Question

    Think of a university campus: it has its own roads, shops, residential areas, banks and transport links. It may be visited by tens of thousands of people each day. It is, in effect, a tiny city.

Across the globe, metropolises (大都市) are increasingly opting for a smart city approach. This is a tech-driven model that’s used in places such as Barcelona, where street lamps react intelligently to surroundings to save energy; Seattle, where smart traffic lights respond to the conditions on the road and even Milton Keynes, which has a real-time “data hub” sharing information about the town’s energy and water consumption, transport, weather and pollution.

Universities are taking notice. The US is leading the way, with on-campus innovations (创新) in energy (the University of Texas at Austin has a fully independent grid that provides all its energy), transport (the University of Michigan has introduced a self-driving shuttle system) and information (the University of Minnesota has installed 300 digital signage boards, updated with real-time data.)

UK institutions are following suit. The University of Glasgow has been working with innovation centre Future Cities Catapult on a strategy to bring smart technology to the campus as it expands. The vision includes intelligent campus Al, an on-demand bus service and a data centre powered by renewable energy.

“Smart cities are kind of slow-moving,” says Gemmy Ginty, a designer working on the strategy. “Cities are so big, and there are so many players and stakeholders (有权益关系者), so it can be difficult. But universities have control over their estates. They own all the buildings, all the networks and a captive audience in terms of the students, so they can become a living lab.”

Curtin University, in Western Australia, has joined up with Hitachi to turn the campus into a data-gathering laboratory, with 1,600 cameras linked to facial recognition and analytics software to gather information on study patterns and course attendance. According to the university’s chief operating officer Ian Callahan, this will be “to improve students’ experiences and enhance learning”。

“But any kind of monitoring does raise questions around privacy. Universities need to remember that data are not a magic bullet.” says Kathleen Armour, a professor at the University of Birmingham.

“I am not convinced by the suggestion that we should collect mountains of data on everything a student does,” she says. “It’s easy to be carried away. Instead, we need to use anonymous (匿名的) data intelligently to ensure that our campus and its systems are made as effective as possible to meet students needs.”

1.What do cities mentioned in Paragraph 2 have in common?

A.They all try every means to save water.

B.They all have a smart transport system.

C.They all have a smart way to fight pollution.

D.They all benefit from technological advance.

2.What can we learn from Gemmy Ginty’s words?

A.It is much easier to build smart universities.

B.Universities should give students right to choose.

C.Cities should take universities into consideration.

D.It is difficult to control universities’ development.

3.What is Kathleen Armour’s attitude towards monitoring?

A.Supportive B.Negative

C.Concerned D.Indifferent

Answer

1.D

2.A

3.C

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。介绍了一些城市和学校通过先进的科技进行智慧的管理，针对在大学的这一做法，有人表示支持，有人表示担忧。

1.细节理解题。根据第二段描述提到的城市的内容“Barcelona, where street lamps react intelligently to surroundings to save energy; Seattle, where smart traffic lights respond to the conditions on the road and even Milton Keynes, which has a real-time “data hub” sharing information about the town’s energy and water consumption, transport, weather and pollution”可知，在巴塞罗那，路灯能对周围环境做出智能反应以节省能源；在西雅图，智能交通灯可以对道路状况做出反应；甚至在米尔顿·凯恩斯，它有一个实时的“数据枢纽”，可以共享有关城镇能源和水消耗、交通、天气和污染的信息。因此第二段提到的这些城市的共同点是都在科技进步中享受到了便利。故选D

2.推理判断题。根据第五段Gemmy Ginty的话“Cities are so big, and there are so many players and stakeholders (有权益关系者), so it can be difficult. But universities have control over their estates. They own all the buildings, all the networks and a captive audience in terms of the students, so they can become a living lab.”（城市是如此之大，有如此多的参与者和有权益关系者，所以这（智慧城市）可能是困难的。但大学控制着他们的财产。他们拥有所有的建筑，所有的网络和以学生为单位的受众，因此可以成为一个活的实验室。）可知，根据Gemmy Ginty的话，我们推知建立一个智慧大学更容易一些。故选A。

3.推理判断题。根据第七段Kathleen Armour说的话“But any kind of monitoring does raise questions around privacy. Universities need to remember that data are not a magic bullet.”（但任何形式的监控都会引发隐私问题。大学需要记住，数据不是灵丹妙药。）可知他认为监控会涉及到隐私问题，因此推测他的态度是担忧的。故选C。