Question

    On my fourth day in a self-driving car, I finally felt comfortable enough to let it stop itself. Before then, Id allowed the car- a Volvo S90 sedan to control the direction, with my hands still on the wheel, and to adjust speed in traffic. By Day 4, I was ready to make a jump into the future.

With the car traveling on a busy road, I activated the driverless mode. Soon, a traffic light turned red. For a split second, I prepared to get on the brakes. There was no need. The cameras and computers in the Volvo recognized the traffic conditions and smoothly began applying the brake.

If you're anything like most people, you're familiar with this anxiety. Almost 80 percent of Americans fear traveling in a self-driving car, a recent survey found.

Researchers at the University of Chicago have conducted some clever experiments studying the phenomenon. They asked participants to complete tasks and compared their performance with a computer system's. After the computer made a mistake, people were unwilling to use it again. After the people made mistakes, their self-confidence wouldn't change. It didn't matter that the human beings made more mistakes than the computer. So it is with driving. More than 37,000 Americans died in crashes last year, most from human error. The death count from cars goes beyond that from guns. So if you are shocked and angry by guns and want things to change, you should feel the same about car crashes.

Technology creates an opportunity to save lives. Computers don't get drunk or distracted by text messages, and they don't have blind spots. Just look at commercial airlines: Automation has helped all but get rid of deadly crashes among American air carriers. The last one happened in 2009.

The technology for self-driving cars still isn't good enough. But it is improving rapidly. Within a few years, many cars will have advanced crash-avoidance systems and driving will be revolutionized sooner than many people now understand.

1.How does the author introduce the topic?

A.By offering a piece of news. B.By describing an experience.

C.By giving background information. D.By introducing a latest car.

2.What can we know from the fourth paragraph?

A.The participants lost self-confidence after making mistakes.

B.The participants would ignore the mistakes made by the computer.

C.Car crashes is no less shocking than gun incidents.

D.The death count from cars is the same as that from guns.

3.The author mentioned commercial airlines___________.

A.to advertise for the commercial airlines. B.to assess the security of driverless cars.

C.to find fault with computers. D.to prove the advantage of technology.

4.What's the author's attitude towards self-driving cars?

A.Favorable. B.Indifferent.

C.Skeptical. D.Concerned.

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.D

4.A

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文，作者分析了人们为什么对自动驾驶汽车心存疑虑，并指出随着技术的完善，自动驾驶汽车将更好地服务于人。

1.

推理判断题。根据第一段中的“On my fourth day in a self-driving car, I finally felt comfortable enough to let it stop itself. Before then, Id allowed the car- a Volvo S90 sedan to control the direction, with my hands still on the wheel, and to adjust speed in traffic.”可知，坐在一辆半无人驾驶汽车的第四天，我终于能够放心地让它自己停下来了，在那之前，在它自己徐徐转弯、在车流中调整速度时，我依然（不放心地）把手放在方向盘上，由此可知作者是通过描述自己乘坐半无人驾驶汽车的经历来引出文章主题的，故B项正确。

2.

推理判断题。根据第四段中的“More than 37,000 Americans died in crashes last year, most from human error. The death count from cars goes beyond that from guns. So if you are shocked and angry by guns and want things to change, you should feel the same about car crashes.”可知，去年，超过3.7万美国人死于车祸，其中大部分死于人为失误，汽车造成的死亡人数超过了枪支事件造成的死亡人数，所以，如果你对枪支感到震惊和愤怒，希望事情有所改变，那么你对车祸也应该持同样的态度，由此可知，车祸令人震惊的程度不亚于枪支事件，故C项正确。

3.

推理判断题。根据倒数第二段中的“Technology creates an opportunity to save lives. Computers don't get drunk or distracted by text messages, and they don't have blind spots. Just look at commercial airlines: Automation has helped all but get rid of deadly crashes among American air carriers.”可知，科技创造了拯救生命的机会，电脑不会昏昏欲睡、酩酊大醉或因为短信而分神，也不会有盲点，商业航空公司就是一个很好的例子——在自动化的帮助下，美国航空公司近些年几乎没有发生过致命的空难，由此可知，作者提到商业航空公司是为了证明技术在拯救生命方面的优势，故D项正确。

4.

推理判断题。通读全文，特别是根据最后一段“The technology for self-driving cars still isn't good enough. But it is improving rapidly. Within a few years, many cars will have advanced crash-avoidance systems and driving will be revolutionized sooner than many people now understand.”可知，自动驾驶汽车的技术还不够好，但它正在迅速改进，在几年内，许多自动驾驶汽车将拥有先进的防撞系统，驾驶技术将比许多人现在所理解的要快得多，由此可知作者对自动驾驶汽车持支持的态度，故A项正确。