【文章內(nèi)容簡(jiǎn)介】 s dark and raining heavily. Ceely was relying on her GPS, but it made no mention of the crossing. I put my plete trust in the device and it led me right into the path of a speeding train, she told the BBC. Who is to blame here? Rick Stevenson, who tells Ceely39。s story in his book When Machines Fail Us, points the finger at the limitations of technology. We put our faith in digital devices, he says, but our digital helpers are too often not up to the job. They are filled with small problems. And it39。s not just GPS devices: Stevenson takes us on a tour of digital disasters involving everything from mobile phones to wireless keyboards. The problem with his argument in the book is that it39。s not clear why he only focuses on digital technology, while there may be a number of other possible causes. A mapmaker might have left the crossing off a paper map. Maybe we should blame Ceely for not paying attention. Perhaps the railway authorities are at fault for poor signaling system. Or maybe someone has studied the relative dangers and worked out that there really is something specific wrong with the GPS equipment. But Stevenson doesn39。t say. It39。s a problem that runs through the book. In a section on cars, Stevenson gives an account of the advanced techniques that criminals use to defeat puterbased locking systems for cars. He offers two independent sets of figures on car theft。 both show a small rise in some parts of the country. He says that once again not all new locks have proved reliable, Perhaps, but maybe it39。s also due to the shortage of policemen on the streets. Or changing social circumstances. Or some bination of these factors. The game between humans and their smart devices is amusing and plex. It is shaped by economics and psychology and the cultures we live in. Somewhere in the mix of those forces there may be a way for a wiser use of technology. If there is such a way, it should involve more than just an awareness of the shortings of our machines. After all, we have lived with them for thousands of years. They have probably been fooling us for just a. s long.（1）What did Paula Ceely think was the cause of her accident? A.She was not familiar with the road.B.It was dark and raining heavily then.C.The railway workers failed to give the signal.D.Her GPS device didn39。t tell her about the crossing.（2）The phrase near miss (Paragraph 2) can best be replaced by ________. A.close hitB.heavy lossC.narrow escapeD.big mistake（3）Which of the following would Rick Stevenson most probably agree with? A.Modern technology is what we can39。t live without.B.Digtal technology often falls short of our expectation.C.Digital devices are more reliable than they used to be.D.GPS error is not the only cause for Ceely39。s accident.（4）In the writer39。s opinion, Stevenson39。s argument is ________. A.onesidedB.reasonableC.puzzlingD.wellbased（5）What is the real concern of the writer of this article? A.The major causes of traffic accidents and car thefts.B.The human unawareness of technical problems.C.The shortings of digital devices we use.D.The relationship between humans and technology.【答案】 （1）D（2）C（3）B（4）A（5）D 【解析】【分析】本文是一篇夾敘夾議文，作者講述了一起交通事故，司機(jī)沒(méi)有看到火車(chē)路口導(dǎo)致了一起事故，司機(jī)卻將責(zé)任歸咎到自己的導(dǎo)航儀沒(méi)有路口提示上。引發(fā)作者對(duì)于人與科技的關(guān)系上的深思。 （1）考查細(xì)節(jié)理解。根據(jù)第二段中的Ceely39。s near miss made the news because she blamed it on he GPS(導(dǎo)航儀). 可知Ceely認(rèn)為事故發(fā)生的原因是GPS沒(méi)有指出那個(gè)路口。故選D。 （2）考查詞義猜測(cè)。根據(jù)第一段可知Ceely的車(chē)被卡在鐵路上并且被火車(chē)撞飛了，而她自己則死里逃生，文章用near miss來(lái)形容這個(gè)事故，由此可推斷narrow escape 最符合文意，即Ceely很驚險(xiǎn)地逃生了，故選C。 （3）考查細(xì)節(jié)理解。根據(jù)第三段中的We put our faith in digital devices, he says, but our digital helpers are too often not up to the job. 可知Stevenson認(rèn)為是科技設(shè)備應(yīng)該被指責(zé)，即它們不能滿(mǎn)足人們的需要，故選B。 （4）考查細(xì)節(jié)理解。根據(jù)第四段中的 The problem with his argument in the book is that it39。s not clear why he only focuses on digital technology, while there may be a number of other possible causes. 可知作者認(rèn)為Stevenson只關(guān)注到了片面的，故選A。 （5）考查主旨大意。根據(jù)倒數(shù)第二段中的The game between humans and their smart devices is amusing and plex. 可知作者在討論完Ceely這起事故后，在最后兩段將討論延伸到了人與科技的關(guān)系上，因此作者實(shí)際關(guān)心的內(nèi)容是人與科技的關(guān)系，故選D。 【點(diǎn)評(píng)】本題考點(diǎn)涉及細(xì)節(jié)理解，詞義猜測(cè)和主旨大意三個(gè)題型的考查，是一篇人生感悟類(lèi)閱讀，要求考生在捕捉細(xì)節(jié)信息的基礎(chǔ)上，進(jìn)一步根據(jù)上下文的邏輯關(guān)系，進(jìn)行分析，推理，概括和歸納，從而選出正確答案。5．閱讀理解 My mother has a dining table which sits right in the middle of her dining room. It was once buried beneath piles of papers—magazines, articles, copies of schedules for vacations she took back in the 1990s, and baby pictures of grand children who are now paying off their college loans. My brother Ross and I recently flew to New York to visit my mother. Mom, why don39。t we go through all that stuff? Ross said. No. Don39。t touch it! My mother said. The next afternoon, when she couldn39。t find a bill she needed, Ross suggested it might be put somewhere in the dining room and that we find it together. Besides, he said, all those papers are clearly stressing you out. However, my mother just said, Are you boys hungry? And then she seemed to have lost herself in deep thought. On our last night there, my mother walked up to us with a small pile of unopened mails, which she had collected at the western edge of the dining table, and said, Help me go through these. Sure, I said. When we had succeeded in separating wheat from chaff (谷殼), I asked, Would you want to deal with another little pile of papers? My mother led the way walking into the dining room the way an animal manager might be while entering a cage with tigers in it. Ross and I came in behind her and suddenly he reached for a pile of the papers on one side of the table. No! my mother said sharply. Let39。s start at the other end. That39。s where the older stuff is. Finally, we threw 95 percent of the stuff into paper shopping bags. Then I asked what she wanted us to do with them, she surprised us all by saying, Put them in the incinerator (垃圾焚化爐). When I returned home, inspired by the visit to my mother, I sorted out my own accumulated(累積的) piles of papers, sold or gave away half of my possessions, and moved into a smaller house. It seems that my life has be