第十一篇

Virtual Driver

     Driving involves sharp eyes and keen ears, analyzing¹ with a brain, and coordination² between hands, feet and brain. A man has sharp eyes and keen ears, analyzes³ through his brain, and maintains coordination between his hands and brains. He can control a fast-moving car with different parts of his body. ___1___. Apparently⁴ there isn’t anyone in the driver’s cab, but there is in fact a virtual driver1. This virtual driver has eyes, brains, hands and feet too. The minicameras on each side of the car are its eyes and are responsible for observing the road conditions ahead of it as well as the traffic to its left and right. If you open the boot, you can see the most important part of the automatic driving system: a built-in computer. ___2___. The brain is responsible for calculating the speeds objects surrounding the car are moving at2, analyzing their position on the road, choosing the right path, and giving orders to the wheel and the control system.

     In comparison with the human brain, the virtual driver’s best advantage is that it reacts quickly. ___3___. However, it takes the world’s best racecar driver at least one second to react, and this doesn’t include the time he needs to take action.

     With its rapid reaction and accurate control, the virtual driver can reduce the accident rate on expressways considerably⁵. In this case, is it possible for us to let it have the wheel3 at any time and in any place? ___4___. With its limited ability to recognize things, the car can now only travel on expressways.

     The intelligent car determines its direction by the clear lines that mark the lanes clearly and recognizes vehicles according to their regular shapes. ___5___. This being the case4, people still have high hopes about driverless cars, and think highly intelligent cars are what the cars of the future should be like5.

词汇：

　　virtual adj. 虚拟的

　　built-in adj. 嵌入的

　　coordination n. 协调，配合

　　racecar n. 赛车

　　cab n. 驾驶室

　　expressway n. 高速公路

　　minicamera n. 小型照相机

　　driverless adj. 无驾驶员的

　　boot n. （车身后部的）行李箱

注释：

　　1.    virtual driver：虚拟驾驶员

　　2.    The brain is responsible for calculating the speeds objects surrounding the car are moving at：大脑负责计算汽车周围物体移动的速度。 The brain is responsible for calculating the speeds objects surrounding the car are moving at ＝ The brain is responsible for calculating the speeds at which objects surrounding the car are moving

　　3.    have the wheel：驾驶汽车

　　4.    This being the case：虽然情况是这样。 This being the case 是独立分词短语。

　　5.    highly intelligent cars are what the cars of the future should be like：未来的汽车就应该是高度智能化的汽车

练习：

　　A．    Experts say that we cannot do that just yet.

　　B． In the near future, intelligent cars will be  put into commercial operation.

　　C． This is the brain of the car.

　　D． But how does an intelligent car control itself?

　　E． It completes the processing of the images sent by the cameras within 100 milliseconds.

　　F．    However, it cannot recognize moving people and bicycles on ordinary roads that have no clear markings on them.

答案与题解：

　　1.  D　"空1" 前面三个句子讲的是真人驾驶员驾驶汽车时脑、眼、耳、手、脚并用，而且要协调配合。"空1"之后话题转入虚拟驾驶员。"空1"之后的第一句 "Apparently there isn't anyone in the driver's cab……"似来得有些突然。与前面句子接得很生硬。中间应该有个过渡句。选项 C 就是连接上下文的过渡句。

　　2.  C　"空2"前面一句说， 如果你打开车身后部的行李箱，你就能看到自动驾驶系统的最重要的部件，嵌入式电脑。"空2"后的句子中的 the brain of the car 自然是指前句的 built-in computer, 但接得太突然。选项 C 的 "This is the brain of the car "就把前后句子联系起来了。this 指代上一句的 built-in comupter.后面句子的 The brain of the car 是重复选项 C中 的 The brain of the car，显得很自然。所以，C是答案。

　　3.  E　"空3"前面一句说，虚拟驾驶员最大的优点是反应快。 "空3"后面一句说，最好的赛车手至少要1秒钟才能作出反应。"至少要1秒钟"已经暗示，虚拟驾驶员反应速度要比真人驾驶员快。一找，选项 E 果然说，虚拟驾驶员只需100毫秒就能作出反应。选项 E 使上下文的意思完整，因此是答案。

　　4.  A　"空4"前面是一句问句，即 "在这种情况下，是不是可以不分时间、不分地点都让虚拟驾驶员驾驶汽车?""空4"的句子应该回答这个问题："让还是不让？"选项 A 回答了这个问题，因此是答案。

　　5.    F　"空5"前面一句说，"The intelligent car determines its direction by the clear lines that mark the lanes clearly and recognizes vehicles according to their regular shapes. （智能汽车按清晰标出的车道线决定自己的行车方向，靠车辆的常规形状识别其它车辆。） 选项 F 的内容正好相反。上一句说"recognizes"，还有" mark the lanes clearly" ，而 F 说"cannot recognize"，又说" no clear markings".从意思表达上和词汇重复上，都能判断出，F 的句子应该出现在"空5"的位置上。