Speeding off in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch. But he is in for an unwelcome surprise. The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer, and a radio signal from a control centre miles away will ensure that once the thief switches the engine off, he will not be able to start it again.
The idea goes like this. A control box fitted to the car contains a mini-cellphone, a micro-processor and memory, and a GPS (全球定位系统) satellite positioning receiver. If the car is stolen, a coded (编码的) cellphone signal will tell the control centre to block the vehicle’s engine management system and prevent the engine being restarted.
In the UK, a set of technical fixes is already making life harder for car thieves. “The pattern of vehicle crime has changed,” says Martyn Randall, a security expert. He says it would only take him a few minutes to teach a person how to steal a car, using a bare minimum of tools，but if only the car is more than 10 years old.
Modern cars are far tougher to steal, as their engine management computer won’t allow them to start unless they receive a unique ID code sent out by the ignition (点火) key. In the UK, technologies like this have helped achieve a 31% drop in vehicle-related crime since 1997.
But determined criminals are still managing to find other ways to steal cars, often by getting hold of the owner’s keys. And key theft is responsible for 40% of the thefts of vehicles fitted with a tracking system.
If the car travels 100 metres without the driver confirming their ID, the system will send a signal to an operations centre that it has been stolen. The hundred metres minimum avoids false alarms due to inaccuracies in the GPS signal.
Staff at the centre will then contact the owner to confirm that the car really is missing, and keep police informed of the vehicle’s movements via the car’s GPS unit.
43. The remote immobilizer is fitted to a car to ________.
A. prevent car theft by sending a radio signal to the car owner
B. help the police make a surprise attack on the car thief
C. prevent the car thief from restarting it once it stops
D. allow the car to lock automatically when stolen
44. By saying “The pattern of vehicle crime has changed”, Martyn Randall suggests that ________.
A. it takes a longer time for the car thief to do the stealing
B. self-prepared tools are no longer enough for car theft
C. the thief has to make use of computer technology
D. the thief has lost interest in stealing cars over 10 years old
45. ________ is necessary in making a modern car tougher to steal.
A. A coded ignition key               B.A unique ID card
C. A special cellphone signal         D. A GPS satellite positioning receiver
46. The operations centre will first ________ after receiving an alarm
A. start the tracking system           B. contact the car owner
C. block the car engine                D. locate the missing car