高考英语阅读理解长难句精读与概要写作专练4

Passage4

Autonomous Driving: Whose Liability？

1This month, Germany’s transport minister, Alexander Dobrindt, proposed the first set of rules for autonomous vehicles. 2 They would define the driver’s role in such cars and govern how such cars perform in crashes

where lives might be lost.

3 The proposal attempts to deal with what some call the “death valley” of autonomous

vehicles: the grey area between semi-autonomous and fully driverless cars that could delay

the driverless future.

4 Dobrindt wants three things: that a car always chooses property damage over personal injury; that it never distinguishes between humans based on age or race; and that if a human removes his or her hands from the driving wheel—to check email, say—the car’s maker is responsi ble if there is a crash.

5 “The change to the road traffic law will permit fully automatic driving,” says Dobrindt.

6 It will put fully driverless cars on an equal legal footing to human drivers, he says.

7 Who is responsible for the operation of such vehicles is not clear among car makers, consumers and lawyers. 8 “The liability issue is the biggest one of them all,” says Natasha Merat at the University of Leeds, UK.

8 An assumption behind UK insurance for driverless cars, introduced earlier this year, i nsists that a human “be watchful and monitoring the road” at every moment.

9 But that is not what many people have in mind when thinking of driverless cars. 10“When you say ‘driverless cars’, people expect driverless cars.”Merat says. “You know—no driver.”

11 Because of the confusion, Merat thinks some car makers will wait until vehicles can be fully automated without operation.

12 Driverless cars may end up being a form of public transport rather than vehicles you own, says Ryan Calo at Stanford University, California. 13 That is happening in the UK and Singapore, where government-provided driverless vehicles are being launched.

14 That would go down poorly in the US, however. 15“The idea that the government would take over driverless cars and treat them as a public good would get absolutely nowhere here,” says Calo.

一．单词和短语Words and expressions

autonomous /ɔːˈtɒnəməs/ adj.自治的；自主的* liability /laɪəˈbɪlɪtɪ/ n.责任；债务；propose /prəˈpəʊz/ vi & vt.建议；提议

* death valley死谷

semi-autonomous 半自治的confusion /kənˈf juːʒn/ n.混乱; 混淆; 困惑

* automate /ˈɔːtəmeɪt/ vt.使自动化; 使自动操作public good公益事业

get nowhere一事无成；无进展

proposal /prəˈpəʊzl/ n.建议；提议；求婚

二．参考译文Translation

自动驾驶：谁该负责任？

1本月，德国交通部长亚历山大.多布林德提出了第一套自动驾驶车辆法规。2它们将确定驾驶员在此类汽车中的角色，并监管此类汽车在可能致命的碰撞中的表现。

3该提案试图解决一些人称之为自动驾驶汽车的“死亡谷”的问题：半自动驾驶汽车和完全无人驾驶汽车之间的灰色区域（这个灰色区域可能会推迟无人驾驶时代的到来）。

4多布林德想要的是三件事：汽车永远选择财物损害，而不是人身伤害; 汽车永远不会根据年龄或种族区分人类; 并且，如果一个人将他或她的手从方向盘上移开——比如说，要查看电子邮件——如果发生车祸，汽车制造商应负责。

5 “道路交通法的改变将使全自动驾驶成为可能，”多布林德说。6他说，这将使完全无人驾驶的汽车与人类司机处于平等的法律基础之上。

7汽车制造商，消费者和律师都不清楚谁该对此类车辆的操控负责任。7 “法律责任问题是其中最重要的问题，”英国利兹大学的娜塔莎.梅拉特说。

8今年早些时候提出的基于无人驾驶车辆英国保险条款的假设坚持主张人应该在任何时刻都要“关注并监视路况”。

9但是，当无人驾驶车辆出现在头脑中的时候，很多人想的不是这样的。10“当谈到’无人驾驶车辆’时，人们期待的是无人驾驶车辆。”梅拉特说。“你知道的——没有驾驶员。”

11由于这种混淆，梅拉特认为一些汽车制造商要等到汽车可以完全不需要人操作。

12加州斯坦福大学的雷恩.卡罗说，无人驾驶汽车最终可能成为一种公共交通工具，而不是私家车。13这种情况发生在英国和新加坡，那里正在推出政府提供的无人驾驶车辆。

14然而，在美国，这个想法很难被人接受。15“政府将接管无人驾驶汽车并将其当作公共福利的想法在这里是行不通的，”卡罗说。

三．理解Comprehension

1. What does the phrase “death valley” in Paragraph 2 refer to？

A. A place where cars often break down.

B. A case where passing a law is impossible.

C. An area where no dri ving is permitted.

D. A situation where drivers’ role is not clear.

2. The proposal put forward by Dobrindt aims to __________.

A. stop people from breaking traffic rules

B. help promote fully automatic driving