大学英语综合教程 第四册 Unit 2A

[00:00.00]Smart cars that can see,hear,feel,smell,and talk?And drive on their own?
[00:10.71]This may sound like a dream,but the computer revolution is set to turn it into a reality.
[00:18.81]SMART CARS                      by Michio Kaku
[00:23.25]Even the automobile industry,which has remained largely unchanged for the last seventy years,
[00:30.54]is about to feel the effects of the computer revolution.
[00:35.16]The automobile industry ranks as among the most lucrative and powerful industries of the twentieth century.
[00:42.89]There are presently 500 million cars on earth,or one car for every ten people.Sales of the automobile industry
[00:52.53]stand at about a trillion dollars,making it the world's biggest manufacturing industry.
[00:59.66]The car,and the roads it travels on,will be revolutionized in the twenty-first century.
[01:06.95]The key to tomorrow's"smart cars"will be sensors."We'll see vehicles and roads that see and hear and feel and
[01:16.35]smell and talk and act,"predicts Bill Spreitzer,technical director of General Motors Corporation's ITS program,
[01:25.49]which is designing the smart car and road of the future.
[01:30.17]Approximately40,000people are killed each year in the United States in traffic accidents.The number of people
[01:39.00]that are killed or badly injured in car accidents is so vast that we don't even bother to mention them
[01:46.55]in the newspapers anymore.Fully half of these fatalities come from drunk drivers,and many others from carelessness.
[01:55.84]A smart cat could eliminate most of these car accidents.It can sense if a driver is drunk via electronic sensors
[02:06.06]that can pick up alcohol vapor in the air,and refuse to start up the engine.
[02:11.65]The car could also alert the police and provide its precise location if it is stolen.
[02:18.28]Smart cars have already been built which can monitor one's driving and the driving conditions nearby.
[02:25.60]Small radars hidden in the bumpers can scan for nearby cars.Should you make a serious driving mistake
[02:35.13](e.g.,change lanes when where is a car in your"blind spot")the computer would sound an immediate warning.
[02:43.05]At the MIT Media Lab,a prototype is already being built which will determine how sleepy you are as you drive,
[02:51.88]which is especially important for long-distance truck drivers.The monotonous,almost hypnotic process of
[03:00.37]staring at the center divider for long hours is a grossly underestimated,life-threatening hazard.                                                                                                                                              
[03:08.20]To eliminate this,a tiny camera hidden in the dashboard can be trained on a driver's face and eyes.
[03:16.38]If the driver's eyelids close for a certain length of time
[03:21.45]and his or her driving becomes erratic,a computer in the dashboard could alert the driver.
[03:28.21]Two of the most frustrating things about driving a car are getting lost and getting stuck intraffic.
[03:35.71]While the computer revolution is unlikely to cure these problems,it will have a positive impact.
[03:42.92]Sensors in your car tuned to radio signals from orbiting satellites can locate your car precisely at