One evening in February 2007 . a student named Paula Ceely brought her car to a stop on a remote in Wales . She got out to open a metal gate that blocked her path . That's when she heard the whistle sounded by the driver of a train.Her Renault Clio parked across a railway line. Second later,she watched the train drag her car almost a kilometre down the railway tracks.
Ceely's near miss made the news because she blamed it on her GPS device(导航仪).She had never driven the route before .It was dark and raining heavily . Ceely was relying on her GPS. But it made no mention of the crossing ."I put my complete trust in the device and it led me right into the path of a speeding train ,"she told the BBC.
W ho is to blame here ? Rick Stevenson ,who tells Ceely's story in his book When Machines Fail US, finger at the limitations of technology. We put our faith in digital devices, he says,
but our digital helpers are too often not up to the job. They are filled with small problems. And it's not just GPS devices: Stevenson takes us on a tour of digital disasters involving everything from mobile phones to wireless key boards.
The problem with his argument in the book is that it's not clear why he only focuses digital technology,while there may be a number of other possible causes. A map-maker might have left the crossing off a paper map. Maybe we should blame Ceely for not paying attention. perhaps the railway authorities are at fault for poor signaling system. Or maybe someone has studied the relative dangers and worked out that there really is something specific wrong with the CPS equipment. But Stevenson doesn't say.
It's a problem that runs through the book. In a section on cars, Stevenson gives an accout of the advanced techniques that criminals use to defeat computer-based locking systems for cars. He offers two independent sets of figures on car theft; both show a small rise in some parts of the country. He says that once once again not all new locks have proved reliable. Perhaps, but maybe it's also due to the shortage of policemen on the streets. Or changing social circumstances. Or some combination of these factors .
The game between humans and their smart devices is complex. It is shaped by economics and psychology and the cultures we live in. Somewhere in the mix of those forces there may be way a wiser use of technology.
If there is such a way, it should involve more than just an awareness of the shortcomings of our machines. After all, we have lived with them for thousands of years. They have probably been fooling us for just as long .
What did Paula Ceely think was the cause of her accident?
The phrase"near miss" (paragraph 2 ) can best be replaced by
Which of the following would Rick Stevenson most probably agree with?
In the writer's opinion, Stevenson's argument is
What is the real concern of the writer of this article?
Anyone who doubts that children are born with a healthy amount of ambition need spend only a few minutes with a baby eagerly learning to walk. No matter how many times the little ones stumble in their first efforts, most keep on trying, determined to master their amazing new skill. It is only several years later, many psychologists and teachers agree, that a good number of kids seem to lose their natural drive to succeed. For the parents of such kids, whose own ambition is often tied to their children’s success, it can be a painful experience.
Figuring out why the fire went out is the first step. Assuming that a kid doesn’t suffer from a learning disability, or isn’t involved in some family crisis at home, many educators attribute a sudden lack of motivation to a fear of failure or classmate pressure. “Everything is within the kids’ control; their intelligence is changeable,” says Lisa Blackwell, a research scientist at Columbia University. “More than any teacher or workshop,” Blackwell says, “parents can play a key role in conveying this message to their children by praising their effort, and progress rather than emphasizing their ‘smartness’ or praising high performance alone. Most importantly, parents should let their kids know that mistakes are a part of learning.”
Some experts say our education system, with its strong emphasis on testing and separation of students into different levels of ability, also bears blame for the disappearance of drive in some kids. “These programs shut down the motivation of all kids who aren’t considered gifted and talented. They destroy their confidence,” says Jeff Howard, a social psychologist. Howard and other educators say it’s important to expose kids to a world beyond homework and tests, through volunteer work, sports, hobbies and other extracurriculum activities.
“The problem of the issue is that many students experience education as irrelevant to their life goals and ambitions,” says Michael Nakkual, a Harvard education professor. The key to getting kids to aim higher at school is to free them of the idea that class work is irrelevant, to show them how doing well at school can actually help them fulfill their dreams beyond it. They need to understand that you have to learn to walk before you can run. According to the passage, the parents of kids with no ambition .
| A．don’t do a very good job teaching them to walk |
| B．are to blame if the kids do poorly in school |
| C．feel pain because ambitions are connected to their success |
| D．should take part in extra-curriculum activities with kids |
The underlined part “the fire went out” probably means .
| A．the motivation was suddenly lost |
| B．the fear of failure was suddenly gone |
| C．the learning disability was suddenly lost |
| D．the fire was suddenly gone |
All the following can contribute to a sudden lack of ambition EXCEPT .
| A．learning disability | B．classmate pressure |
| C．emphasis on testing | D．extracurricular activities |
What is the most important thing for parents in motivating their kids?
| A．By punishing kids who don’t display ambition. |
| B．By emphasizing smartness and high performance. |
| C．By telling kids that mistakes are a part of learning. |
| D．By praising the effort and progress they have made. |
We can infer from the passage that .
| A．children who have lost their ambition will never succeed in life |
| B．school performance has much to do with students’ later success |
| C．both the parents and the school are to blame for the lost ambition |
| D．younger kids learning to walk are more ambitious than older ones |
Many people seem to think that science fiction is typified by the Bug-eyed Monster, embodying every feature that most people find unpleasant. This is unfortunate because it degrades a worthwhile literary endeavor. Instead, the basic interest of science fiction lies in the relation between man and his technology and between man and the universe. Science fiction is a literature of change and a literature of the future, and the aspects of human life that it considers make it well worth reading and studying for no other literary form does quite the same things. What is science fiction? To begin, the following definition should be helpful: science fiction is a literary subgenre which postulates(以…为前提) a change (for human beings) from conditions as we know them and follows the implications of these changes to a conclusion.
The first point that science fiction is a literary subgenre is a very important one, but one which is often overlooked. Specifically, science fiction is either a short story or a novel. There are only a few dramas which could be called science fiction; the body of poetry that might be labeled science fiction is only slightly larger. To say that science fiction is a subgenre of prose fiction(小说) is to say that it has all the basic characteristics and serves the same basic functions in much the same way as prose fiction in general, that is, it shares a great deal with all other novels and short stories.
Everything that can be said about prose fiction, in general, applies to science fiction. Every piece of science fiction, whether short story or novel, must have a narrator, a story, a plot, characters, setting, and language. The themes of science fiction are concerned with interpreting man’s nature and experience around him. Themes in science fiction are constructed and presented in exactly the same ways that themes are dealt with in any other kind of fiction. They are the result to a particular combination of a narrator, story, plot, character, setting, and language. In short, the reasons for reading and enjoying science fiction, and the ways of studying and analyzing it, are basically the same as they would be for any other story or novel. From the first paragraph, we can infer that science fiction has been most popular in modern society because ____.
| A．with the growth of literacy, the size of the reading public has increased |
| B．competition from television has created a demand for more exciting fiction |
| C．science fiction is easier to understand than other kinds of fiction |
| D．the increased importance of technology has given science fiction an increased relevance |
According to the definition in the passage, a fictional work that places human beings in a prehistoric world inhabited by dinosaurs____.
| A．cannot be called science fiction because it does not deal with the future |
| B．cannot be called science fiction because it doesn’t deal with technology |
| C．can be called science fiction because it deals with man’s relation with the world |
| D．can be called science fiction because it places people in an environment different from the one we know |
Science fiction is called a literary subgenre because____.
| A．it is not important enough to be a literary genre |
| B．it cannot be made into a dramatic presentation |
| C．it shares characteristics with other types of prose fiction |
| D．it has a great number of readers keen on reading |
One implication of the final sentence in the passage is that____.
| A．the reader should turn next to commentaries on general fiction |
| B．there is no reason for any reader not to like science fiction |
| C．the reader should compare other novels and stories to science fiction |
| D．those who can appreciate prose fiction can appreciate science fiction |
An appropriate title for this passage would be____.
| A．Man and the Universe | B．Toward a Definition of Science Fiction |
| C．A Type of Prose Fiction | D．The Bug-Eyed Monster |
Uncertainty spreads through our lives so thoroughly that it dominates our language. Our everyday speech is made up in large part of words like probably, many, soon, great, little. What do these words mean?Such verbal expression is not necessarily to be criticized. Indeed, it has a value just because it allows us to express judgments when a precise quantitative statement is out of the question.
We have been trying to pin down by experiments what people mean by these expressions in specific contexts, and how the meanings change with age. For instance, a subject is told “There are many trees in the park” and is asked to say what number the word many mean to him. Or a child is invited to take “some” sweets from a bowl and we then count how many he has taken. We compare the number he takes when he is alone with the number when one or more other children are present and are to take some sweets after him, or with the number he takes when told to give “some” sweets to another child.
First, we find that the number depends, of course, on the items involved. To most people some friends means about five, while some trees means about twenty. However, unrelated areas sometimes show parallel values. For instance, the language of probability seems to mean about the same thing in predictions about the weather and about politics: the expression “is certain to” (rain, or be elected) signifies to the average person about a 70 percent chance; “is likely to”, about a 60 percent chance; “probably will” about 55 percent.
Secondly, the size of the population of items influences the value assigned to an expression. Thus, if we tell a subject to take “a few” or “ a lot of” glass balls from a box, he will take more if the box contains a large number of glass balls than if it has a small number. But not proportionately more: if we increase the number of glass balls eight times, the subject takes only half as large a percentage of the total.
Thirdly, there is a marked change with age. Among children between six and fourteen years old, the older the child, the fewer glass balls he will take. But the difference between a lot and a few widens with age. This age effect is so consistent that it might be used as a test of intelligence. What’s the right attitude towards the words like probably, many, soon?
| A．They are inaccurate and we should avoid them. |
| B．They are necessary since we cannot be always precise. |
| C．They should be criticized because there are too many of them. |
| D．Their value is not yet clear since we don’t know their meaning. |
Why do we do experiments with the words “many” and “some”?
| A．To prove people are insensitive to these words. |
| B．To prove the words dominate our everyday speech. |
| C．To find out how the meanings vary with age and contexts. |
| D．To find out whether the words can mean a precise quantity. |
Which of the expressions means a larger chance in weather broadcast?
| A．Possible | B．Probable | C．Be likely to | D．Be certain to |
Which of the following will least definitely influence the number of items a kid takes out of a box when he is invited to take “some”?
| A．Whether the quantity of items is large or small. |
| B．Whether the items are candies or toys. |
| C．Whether the kid is a toddler or a youngster. |
| D．Whether the kid is alone or accompanied by other children. |
What will tell us about the intelligence of a child?
| A．The consistency of picking up a certain glass ball. |
| B．How many glass balls he will take when he’s asked to. |
| C．The difference between a lot and a few when he takes glass balls. |
| D．Whether there are marked changes in his first pick and second one. |
I am a mother of three children and have recently completed my college degree. The last class I had to take was social study. The last project of the term was called “Smile”. The last class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reactions.
Soon after we were given the project, my husband, my youngest son, and I went out to McDonald’s one cold March morning. It was just our way of sharing special playtime with our son.
We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back way. I turned around and found there standing behind me were two poor homeless men with a horrible “dirty body” smell. The short gentleman, close to me, was “smiling”. His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of light as he searched for acceptance. The second man played with his hands uneasily as he stood behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally challenged and the blue-eyed gentleman was his salvation (救赎). The short man just asked for a coffee because that was all they could afford.
I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray. I then walked around the corner to the men’s table. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue-eyed gentleman’s cold hand. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes and said “Thank you”.
I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. When I sat down my husband smiled at me and said, “That’s why God gave you to me, Honey. To give me hope.”
On the last evening of class, I turned in “my project” and the instructor read it. Then she looked up at me and said, “Can I share this?” I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class. She began to read and we all knew that we need to heal people and to be healed.
I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn: UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE. “LOVE PEOPLE AND USE THINGS---NOT LOVE THINGS AND USE PEOPLE.” Why did the people around the author back away?
| A．Because both men were poorly dressed and mentally ill. |
| B．Because the short gentleman was smiling to everyone around. |
| C．Because two homeless men were also waiting in line, with a bad smell. |
| D．Because the second man stood playing with his hands. |
After the author handed the meals to the homeless men, she _________.
| A．talked with them for a while. | B．went back to her husband and son |
| C．turned in her project | D．regretted and cried |
What kind of woman do you think the author is?
| A．Over-curious | B．Caring | C．Mature | D．Lovely |
What does the author try to tell us with the last sentence?
| A．Giving is a gesture of love, which people will understand and appreciate. |
| B．If you need help from others, you’d better present them with gifts. |
| C．If you want to get something from somebody, you should please him with gifts. |
| D．Don’t be greedy with money or ask people to do things for you. |
According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The author’s husband was very proud of her. |
| B．What the author did to the men touched many people. |
| C．Poor as the homeless men were, they had their dignity. |
| D．The author felt we should know how to heal people. |
The Beginning of the Civil Rights Movement
In 1955，bus seats for African Americans and whites were separated in parts of the U．S.. On December 1,1955，in the city of Montgomery，Alabama，a conflict，or disagreement，started when an African American woman named Rosa Parks refused to give her bus seat to a white man and go to the back of the bus. The police took 42yearold Parks to jail.
The African American community was extremely angry. They had a meeting and decided to work together to protest discrimination. They agreed to boycott(抵制) the buses on the day that Parks went to court. The day was a success. Empty buses drove through the streets. The city lost money. The community decided to continue the boycott. They elected a man named Martin Luther King，Jr. to be the leader.
The boycott continued. It was difficult for African Americans to get to work without buses，but they didn’t stop the boycott. The city continued to lose money. Finally，the U．S. Supreme Court decided that Montgomery’s bus laws were unfair and gave the African American community equal right. On December 21,1956，the bus boycott ended.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. The movement eventually led to the Civil Rights Act in 1964，a set of laws that made discrimination a crime. During the Montgomery Bus Boycott，people worked together to change the government. Today，people in the U．S. continue to work together for a change. Now hundreds of organizations and community groups work to protect the rights of U．S. citizens and residents.How is the situation for the black in the U．S. in 1955?
| A．They were treated equally. |
| B．They were treated unfairly. |
| C．They had no rights to take a bus. |
| D．They were not allowed to take the same bus with the white. |
What is the cause of the Civil Rights Movement?
| A．Bus seats for African Americans and white were separated in parts of the U．S. |
| B．Rosa Parks was sent to jail for she refused to give her bus seat to a white man. |
| C．The African American community had a meeting to protest discrimination. |
| D．A man named Martin Luther King，Jr. was elected to be the leader. |
How long did the boycott continue?
| A．Less than a year. | B．Less than a month. |
| C．More than a year. | D．More than a month. |
How did the black people fight for the civil rights?
| A．By refusing to take buses. |
| B．By refusing to talk to the white. |
| C．Through fights with the white people. |
| D．By doing nothing. |
What is the final result of the Civil Rights Movement?
| A．The U．S. Supreme Court decided that Montgomery’s bus laws were unfair and gave the African American community equal right. |
| B．They elected a man named Martin Luther King，Jr. to be the leader. |
| C．Black people and white people can take the same bus. |
| D．The movement eventually led to the Civil Rights Act in 1964，a set of laws that made discrimination a crime. |
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