A device that stops drivers form falling asleep at the wheel is about to undergo testing at Department of Transport laboratories and could go on sale within 12 months.
The system, called Driver Alert, aims to reduce deadly road accidents by 20% - 40% that are caused by tiredness. Airline pilots can also use it to reduce the 30% of all pilot-error accidents that are related to fatigue.
Driver Alert is based on a computerized wristband. The device, worn by drivers or pilots, gives out a sound about every four minutes during a car journey. After each sound the driver must respond by squeezing the steering wheel (方向盘). A sensor in the wristband detects this pressing action and measures the time between the sound the driver’s response.
Tiredness is directly related to a driver’s response time. Usually, a watchful driver would take about 400 milliseconds to respond, but once that falls to more than 500 milliseconds, it suggests that the driver is getting sleepy.
In such cases the device gives out more regular and louder sounds, showing that the driver should open a window or stop for a rest. If the driver’s response continues to slow down, the sounds become more frequent until a nonstop alarm warns that the driver must stop as soon as possible.
The device has been delivered to the department’s laboratories for testing. If these tests, scheduled for six months’ time, are successful, the makers will bring the product to market within about a year.
1.According to the text, Driver Alert ______.
A. aims to reduce tiredness-related accidents
B. has gone through testing at laboratories
C. aims to prevent drivers form sleeping
D. has been on sale for 12 months
2.How should a driver respond to the sounds from Driver Alert?
A. By sounding a warning. B. By touching the wristband.
C. By checking the driving time. D. By pressing the steering wheel.
3.We can learn form the text that the driver needs to stop for a break when his response time is ______.
A. about 400 milliseconds B. below 500 milliseconds
C. over 500 milliseconds D. about 4 minutes
4.When the driver gets sleepy while driving, Driver Alert ______.
A. moves more regularly B. stops working properly
C. opens the window for the driver D. sounds more frequently and loudly
Use your American Express Card to enjoy one-day privileges at four of America’s greatest museums. Note the participating museums, and their exciting special exhibitions that you will not want to miss, listed below.
Boston
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Chairs
February 11 — May 8, 2005
Italian furniture expert Fausto Calderai and Indian photographer Dayanita Singh present an exhibition of chairs from the museum’s collection and “chair photographs” from around the world presented in a Venetisan-style hall housing world-famous masterpieces.
For more information：www.gardnermuseum.org
New York
The Noguchi Museum
Noguchi and Graham
December 1, 2004 — May 1,2005
Noguchi’s long-term collaboration with dancer Martha Graham is regarded by many as a high point in the history of both modern dance and art. The exhibition highlights nine of the sets created through this collaboration.
For more information：www.noguchi.org
Philadephia
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
In Full view：American Painting (1720 — 2005)
January 11 — April 10, 2005
Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy has been home to America’s artists for 200 years. The Academy collects and exhibits the works of famous American artists, and is well-known for training fine artists. 2005 at the Academy begins with the largest exhibition of the Academy’s distinguished American collection in the institution’s history.
For more information：www.pafa.org
Seattle
Seattle Museum of Glass
Murano：glass from the Olnick Spanu Collection
Through November 7, 2004
This exhibition includes over 200 pieces of beautiful glass from Murano, the island of glassblowers near Venice, Italy. Watch live glass-blowing shows in the Hot Shop and see other modern glass exhibitions.
For more information：www.museumofglass.org
1.Which of the following websites offers information about the furniture show?
A. www.pafa.org B. www.noguchi.org
C. www.museumofglass.org D. www.gardnermuseum.org
Dayanita Singh present an exhibition of chairs.
2.We learn form the text that Martha Graham is ______.
A. a dancer B. a painter
C. a glassblower D. a photographer
3.If you want to know the history of American painting, you may visit ______.
A. The Noguchi Museum
B. Seattle Museum of Glass
C. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
D. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Millions of people visit Yosemite National Park every year to see the tall waterfalls and mountains. These mountains are a splendid sight when viewed form the valley floor. Lots of stores, hotels, and restaurants are needed to handle the crowds. Also, water, roads, and other service systems are part of the infrastructure (基础设施) that must be maintained.
Unfortunately, these systems are starting to break down. It’s not just in Yosemite but in national parks around the nation.
Yosemite is thirty years old according to Dennis Galvin, a National Park Service worker. The Park is not only old but worn out. Two or three times as many visitors come every year. That is too many visitors for the park to deal with.
Four years ago a storm washed out a water pipeline in the Grand Canyon. The National Park Service had to send water trucks to provide water for the visitors. Last month pipes almost broke again and roads had to be closed for a while.
Why hasn’t the National Park Service kept up the park repairs? There is a lack of money. The United States has 378 monuments, parks, and wilderness areas. Between three and four billion dollars are needed for repairs.
Yosemite is one national park that does have money for repairs. It has two hundred million dollars but cannot spend it any way it chooses. When the park workers started widening the road, they were forced to stop by the Sierra Club. The club claimed that the road work was damaging the Merced River that runs through the park.
A sierra Club lawyer, Julia Olson, feels that the infrastructure needs to be moved out of Yosemite. That way less pressure will be put on the already crowded park.
1.According to the text, the mountains in Yosemite look most splendid when they are appreciated from ______.
A. the bottom of the valleys B. the top of the mountains
C. the side of the mountains D. the edge of the valleys
2.National parks like Yosemite in the U.S. find it increasingly difficult to meet the need of
visitors because ______.
A. their transport management needs improving
B. they spend too much on their service systems
C. their service systems frequently go out of order
D. they need help from environmental organizations
3.The main problem of Yosemite National Park is its ______.
A. rundown water pipes B. overcrowdedness
C. lack of money D. narrow roads
4.According to the text, the Sierra Club is most likely to be ______.
A. an environmental group B. an information center
C. a travel service D. a law firm
Fidenzio Salvatori is determined that the city of Toronto will have an outdoor marketplace for merchants from its immigrant community, complete with dancing and other forms of amusement form their native countries. “Toronto is truly multicultural (多元文化的)，” he said in a newspaper interview. “It’s a city from many places, and multicultural marketplace will help Torontonians to understand and appreciate the rich variety of cultural groups in our city.”
Salvatori, aged 23, will soon complete his studies at the University of Toronto. He was eleven years old when he came to Canada from Italy with his parents. “Most of Toronto’s immigrants are from lands where the marketplace has always been part of daily life,” he said.
Salvatori has been interested in getting an open-air market for Toronto for the last three years. This year, with the help of two fellow students, he prepared a proposal on the subject and presented it to the city’s Executive committee, asking for their support. The proposal pointed out Toronto’s rich variety of national groups, “whose customs include market shopping.”
Under a Canadian government program for multiculturalism, the three students have received two thousand dollars with which they will do a study to find out whether Toronto’s immigrant businessmen would support an open-air market. They hope the merchants will support the plan strongly. “A study done earlier this year showed that 90 percent of shoppers would be in favor of it,” Salvatori said. “At first it would be an experiment. But we think it will prove to be good business for the merchants, as well as tourist attraction.”
1.What is Fidenzio Salvatori’s purpose of having an outdoor marketplace for Toronto?
A. To provide different forms of amusement.
B. To keep the cultural variety of the city.
C. To inspire its immigrant community.
D. To satisfy its immigrant merchants.
2.Fidenzio Salvatori, with two other students, has got two thousand dollars from the government ______.
A. to make an experiment B. to start a marketplace
C. to perform a research D. to operate a business
3.According to Salvatori, the marketplace may also help to improve Toronto’s ______.
A. market management B. community service
C. travel industry D. city planning
4.It can be inferred from the text that the Canadian government supports ______.
A. the protection of different cultures B. the plan of an open-air market
C. the request of merchants D. the attitude of shoppers
Last August, Joe and Mary Mahoney began looking at colleges for their 17-year-old daughter, Maureen. With a checklist of criteria in hand, the Dallas family looked around the country visiting half a dozen schools. They sought a university that offered the teenager’s intended major, one located near a large city, and a campus where their daughter would be safe.
“The safety issue is a big one,” says Joe Mahoney, who quickly discovered he wasn’t alone in his worries. On campus tours other parents voiced similar concerns, and the same question was always asked: what about crime? But when college officials always gave the same answer — “That’s not a problem here.” — Mahoney began to feel uneasy.
“No crime whatsoever?” comments Mahoney today. “I just don’t buy it.” Nor should he: in 1999 the U.S. Department of Education had reports of nearly 400,000 serious crimes on or around our campuses. “Parents need to understand that times have changed since they went to colleges,” says David Nichols, author of Creating a Safe Campus. “Campus crime mirrors the rest of the nation.”
But getting accurate information isn’t easy. Colleges must report crime statistics （统计数字) by law, but some hold back for fear of bad publicity, leaving the honest ones looking dangerous. “The truth may not always be obvious,” warns S. Daniel Carter of Security on Campus, Inc., the nation’s leading campus safety watchdog group.
To help concerned parents, Carter promised to visit campuses and talk to experts around the country to find out major crime issues and effective solutions.
1.The Mahoneys visited quite a few colleges last August ______.
A. to express the opinions of many parents
B. to choose a right one for their daughter
C. to check the cost of college education
D. to find a right one near a large city
2.It is often difficult to get correct information on campus crime because some colleges
______.
A. receive too many visitors B. mirror the rest of the nation
C. hide the truth of campus crime D. have too many watchdog groups
3.The underlined word “buy” in the third paragraph means ______.
A. mind B. admit C. believe D. expect
4.We learn from the text that “the honest ones” in the fourth paragraph most probably refers to colleges ______.
A. that are protected by campus security B. that report campus crimes by law
C. that are free from campus crime D. the enjoy very good publicity
5.What is the text mainly about?
A. Exact campus crime statistics. B. Crimes on or around campuses.
C. Effective solutions to campus crime. D. concerns about kids’ campus safety.
阅读下面短文，撑握其大意，然后从各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项
My sister and I grew up in a little village in England. Our father was a struggling 1, but I always knew he was 2. He never criticized us, but used 3to bring out our best. He’d say, “If you pour water on flowers, they flourish. If you don’t give them water, they die.” I 4as a child I said something 5about somebody, and my father said, “ 6time you say something unpleasant about somebody else, it’s a reflection of you.” He explained that if I looked for the best 7people, I would get the best 8. From then on I’ve always tried to 9the principle in my life and later in running my company.
Dad’s also always been very 10. At 15, I started a magazine. It was 11a great deal of my time, and the headmaster of my school gave me a 12：stay in school or leave to work on my magazine.
I decided to leave, and Dad tried to sway me from my decision, 13any good father would. When he realized I had made up my mind, he said, “Richard, when I was 23, my dad 14me to go into law. And I’ve 15regretted it. I wanted to be a biologist, 16I didn’t pursue my 17. You know what you want. Go fulfill it.”
As 18turned out, my little publication went on to become Student, a national 19for young people in the U.K. My wife and I have two children, and I’d like to think we are bringing them up in the same way Dad 20me.
1.A. biologist B. manager C. lawyer D. gardener
2.A. strict B. honest C. special D. learned
3.A. praise B. courage C. power D. warmth
4.A. think B. imagine C. remember D. guess
5.A. unnecessary B. unkind C. unimportant D. unusual
6.A. another B. some C. any D. other
7.A. on B. in C. at D. about
8.A. in case B. by turns C. by chance D. in return
9.A. revise B. set C. review D. follow
10.A. understanding B. experienced C. serious D. demanding
11.A. taking up B. making up C. picking up D. keeping up
12.A. suggestion B. decision C. notice D. choice
13.A. and B. as C. even if D. as if
14.A. helped B. allowed C. persuaded D. suggested
15.A. always B. never C. seldom D. almost
16.A. rather B. but C. for D. therefore
17.A. promise B. task C. belief D. dream
18.A. this B. he C. it D. that
19.A. newspaper B. magazine C. program D. project
20.A. controlled B. comforted C. reminded D. raised
