1 . Cities across America have set up bike-share programs as sustainable (可持续的) transportation alternatives to ease traffic jams. Yet despite these programs’ advantages and popularity, significant operational challenges remain.
Residential neighborhoods face shortages of bicycles in the morning rush hour, while business districts have a lack of bikes in the evening. What’s more, parking docks can be full at certain hours when riders have reached their destinations. Currently, many systems rebalance their bike supply using box trucks that reallocate dozens of bikes at a given time. This is a costly, time-consuming attempt that enlarges the systems’ carbon footprint. Thus, it is vital that rebalancing be as efficient as possible. With that in mind, my colleagues and I set out to develop advanced algorithms (算法) to deal with the novel challenges of bike-share operations.
One area to which our methods were applied was the Bike Angels program that our collaborators run in cities across the country. Initially, riders of Bike Angels earn points by renting or returning bikes at certain high-need stations.
In a study, we found that these fixed patterns cause inefficiencies when returns are incentivized (激励) in locations where they do not actually help with rebalancing.
The changes to operational patterns we made based on our algorithms can increase the efficiency of the incentives by around 15 percent. And importantly, this form of rebalancing comes with a much better carbon footprint than box trucks!
Our algorithms are applied for other purposes, too. For instance, by analyzing usage information, we were able to help operators make accurate determinations about whether they need to send out crews to fix a broken bike or dock as well as dealing with maintenance (维修) issues in a timely manner.
To be sure, algorithms can’t fix every new transportation problem and they have many limitations. But what is clear is that many challenges that come with new options, including e-bikes and free-floating bike-share systems, require the real-time data-driven approaches.
1. What can we learn about bike-share programs in Paragraph 1?| A．They have many drawbacks. |
| B．They add a burden to city traffic. |
| C．They work much better in business districts. |
| D．They increase the popularity of sharing economy. |
| A．How to reduce box trucks’ carbon footprint. |
| B．How to use box trucks to reallocate bikes. |
| C．How to rebalance bike supply efficiently. |
| D．How to help riders earn more points. |
①Increasing box-truck companies’ profit.
②Improving the effectiveness of incentives.
③Providing more incentives for regular cyclists.
④Making bike reallocation more environmentally friendly.
⑤Making the maintenance of bikes more timely and accurate.
| A．①②③ | B．①③④ | C．③④⑤ | D．②④⑤ |
| A．Creative approaches to easing traffic jams |
| B．Advantages of developing advanced algorithms |
| C．An introduction of Bike Angels’ incentive system |
| D．An effective solution to bike-share operational problems |
Do you find it hard not
As we know, when we do get the rewards: a like, a follower, comments or shares of
So, what are some of the ways we can break this addictive loop so that real life does not pass by? The first is to turn off all notifications on your phone so that you cannot
3 . In May 1987 the Golden Gate Bridge had a 50th birthday party. The bridge was closed to motor traffic so people could enjoy a walk across it. Organizers expected perhaps 50,000 people to show up. Instead, as many as 800, 000 crowded the roads to the bridge. By the time 250,000 were on the bridge, engineers noticed something terrible：the roadway was flattening under what turned out to be the heaviest load it had ever been asked to carry. Worse, it was beginning to sway（晃动）. The authorities closed access to the bridge and tens of thousands of people made their way back to land. A disaster was avoided.
The story is one of scores in To Forgive Design：Understanding Failure, a book that is at once a love letter to engineering and a paean（赞歌）to its breakdowns. Its author, Dr. Henry Petroski, has long been writing about disasters. In this book, he includes the loss of the space shuttles（航天飞机）Challenger and Columbia, and the sinking of the Titanic.
Though he acknowledges that engineering works can fail because the person who thought them up or engineered them simply got things wrong, in this book Dr. Petroski widens his view to consider the larger context in which such failures occur. Sometimes devices fail because a good design is constructed with low quality materials incompetently applied. Or perhaps a design works so well it is adopted elsewhere again and again, with seemingly harmless improvements, until, suddenly, it does not work at all anymore.
Readers will encounter not only stories they have heard before, but some new stories and a moving discussion of the responsibility of the engineer to the public and the ways young engineers can be helped to grasp them.
"Success is success but that is all that it is," Dr. Petroski writes. It is failure that brings improvement.
1. What happened to the Golden Gate Bridge on its 50th birthday?| A．It carried more weight than it could. |
| B．It swayed violently in a strong wind |
| C．Its roadway was damaged by vehicles |
| D．Its access was blocked by many people. |
| A．No design is well received everywhere |
| B．Construction is more important than design. |
| C．Not all disasters are caused by engineering design |
| D．Improvements on engineering works are necessary. |
| A．Failure can lead to progress. | B．Success results in overconfidence |
| C．Failure should be avoided. | D．Success comes from joint efforts. |
| A．A news report | B．A short story. |
| C．A book review | D．A research article. |
4 . Did you ever have to say “no” to somebody? Such as a classmate who asks to go to lunch with you? New research suggests that, at least socially, a rejection (拒绝) should not include an apology. In other words, saying you are sorry does not make the person being rejected feel any better. In fact, it might make the rejected person feel worse. That is surprising. Many people consider it to be good manners to say they are sorry when they turn down a request.
Gili Freedman is doing some related research at Dartmouth College. For her research, she asked over 1,000 people to respond to different examples of social rejection. In one example, the researchers asked people for their reaction (反应）after a person named Taylor asked to join a co-worker who went out to lunch every Friday. And Taylor was told “no”. But in some cases, the person rejecting Taylor offered an apology. In other cases, the people doing the rejection did not say they were sorry. People were asked how they would feel if they were being turned down, just as Taylor was. Most said they would be more hurt by a rejection with an apology than a rejection without an apology.
Freedman said the reason is that apologies make people feel like they need to say that the rejection was okay— even when they felt like it was not okay. Rejection without an apology lets them express their feelings of disappointment, hurt or anger more easily. Freedman also said that an apology often makes the person doing the rejection feel better—even as it makes the person being rejected feel worse.
Her research deals only with social communication. A business situation might be very different. “If a manager rejects a job interviewee or a boss must tell an employee that he or she is being fired from a job,” Freedman said, “reactions to apologies may be different.”
1. Why do people say they are sorry when they express rejection?| A．Because they think it is more polite. |
| B．Because they think it helps them express their dislike better. |
| C．Because they think apologies are the basis of communication. |
| D．Because they think it sounds more comfortable for the listener. |
| A．rejected others without an apology |
| B．offered an apology when rejecting others |
| C．would be more hurt by a rejection with an apology |
| D．were asked to answer the question in different situations |
| A．It makes the rejection more acceptable. |
| B．It makes a good impression on the listener. |
| C．It makes the communication more pleasant. |
| D．It makes the person doing the rejecting feel better. |
| A．The effect of an apology during a rejection. |
| B．Gili Freedman’s research on business situations. |
| C．A rejection with an apology in a business situation. |
| D．The difference between a social situation and a business one. |
5 . Grandparents Answer a Call
As a third－generation native of Brownsville, Texas, Mildred Garza never planned to move away.Even when her daughter and son asked her to move to San Antonio to help with their children, she politely refused.Only after a year of friendly discussion did Ms.Garza finally say yes.That was four years ago.Today all three generations regard the move as a success, giving them a closer relationship than they would have had in separate cities.
No statistics show the number of grandparents like Garza who are moving closer to adult children and grandchildren. Yet there is evidence suggesting that the trend is growing.Even President Obama’s mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, has agreed to leave Chicago and move into the White House to help care for her granddaughters. According to a study by grandparents.com, 83 percent of the people said Mrs.Robinson's decision will influence grandparents in the American family.Two－thirds believe more families will follow the example of Obama’s family.
“In the 1960s we were all a little wild and couldn't get away from home far enough or fast enough to prove we could do it on our own,”says Christine Crosby, publisher of Grand, a magazine for grandparents. “We now realize how important family is and how important it is to be near them, especially when you’re raising children.”
Moving is not for everyone. Almost every grandparent wants to be with his or her grandchildren and is willing to make sacrifices, but sometimes it is wiser to say no and visit frequently instead.Having your grandchildren far away is hard, especially knowing your adult child is struggling, but giving up the life you know may be harder.
1. Why was Garza’s move a success?| A．It strengthened her family ties. |
| B．It improved her living conditions. |
| C．It enabled her to make more friends. |
| D．It helped her know more new places. |
| A．17% expressed their support for it. |
| B．Few people responded sympathetically. |
| C．83% believed it had a bad influence. |
| D．The majority thought it was a trend. |
| A．They were unsure of themselves. |
| B．They were eager to raise more children. |
| C．They wanted to live away from their parents. |
| D．They had little respect for their grandparents. |
| A．Make decisions in the best interests of their own. |
| B．Ask their children to pay more visits to them. |
| C．Sacrifice for their struggling children. |
| D．Get to know themselves better. |
