Question

When a driver slams on the brakes to avoid hitting a pedestrian crossing the road illegally, she is making a moral decision that shifts risk from the pedestrian to the people in the car. Self-driving cars might soon have to make such ethical (道德的)judgments on their own — but settling on a universal moral code for the vehicles could be a tough task, suggests a survey.

The largest ever survey of machine ethics, called the Moral Machine, laid out 13 possible situations in which someone’s death was unavoidable. Respondents were asked to choose who to spare in situations that involved a mix of variables: young or old, rich or poor, more people or fewer. Within 18 months, the online quiz had recorded 40 million decisions made by people from 233 countries and territories.

When the researchers analysed these answers, they found that the nations could be divided into three groups. One contains North America and several European nations where Christianity has been the dominant (占支配地位的)religion; another includes countries such as Japan, Indonesia and Pakistan, with strong Confucian or Islamic traditions. A third group consists of countries in Central and South America, such as Colombia and Brazil. The first group showed a stronger preference for sacrificing older lives to save younger ones than did the second group, for example.

The researchers also identified relationships between social and economic factors in a country. They found that people from relatively wealthy countries with strong institutions, such as Finland and Japan, more often chose to hit people who stepped into traffic illegally than did respondents in nations with weaker institutions, such as Nigeria or Pakistan.

People rarely face such moral dilemmas, and some cities question whether the possible situations posed in the online quiz are relevant to the ethical and practical questions surrounding driverless cars. But the researchers argue that the findings reveal cultural differences that governments and makers of self-driving cars must take into account if they want the vehicles to gain public acceptance.

At least Barbara Wege, who heads a group working on autonomous-vehicle ethics at Audi in Ingolstadt, Germany, says such studies are valuable. Wege argues that self-driving cars would cause fewer accidents, proportionally, than human drivers do each year—but that people might focus more on events involving robots.

Surveys such as the Moral Machine can help to begin public discussions about these unavoidable accidents that might develop trust. “We need to come up with a social consensus,” she says, “about which risks we are willing to take.”

1.Why is it difficult to set universal moral rules for programming self-driving cars?

A. Social values always change with the times.

B. Moral choices vary between different cultures.

C. Drivers have a preference for sacrificing the weak.

D. Car makers are faced with decisions of life or death.

2.The researchers conducted the study by_____.

A. using a massive online quiz worldwide

B. comparing different cultures and customs

C. dividing the respondents into three groups

D. performing a series of controlled experiments

3.According to the study, in which country are drivers more likely to hit a pedestrian crossing the road illegally?

A. Nigeria    B. Colombia

C. Finland    D. Indonesia

4.Barbara Wege would probably agree that _____.

A. Self-driving cars will greatly improve the traffic environment

B. Accidents caused by self-driving cars might receive more attention

C. Problems involving self-driving cars might shake the public trust in society

D. Car makers needn^’t take the risk of solving self-driving car ethical dilemmas

Answer

1. B

2. A

3. C

4. B

【解析】

这是一篇议论文。文章主要讲了当一名司机猛踩刹车以避免撞到非法穿越马路的行人时，她是在做一个道德上的决定，将风险从行人转移到车内的人。自动驾驶汽车可能很快就不得不做出这样的道德的判断了。

1.推理判断题。根据题目定位到第一段but settling on a universal moral code for the vehicles could be a tough task,suggests a survey. 看到下一段讲了这个survey，第三段揭示了研究结果：nations could be divided into three groups，第四段also identified …in a country，通过nations，country可知实验结果按照不同国家划分，可见是文化差异different cultures，故选B。

2.细节理解题。根据第二段倒数第二行online quiz可知A正确；B选项作者只是展示不同文化的moral choices，未提及比较；C选项根据第三段开头analyzed these answers, they found that nations could be divided into three groups说明divided是研究结果得出的，而非conduct the study使用的方法；D选项文章未提及experiment，research是通过analyzed these answers得出的，故选A。

3.细节理解题。根据题目定位到第四段第三行Finland and Japan, more often chose to hit people who stepped into traffic illegally可知根据这项研究，芬兰的司机更有可能撞上非法穿越马路的行人，故选C。

4.细节理解题。根据人名定位到最后两段，最后一段Surveys…can help to begin public discussions about these unavoidable accidents可知Barbara Wege可能会同意无人驾驶汽车引发的事故可能会受到更多关注， B正确；A选项倒数第二段只提到cause fewer accidents, proportionally不等于greatlyimprove；C选项最后一段that might develop trust可知C错误；D选项car makers needn’t take risk文章完全没有提及，故选B。