Question

Since Henry Ford turned it into a mass-market product a century ago, the car has delivered many benefits. It has promoted economic growth, increased social mobility and given people a lot of fun. But the car has also brought many problems. It pollutes the air, creates traffic jams and kills people. An astonishing 1.24 million people die, and as many as 50 million are hurt, in road accidents each year.

Drivers and passengers waste around 90 billion hours in traffic jams each year. In some car-choked cities as much as a third of the petrol used is burned by people looking for a space to park.

Fortunately, a new technology promises to make motoring safer, less polluting and less tendency to hold-ups. “Connected cars”--which may eventually develop into driverless cars but for the foreseeable future will still have a human at the wheel-can communicate wirelessly with each other and with traffic-management systems, avoid walkers and other vehicles and find open parking spots.

Some parts of the transformation are already in place. Many new cars are already being fitted with equipment that lets them keep their distance and stay in a motorway automatically at a range of speeds. Soon, all new cars in Europe will have to be able to warn the emergency services if their on-board sensors(傳感器) discover a crash. Singapore has led the way with using variable tolls(道路通行費) to smooth traffic flows during rush-hours; Britain is pioneering “smart motorways”, whose speed limits vary constantly to achieve a similar effect. Combined, these new inventions could create a much more highly effective system in which cars and their drivers are constantly warned of dangers and showed the ways, traffic always flows at the proper speed and vehicles can travel closer together, yet with less risk of crashing.

In the past, more people driving meant more roads, more jams, more death and more pollution. In future, the connected car could offer mankind the pleasures of the road with rather less of the pain.

1.According to Paragraph 2, the problem of parking has resulted in ______.

A. more time on the road

B. a great waste of fuel

C. even heavier traffic jams

D. increased death and injuries

2.What does “a similar effect” in the Paragraph 4 refer to?

A. Reducing traffic jams.

B. Building smart motorways.

C. Setting proper speed limits.

D. Keeping steady traffic flows.

3.What is the author’s attitude towards connected cars?

A. Curious. B. Doubtful.

C. Supportive. D. Disappointed.

4.Which of the following can be the best title of the text?

A. The Future of Cars: Wireless Wheels

B. The Future Traffic Management System

C. The Benefits and Problems of Cars

D. The Promising Future of Car Production

Answer 1

1.B

2.D

3.C

4.A

【解析】

試題分析：文章主要介紹了未來的汽車。汽車給人們帶來方便之余，也給人們的生活帶來了許多問題，甚至威脅到了人們的生命和安全。幸運的是，一項新科技有望減少污染和擁堵，并使駕駛變得更安全。

1.In some car-choked cities as much as a third of the petrol used is burned by people looking for a space to park.”可知，在一些擁擠的城市里，尋找停車位所耗費的汽油占汽油使用量的三分之一，說明停車造成大量汽油的浪費，故選B。

2.Singapore has led the way with using variable tolls(道路通行費) to smooth traffic flows during rush-hours”可知，新加坡通過使用浮動的道路通行費來疏導(dǎo)車流，英國也正在采取措施來取得類似的效果，故選D。

3.these new inventions could create a much more highly effective system”和第五段“In future, the connected car could offer mankind the pleasures of the road with rather less of the pain.”可知，作者認(rèn)為這種新的發(fā)明能創(chuàng)造出一種更有效的交通體制，在帶給人們駕車的樂趣的同時，也會減少事故帶來的傷痛，說明作者對這項發(fā)明是支持的，故選C。

4.a new technology promises to make motoring safer, less polluting and less tendency to hold-ups. “Connected cars”--which may eventually develop into driverless cars”和第四段“Many new cars are already being fitted with equipment that lets them keep their distance and”與第五段“In future, the connected car could offer...”可知，文章主要講的是未來的汽車，而不是未來的交通管理系統(tǒng)，故選A。

考點：科技類短文閱讀