A device that stops drivers from falling asleep at the wheel is about to undergo testing at Department of Transport laboratories and could go on sale within 12 months.
The system, called Driver Alert, aims to reduce deadly road accidents by 20%—40% that are caused by tiredness. Airline pilots can also use it to reduce the 30% of all pilot-error accidents that are related to fatigue.
Driver Alert is based on a computerized wristband (腕带). The device, worn by drivers or pilots gives out a sound about every four minutes during a car journey. After each sound the driver must respond by squeezing the steering wheel (方向盘). A sensor in the wristband detects this pressing action and measures the time between the sound and the driver’s response.
Tiredness is directly related to a driver’s response time. Usually, a watchful driver would use about 400 milliseconds to respond, but once that falls to more than 500 milliseconds, it suggests that the driver is getting sleepy.
In such cases the device gives out more regular and louder sounds, showing that the driver should open a window or stop for a rest. If the driver’s response continues to slow down, the sounds become more frequent until a nonstop alarm warns that the driver must stop as soon as possible.
The device has been delivered to the department’s laboratories for testing. If these tests, scheduled for six months’ time, are successful, the makers will bring the product to market within about a year.
1.Driver Alert is a device that can .
A. keep drivers asleep
B. change drivers’ response accuracy
C. reduce the possibility of accidents
D. protect drivers when accidents happen
2.What does the underlined word “fatigue” in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. Illness. B. Tiredness.
C. Carelessness. D. Impoliteness.
3.How does Driver Alert work?
A. By being used as a nonstop alarm all the time.
B. By squeezing the steering wheel on the way,
C. By reminding or warning drivers if necessary.
D. By being worn on drivers’ hands every moment.
4.What do we know about Driver Alert?
A. It must be fixed on the driver’s cars.
B. It aims to prevent drivers from sleeping.
C. It has gone through testing at laboratories.
D. It isn’t available to drivers at the moment
Joy Mangano was 33 and divorced. She had three kids under age 7, and was hardly keeping up payments on her small two-bedroom home by working extra hours as a waitress. “There were times when I would lie in bed and think. I don’t know how I’m going to pay that bill,” Mangano says.
But she had a special ability for seeing the obvious thing. She knew how hard it was to mop the floor. “I was tired of bending down, putting my hands in dirty water, wringing (拧) out a mop,” Mangano says. “So, There’s gotta be a better way.”
How about a “self-wringing” mop? She designed a special tool you could twist in two directions at once, and still keep your hands clean and dry. She set out to sell it, first a few at flea markets.
Then Mangano met with the media. But would couch potatoes (电视迷) buy a mop? The experts on shopping TV were less than certain. They gave it a try, and it failed. Mangano was sure it would sell if they’d let her do the on-camera display. She said, “Get me on that stage, and I will sell this mop because it’s a great item.”
So QVC, a multinational corporation specializing in televised home shopping, took chance on her. “I got onstage and the phones went crazy. We sold every mop in minutes.”
Today she’s president of Ingenious Designs, a multimillion-dollar company, and one of the stars of HSN, the Home Shopping Network. Talking about the household invention, Mangano says, “It is as natural for me as it is for a parent to talk about their child.”
1.What is the first paragraph mainly about?
A. Mangano’s small home.
B. Mangano’s work experience.
C. Mangano’s unhappy marriage.
D. Mangano’s hard living conditions.
2.Mangano sold the mop successfully with the help of .
A. HSN B. QVC
C. couch potatoes D. experts on shopping TV
3.What does Mangano think of her invention?
A. Special. B. Normal.
C. Dissatisfied. D. Unbelievable.
4.What can we learn from the text?
A. HSN is a business organization that sells goods on the Internet.
B. The experts on shopping TV were confident about Mangano’s mop.
C. Mangano got the idea of self-wringing mop from her own experience.
D. Mangano once had to work seven days a week to support her family.
Mini Book Excerpts (节选)
Biography
When Salinger learned that a car park was to be built on the land, the middle-aged writer was shocked and quickly bought the neighboring area to protect it… The townspeople never forgot the rescue and came to help their most famous neighbor.
J. D. Salinger: A Life by Kenneth Slawenski (Random House, $ 27)
Mystery
“You’re a smart boy. Benny’s death was no accident, and you’re the only one who saw it happen. Do you think the murderer should get away with it?” The boy was staring stubbornly at his lap again.
A thought suddenly occurred to Annika, “Did you... You recognized the man in the car, didn’t you?”
The boy hesitated, twisting his fingers. “Maybe,” he said quietly.
Red Wolf by Liza Marklund (Atria Books, $ 25.99)
Short Stories
She wants to say to him what she has learned, none of it in class. Some women are born stupid, and some women are too smart for their own good. Some women are born to give, and some women only know how to take. Some women learn who they want to be from their mothers, some who they don’t want to be. Some mothers suffer so their daughters won’t. Some mothers suffer so their daughters won’t.
You Are Free by Danzy Senna (Riverhead Books, $ 15)
Humor
Do your kids like to have fun? Come to Fun Times! Do you like to watch your kids having fun? Bring them to Fun Times! Fun Times’s “amusement cycling” is the most fun you can have in the United States right now. Why spend thousands of dollars flying to Disney World when you can spend less than half to that within a day’s drive in most cities?
Happy And Other Bad Thoughts by Larry Doyle (Ecco, $ 14.99)
1.What did Salinger do for his town?
A. He built a car park. B. He tried to protect its land.
C. He wrote some good novels. D. He rescued many townspeople.
2.The book You Are Free is mainly about .
A. smart children B. happy daughters
C. different women D. suffering mothers
3.Which book should readers choose, if they want to know something about Fun Times?
A. Red Wolf.
B. You Are Free.
C. J.D. Salinger: A Life.
D. Happy And Other Bad Thoughts.
Williams教授是美国当代文学方面的专家。假如你是李华，你代表你们英语系邀请他给你们做一场有关美国文学的讲座。请你给Williams教授写一封邀请信，信中包括以下内容：
1.讲座对象是英语系学生；
2.讲座定于9月4日下午三点；
3.讲座的题目是“Contemporary American Literature”；
4.如果此题目不合适，其他内容也可以。
注意：1. 100个词左右；
2. 参考词汇：contemporary当代的；
the English Department英语系
注意：1. 词数：100个左右；
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Mr. Williams,
____________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
下文中共有10处错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号（∧），并在此符号下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Yesterday, as I was queuing at the checkout at a store, there was an old lady in the front of me in line. She seemed very confusing when the cashier asked her pay US$38. She had about US$5 in her wallet. The cashier told her that she could not buy the items because she didn't have enough money. So, I told the cashier I would pay for that she bought. Afterwards, I paid for all the items. When I got outside, the lady was standing there. While I was talking about her, her daughter appeared. She told me that her mother had Alzheimer's disease. Then she noticed that her mother had three bag of groceries and wondered how she managed to pay for them with enough money. I told her that I had paid for it. The daughter wanted to pay me back, so I refused. I believe make others feel good makes me feel good.
Qigong, 1.(call) “Life Energy Cultivation” in China, is a practice of focusing on breath, movement, and awareness for exercise, and healing(愈合). If you have taken Chinese lessons, you must be familiar with Confucius, according to 2.qigong provides a means to become a Junzi(gentleman) through awareness of morality. Taoism considers qigong to be able to provide a way to achieve spiritual improvement. Qigong is3.(traditional) viewed as a practice to balance qi (inner life energy), which is now practiced throughout China and worldwide. 4.a form of gentle exercise, qigong is made up of movements that are typically repeated, strengthening the body. Qigong 5.(believe) to help develop human potential, allow access to higher degrees of awareness, and awaken6.(one) “true nature”.
What makes qigong special is that it can be done 7.(lie), sitting , or standing; thus it is 8.(access) for disabled persons, seniors, and people recovering from injuries. As a healing art, qigong practitioners focus on prevention and self-healing, which has been widely used in China as part of traditional Chinese medicine, and is included in the curriculum of Chinese9.(university). Besides, qigong is practiced for self-cultivation as a means to get rid of 10.complexity of the earth.
