Question

    Self-driving cars have been backed by the hope that they will save lives by getting involved in fewer crashes with fewer injuries and deaths than human-driven cars. But so far, most comparisons between human drivers and automated vehicles have been unfair.

Crash statistics for human-driven cars are gathered from all sorts of driving situations, and on all types of roads. However, most of the data on self-driving cars' safety have been recorded often in good weather and on highways, where the most important tasks are staying in the car's own lane and not getting too close to the vehicle-ahead. Automated cars are good at those tasks, but so are humans.

It is true that self-driving cars don't get tired, angry, frustrated or drunk .But neither can they yet react to uncertain situations with the same skill or anticipation of an attentive human driver, nor do they possess the foresight to avoid potential perils. They largely drive from moment to moment, rather than think ahead to possible events literally down the road.

To a self-driving car, a bus full of people might appear quite similar to an uninhabited corn field. Indeed, deciding what action to take in an emergency is difficult for humans, but drivers have sacrificed themselves for the greater good of others. An automated system's limited understanding of the world means it will almost never evaluate ( 评估) a situation the same way a human would. And machines can't be programmed in advance to handle every imaginable set of events.

Some people may argue that the promise of simply reducing the number of injuries and deaths is enough to support driverless cars. But experience from aviation (航空) shows that as new automated systems are introduced, there is often an increase in the rate of disasters.

Therefore, comparisons between humans and automated vehicles have to be performed carefully. To fairly evaluate driverless cars on how well they fulfill their promise of improved safety, it's important to ensure the data being presented actually provide a true comparison. After all, choosing to replace humans with automation has more effects than simply a one-for-one exchange.

1.What makes the comparison between self-driving cars and human-driven cars unfair?

A.Self-driving cars never get tired. B.Statistics are collected differently.

C.Machines can make decisions faster. D.Self-driving cars know the world better.

2.What does the underlined word”perils” in Paragraph 3 most probably mean?

A.Dangers. B.Self-driving cars. C.Pedestrians. D.Human-driven cars.

3.In which aspect can self- driving cars beat human-driven cars?

A.Driving steadily. B.Climbing steep slopes.

C.Evaluating the cost of loss. D.Making complex decisions.

4.Where is the text most likely from?

A.A poster. B.A novel. C.A brochure. D.A magazine.

Answer

1.B

2.A

3.A

4.D

【解析】

这是一篇议论文。无人驾驶汽车被寄予了这样的希望，即与人类驾驶的汽车相比，无人驾驶汽车能减少车祸，减少伤亡，从而拯救生命。但到目前为止，人类司机和自动驾驶汽车之间的大多数比较都是不公平的。作者认为为了公平地评估无人驾驶汽车在多大程度上实现了其提高安全性的承诺，确保提供的数据能够提供真实的比较是很重要的。

1.细节理解题。根据第一段中Crash statistics for human-driven cars are gathered from all sorts of driving situations, and all types of roads. However, most of the data on self-driving cars' safety have been recorded often in good weather and on highways, where the most important tasks are staying in the car's own lane and not getting too close to the vehicle-ahead.（人类驾驶汽车的碰撞统计是从各种驾驶情况中收集的。还有各种各样的路。然而，大多数关于自动驾驶汽车安全性的数据通常是在天气好的时候和高速公路上记录的，在高速公路上，最重要的任务是保持在汽车自己的车道上，不要太靠近前面的车辆。）可知统计数据的收集方式不同，使得自动驾驶汽车和人类驾驶汽车之间的比较不公平。故选B。

2.词义猜测题。根据后文They largely drive from moment to moment，rather than think ahead to possible events literally down the road.可知，自动驾驶车辆不会提前考虑可能发生的事件。这说明所以它们不会避免潜在的危险（danger），故选A项。

3.细节理解题。根据第三段第一句It is true that self-driving cars don't get tired， angry， frustrated or drunk.可知，自动驾驶汽车不会感到疲倦、愤怒、沮丧或喝醉。所以自动驾驶汽车在稳定行驶方面可以打败人类驾驶的汽车。故选A。

4.推理判断题。通览全文可知本文主要是讨论了时下很热的话题——无人驾驶汽车，因此这篇文章的时效性很强，应该是选自杂志类，A. A poster.海报；B. A novel.小说；C. A brochure.手册，这三个选项均与本文题材风格不符，故选D。