.
As soon as the Metropolitan Railway opened, Londoners rushed in to ride the new trains. The Metropolitan quickly became a vital part of London’s transport system.
The first tube line, the City and South London, opened in 1890 and proved so successful that half a dozen more lines were built in the next 20 years. And today, with more than 160 cities in 55 countries using underground rails to fight against congestion, we can thank Charles Pearson and the Metropolitan Railway for getting us started on the right track.
1. What did most people think of the subway system in 1863?A.Costly. | B.Time-consuming. | C.Impractical. | D.Damaging. |
A.London was the world’s largest city. |
B.The streets were too crowded in London. |
C.There were too many vehicles in London. |
D.It wanted to make London another No.1. |
A.A way of subway constructing . | B.A tool to dig tunnels and holes. |
C.A company to build a railway. | D.A method of transporting materials. |
A.The London underground is still the best. |
B.There are seven tube lines in London now. |
C.Pearson’s ideal has come to fruition worldwide. |
D.Pearson instructed the world’s subway building. |
10 . It would be much more convenient if electric cars could be recharged wirelessly. Some electric toothbrushes and other small devices, such as mobile phones, can already be topped up in this way using a process called electromagnetic induction (电磁感应). This employs some kind of electrical current flowing through a coil (线圈) to create a varying magnetic field, which then generates another current in a second coil placed alongside it, which is used to recharge a battery.
As users of electric toothbrushes and phones will know, device and charger must be both close to each other and precisely adjusted for this process to work. That is tricky to achieve with an electric car, which sits above the ground and requires higher levels of energy transfer.
These problems are being overcome with advances like that made by WiTricity, a firm based near Boston. This company was founded in 2007 to commercialize the work of Marin Soljaèi and his colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr Soljaëi knew, in theory, that by having the transmitting and receiving coils resonate (共振) at the same frequency it should be possible to transfer greater amounts of energy over longer distances. In practice, he sought to commercialize the system to large companies, such as BMW.
An advantage of wireless recharging is what WiTricity’s boss calls “power snacking”. This is topping up the battery when a car is stationary for a short time. The company provides systems to recharge taxis in this way while they wait in line, and to do the same for electric buses at bus stops. It is also possible to charge vehicles while they are on the move. That might make sense in places where vehicles often queue up, such as at airports.
1. How can electric devices be charged wirelessly?A.By devices close to chargers. |
B.By high levels of energy transfer. |
C.By an electrical current flowing through a coil. |
D.By a process of electrical currents transformation. |
A.Commercializing the system to BMW. |
B.Charging vehicles while they are on the move. |
C.The transformation of energy over longer distances. |
D.The good cooperation between the transmitting and receiving coils. |
A.Moving. | B.Motionless. | C.Firm. | D.Unchanging. |
A.Various forms of wireless-charging systems. |
B.Advantages and disadvantages of wireless-charging. |
C.How to charge a car with a wireless-charging system. |
D.Wireless vehicle-charging is starting to look promising. |