Unit 2　Robots

方法指导

在阅读理解猜测单词或短语的意思时常用下面的解题技巧:

(1)根据上下文解释进行猜测;

(2)根据同位关系进行猜测;

(3)根据构词法(前缀、后缀、复合、派生等)进行猜测;

(4)根据转折或对比关系进行猜测。

典例引领 (2017天津,C)

This month, Germany’s transport minister, Alexander Dobrindt, proposed the first set of rules for autonomous vehicles(自主驾驶车辆). They would define the driver’s role in such cars and govern how such cars perform in crashes where lives might be lost.

The proposal attempts to deal with what some call the“death valley”of autonomous vehicles:the grey area between semi-autonomous and fully driverless cars that could delay the driverless future.

Dobrindt wants three things:that a car always chooses property(财产)damage over personal injury;that it never distinguishes between humans based on age or race;and that if a human removes his or her hands from the driving wheel—to check email, say—the car’s maker is responsible if there is a crash.

“The change to the road traffic law will permit fully automatic driving,”says Dobrindt. It will put fully driverless cars on an equal legal footing to human drivers, he says.

Who is responsible for the operation of such vehicles is not clear among car makers, consumers and lawyers.“The liability(法律责任)issue is the biggest one of them all,”says Natasha Merat at the University of Leeds, UK.

An assumption behind UK insurance for driverless cars, introduced earlier this year, insists that a human“be watchful and monitoring the road”at every moment.

But that is not what many people have in mind when thinking of driverless cars.“When you say‘driverless cars’, people expect driverless cars,”Merat says.“You know—no driver.”

Because of the confusion, Merat thinks some car makers will wait until vehicles can be fully automated without human operation.

Driverless cars may end up being a form of public transport rather than vehicles you own, says Ryan Calo at Stanford University, California. That is happening in the UK and Singapore, where government-provided driverless vehicles are being launched.

That would go down poorly in the US, however.“The idea that the government would take over driverless cars and treat them as a public good would get absolutely nowhere here,”says Calo.

1.What does the phrase“death valley”in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A.A place where cars often break down.

B.A case where passing a law is impossible.

C.An area where no driving is permitted.

D.A situation where drivers’ role is not clear.

2.The proposal put forward by Dobrindt aims to　　　. 

A.stop people from breaking traffic rules

B.help promote fully automatic driving

C.protect drivers of all ages and races

D.prevent serious property damage

3.What do consumers think of the operation of driverless cars?

A.It should get the attention of insurance companies.

B.It should be the main concern of law makers.

C.It should not cause deadly traffic accidents.

D.It should involve no human responsibility.

4.Driverless vehicles in public transport see no bright future in　　　. 

A.Singapore B.the UK C.the US D.Germany

5.What could be the best title for the passage?

A.Autonomous Driving:Whose Liability?

B.Fully Automatic Cars:A New Breakthrough

C.Autonomous Vehicles:Driver Removed!

D.Driverless Cars:Root of Road Accidents

方法运用

[语篇解读]　本文是一篇说明文,题材为社科类。本文介绍了德国交通部部长Alexander Dobrindt提出的一系列有关自主驾驶车辆的法规。

1.D　词义猜测题。根据第一段第二句和第二段的内容可知,“They would define the driver’s role”的目的是处理“death valley”,故可推知“death valley”是一种司机的角色不明确的状况,故选D。

2.B　推理判断题。根据第二段可知,由Dobrindt提出的这项建议旨在帮助促进全自动驾驶。故选B。

3.D　推理判断题。 根据第七段中的“You know—no driver.”和第八段中的“until vehicles can be fully automated without human operation”可知,消费者担心的是人的责任问题,故选D。

4.C　细节理解题。由最后一段中的“That would go down poorly in the US”可知选C。

5.A　主旨大义题。本文主要探讨无人驾驶技术在推广过程中遇到的困难,即难以界定法律责任的主体,故选A。