第二篇
Driven to Distraction
Joe Coyne slides into the driver’s seat, starts up the car and heads to town. The empty stretch of interstate gives way to urban congestion, and Coyne hits the brakes as a pedestrian suddenly crosses the street in front of him.
But even if he hadn’t stopped in time, the woman would have been safe. She isn’t real. Neither is the town. And Coyne isn’t really driving. Coyne is demonstrating a computerized driving simulator that is helping researchers at Old Dominion University (ODU) examine how in-vehicle guidance systems affect the person behind the wheel.
The researchers want to know if such systems, which give audible or written directions, are too distracting — or whether any distractions are offset by the benefits drivers get from having help finding their way in unfamiliar locations.
“We are looking at the performance and mental workload of drivers,” said Caryl Baldwin, the assistant psychology professor lending the research, which involves measuring drivers reaction time and brain activity as they respond to auditory and visual cues.
The researchers just completed a study of the mental workload involved in driving through different kinds of environments and heavy vs, light traffic. Preliminary results show that as people “get into more challenging driving situations, they don’t have any extra mental energy to respond to something else in the environment.” Baldwin said.
But the tradeoffs could be worth it, she said. The next step is to test different ways of giving drivers navigational information and how those methods change the drivers’ mental workload.
“Is it best if they see a picture…that shows their position, a map kind of display?”Baldwin said. “Is it best if they hear it?”
Navigational systems now on the market give point-by-point directions that follow a prescribed route. “They’re very unforgiving,” Baldwin said. “If you miss a turn, they can almost seem to get angry.”
That style of directions also can be frustrating for people who prefer more general instructions. But such broad directions can confuse drivers who prefer route directions. Baldwin said.
Perhaps manufacturers should allow drivers to choose the style of directions they want, or modify systems to present some information in a way that makes sense for people who prefer the survey style, she said.
Interestingly, other research has shown that about 60 percent of men prefer the survey style, while 60 percent women prefer the route style, Baldwin said. This explains the classic little thing of why men don’t like to stop and ask for directions and women do, Baldwin added.
36. Which statement is true of the description in the first two paragraphs?
A. If Coyne had stopped the car in time, he wouldn’t have hit the woman.
B. The woman would have been knocked over, if Coyne had followed the traffic regulations.
C. Coyne is not really driving so it is impossible for him to have hit the woman.
D. If the woman had not crossed the street suddenly, Coyne would not have hit her.
37. What do researchers want to find out, according to the third and fourth paragraphs?
A. Whether or not audible or written directions are distracting.
B. How long it will take the driver to respond to auditory and visual stimuli.
C. How the driver perform under certain mental workload.
D. All of the above.
38. What are the preliminary results given in the fifth paragraph?
A. Drivers are afraid of getting into challenging driving situations.
B. In challenging driving situations, drivers still have extra energy to handle other things.
C. In challenging driving situations, drivers do not have any additional mental energy to deal with something else.
D. Drivers’ mental load remains unchanged under different situations.
39. The sixth paragraph mainly state that the researchers
A. are designing a visual navigational information system.
B. are designing an audio navigational information system.
C. are designing an audio-visual navigational information system.
D. want to determine the best ways of giving navigational information system.
40. What kind of directions do men and women prefer?
A. Women prefer more general directions and men prefer route directions.
B. Men prefer more general direction and women prefer route directions.
C. Both men and women prefer general directions.
D. Both men and women prefer route directions.
第三篇
Listening to Birdsong
A male zebra finch chirps away to himself. Suddenly he notices a female bird nearby. He realizes he has an audience and immediately changes his song. Can the female tell the difference in his performance? According to a new study, the female zebra finch knows. And she prefers the special trills he creates when he sings to her. A male zebra finch changes his song when singing to a female in ways that people can barely detect. But the female finch can tell the difference.
Scientists had noticed slight variations in the songs of male zebra finches based on whether they were singing alone or whether there was a female (and potential mate) nearby. With an audience, the males sped up the pace of their songs and controlled the notes they used.
For this study, researchers Sarah C. Woolley and Allison Doupe at the University of California, San Francisco decided to focus attention on the listening females, which have not been well studied in the past.
In the study, Woolley and Doupe set up a long cage with a sound speaker at each end. One broadcast the sound of a male zebra finch singing to himself, like someone singing in the shower. The other speaker broadcast a male performing for a female audience, as if he was giving a concert.
Female birds were placed between the two speakers. Some of the birds had mates. Others didn’t. The females shifted around a bit, and then most of them hopped over to sit beside just one speaker. All the birds that made a clear choice liked songs meant for a female audience, even if they’d never met the male.
Mated females also had a chance to listen to two different performance songs, one from an unknown male, and one from their mate. They spent more time listening to the concert version of their mates’ songs. This suggests that after a while, females learn to recognize—and prefer—the songs of their mates.
Scientists then studied the brains of the females. They found certain areas of the brain perked up when the birds listened to the concert songs. These brain areas may be involved in recognizing and evaluating the songs, and storing the memories of them.
This research deals with what’s called directed communication, when the communicator or sender, focuses the message for a specific audience. One example is the way moms speak to their babies. Mothers around the world use the same sort of high-pitched sing-song chatter, and the babies respond best to those sounds. Songbirds are one of the only other species known to 1earn their communication, in this case their songs.
41. What does the first paragraph say about zebra finches?
A. Male zebra finches like to sing to female zebra finches.
B. Male zebra finches sing louder than female zebra finches.
C. Male zebra finches change their songs in female zebra finches’ presence.
D. Male zebra finches like to listen to female zebra finches sing.
42. What did the researchers find in their study of female zebra finches?
A. Female finches liked songs male finches sang for them.
B. Female finches only liked songs male finches sang for their mates.
C. Female finches liked to listen to songs from both speakers.
D. Female finches chose the best male singers as their mates.
43. What is meant by “concert songs” in the seventh paragraph?
A. Songs sung by zebra finches at a concert.
B. Songs sung by male finches for female finches.
C. Songs sung by female finches for male finches.
D. Songs sung by male finches to many female finches.
44. What is NOT true of directed communication?
A. The sender of a message has a specific audience.
B. Male zebra finches sing to female finches.
C. Mothers talk to their babies.
D. Male zebra finches sing to themselves.
45. Which of the following can best reflect the theme of the passage?
A. Chirping away.
B. Birdsongs as communication.
C. Zebra finches and their life.
D. Enjoying birdsongs.
