高中英語會考閱讀理解北京

Ⅰ 一道11年的北京高考英語閱讀理解題，求解

64. The underlined word 「engage」 in Para.4 probably means ______.
答案A. explore 探討
The real reason why I ask students to leave technology at the door is that I think there are very few places in which we can have deep conversions and truly engage complex ideas.
66. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that the author ______.
答案是D. values technology-free dialogues in his class
I』m not saying that I won』t ever change my mind about technology use in my history class, but until I hear a really good reason for the change ,I』m sticking to my plan. A few hours of technology-free dialogue is just too sweet to give up.
本文 談的是 不用 電腦等設備 所以是作者 把 在課堂上 不用電腦等設備 的 會話討論 看的很重要 too sweet to give up.太好了以至於 不能放棄

Ⅱ 2017年高考英語北京卷 - 閱讀理解C

Measles, which once killed 450 children each year and disabled even more,was nearly wiped out in the United States 14 years ago by the universal use ofthe MMR vaccine. But thedisease is making a comeback, caused by a growing anti-vaccine movement andmisinformation that is spreading quickly. Already this year, 115 measles caseshave been reported in the USA, compared with 189 for all of last year.
麻疹, 曾一度每年導致450名兒童死亡，甚至更多的兒童致殘，14年前由於MMR疫苗的普遍使用，在美國幾乎被消滅。不過這種疾病正在卷土重來，這是因為不斷增長的反疫苗運動和迅速傳播的錯誤信息造成的。今年美國已經報告了115例麻疹病例，而去年全年為189例。

The numbers might sound small, but they are the leading edge of a dangerous trend. When vaccination rates are very high, as they still are in the nation as a whole, everyone is protected. This is called 「herd immunity」, which protects the people who get hurt easily, including those who can』t be vaccinated for medical reasons, babies too young to get vaccinated and people on whom the vaccine doesn』t work.
數字聽起來可能很小，但它們代表一種危險趨勢。當全國范圍內作為一個整體疫苗接種率很高時，每個人才會受到保護。這就是所謂的「群體免疫」，保護那些易受感染的人，包括那些因醫療原因不能接種疫苗的人，年齡太橘州小不能接種疫苗的嬰兒，以及那些疫苗不起作用的人。

But herd immunity works only when nearly the whole herd joins in. When some refuse vaccination and seek a free ride, immunity breaks down and everyone is in even bigger danger.
但群體免疫只有在幾乎整個群體都加入時才起作用。當一些人拒絕接種疫苗並尋求自由乘車時，群體免疫就會崩潰，每個人都會圓告蔽面臨更大的風險。

That』s exactly what is happening in small neighborhoods around the country from Orange County, California, where 22 measles cases were reported this month, to Brooklyn, N.Y., where a 17-year-old caused an outbreak last year.
從本月報告了22例麻疹病例的加利福尼亞州奧蘭治縣到去年一名17歲青年引發了一場麻疹友宏疫情的紐約州布魯克林，全國各地的小社區都是如此。

The resistance to vaccine has continued for decades, and it is driven by a real but very small risk. Those who refuse to take that risk selfishly make others suffer.
對疫苗的反對已經持續了幾十年，因為存在真實但非常小的風險。那些拒絕冒險的人讓別人承受痛苦，非常自私。

Making things worse are state laws that make it too easy to opt out of what are supposed to be required vaccines for all children entering kindergarten. Seventeen states allow parents to get an exemption, sometimes just by signing apaper saying they personally object to a vaccine.
更糟糕的是，州法律使得所有進入幼兒園的兒童放棄接種疫苗很容易。17個州允許父母選擇放棄, 有時候，只需要簽署一份聲明，說他們個人反對疫苗。

Now, several states are moving to tighten laws by adding new regulations for opting out. But no one does enough to limit exemptions.
現在，有幾個州正在加強法律，為退出接種增加新的規定。但沒有人採取措施來限制放棄接種。

Parents ought to be able to opt out only for limited medical or religious reasons. But personal opinions? Not good enough. Everyone enjoys the life-saving benefits vaccines provide, but they』ll exist only as long as everyone shares in the risks.
父母應該只能因為有限的醫療或宗教原因選擇放棄。但是個人意見呢？還不夠充分。每個人都享受疫苗提供的拯救生命的好處，但只要每個人都分擔風險，疫苗才會存在。

Ⅲ 2017年高考英語北京卷 - 閱讀理解D

Hollywood』s theory that machines with evil minds will drive armies of killer robots is just silly. The real problem relates to the possibility that artificial intelligence(AI) may become extremely good at achieving something other than what we really want. In 1960 a well-known mathematician NorbertWiener, who founded the field of cybernetics, put it this way: 「If we use, to achieve our purposes, a mechanical agency with whose operation we can not effectively interfere, we had better be quite sure that the purpose which we really desire.」
好萊塢的理論認為有著邪惡頭腦的機器會成為殺手機器人大軍，這太愚蠢了。這一可能性的真正問題在於，AI（人工智慧）可能會變得非常擅長於實現某些東西，不僅是我們真正想要的。1960年，著名數學家諾伯特維納創立了控制論領域, 提到：「如果我們為了達到我們的目的而使用一種我們無法有效干預其運作的機械裝置，我們最好確定我們真正想要的目的。」

A machine with a specific purpose has another quality, one that we usually associate with living things: a wish to preserve its own existence. For the machine, this quality is not in-born, nor is it something introced by humans; it is a logical consequence of the simple fact that the machine can not achieve its original purpose if it is dead. So if we send out a robot with the single instruction of fetching coffee, it will have a strong desire to secure success by disabling its own off switch or even killing anyone who might interfere with its task. If we are not careful, then, we could face a kind of global chess match against very determined, super intelligent machines whose objectives conflict with our own, with the real world as the chess board.
有特定目的的機器還有另一種特性，我們通常把它與生物聯系在一起：希望保留自己的存在。對於機器來說，這種特性不是天生的，也不是由人類引入的；如果機器死了，就無法達到其原始目的，這就是這一簡單事實的邏輯化結果。因此，如果我們給機器人發送一條取咖啡的簡單指令，它就會有強烈的願望，禁止關閉自己的開關，甚至殺死任何可能幹擾其任務的人，來確保成功。如果我們不小心，那麼，我們可能會面臨一場全球象棋比賽，棋盤就是現實世界，對手是異常堅定，其目標與我們的目標沖突的超級智能機器。

The possibility of entering into and losing such a match should concentrating the minds of computer scientists. Some researchers argue that we can seal the machines inside a kind of firewall, using them to answer difficult questions but never allowing them to affect the real world. Unfortunately, that plan seems unlikely to work: we have yet to invent a firewall that is secure against ordinary humans, let alone super intelligent machines.
參加並輸掉這樣一場比賽的可能性應該會引起計算機科學家的注意。一些研究人員認為，我們可以將這些機器密封在一種防火牆內，用它們解決困難的問題，但決不允許它們影響現實世界。不幸的是，這一計劃似乎不太可能實現：我們還沒有發明一種防火牆來保護普通人，更不用說超級智能機器了。

Solving the safety problem well enough to move forward in AI seems to be possible but not easy. There are probably decades in which to plan for the arrival of super intelligent machines. But the problem should not be dismissed out of hand, as it has been by some AI researchers. Some argue that humans and machines can coexist as long as they work in teams—yet that is not possible unless machines share the goals of humans. Others say we can just 「switch them off」 as if super intelligent machines are too stupid to think of that possibility. Still others think that super intelligent AI will never happen. On September11, 1933, famous physicist Ernest Rutherford stated, with confidence, 「Anyone who expects a source of power in the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine.」 However, on September 12, 1933, physicist Leo Szilard invented the neutron-inced nuclear chain reaction.
很好地解決安全問題以推動AI的發展似乎是可能的，但並不容易。幾十年內為超級智能機器的到來做好計劃是可能的，但這個問題不應該像一些AI研究人員所做的那樣，隨意被忽視。有些人認為，人和機器可以共存，只要他們在團隊中工作，但這是不可能的，除非機器與人類的目標相同。也有人說我們可以「關掉它們」，好像超級智能機器很蠢，不會想到這種可能性。還有人認為超級智能AI永遠不會發生。1933年9月11日，著名物理學家歐內斯特·盧瑟福滿懷信心地說，「任何期望這些原子轉化過程成為能量來源的人都在胡說八道。」然而，1933年9月12日，物理學家利奧·西拉德發明了中子誘導鏈式核反應。

Ⅳ 2020年高考英語北京卷 - 閱讀理解D

Certain forms of AI are indeed becoming ubiquitous. For example, algorithms carry out huge volumes of trading on our financial markets, self-driving cars are appearing on city streets, and our smartphones are translating from one language into another. These systems are sometimes faster and more perceptive than we humans are. But so far that is only true for the specific tasks for which the systems have been designed. That is something that some AI developers are now eager to change.
某些形式的AI （人工智慧）確實正變得無處不在。例如，金融市場上進行大量交易的演算法，出現在城市街道上的自動駕駛汽車，智能手機將一種語言翻譯成另一種語言。這些系統有時比我們人類更快、更敏銳。但到目前為止，這些只適用於系統所設計的特定任務，一些AI開發者正在期待改變。

Some of today's AI pioneers want to move on from today's world of 「weak」 or 「narrow」 AI, to create 「strong」 or 「full」 AI, or what is often called artificial general intelligence (A GI). In some respects, today's powerful computing machines already make our brains look weak. A GI could, its advocates say, work for us around the clock, and drawing on all available data, could suggest solutions to many problems. DM, a company focused on the development of A GI, has an ambition to 「solve intelligence」. 「If we're successful,」 their mission statement reads, 「we believe this will be one of the most important and widely beneficial scientific advances ever made.」
當代一些AI先驅希望從今天的「弱」或「窄」的AI世界中走出來，創造「強」或「全」的AI，也就是通常所說的A GI（人工通用智能）。在某些方面，今天強大的計算機已經讓我們的大腦看起來很弱。A GI的支持者認為A GI可以24小時為我們工作，利用所有可用的數據，可以為許多問題提供解決方案。DM是一家專注於A GI開發的公司，有著「解決智能問題」的雄心。「如果我們成功了，」他們的任務聲明寫道，「我們相信這將是有史以來最重要、最廣泛有益的科學進步之一。」

Since the early days of AI, imagination has outpaced what is possible or even probable. In 1965, an imaginative mathematician called Irving Good predicted the eventual creation of an "ultra-intelligent machine…that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man, however clever." Good went on to suggest that 「the first ultra-intelligent machine" could be 「the last invention that man need ever make."
自AI誕生之初，想像力的發展速度已經超過了你的想像。1965年，一位富有想像力的數學家歐文·古德預言，最終將創造出一台「超智能機器……它將遠遠超過人類的所有智能活動，無論多麼聰明。」古德接著表示，「第一台超智能機器」可能是「人類需要創造的最後一項發明」。

Fears about the appearance of bad, powerful, man-made intelligent machines have been reinforced by many works of fiction—Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the Terminator film series, for example. But if AI does eventually prove to be our downfall, it is unlikely to be at the hands of human-shaped forms like these, with recognisably human motivations such as aggression. Instead, I agree with Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom, who believes that the heaviest risks from A GI do not come from a decision to turn against mankind but rather from a dogged pursuit of set objectives at the expense of everything else.
人們對於出現強大而又邪惡的人造智能機器的擔憂已經加劇，例如，瑪麗·雪萊的《弗蘭肯斯坦》科幻小說和《終結者》系列電影。但如果最終證明AI 是我們的垮台，它就不太可能掌握在這樣的人形形態手中，而這些形態具有明顯的人類動機，比如敵對行為。相反，我同意牛津大學哲學家尼克·博斯特羅姆的觀點，他認為，A GI帶來的最大風險不是來自於反對人類的決定，而是來自於不惜犧牲一切代價執著地追求既定目標。

The promise and danger of true A GI are great. But all of today's excited discussion about these possibilities presupposes the fact that we will be able to build these systems. And, having spoken to many of the world's foremost AI researchers, I believe there is good reason to doubt that we will see A GI any time soon, if ever.
真正的A GI的前景和危險都是巨大的，但是今天所有關於這些可能性的激動人心的討論都是以我們能夠建立這些系統為前提。而且，在與許多世界上最重要的AI研究人員交談後，我相信有充分的理由懷疑我們是否會很快看到A GI，如果有的話。

Ⅳ 2019年高考英語北京卷 - 閱讀理解D

By the end of the century，if not sooner，the world's oceans will be bluer and greener thanks to a warming climate，according to a new study.
根據一項新的研究，到本世紀末，如果沒有更早的話，由於氣候變暖，世界海洋將變得更藍更綠。

At the heart of the phenomenon lie tiny marine microorganisms called phytoplankton. Because of the way light reflects off the organisms，these phytoplankton create colourful patterns at the ocean surface. Ocean colour varies from green to blue，depending on the type and concentration of phytoplankton. Climate change will fuel the growth of phytoplankton in some areas，while recing it in other spots，leading to changes in the ocean's appearance.
這種現象的核心是被稱為浮游植物的海洋微生物。由於光從生物體反射的方式，這些浮游植物在海洋表面形成了五顏六色的圖案。海洋的顏色從綠色到藍色不等，這取決於浮游植物的種類和濃度。氣候變化將在某些地區助長浮游植物的生長，而在其他地區則會相反，這導致了海洋外觀的變化。

Phytoplankton live at the ocean surface，where they pull carbon dioxide into the ocean while giving off oxygen. When these organisms die，they bury carbon in the deep ocean，an important process that helps to regulate the global climate. But phytoplankton are vulnerable to the ocean's warming trend. Warming changes key characteristics of the ocean and can affect phytoplankton growth，since they need not only sunlight and carbon dioxide to grow，but also nutrients.
浮游植物生活在海洋表面，在那裡它們將二氧化碳吸入海洋，同時釋放氧氣。當這些生物死亡時，碳就會埋在深海中，這是一個有助於調節全球氣候的重要過程。但浮游植物很容易受到海洋變暖趨勢的影響。變暖改變了海洋的主要特徵，並可能影響浮游植物的生長，因為它們的生長不僅需要陽光和二氧化碳，還需要營養物質。

Stephanie Dutkiewicz，a scientist in MIT's Center for Global Change Science，built a climate model that projects changes to the oceans throughout the century. In a world that warms up by 3℃，it found that multiple changes to the colour of the oceans would occur. The model projects that currently blue areas with little phytoplankton could become even bluer. But in some waters，such as those of the Arctic，a warming will make conditions riper for phytoplankton，and these areas will turn greener. 「Not only are the quantities of phytoplankton in the ocean changing. 」she said，「but the type of phytoplankton is changing. 」
麻省理工學院全球變化科學中心的科學家斯蒂芬妮·杜特凱維奇建立了一個氣候模型，預測整個世紀海洋的變化。在一個溫度升高3℃的世界裡，會發現海洋的顏色發生多重變化。該模型預測，目前幾乎沒有浮游植物的藍色區域可能會變得更藍。但在一些水域，如北極水域，變暖將使浮游植物生長條件更加成熟，這些地區將變得更加綠色。」不只是海洋中浮游植物的數量在變化，」她說，「浮游植物的種類也正在改變。」

Ⅵ 2018年高考英語北京卷 - 閱讀理解C

Plastic-Eating Worms
吃塑料的蠕蟲

Humans proce more than 300 million tons of plastic every year. Almost half of that winds up in landfills， and up to 12 million tons pollute the oceans. So far there is no effective way to get rid of it, but a new study suggests an answer may lie in the stomachs of some hungry worms.
人類每年生產超過3億噸塑料，其中幾乎一半被作為垃圾填埋， 多達1200萬噸污染海洋。目前還沒有有效的方法來消除它，但一項新的研究表明，答案可能在於一些飢餓蠕蟲的胃。

Researchers in Spain and England recently found that the worms of the greater wax moth can break down polyethylene, which accounts for 40% of plastics. The team left 100 wax worms on a commercial polyethylene shopping bag for 12 hours, and the worms consumed and broke down about 92 milligrams, or almost 3% of it. To confirm that the worms' chewing alone was not responsible for the polyethylene breakdown, the researchers made some worms into paste and applied it to plastic films. 14 hours later the films had lost 13% of their mass--apparently broken down by enzymes from the worms' stomachs. Their findings were published in Current Biology in 2017.
西班牙和英國的研究人員最近發現，大蠟螟的蠕蟲可以分解聚乙烯，聚乙烯占塑料的40%。研究小組將100隻蠟蟲蠕蟲放在一個商用聚乙烯購物袋中12小時，這些蠕蟲消耗並分解了約92毫克，約占總量的3%。為了證實蠕蟲的咀嚼並不是聚乙烯分解的原因，研究人員將一些蠕蟲製成糊狀物並將其放置於塑料薄膜。14小時後，這些膠片失去了13%的質量——顯然被蠕蟲胃裡的酶分解了。他們的發現發表在2017年的《當代生物學》上。

Federica Bertocchini, co-author of the study, says the worms' ability to break down their everyday food-beeswax--also allows them to break down plastic. "Wax is a complex mixture, but the basic bond in polyethylene, the carbon-carbon bond, is there as well, "she explains. "The wax worm evolved a method or system to break this bond. "
這項研究的合著者費德麗卡·貝爾托基尼說，蠕蟲分解日常食物——蜂蠟的能力，也可以讓它們分解塑料。「蠟是一種復雜的混合物，但聚乙烯中的基本鍵——碳碳鍵——也存在，」她解釋道，「蠟蟲進化出一種方法或系統來破壞這種鍵。」

Jennifer Debruyn, a microbiologist at the University of Tennessee, who was not involved in the study, says it is not surprising that such worms can break down polyethylene. But compared with previous studies, she finds the speed of breaking down in this one exciting. The next step, DeBruyn says, will be to identify the cause of the breakdown. Is it an enzyme proced by the worm itself or by its gut microbes?
田納西大學的微生物學家詹妮弗·德布魯恩沒有參與這項研究，她說，這種蠕蟲可以破壞聚乙烯，這並不奇怪。但與之前的研究相比，她發現這次研究的分解速度令人興奮。德布魯恩說，下一步將是確定分解原因。這種酶是由蠕蟲自身產生還是腸道微生物產生？

Bertocchini agrees and hopes her team』s findings might one day help employ the enzyme to break down plastics in landfills. But she expects using the chemical in some kind of instrial process-not simply "millions of worms thrown on top of the plastic.」
貝爾托基尼對此表示同意，並希望她的研究小組的發現有朝一日能利用這種酶在垃圾填埋場分解塑料。但她希望在某種工業過程中使用這種化學物質，而不僅僅是將「數百萬只蠕蟲扔在塑料上」。

Ⅶ 2018年高考英語北京卷 - 閱讀理解B

Find Your Adventure at the Space and Aviation Center
來航空航天中心探險

If you』re looking for a unique adventure, the Space and Aviation Center (SAC) is the place to be. The Center offers programs designed to challenge and inspire with hands-on tasks and lots of fun.
如果你正在尋找一次獨特的冒險，航空航天中心（Space and Aviation Center，SAC）就是橘茄你的理想之地。該中心提供的課程旨在通過動手任務和豐富的樂趣來挑戰和激發靈感。

More than 750,000 have graated from SAC, with many seeking employment in engineering, aviation, ecation, medicine and a wide variety of other professions. They come to camp, wanting to know what it is like to be an astronaut or a pilot, and they leave with real-world applications for what they』re studying in the classroom.
超過75萬人從SAC畢業，其中許多人正在尋求工程、航空、教育、醫學和其他各種職業的就業機會。他們來到夏令營，想知道當宇航員或飛行員的感覺，然後帶著教室里要學習的真實世界的應用離開。

For the trainees, the programs also offer a great way to earn merit badges. At Space Camp, trainees can earn their Space Exploration badge as they build and fire model rockets, learn about space tasks and try simulated flying to space with the crew from all over the world. The Aviation Challenge program gives trainees the chance to earn their Aviation badge. They learn the principles of flight and test their operating skills in the cockpit of a variety of flight simulators. Trainees also get a good start on their Wilderness Survival badge as they learn about water- and land-survival through designed tasks and their search and rescue of ＂downed＂ pilot.
對於學員來說，這些課程還提供了一種獲得榮譽徽章的好方法。 在太空營，學員可以通過建造和發射火箭模型，學習太空任務，嘗試模擬和來自全世界的機組人員一起太空飛行來獲得太空探索徽章。航空挑戰課程為學員提供了獲圓灶察得航空徽章的機會。他們學習飛行辯殲原理，並在駕駛艙內通過各種飛行模擬器測試操作技能。學員還可以通過設計任務以及對「墜落」飛行員的搜索營救來學習水陸生存技能，這為獲得野外生存徽章開了個好頭。

With all the programs, teamwork is key as trainees learn the importance of leadership and being part of a bigger task.
在所有的課程中，團隊合作是關鍵，學員會了解到領導的重要性，並成為更大任務的組成部分。

All this fun is available for ages 9 to 18. Families can enjoy the experience together, too, with Family Camp programs for families with children as young as 7.
所有這些樂趣適用於9至18歲的青少年。家庭也可以一起享受這種體驗，為有7歲孩子的家庭提供家庭營課程。

Stay an hour or stay a week — there is something here for everyone!
逗留一小時或逗留一周——這里適合每個人！

For more details, please visit us online at www.oursac.com .
更多詳細信息，請訪問我們的網站 www.oursac.com 。

Ⅷ 2020年高考英語北京卷 - 閱讀理解B

Baggy has become the first dog in the UK—and potentially the world—to join the fight against air pollution by recording pollutant levels near the ground.
Baggy已經成為英國乃至全世界第一隻通過記錄地面附近污染物水平來參與對抗空氣污染的狗。

Baggy wears a pollution monitor on her collar so she can take data measurements close to the ground. Her monitor has shown that air pollution levels are higher closer to ground level, which has helped highlight concerns that babies and young kids may be at higher risk of developing lung problems.
Baggy在衣領上戴著一個污染監測器，這樣她就可以在地面附近進行數據測量。監測器顯示越接近地面，空氣污染水平越高，這有助於突顯人們的擔憂，即嬰幼兒患肺部疾病的風險可能更高。

Conventional air pollution monitors are normally fixed on lampposts at about nine feet in the air. However, since Baggy stands at about the same height as a child in a pushchair, she frequently records pollution levels which are much higher than the data gathered by the Environment A gency.
傳統的空氣污染監測器通常安裝在九英尺高的燈柱上。不過，由於Baggy的身高與嬰兒車里的嬰兒身高差不多, 她記錄的污染水平通常遠高於環境部門所收集的數據。

The doggy data research was the idea of Baggy's 13-year-old owner Tom Hunt and his dad Matt. The English youngster noticed that pollution levels are around two-thirds higher close to the ground than they are in the air at the height where they are recorded by the agency. Tom has since reported the shocking findings to the government in an attempt to emphasise that babies are at higher risk of developing asthma.
用狗做數據研究是Baggy13歲的主人湯姆·亨特和他的父親馬特的想法。這位英國男孩注意到，接近地面的污染水平比機構記錄高度的空氣污染水平高出約三分之二。湯姆後來向政府報告了這一令人震驚的發現，用來強調嬰兒患哮喘的風險更高。

Matt Hunt said he was "very proud" of his son because 「when the boy gets an idea, he keeps his head down and gets on with it, and he really does want to do some good and stop young kids from getting asthma."
馬特·亨特說，他為自己的兒子「感到非常自豪」，因為「當這個男孩有了一個想法時，他會低下頭繼續往下做，他真的想做點好事，阻止小孩子患哮喘。」

「Tom built up a passion for environmental protection at a very early age," Matt added. 「He became very interested in gadgets. A bout one year ago, he got this new piece of tech which is like a test tube. One Sunday afternoon, we went out to do some monitoring, and he said, why don't we put it on Baggy's collar and let her monitor the pollution？'So we did it."
「湯姆在很小的時候就對環保產生了熱情，」馬特補充道，「他對小裝置非常感興趣。」大約一年前，他得到了這項新技術產品，看起來像一隻試管。一個星期天下午，我們出去做了一些監測，他說，我們為什麼不把它戴在Baggy的衣領上，讓她來監測污染呢？於是我們就這樣做了。"

Tom said, "Most of the time, Baggy is just like any other dog. But for the rest of the time she is a super dog, and we are all really proud of her."
湯姆說：「大多數時候，Baggy 和其他狗一樣。但在餘下的時間里，她就是一隻超級狗，我們都為她感到驕傲。」

Ⅸ 2018年高考英語北京卷 - 閱讀理解D

Preparing Cities for Robot Cars
為自動駕駛汽車做准備的城市

The possibility of self-driving robot cars has often seemed like a futurist's dream, years away from materializing in the read world. Well, the future is apparently now. The California Department of Motor Vehicles began giving permits in April for companies to test truly self-driving cars on public roads. The state also cleared the way for companies to sell or rent out self-driving cars, and for companies to operate driverless taxi services. California, it should be noted, isn't leading the way here. Companies have been testing their vehicles in cities across the country. It's hard to predict when driverless cars will be everywhere on our roads. But however long it takes, the technology has the potential to change our transportation systems and our cities, for better or for worse, depending on how the transformation is regulated.
自動駕駛汽車的可能性通常看起來是未來主義者的夢想，距離真實世界裡的實現還要好幾年。然而，未來顯然就是現在。今年四月，加州機動車管理局開始發放許可證，允許各公司在公共道路上測試真正的自動駕駛汽車。州政府還為企業出售或出租自動駕駛汽車以及運營無人駕駛計程車服務掃清了障礙。值得注意的是，加州在這方面並沒有走在最前沿。各公司一直在全國各大城市測試他們的汽車。很難預測公路上何時能遍布無人駕駛汽車。但是無論需要多長時間，這項技術都有可能改變我們的交通系統和城市，至於是好還是壞，就取決於如何管理這種轉變。

While much of the debate so far has been focused on the safety of driverless cars(and rightfully so), policymakers also should be talking about how self-driving vehicles can help rece traffic jams, cut emissions and offer more convenient, affordable mobility options. The arrival of driverless vehicles is a chance to make sure that those vehicles are environmentally friendly and more shared.
雖然到目前為止大部分的討論都集中在無人駕駛汽車的安全性上（確有道理），決策制定者也應該討論自動駕駛汽車如何幫助減少交通阻塞、減少排放，提供更便捷、更實惠的靈活性選擇。無人駕駛汽車的到來是一個機會，可以確保那些汽車對環境友好，有更多的共享機會。

Do we want to -or even worsen-the traffic of today with driverless cars? Imagine a future where most alts own indivial self-driving vehicles. They tolerate long, slow journeys to and from work on packed highways because they can work, entertain themselves or sleep on the ride, which encourages urban spread. They take their driverless car to an appointment and set the empty vehicle to circle the building to avoid paying for parking. Instead of walking a few blocks to pick up a child or the dry cleaning, they send the self-driving minibus. The convenience even leads fewer people to take public transport—an unwelcome side effect researchers have already found in ride-hailing services.
我們想通過無人駕駛汽車復制甚至惡化現在的交通狀況嗎？想像一下，未來大多數成年人都擁有自己的自動駕駛汽車。這樣他們就能夠忍受在擁擠的高速公路上上下班的漫長而緩慢的旅程了，因為他們可以在路上工作、娛樂或睡覺，這也會鼓勵城市的擴張。他們把無人駕駛汽車帶到約會的地點之後，就讓空車繞著大樓行駛，以此避免付停車費。他們不再步行幾個街區去接孩子或者去乾洗店，只要讓無人駕駛的迷你巴士去就可以了。這種便利甚至會讓越來越少的人乘坐公共交通工具——研究人員已經在叫車服務中發現了這種糟糕的負面效果。

A study from the University of California at Davis suggested that replacing petrol-powered private cars worldwide with electric, self-driving and shared systems could rece carbon emissions from transportation 80% and cut the cost of transportation infrastructure and operations 40% by 2050. Fewer emissions and cheaper travel sound pretty appealing. The first commercially available driverless cars will almost certainly be fielded by ride-hailing services, considering the cost of self-driving technology as well as liability and maintenance issues. But driveless car ownership could increase as the prices drop and more people become comfortable with the technology.
加州大學戴維斯分校的一項研究表明，在全球范圍內，用電動、自動駕駛和共享系統取代了汽油動力的私家車，至2050年，可以減少交通運輸中80%的碳排放，並降低40%的交通基礎設施和運營成本。更少的排放和更便宜的駕駛聽起來很有吸引力。幾乎可以肯定的是，考慮到無人駕駛技術的成本以及責任和維護問題，第一批商業化的無人駕駛汽車將在叫車服務行業誕生。不過隨著價格的下降以及越來越多的人熟練掌握這項技術，無人駕駛汽車的擁有率可能會提高。

Policymakers should start thinking now about how to make sure the appearance of driverless
vehicles doesn't extend the worst aspects of the car-controlled transportation system we have today. The coming technological advancement present a chance for cities and states to develop transportation systems designed to move more people, and more affordably. The car of the future is coming. We just have to plan for it.
決策制定者應當開始考慮，如何確保無人駕駛汽車的出現不會加劇我們現今這個被汽車主導的交通系統的弊端。即將到來的技術進步為城市和各州提供了發展交通系統的機會，這些交通系統旨在承載更多的人、更加便宜。未來汽車就要來了，我們只需要做好准備。

Ⅹ 2020年高考英語北京卷 - 閱讀理解C

For the past five years, Paula Smith, a historian of science, has devoted herself to re-creating long-forgotten techniques. While doing research for her new book, she came across a 16th-century French manuscript consisting of nearly 1,000 sets of instructions, covering subjects from tool making to finding the best sand.
在過去五年裡，科學歷史學家保拉·史密斯一直致力於重現人們早已遺忘的技術。在為她的新書做研究時，她偶然發現了一本16世紀的法國手稿，包括近1000份說明書，涵蓋范圍從工具製作到如何尋找最佳沙子。

The author's intention remains as mysterious as his name; he may have been simply taking notes for his own records. But Smith was struck mainly by the fact that she didn't truly grasp any of the skills the author described. "You simply can't get an understanding of that handwork by reading about it," she says.
作者的意圖如同他的名字一樣神秘；他可能只是在為自己的記錄做筆記。但讓史密斯備受打擊的是，她並沒有真正掌握作者描述的任何技能。「你根本無法通過閱讀來理解手工作品」，她說。

Though Smith did get her hands on the best sand, doing things the old-fashioned way isn't just about playing around with French mud. Reconstructing the work of the craftsmen who lived centuries ago can reveal how they viewed the world, what objects filled their homes, and what went on in the workshops that proced them. It can even help solve present-day problems: In 2015, scientists discovered that a 10th-century English medicine for eve problems could kill a drug-resistant virus.
盡管史密斯確實得到了最好的沙子，但用傳統的方法做事情並不只是玩法國泥。重建生活在幾個世紀前的工匠作品可以揭示他們是如何看待世界，他們的家中裝滿的物品，以及這些物品在作坊里如何進行生產。它甚至可以幫助解決當代問題：2015年，科學家發現，一種用於解決女性問題的10世紀英國葯物可以殺死耐葯病毒。

The work has also brought insights for museums, Smith says. One must know how on object was made in order to preserve it. What's more, reconstructions might be the only way to know what treasures looked like before time wore them down. Scholars have seen this idea in practice with ancient Greek and Roman statues. These sculptures were painted a rainbow of striking colours. We can't appreciate these kinds of details without seeing works of art as they originally appeared-something Smith believes you can do only when you have a road map.
史密斯說，這項工作也為博物館帶來了啟發。為了保存文物，人們必須知道這個物體是如何製作的。更重要的是，重建可能是了解寶藏在時間磨損之前是什麼樣子的唯一途徑。學者們在古希臘和古羅馬雕像的實踐中看到了這種想法，這些雕塑被漆成了鮮艷的彩虹色。如果不看藝術作品最初出現的樣子，我們無法欣賞這些細節——史密斯認為，只有當你有路線圖時，你才能做到這一點。

Smith has put the manuscript's ideas into practice. Her final goal is to link the worlds of art and science back together: She believes that bringing the old recipes to life can help develop a kind of learning that highlights experimentation, teamwork, and problem solving.
史密斯把手稿的想法付諸實踐。她最終的目標是將藝術和科學的世界重新聯系起來：她相信，將古老的食譜帶到生活中有助於發展一種強調實驗、團隊合作和解決問題的學習方式。

Back when science—then called 「the new philosophy」—took shape, academics looked to craftsmen for help in understanding the natural world. Microscopes and telescopes were invented by way of artistic tinkering, as craftsmen experimented with glass to better bend light.
當科學——也就是所謂的「新哲學」——初具雛形時，學術界尋求工匠幫助理解自然世界。正如工匠嘗試用玻璃更好地彎曲光線，顯微鏡和望遠鏡因為藝術修補而發明。

If we can rediscover the values of hands-on experience and craftwork, Smith says, we can marry the best of our modern insights with the handiness of our ancestors.
史密斯說，如果我們能重新發現動手經驗和工藝的價值，我們就能把我們最好的現代洞察力與我們祖先的靈巧結合起來。