The idea of fighting a noise by making more noise sounds strange, but What's exactly that motor engineers are doing in Germany and some other countries.
Carmakers' research and development laboratories have already proved that mixing in more noise with the help of loudspeakers can reduce the unwanted noise.
Physicists have known about the technique for a long time.Sound is make up of pressure waves in the air.If two sound waves of the same frequency(频率)mix so that the highest point of one wave happens at the same time with the lowest point of the other wave, the result is no sound.Therefore, by producing a perfect copy of the noise and delaying it by half a wave cycle(周期), we can kill the unwanted noise.Using this technique many carmakers are racing to develop noise-killing systems both inside and outside the cars.Another good thing about the use of noise-killing systems is that it saves the need for a silencer, which not only reduces the weight of a car, but also makes the motor bum less oil and work better.
Some engineers believe that the noise-killing system will be used in most cars in 1996.But the carmakers haven't decided if they will put it into production because it would add several hundred dollars to the cost of their ears.
(1)
Which of the following gives a general idea of how the noise-killing system works?
[ ]
A.
By producing pressure waves going in the opposite direction.
B.
By mixing high frequency sound waves with low frequency sound waves.
C.
By making copies of the unwanted sound waves and letting them out a little later.
D.
By mixing new sound waves with the noise and sending them out together.
(2)
Besides its main function the noise-killing system can ________.
[ ]
A.
make a car lighter
B.
make a car quieter
C.
reduce the cost of a silencer
D.
improve the performance of a silencer
(3)
The noise-killing system is not yet popular mainly because ________.