In recent years, increasing numbers of extra-wide parking spaces have been specially designed for female drivers in some cities. Some like the idea, but others call it discriminatory, saying it implies women are worse drivers than men. So are parking spaces for women considerate or discriminatory? Forum readers share their opinions.
Leonard Wong (Singapore)
I think there is no necessity for such a special treatment. If they are truly poorer drivers, they have to brush up on their driving skills instead. When obtaining a license, they should have stricter tests or more practice sessions. If you do this, when some of them go overseas, they might get into trouble due to the smaller lots there.
Robert (US)
In the US some stores have special parking spaces, larger than normal and close to the store，for pregnant women. Maybe this is the intention. Besides, how many men go to shopping malls on their own regularly? There are always much larger than normal parking spaces in the US for the handicapped. Most are usually empty. Does this mean the handicapped are being labeled as “less than”？
Ivanapge (Singapore)
It is not practicable. There are places where parking lot space is limited and if you reserve some lots for just lady drivers, the lot would go to waste if there are no lady drivers going to park. If she is considered a capable driver who can manage on her own, why need special treatment? There are also man drivers who are as bad when it comes to driving or parking skills. Should they be given special treatment as well? Just improve your skills.
Cdogg (Canada)
It’s a good idea if it keeps the parking lot flowing and free of minor accidents, where no one moves out of the way for other drivers to pass. It is a bad idea if these spots are not used and creates overcrowding where people just sit, waiting for space around the lot. Time will tell.
1.Who share the similar idea in the passage?
A.Leonard Wong and Robert B.Leonard Wong and Ivanapge
C.Leonard Wong and Cdogg D.Robert and Ivanapge
2.According to Robert, which of the following can be inferred?
A.All the stores have special parking spaces.
B.The parking spaces are much smaller there.
C.Few men go to shopping malls alone regularly.
D.The disabled are treated as “less than”.
3.What is the main focus of the passage?
A.Are female drivers good at parking?
B.Are women good at driving cars?
C.Are parking spaces for women discriminatory?
D.Do female drivers deserve more parking spaces?
Translation
1.据说 摇滚音乐起源于英国。(originate)
2.在过去的十年中，新的线上购物网站如雨后春笋般地出现.(spring up )
3.跟随着当地的向导，我们享用了各种民族风味食物，并拓宽了视野。( follow, 分词做状语)
4.正是这种帮助消化的药在这次治疗中起了重要作用.( digestion, role, It 强调句)
Fill in the blanks with words and phrases that are taken from your textbooks.
1.Fast food restaurants are now _________rapidly all over the country in the United States. Speed is a very important __________. People usually have a short ________ ________because they just do not want to _______ ______ ______ ______. Fast food restaurant are places that _________ ______ ______ hundreds of people in a short time. There is usually very _____ ______ and the food is always very cheap.
2.In Japan, ______ ______ ______is often held while people are drinking tea. The ceremony, usually held in a teahouse, ______ ______ ______ the sixteen century. Guests ______ ______ ________ set up then and the tea ______ is a powdered green tea. Though still ______ today, the tea ceremony may not be ______ ______ ______ it used to be. Young people tend to ______ other drinks.
3.In the seventeenth ______, Rives, blown heavily . ______ ______. His hands dropped helplessly. Danny thought it was his chance ---the boy was ______ ______ ______, he decided to _____ the deadly blow. But before he could do that, Rivera caught him off his ______ and hit him ______ ______ ______. Danny went down. When he ______ Rivera gave him another blow on the neck and jaw.
The quality of patience goes a long way toward your goal of creating a more peaceful and loving self. The more patient you are, the more accepting you will be of what life is, rather than insisting that life be exactly as you would like it to be. Without patience, life is extremely frustrating. 1. Patience adds some ease and acceptance to your life. It's important for inner peace.
2. If you are stuck in a traffic jam, late for an appointment, being patient would mean keeping yourself from building a mental snowball before your thinking gets out of hand and gently reminding yourself to relax. It might also be a good time to breathe as well as an opportunity to remind yourself that, in the bigger scheme of things, being late is "small stuff".
Patience is a quality of heart that can be greatly enhanced with deliberate practice. 3. They are the periods of time that I set up in my mind to practice the art of patience. Life itself becomes a classroom, and the curriculum is patience. You can start with as little as five minutes and build up your capacity for patience over time. What you'll discover is truly amazing. Your intention to be patient, especially if you know it's only for a short while, immediately strengthens your capacity for patience. Patience is one of those qualities where success feeds on itself. Once you reach little milestone-five minutes of successful patience-you'll begin to see that you do indeed have the capacity to be patient, even for longer periods of time. Over time, you may even become a patient person.
Being patient will help you to keep your perspective. You will see even a difficult situation, say your present challenge, isn't "life or death" but simply a minor obstacle that must be dealt with. 4..
A. An effective way that I have found to deepen my own patience is to create actual practice periods.
B. You are more easily annoyed and bothered.
C. It is generally believed that the quality of being patient is very difficult to develop.
D. Becoming more patient involves opening your heart to the present moment, even if you don't like it.
E. Without patience, you will see the same scene as an emergency complete with yelling, frustration, hurt feelings.
F. If you lack patience, you are destined to fail in what you are pursuing.
Robots and humans will soon be living in harmony (和睦). A singing robot is being taught to create jazz with a human in a project.
Antonio Chella from Italy is working with a Telenoid robot. To start with, the Telenoid will be trained to follow the movements and simple sounds made by a human singer, and to connect music with different emotional states. Chella then plans to see if the robot can use these connections to create music.
Intelligence is often regarded as the ability to find connections between the existing things. But Chella suggests that a conscious(有意识的) creature should be able to go a step further and introduce new connections that result in the creation of something new.
Some jazz musicians say that they should have a mental library of musical phrases so that they are able to combine them in new ways. More importantly, however, this combination happens in a state that is similar in a sense to dreaming. Chella wants to copy these states in a machine.
“This work raises interesting questions about the link between consciousness and music making,” says Philippe Pasquier, a musician and computer scientist. But he is skeptical about whether a robot musician needs a physical body.
Pasquier argues that the robots are faced with two challenges(挑战). Software that can copy Bach has already been developed. But interpretation(演绎)includes human’s different tastes and judgments. “What made the Beatles famous was not so much their works, but the fact that the interpretations of the works were wonderful,” he says.
It is not yet clear how a robot would go about interpreting music in a new way. But by copying humans and then learning to sing, Chella’s robot could provide clues.
What seems to be important is that human composers often listen to lots of music made by others. So Chella’s robot had better listen to those jazz standards first.
1.Which of the following is the robot’s first step before it tries to create jazz?
A.Living with human beings in harmony.
B.Connecting actions with human’s emotions.
C.Copying a human singer’s movements and sounds.
D.Learning to communicate with human beings freely.
2.The underlined word “skeptical” in Paragraph 5 could be replaced by “_____“.
A.doubtful B.worried
C.certain D.concerned
3.What can we know about the robots like Telenoid from the text?
A.They are household robots. B.They can talk with researchers.
C.They are faced with two challenges. D.They will become human singers.
4.What can be concluded from the text?
A.Chella’s robot needs a physical body to make music.
B.How to interpret jazz is a piece of cake for Chella’s robot.
C.A new kind of software should be developed to copy Bach.
D.Chella’s robot should listen to much jazz to create something new.
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1.How much will be paid for a 65-year-old man with his 8-year-old grandson?
A.Free. B.＄30.
C.＄60. D.＄120.
2.From the passage，we can infer that the water in this park is＿．
A.clean B.polluted
C.dangerous D.colorful
3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage？
A.Tourists can hike alone in the hilly lands.
B.Small animals are under protection in the park.
C.Children can play with small animals.
D.Tourists can have a swim in the water.
