The car has reshaped our cities. It seems to offer autonomy for everyone. There is something almost delightful in the detachment from reality of advertisements showing mass-produced cars, marketed as symbols of individuality and of freedom when most of their lives will be spent making short journeys on choked roads.
For all the fuss made about top speeds, cornering ability and acceleration, the most useful gadgets on a modern car are those which work when you’re going very slowly: parking sensors, sound systems, and navigation apps which will show a way around upcoming traffic jams. This seems to be one of the few areas where the benefit of sharing personal information comes straight back to the sharer: because these apps know where almost all the users are, and how fast they are moving almost all the time, they can spot traffic congestion (堵塞) very quickly and suggest ways round it.
The problems comes when everyone is using a navigation app which tells them to avoid everyone else using the same gadget. Traffic jams often appear where no one has enough greatly. But when everyone has perfect information, traffic jams simply spread onto the side roads that seem to offer a way round them
This new congestion teaches us two things The first is that the promises of technology will never be realised as fully as we hope; they will be limited by their unforeseen and unintended consequences. Siting in a more comfortable car in a different traffic jam is pleasant but hardly the liberation that once seemed to be promised. The second is that self-organisation will not get us where we want to go. The efforts of millions of drivers to get ahead do not miraculously produce a situation in which everyone does better than before, but one in which almost everyone does rather worse. Central control and collective organisation can produce smoother and fairer outcomes, though even that much is never guaranteed.
Similar limits can be foreseen for the much greater advances promised by self-driving cars. Last week, one operated by the taxi company Uber struck and killed a woman pushing her bicycle across a wide road in Arizona. This was the first recorded death involving a car which was supposed to be fully autonomous. Experts have said that it suggests a “catastrophic failure" of technology.
Increasingly, even Silicon Valley has to acknowledge the costs of the intoxicating(令人陶醉的) hurry that characterises its culture. What traffic teaches us is that reckless and uncontrolled change is as likely to harm us as it is to benefit us, and that thoughtful regulation is necessary for a better future.
正确答案及解析
正确答案
51 B) They present a false picture of the autonomy cars provide.
52 C) Only some can be put to use under current traffic conditions.
53 A) It is likely to create traffic jams in other places.
54 B) It seldom delivers all the benefits as promised.
55 C) Technological innovation should be properly regulated.
解析
51. What does the author say about car advertisements?
B. 根据题干car advertisements 定位到原文第一段第三句。原文：There is something almost delightful in the detachment from reality of advertisements showing mass-produced cars, marketed as symbols of individuality and of freedom when most of their lives will be spent making short journeys on choked roads.提到了广告中大量生产的汽车被标榜为个性和自由的象征，而他们生命中的大部分时间都将在堵塞的道路上。说明广告中汽车式是自由的和现实中是相反的，这个说法和选项[B] They present a false picture of the autonomy cars provide.为同义替换选项。
52. What does the author imply about the various gadgets on cars?
C. 根据题干gadgets on cars定位到原文第二段第一句，其中提到the most useful gadgets on a modern car are those which work when you’re going very slow, 走的慢对应到堵车即current traffic condition. 而其他选项与定位句无关。因此选择选项[C] Only some can be put to use under current traffic conditions.
53. What does the author say about the use of navigation apps?
A. 根据题干use of navigation apps定位回到原文第三段第一句。The problems comes when everyone is using a navigation app… 本句说出每个人都使用导航的时候就会有问题。本段第三句指出了这个问题具体是什么：traffic jams simply spread onto the side roads that seem to offer a way round them(交通堵塞只是蔓延到似乎提供了一条绕过它们的道路的岔道上)，选项[A] It is likely to create traffic jams in other places.和此问题内容一致。
54. What does the author say about technology?
B.根据题干technology定位回到原文第四段第二句。原文信息为The first is that the promises of technology will never be realised as fully as we hope和选项[B] It seldom delivers all the benefits as promised.说法一致且本句为作者所言，故为正确选项。
55.What key message does the author try to convey in the passage?
C. 本文第一段讲汽车实际不自由，第二段讲车上的小器件，第三段讲了导航系统的问题，第四段说出了新型交通堵塞的启示，第五段讲了无人汽车未来相同的境遇，可见文章全部都在围绕科技对交通的影响进行讲述，而在最后一段，最后一句对全文进行了总结What traffic teaches us is that reckless and uncontrolled change is as likely to harm us as it is to benefit us, and that thoughtful regulation is necessary for a better future. 即深思熟虑的监管对于一个更好的未来是必要的。刚好对应到选项 [C] Technological innovation should be properly regulated. (应合理规范技术创新)。
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