Imagine a town with crosswalks but no pedestrians, cars and trucks but no drivers. Welcome to Mcity, a fake “city” built by researchers who are testing out the driverless cars of the future.
The controlled test environment, which opened today (July 20, 2015) at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, covers 32 acres (the size of about 24 football fields) and contains all the trappings of a real suburb or small city. There is an entire network of roads lined with sidewalks, streetlights, stop signs and traffic signals. There’s even a “downtown” area complete with fake buildings and outdoor dining areas.
The idea behind Mcity is simple: test out new driverless car innovations in a human-free environment before these technologies are unleashed in the real world.
"Mcity is a safe, controlled, and realistic environment where we are going to figure out how the incredible potential of connected and automated vehicles can be realized quickly, efficiently and safely," Peter Sweatman, director of the Mobility Transformation Center at U-M, said in a statement.
The roads of Mcity are built to stand up to “rigorous, repeatable” testing, according to MTC officials. While Mcity drivers don't have to compete with real pedestrians, there will be one mechanical foot-traveler (a robot-like machine named Sebastian) that steps out into traffic to see whether the automated cars can hit the brakes in time. The fake city also features a traffic circle, a bridge, a tunnel, some unpaved roads, and even a four-lane highway with entrance and exit ramps, according to a report by Bloomberg Business.
In addition to evaluating fully automated, or driverless cars, the researchers also hope to test out so-called connected vehicles within Mcity’s limits. Connected cars can either communicate with one another (vehicle-to-vehicle control, or V2V) or with pieces of equipment, such as traffic lights, that are located near roadways (vehicle-to-infrastructure control, or V2I).
Even the smallest details of Mcity have been planned out in advance to copy the conditions that connected and automated vehicles could face in the real world. For example, there are street signs covered up with graffiti, and faded yellow and white lane markings line the streets.
Mcity is just one part of a much larger project that MTC and its partner organizations are establishing in an effort to get a whole fleet of connected and driverless cars on the road in Ann Arbor by 2021. In addition to the fake city, MTC is also continuing to launch connected and semi-autonomous(半自动) cars on real roadways. Eventually, the University of Michigan and the Michigan Department of Transportation said they hope to put 20,000 connected cars on the roads of southern Michigan.
1.According to the passage, Mcity ________.
A.is a real town used to evaluate the function of future cars
B.is a fake city with transportation system but no pedestrians
C.covers an area of 32 acres with as many as 24 football fields
D.owns a downtown area with a bridge and some unpaved roads
2.Why did researchers build Mcity?
A.To test new driverless cars.
B.To make a real suburb or small city.
C.To control road environment.
D.To build an entire network of roads.
3.It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
A.some connected and semi-autonomous cars have been put into use
B.the researchers plans to create a robot-like machine to direct the traffic
C.the widespread use of driverless cars will soon come into reality in America
D.MTC is attempting to make connected and driverless cars available on real roads
4.How does the passage mainly develop?
A.By presenting descriptions of the design.
B.By describing a cause and its effects.
C.By providing the time order.
D.By comparing the opinions.
Working up a credit score for Walter Cavanagh has got to be a mathematical nightmare ﹣ the man has nearly 1，500 valid credit cards to his name and holds the Guinness Record for the most credit cards． Mr． Plastic Fantastic ﹣ a title given to him by Guinness World Records ﹣ is also the proud owner of the world's longest wallet， which can hold about 800 cards． But he uses it only to carry a few cards， while the rest are safely kept in bank safedeposit boxes．
Cavanagh started collecting credit cards in the late 1960s． "One of my best friends and I made a silly bet： the guy who could collect the most credit cards by the end of the year would win dinner，" he said． " I got 143 cards by the end of the year， and my friend gathered 138．" After winning that bet， Cavanagh decided to simply keep going with his unusual collection． He got credit cards from gas stations， airlines， bars， and even ice cream stores．
If there's one card missing from Cavanagh's collection， it's that from the Newberry Company． They repulsed his application for a card in the early 1970s， even though he'd collected over 100 by then． They said he had too much credit． Therefore， so far he hasn't had a Newberry card in his collection．
Cavanagh hasn't stopped applying for new cards ﹣ he's held the Guinness Record since 1971 and has no intention of letting go of it． He copies whole pages from a U．S． directory of businesses and keeps sending applications． If he receives a rejection， he writes back to the company explaining his goal and ambition． But he doesn't count useless cards in his total collection．
Thanks to all the cards to his name， Cavanagh has access to about ＄1.7 million at any moment． Despite this privilege， he has managed to maintain an excellent credit score．
The 72﹣year﹣old retired financial planner and credit expert has only one piece of advice to share： "Never use a card to buy anything you can't pay off in a couple of months． If you don't have the discipline， you shouldn't have the cards．"
1.Cavanagh began to collect credit cards when he ．
A. owned a very long wallet
B. made a bet with his friend
C. wanted to create a Guinness Record
D. was treated to dinner by his friend．
2.What does the underlined word "repulsed" in Paragraph 3 probably mean？
A. Rejected．
B. Recalled．
C. Repeated．
D. Recognized．
3.What do the underlined words "the discipline" in the last paragraph probably refer to？
A. Having many cards to your own name．
B. Buying things by card and paying off in time．
C. Managing to own more privileges for your card．
D. Using a card to buy things as many times as possible．
4.What do we know about Cavanagh's cards？
A. Some of them are useless．
B. They are safely kept in his long wallet．
C. They have brought him fame and privilege．
D. Fewer new cards are added to his collections．
Most people can't live to 100． Those who do live so long can hardly walk， let alone take part in any activities． A few people， however， take part in dangerous activities even though they are more than 100 years old﹣ They keep going and going! There is a great grandmother who likes challenging herself although she is 101 years old this year．
Mary Hardison believes that people should always be cheerful and more importantly， take on all kinds of adventures while they physically still can． So， instead of celebrating her 101st birthday with a boring party， she decided to go paragliding（滑翔跳伞）﹣ an idea she got from her 75﹣year﹣old son who recently took it up as a hobby．
So on her birthday， cheered on by her big family， she tied herself up together with expert instructor Kevin Hintze， and jumped down fearlessly from the sky near her home in Ogden， Utah． And， it was not just a simple jump either． According to Kevin Hintze， the grandmother encouraged him to turn around， as they made their way down．
This is not the first time that Mary has done something "wild" and "crazy"． For her 90th birthday she rode all the adult rides at Disneyland． And， she is not done yet﹣ For her 102nd birthday she hopes to go down the 3，000 feet Alpine Slide at Utah's Park City Mountain Resort!
Not surprisingly， this great action has made Mary Hardison very famous and also earned her a place in the Guinness World Records where she broke a 2007 record set by a 100﹣year﹣old British woman． What an amazing lady!
1.What do we know about Mary Hardison？
A. She took up paragliding as her hobby at the age of 75．
B. She is a 101﹣year﹣old lady who likes challenging herself．
C. She was recorded in the Guinness World Records in 2007．
D. She is the oldest woman in the Guinness World Records．
2.From whom did Mary get the idea of going paragliding？
A. A 100﹣year﹣old British woman．
B. Kevin Hintze．
C. Her grandson．
D. Her 75﹣year﹣old son．
3.How does the author feel about Mary's action？
A. Amazed．
B. Supportive．
C. Doubtful．
D. Worried．
4.The text is likely to appear in ________．
A. a news report
B. an advertisement
C. a novel
D. a science report
What I like to advise people is to find out what it is that makes them happy. What do you love to do? If you truly love what you do just go ahead and try to make a living by doing it. People will throw money at you to do it. But you will always have to work hard at it. I have to draw every single day of my life. I have to draw about 20 ideas. My advice is to put aside a certain amount of time every day and make you draw or whatever, especially when you don’t feel like it. Only in this way will you be able to perfect your talent.
The first step you take is to go to your local library and ask for the publications issued in the current years. When you get these publications, try to find the names of the top people concerned and their presidents. After you find these, write down their names and addresses. Keep this list and update it every year. Next thing you want to do is to create at least 40 cartoons. Get a grid（格子） from one of the strips in the newspapers, enlarge it to whatever size you wish and draw inside this grid. Now take the best 20 of your ideas and make them into finished pieces. To do this, you would want to copy them in ink because if you were a professional cartoonist, that was what you should do. Now you can reduce the size of the finished cartoons to fit onto a regular comic’s page. By comparing yours with the others already in print, it gives you a good idea of clarity to your cartoon.
The next step is to write letters to presidents of the publication. In the letters, explain who you think would read your work, or in other words, what group do you think you would target. After you complete these, send all of your information enclosed with letters in the appropriate envelope.
Now as soon as you send out these letters, start to create a brand new strip with all new characters. Don’t___________because if your idea gets turned down then you will give up. And always remember. If you receive a rejection from any of them, keep in mind that you are working on something better. You will be working on something new and more exciting and the rejection letter will not have any impact. With this in mind…
1.What is the advice from the writer in the first paragraph when you want to succeed in your life?
A. Stop doing anything until you find something quite suitable for your future career.
B. Put aside a certain amount of time every day to consider how to make a living.
C. Make a living by something that you truly like to do as your profession and work hard at it.
D. Perfect your talent only by drawing some cartoons.
2.The purpose of writing a letter to the president was to ____.
A. get some money to support the later career
B. enclose the information on how to become cartoonists with the letter
C. focus his attention on the work
D. explain who would be the readers of the work
3.The underlined phrase “get married to one idea” in the last paragraph probably refers to ______.
A. having a strong desire to get married
B. fixing all attention on one idea
C. marrying someone is a good ideas
D. refusing one idea to get married
阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。
Yoghurt
It was a rough week. The price of oil skyrocketed as the temperature dropped sharply in Maine. We were looking at a high of eight degrees that week, and I had missed three days of work so my paycheck was going to be lower than normal. I was stressed, to say the least. I shopped strategically, looking for every possible way to cut pennies so I could buy groceries and keep the house warm.
My eight-year-old son didn't understand when I told him we were struggling that week. He wanted a special kind of yoghurt, but I didn't have the extra three dollars to buy it for him. It was the kind of yoghurt with a cartoon kid riding a skateboard on the front of the box, and a mere two spoonfuls in each cup. It was the kind of product that wastes a parent's money and makes me hate advertising.
I felt guilty as a parent when those big eyes looked at me with confusion, as if to say, “It's just yoghurt. What's the big deal?” So I found a way. I put something back as single mothers often do. He got his yoghurt.
On the way driving back from the grocery store, I noticed a homeless man holding a sign by the side of the road. My heart hurt, and I tried not to look at him. I watched people stay away from him on the street and walk by without even meeting his eyes. My son didn't seem to care much, either. I looked at the man closely then — bare hands grasping a piece of cardboard, snot (鼻涕) frozen to his face, a wornout jacket. And there I was struggling because I had to buy oil and groceries. But I decided to help. I pulled over to the man and handed him a five-dollar bill.
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
3. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1:
Seeing this, my son became confused and surprised.
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Paragraph 2:
On that day, my son performed an act that most adults wouldn’t have done.
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假如你是李华，获知你的英国朋友Eric在汉语书法比赛中获得一等奖。请你给他写一封邮件，内容包括:
1. 表示祝贺；
2. 赠送名家字帖。
注意:1. 词数80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇:字贴 calligraphy copybook
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