题目内容
SAN FRANCISCO—A phone app (应用程序) in San Francisco gives information about open parking spots. City officials in San Francisco introduced the app to try to reduce traffic jams in the city, but some say it raises safety concerns.
In this city, drivers searching for parking spots lead to 30 percent of all downtown jams, city officials think. Now San Francisco has found a solution—a phone app for spot-seekers that displays information about areas with available spaces. The system, introduced last month, relies on wireless sensors (感应器) fixed in streets and city garages that can tell within seconds if a spot has opened up.
Monique Soltani, a TV reporter, said she and her sister spent 25 minutes on Friday trying to park. “We were praying to the parking god that we’d find a spot,” she said. “If we had the app, we would not have to pray to the parking god.” But the system could come with serious consequences.
Some people say that drivers searching for parking could end up focusing on their phones, not the road. “It could be really distracting (使分心的),” said Daniel Simons, a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois.
City officials acknowledge the potential problem. They are urging drivers to pull over before they use the city’s iPhone app, or to do so before they leave home. Nathaniel Ford, executive director of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, said safety could actually improve if drivers quickly found a spot instead of circling and getting frustrated.
San Francisco has put sensors into 7,000 parking spots and 12,250 spots in city garages. If spaces in an area open up, the sensors communicate wirelessly with computers that in turn make the information available to app users within a minute, said Mr. Ford, of the transportation agency. On the app, a map shows which blocks have lots of places (blue) and which are full (red).
More than 12,000 people have downloaded San Francisco’s app, which is available now only for the iPhone but which city officials say they hope to bring to all similar devices.
When it is started up, the city’s parking app warns drivers not to use the system while in motion. But safety advocates said that might not be sufficient. After all, they say, texting while driving is illegal in California and in many states, but a number of surveys, including one by the Pew Research Center, show that many Americans do it anyway.
Elizabeth Stampe, executive director of Walk San Francisco, a pedestrian advocacy group, said she hoped the new parking app would lead to fewer accidents.
“It’s an innovative idea,” she said. “The safe way for people to use the device is for them to pull over, which they know they should do. The question is whether they will.”
But Ms. Soltani, the TV reporter, said using the app would probably join the group of activities already performed by drivers.
“We’re already looking at Google Maps and Facebook on the phone while we drive,” she said. “Aren’t we always looking at something on our phone, or changing the radio, or drinking coffee? You’re always slightly distracted when you’re driving.”
50. What is the phone app mentioned in the text mainly aimed at?
A. Making full use of the parking spots. B. Making the traffic flow smoothly.
C. Preventing traffic accidents. D. Benefiting iPhone users.
51. According to the text, San Francisco city officials ______.
A. don’t consider the app distracting B. advise drivers to park cars slowly
C. are aware of the app’s disadvantages D. believe more parking spots are needed
52. How do drivers locate the parking spots?
A. Sensorscomputersapp. B. Appcomputerssensors.
C. Sensorsappcomputers. D. Computersappsensors.
53. The phone app mentioned in the text ______.
A. is a bit slow in reacting B. hasn’t been put into service
C. was introduced several years ago D. can’t be downloaded to all phones
54. Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
A. Daniel Simons thinks the app convenient.
B. San Francisco will put more sensors into use.
C. Most drivers open the app once they start their cars.
D. Nathaniel Ford doesn’t doubt the practical use of the app.
BCADD
Though ________ in San Francisco, Dave Mitchell had always preferred to record the plain facts of small-town life.
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A．raised |
B．grown |
C．developed |
D．cultivated |
Many people say pennies are not worth saving. After all, a penny is only worth a cent. But one unusual penny turned out to be worth a lot more when a coin collector paid $1.7 million for it earlier this month.
The coin is one of a kind. It is the only penny that the Denver mint(铸币厂) made out of copper, instead of steel, in 1943. Because it is unique, it is also very valuable. No penny has ever sold for so much money.
The Changing Penny
The Lincoln penny first appeared in 1909. For 34 years, the one-cent coin was made out of copper. Then, in 1943, the penny changed. World War II was going on, and copper was needed for equipment. So for one year, pennies were made out of steel instead. At least most of them were.
Only a few coins were made out of unused copper. There are three main mints, or places where coins are made, in the United States. Of the known copper pennies from 1943, twelve were made in the Philadephia mint, and five were made in the San Francisco mint. Only one was made in the Denver mint.
Nobody knows for sure why a copper penny was made at the Denver mint in 1943, coin dealers Andy Skrabalak told Time for Kids. “There is a rumor that a mint employee made the coin in the middle of the night.”
A Special Set
The coin collector who bought the $1.7 million penny wants to remain unknown. But the reason for the trade is known. He already had two copper pennies from 1943 – one from the San Francisco mint and one from the Philadephia mint. To complete the set, he needed the Denver penny. The three coins will go on display at a coin exhibition in Tampa, Florida.
The collector who sold the penny is also keeping his name a secret. It took four years to convince him to give up the rare coin. Now that he has finally donating all of the money to charity.
1.Why is the Lincoln penny worth over one million dollars?
A. Because it has a history of thirty-four years.
B. Because it was made out of a rare material.
C. Because it was made on one night of 1943 by the Denver mint.
D, Because it was the only coin Denver mint made out of copper in 1943.
2.Before the Lincoln penny was sold, people thought one-cent coins __________.
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A．were worth collecting for selling later |
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B．were surely valuable if not made out of steel |
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C．wouldn’t be sold for large amounts of money |
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D．were only useful for some coin museums |
3.At least how many copper coins were made in 1943?
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A．Five |
B．Twelve |
C．Seventeen |
D．Eighteen |
4.What can we learn about the collector who sold the penny?
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A．He already had two copper pennies from 1943. |
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B．He wanted to complete the set of copper pennies. |
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C．He didn’t want to sell his penny in the beginning. |
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D．He was a well-known coin dealer in Tampa, Horida. |