【正文】 their way in unfamiliar locations. “ We ’ re looking at the performance and mental workload of drivers,” said Caryl Baldwin, the assistant psychology professor leading the research, which involves measuring drivers’ reaction time and brain activity as they respond to auditory and visual cues. The researchers just pleted a study of the mental workload involved in driving through different kinds of environments and heavy vs. light traffic. Preliminary results show that as people “ get into more challenging driving situations, they don’ t have any extra mental energy to respond to something else in the environment,” Baldwin said. But the tradeoffs could be worth it, she said. This next step is to test different ways of giving drivers navigational information and how those methods change the drivers’ mental workload. “ Is it best if they see a picture?that shows their position, a map kind of display?” Baldwin said. “ Is it best if they hear it?” navigational systems now on the market give pointbypoint directions that follow a prescribed route. “ They’ re very unfiving,” Baldwin said. “ If 357 mess microscopic M you miss a turn, they can almost seem to get angry.” That style of directions also can be frustrating for people who prefer more general instructions. But such broad directions can confuse drivers who prefer route directions, Baldwin said. Perhaps manufacturers should allow drivers to choose the style of directions they want, or modify systems to present some information in a way that makes sense for people who prefer the survey style, she said. Interestingly, other research has shown that about 60 percent of men prefer the survey style, while 60 percent women prefer the route style, Baldwin said. This explains the classic little thing of why men don’t like to stop and ask for directions and women do, Baldwin added. 練習(xí)： 1. Which statement is true of the description in the first two paragraphs? A. If Coyne had stopped the car in time, he wouldn’ t have hit the woman. B. The woman would have been knocked over, if Coyne had followed the traffic regulations. C. Coyne is not really driving so it is impossible for him to have hit the woman. D. If the woman had not crossed the street suddenly, Coyne would not have hit her. 2. What do researchers want to find out, according to the third and fourth paragraphs? A. Whether or not audible or written directions are distracting. B. how long it will take the driver to respond to auditory and visual stimuli. C. How the driver perform under certain metal workload. D. All of the above. 3. What are the preliminary results given in the fifth paragraph? A. Drivers are afraid of getting into challenging driving situations. B. In challenging driving situations, drivers still have extra energy to handle other things. C. In challenging driving situations, drivers do not have any additional mental energy to deal with something else. D. Drivers’ mental load remains unchanged under different situations. 358 mess microscopic M 4. The sixth paragraph mainly state that the researchers. A. is designing a visual navigational information system. B. is designing an audio navigational information system. C. is designing an audiovisual navigational information system. D. want to determine the best ways of giving navigational information system. 5. What kind of directions do men and women prefer? A. Women prefer more general directions and men prefer route directions. B. Men prefer more general directions and women prefer route direction. C. Both men and women prefer general directions. D. Both men and women prefer route directions. 答案與解釋 : 1. C 根據(jù)第一段和第二段的內(nèi)容，讀者可以知道，這不是 Coyne 真實(shí)的駕車經(jīng)歷。 文章的昀后四段討論駕車指南的兩種類型：第九段使用的兩個(gè)表達(dá)是： general instructions 和 route directions 即是第八段中的 pointbypoint directions that follow a prescribed route；第十段和第十一段使用的表達(dá)是： survey style 和 route style 。整座城市也是假的。 但是，就算 Coyne 來不及剎車，那個(gè)婦女也不會(huì)有事兒。 3. C 第五段昀后一句提供了答案。當(dāng)化石燃料全部用完時(shí)，世界溫度將上升 13 攝氏度。 大部分的石油來自中東，牛東擁有 50％的世界已勘探石油儲(chǔ)存量。事實(shí)上，每分鐘到達(dá)地球表層的來自于太陽的能源就足已滿足我們一整年的需求，我們只是需要有效地加以利用而已。 next to oil除石油以外。因此，目前在該區(qū)禁止開354 mess microscopic M 采石油?？蓽Y動(dòng)。在整個(gè)航程巾，它載 12 000 人進(jìn)行過 3 000 多次潛水。 譯文： 深海探索器 海洋覆蓋了我們地球三分之二的面積，但被開發(fā)的地下水卻只有很小一部分。 練習(xí)： 1． What is Alvin? A A research institute． B A transporting vehicle． C A submersible． D A scientist． 2 ． Which of the following statements is NOT a fact about Alvin? A It can carry explorers as deep as 6,500 meters． B It has played a key role in various important undersea expeditions C It was launched in the sixties of the twentieth century． D It has been used for more than 40 years． 3． “．．． a world that is still full of mysteries” refers to A the earth． B out space． C the ocean． D Mars． 4． In what aspects are the new HOV and Alvin similar? A Size． B Speed． C Capacity． D Shape． 5． In what aspects are the new HOV and Alvin different? A Offering better views． B Speed． C Size． D Both A and B． 答案與題解： 1． C 短文第一段的第四、第五句提供了答案 2． A 文章第一段從第三句開始說，科學(xué)家正在研制一艘可將研究人員帶到 6 500 米深處的潛水裝置，而它將替代 Alvin，因?yàn)?Alvin只能潛到 4 500 米深處。機(jī)器人還可根據(jù)用戶對(duì)歌曲的選擇推薦新音樂，并對(duì)音樂播放列表提供反饋。換言之，只要有應(yīng)用程序，機(jī)器人便能使用。它可以根據(jù)聽者的反饋推薦合乎節(jié)拍的歌曲、舞蹈；并且不斷播放音樂。 4. A第三段介紹 Shimi的多種功能，第四段和第五段說 Weinberg還在開發(fā)更多的應(yīng)用程序來豐富Shimi 的功能，還希望其他研發(fā)者也參與開發(fā)，因此， A是答案。s creative and interactive capabilities are appreciated by most of its users. D Weinberg has reached an agreement with Geia Tech to mercialize Shimi. 答案與題解： 1. B 在前三段中均可找到與選項(xiàng) A、 C、 D 相應(yīng)的句子，強(qiáng)調(diào) Shimi是一種電子設(shè)備 。例如 :Th