A device that stops drivers from 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 (腕套). 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
How do you know if your home is an easy aim for thefts? Around the holidays, many families don’t consider taking proper measures to prevent their homes from suffering holiday thefts. With just a few simple steps, you can better make sure of the safety of your home during all of the holiday celebrations. Here are a few tips for making it difficult to tell you are away from home.
●Either have a trusted neighbor pick up your mail and newspapers, or tell your mailperson to hold your mail until you return. Nothing says “Hey, we are not home!” like when your postbox is filled with all kinds of mails and you have many different newspapers in your driveway.
● Set several different lights in your house on random timers（随机定时器）. Don't leave your outdoor lights on all the time. Instead, put your outside light on timers to be on during the nights. If an outdoor light remains on for days at a time, it means that nobody is home to turn it off.
● If you have pets that you are not taking with you on vacation, leave them with friend, rather than having someone come into your house every day to take care of them. When thefts see a neighbor or friend entering your house every day, they will know you are not home.
● Close all your curtains when you leave town. This is effective to deter possible thefts, as no one can see what is in your house. If they don't know what there is to take, then the risk is even greater for them to break in.
This article just has suggested a few tips to help you keep your house safe on holiday. Nothing can truly protect your home unless you have it monitored by a professional home security system.
1.What is the main idea of the passage?
A. To let the outdoor lights on all the time.
B. To tell us how to prevent the thefts around the holidays.
C. To tell us many families suffering from the thefts while they are on holiday.
D. To tell us to have our neighbor go to our house to take care of our pets.
2.If you are on holiday in other places, the lights in your house should .
A. be turned on only once a day
B. be kept on all the night
C. be replaced by random timers
D. be lit in an irregular way
3.To make your home well protected, what does the writer advise you to do?
A. Equip your home with security system.
B. Stop your mail service at once.
C. Turn to your close neighbors or friends.
D. Have all the curtains closed.
4.The underlined word “deter” probably means .
A. discover B. surprise
C. discourage D. attract
Does Fame Drive You Crazy?
Although being famous might sound like a dream come true, today’s star, feeling like zoo animals, face pressures that few of us can imagine. They are at the center of much of the world’s attention. Paparazzi (狗仔队) camp outside their homes, cameras ready. Tabloids (小报) publish thrilling stories about their personal lives. Just imagine not being able to do anything without being photographed or interrupted for a signature.
According to psychologist Christina Villareal, celebrities — famous people — worry constantly about their public appearance. Eventually, they start to lose track of who they really are, seeing themselves the way their fans imagine them, not as the people they were before everyone knew their names. “Over time,” Villareal says, “they feel separated and alone.”
The phenomenon of tracking celebrities has been around for ages. In the 4th century B.C., painters followed Alexander the Great into battle, hoping to picture his victories for his admirers. When Charles Dickens visited America in the 19th century, his sold-out readings attracted thousands of fans, leading him to complain (抱怨) about his lack of privacy. Tabloids of the 1920s and 1930s ran articles about film-stars in much the same way that modern tabloids and websites do.
Being a public figure today, however, is a lot more difficult than it used to be. Superstars cannot move about without worrying about photographers with modern cameras. When they say something silly or do something ridiculous, there is always the Internet to spread the news in minutes and keep their “story” alive forever.
If fame is so troublesome, why aren’t all celebrities running away from it? The answer is there are still ways to deal with it. Some stars stay calm by surrounding themselves with trusted friends and family or by escaping to remote places away from big cities. They focus not on how famous they are but on what they love to do or whatever made them famous in the first place.
Sometimes a few celebrities can get a little justice. Still, even stars who enjoy full justice often complain about how hard their lives are. They are tired of being famous already.
1.It can be learned from the passage that stars today .
A. are often misunderstood by the public
B. can no longer have their privacy protected
C. spend too much on their public appearance
D. care little about how they have come into fame
2.What is the main idea of Paragraph 3?
A. Great heroes of the past were generally admired.
B. The problem faced by celebrities has a long history.
C. Well-known actors are usually targets of tabloids.
D. Works of popular writers often have a lot of readers.
3.What makes it much harder to be a celebrity today?
A. Availability of modern media.
B. Inadequate social recognition.
C. Lack of favorable chances.
D. Huge population of fans.
4.What is the author’s attitude toward modern celebrity?
A. Sincere. B. Sceptical.
C. Disapproving. D. Sympathetic.
Scores of people queued up to use a cash machine after it started giving out double the money requested.
The cash machine, outside a Sainsbury’s store in Barham Road, Hull, attracted a big crowd of people hoping to take advantage of the fault, on Tuesday night. Police officers were eventually sent in to guard the machine and prevent anymore money from being withdrawn. The fault is thought to have affected cash machines at supermarkets across the city. It is not yet known whether the customers will have to repay the cash or how much money was taken out.
A spokeswoman for Humberside Police said, “Officers were sent to the cash machine to prevent anyone else from withdrawing anymore money. We have also tried to make contact with the owners of the machine.” The spokeswoman said those who benefited from the fault could be traced and could face theft charges, but investigations would only take place if the operator made a complaint.
The cash machine is owned by a company called Payzone, a spokesman later confirmed. He said the fault was due to the machine being filled with notes of the wrong denomination（面值）. An investigation is underway into the incident and the machine had been taken out of service, he added.
The Payzone spokesman said, “The transit company（转运公司）which is contracted to service this ATM has filled it up with the wrong denomination of notes, meaning it is paying out double what it should have. ” He could not say how much money had been taken out of the machine, or whether it would have to be paid back. It was understood that a number of cash machines in Hull owned by other companies had also been affected by this problem, he added.
1.When it was discovered that the cash machine outside a Sainsbury’s store broke down, _______.
A. people queued up inside the store to buy things
B. people asked the police to protect the cash machine
C. people went to other cash machines to withdraw money
D. people queued up at the cash machine to benefit from the fault
2.People who had managed to get money from the cash machine would face theft charges if ______.
A. the police traced their theft
B. the operator complained to the police
C. they got more money after the police came
D. the police contacted the owner of the machine
3. Who caused the cash machine not to work properly?
A. The people who withdrew money. B. The transit company.
C. The operator of the cash machine. D. The company Payzone.
4.What would be the best title for this text?
A. Greedy Customers.
B. How to Get More Money from ATMs.
C. Cash Machine Gives Double Money.
D. Who Is the Owner of the Cash Machine.
More and more birds are flying to settle at Qinghai Lake, one of the highest inland lakes in China, thanks to the protection efforts of local governments. Covering an area of over 4,000 square kilometers, Qinghai Lake is also the country’s biggest salt-water lake.
Located in Northwest China’s Qinghai Province, the lake is famous for the two islands at its northwest point--Cormorant Island and Egg Island.
The two islands have plenty of floating grass and various schools of fish, offering rich food sources for birds. The islands have become a paradise for different kinds of groups of birds and have been called ‘Bird Islands’.
Each March and April, when ice and snow covering the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau starts to melt, over 20 kinds of birds fly to the Bird Islands to lay eggs.
During the months, flocks of birds cover the whole sky over the islands and birds eggs can be found everywhere. Visitors can hear the singing of birds from miles away. These have become a world famous symbol of the lake.
To protect this paradise for birds and support calls for ecological protection, China set up the Qinghai Lake Natural Protection Zone at the end of 1997. Meanwhile, the State has pointed out the Bird Islands and Spring Bay of the Qinghai Lake as central protection zones.
Inspection officials and management employees often patrol the lake, improving local residents’ knowledge of related laws and spreading knowledge about animal protection to visitors. They are making great efforts to call on people to love and protect the birds.
At the same time, they have built special fences around the island area, to prevent wolves, foxes and other carnivorous animals, as well as illegal hunters from breaking up the birds’ nest-building, egg-laying and breeding. As a result, more and more birds are coming to the islands for sheltering and breeding.
1.Why are more and more birds coming to the biggest salt-water lake in the Great Northwest?
A. Because it is getting warmer and warmer.
B. Because it is being reformed
C. Because environments there are getting more and more agreeable for them to live in.
D. Because the people there are becoming richer and richer
2.The birds feed on _______according to the passage.
A. floating fish and various grasses
B. grass moving on the water surface and different kinds of fish
C. salt water and plenty of grains
D. corn from the local farmers
3.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. The ice and snow covering the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau doesn’t change into water, unless more than 20 kinds of birds come to the Bird Islands
B. Flocks of birds fly up to the whole sky over islands to lay eggs
C. Visitors can listen to the singing of birds from miles away, but they couldn’t see any of the birds
D. “The ice on the Plateau begins to change into water” means spring is coming
4.The officials go around the lake mainly to _________
A. let the farmers there know the animal protection law
B. tell the farmers there some knowledge about animal protection.
C. call on people to love and protect the birds
D. all of the above
I climbed the stairs slowly, carrying a big suitcase, my father following with two more. By the time I got to the third floor, I was tired and at the same time feeling lonely. Worse still, Dad a step and fell, sending my new suitcases down the stairs. “Damn!” he screamed, his face turning red. I knew was ahead. Whenever Dad's face turns red, !
How could I ever him to finish unloading the car screaming at me and making a scene in front of the other girls, girls I would have to spend the of the year with? Doors were opening and faces peering out (探出), as Dad walked close behind. I felt it in my bones that my college life was getting off to a(n) start.
“ the room quickly,” I thought. “Get him into a chair and calmed down.” But then again, would there be a chair in Room 316? Or would it be a(n) room?
I turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open, with Dad complaining about a hurting knee or something. I put my head in, expecting the . But to my , the room wasn’t empty at all! It had furniture, curtains, a TV, and even paintings on the walls.
And there on a well-made bed sat Amy, my new , dressed neatly. Greeting me with a nod, she said in a soft voice, “Hi, you must be Cori.” Then, she the music and looked over at Dad. “And of course, you’re Mr. Faber,” she said, . “Would you like a glass of iced tea?” Dad’s face turned decidedly before he could bring out a “yes”.
I knew then that Amy and I would be and my first year of college would be a success.
1.A. took B.minded C.missed D.picked
2.A.rooling B.passing C.dropping D.turning
3.A.suffering B.difficulty C.troubled D. danger
4.A.go head B.look out C.hold on D.give up
5.A.lead B.help C.encourage D.get
6.A.after B.without C.while D.besides
7.A.best B.beginning C.end D.rest
8.A.with difficulty B.in a hurry C.with firm steps D.in wonder
9.A.fresh B.late C.bad D.unfair
10.A.Search B.Find C.enter D.Book
11.A.small B.empty C.new D.neat
12.A.Finally B.Meanwhile C.Sooner or later D.At the moment
13.A. yet B.only C.even D.still
14.A.worst B.chair C. best D.tea
15.A.regret B.disappointment C.surprise D.knowledge
16.A.roommate B.classmate C.neighbour D.companion
17.A.turned on B.turned down C.played D.enjoyed
18.A.questioning B.wondering C.smiling D.guessing
19.A.red B.less pal C.less red D.pale
20.A.sisters B.friends C.students D.fellows
