全国职称英语考试通关必备利器理工类B级教材牛津英语同义词字典版

1、Car Thieves Could Be Stopped RemotelySpeeding off in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch. But he is in a nasty surprise. The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer, and a radio signal from a control center miles away will ensure that once the thief switches the engine off, he will not be able to start it again.For now, such devices are only available for fleets of trucks and specialist vehicles used on construction sites. But remote immobilization technology could soon start

2、 to trickle down to ordinary cars, and should be available to ordinary cars in the UK in two months.The idea goes like this. A control box fitted to the car incorporates a miniature cellphone, a micioprocessor and memory, and a GPS satellite positioning receiver.If the car is stolen, a coded cellphone signal will tell the unit to block the vehicles engine management system and prevent the engine being restarted.There are even plans for immobilizers that shut down vehicles on the move, though the

3、re are fears over the safety implications of such a system.In the UK, an array of technical fixes is already making life harder for car thieves. “The pattern of vehicles crime has changed,” says Martyn Randall of Thatcham, a security research organization based in Berkshire that is funded in part by the motor insurance industry.He says it would only take him a few minutes to teach a novice how to steal a car, using a bare minimum of tools. But only if the car is more than 10 years old.Modern car

4、s are a far tougher proposition, as their engine management computer will not allow them to start unless they receive a unique ID code beamed out14 by the ignition key. In the UK, technologies like this have helped achieve a 31 per cent drop in vehicle-related crime15 since 1997.But determined criminals are still managing to find other ways to steal cars. Often by getting hold of the owners keys in a burglary. In 2000, 12 per cent of vehicles stolen in the UK were taken by using the owners keys,

5、which doubles the previous years figure.Remote-controlled immobilization system would put a major new obstacle in the criminals way by making such thefts pointless. A group that includes Thatcham, the police,insurance companies and security technology firms have developed standards for a system that could go on the market sooner than the customer expects.An Intelligent Car Driving needs sharp eyes, keen ears, quick brain, and coordination between hands and the brain. Many human drivers have all

6、these and can control a fast-moving car. But how does an intelligent car control itself? There is a virtual driver1 in the smart car. This virtual driver1 has “eyes”, “brains”, “hands” and “feet”, too. The minicameras on each side of the car are his “eyes”, which observe the road conditions ahead of it. They watch the traffic to the cars left and right. There is also a highly automatic driving system in the car. It is the built-in computer, which is the virtual drivers brain”. His “brain” calcul

7、ates the speeds of other moving cars near it and analyzes their positions. Basing on this information, it chooses the right path for the intelligent car, and gives instructions to the “hands” and “feet” to act accordingly. In this way, the virtual driver controls his car. What is the virtual drivers best advantage? He reacts quickly. The minicameras are sending images continuously to the “brain. “ It completes the processing of the images within 100 milliseconds. However, the worlds best driver

8、at least needs one second to react. Besides, when he takes action, he needs one more second.The virtual driver is really wonderful. He can reduce the accident rate considerably on expressways. In this case, can we let him have the wheel at any time and in any place? Experts warn that we cannot do that just yet. His ability to recognize things is still limited He can now only drive an intelligent car on expressways.Why India Needs Its Dying Vultures The vultures in question may look ugly and thre

9、atening, but the sudden sharp decline in three species of Indias vultures is producing alarm rather than celebration, and it presents the world with a new kind of environmental problem .The dramatic decline in vulture numbers is causing widespread disruption to people living in the same areas as the birds. It is also causing serious public health problems across the Indian sub-continent. While their reputation and appearance may be unpleasant to many Indians，vultures have long played a very important role in keeping towns and villages all over India clean. It is because they feed on dead cows. In India, cows are sacred animals and are traditionally left in the open when they die in their thousands upon thousands every year. The disappearance of the vultures has led to_ an explosion in the numbers of wild dogs feeding on the remains of these dead animals. Ther

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