Unit 2 Smart Cars

 Before Reading

1. Listening Comprehension

Thinking Before Listening

Thinking While Listening

Listening and Speaking

2. Warm-up Questions

3. Background Information

   Automobile Industry

   Global Positioning System

Intelligent Transportation System

Global Reading

1. True or False

2. Part Division of the Text

3. Further Understanding

For Part 1    Questions and Answers

For Part 2 & 3 Text Analysis

             Language Focus

Detailed Reading

After Reading

1. Useful Expressions

2. Listening Practice

3. Discussion

4. Talk about Pictures

5. Writing Practice

6. Sentence Translation

7. Proverbs and Quotations

Supplementary Reading

1. Culture Notes

2. Language Study

3. Comprehension Task

Before Reading

1. Listening Comprehension

(1). Thinking Before Listening

(Directions:) The title of the passage you are going to listen to is “Cars of the Future”. Write down three questions about cars of future.

(2). Thinking While Listening

(Directions:) Listen to the passage and find out if it answers the questions you asked in Exercise 1.

 (What kind of car will we be driving in 2010? Rather different from the type we know today, with the next 20 years bringing greater change than the past 50.

       Their vision is of a machine with three wheels instead of four, electrically powered, environmentally clean, and able to drive itself along “intelligent” roads equipped with built-in power suppliers. Future cars will pick up their fuel during long journeys from a power source built into the road, or store it in small quantities for traveling in the city.

       Instead of today’s seating arrangements—two in front, two or three behind, all facing forward—the 2010 car will have a versatile interior with adults and children in a family circle.

       This view of the future car is based on a much more sophisticated road system, with strips built into motorways to supply power to vehicles passing along them. Cars will not need drivers, because computers will provide safe driving control and route finding. All the driver will have to do is say where to go and the computer will do the rest. It will become impossible for cars to crash into one another. The technology already exists for the car to become a true automobile.)

( 3). Listening and Speaking

(Directions:) Listen to the passage again and say what changes will make driving:

—cleaner?

—safer?

—more comfortable?

(= Tips: cleaning driving: electrically powered

              safe driving: controlled by computer

              more comfortable: a versatile interior with the adults and children in a family circle)

2. Warm-up Questions

What do you think is the most profitable and powerful industry of the 20th century, computer, automobile, petroleum or airplane?

What do you think will be the most profitable and powerful industry in the 21st century, communication, astronautics, biology or construction?

What is the greatest invention in the world so far?

If you could afford a car, would you buy one? Which brand would you like to have?

3. Background Information

(1). Automobile Industry

The automobile industry is one of the most important industries in the world, affecting not only economies but also cultures. It provides jobs for millions of people, generates billions of dollars in worldwide revenues, and provides the basis for a multitude of related service and support industries. Automobiles revolutionized transportation in the 20th century, changing forever the way people live, travel, and do business.

Between 1886 and 1898, about 300 automobiles were built, but there was no real established industry. A century later, with automakers and auto buyers expanding globally, automaking became the world's largest manufacturing activity, with more than 53 million new vehicles built each year worldwide.

Automobile manufacturers are among the largest companies in the world. These corporations are often multinational. These companies often share parts, or use parts made in foreign factories. TheU.S.automobile industry produced 16.8 million vehicles in 1999. The three major automobile manufacturers in the United States—General Motors Corporation, Ford Motor Company, and DaimlerChrysler AG—provide three-fourths of the industry's total direct employment in the United States.

(2). Global Positioning System

Global Positioning System is a space-based radio-navigation system, consisting of 24 satellites and ground support. GPS provides users with accurate information about their position and velocity, as well as the time, anywhere in the world and in all weather conditions.

GPS determines location by computing the difference between the time that a signal is sent and the time it is received. GPS satellites carry atomic clocks that provide extremely accurate time.

     As of March 1994, 24 GPS satellites were in operation. Replenishment (补给) satellites are ready for launch, and contracts have been awarded to provide satellites into the 21st century. GPS applications continue to grow in land, sea, air, and space navigation. The ability to enhance safety and to decrease fuel consumption will make GPS an important component of travel in the international airspace system. Airplanes will use GPS for landing at fogbound (为浓雾所困的) airports. Automobiles will use GPS as part of intelligent transportation systems. Emerging technologies will enable GPS to determine not only the position of a vehicle but also its altitude.

( 3). Intelligent Transportation System

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) refers to transportation systems which apply emerging hard and soft information systems technologies to address and alleviate (缓解) transportation congestion problems. For example, using advanced surveillance (监视) systems, the early stages of a traffic bottleneck situation can be detected, and traffic can then be directed to other routes to mitigate (减轻) the congestion and to provide faster and more efficient routes for travelers. New technologies enable this type of surveillance and guidance response to occur in real time, and therefore, to allow potential congestion situations to be addressed before they develop into serious traffic jams.

Step 2 Global Reading

1. True or False

(Directions:) Scan Text A and decide whether the following statements are true or false.

There are so many people killed in the car accidents that car accidents reports can be found in newspaper nearly everyday. (F)

(= The number of people that are killed or badly injured in car accidents is so vast that we don’t even bother to mention them in the newspaper anymore.)

A smart car can alert the driver if he becomes drowsy. (T)

The computer in the car will totally eliminate the cases of getting lost and getting stuck in traffic. (F)

(= The computer can have a positive impact on these problems, but it is unlikely to cure them.)

The computer in the car sends out a radio signal that can be detected by a satellite. (F)

(= The satellite sends out a radio signal that can be detected by a receiver in a car’s computer.)

By establishing the relation between the rotations in the steering wheel and the car’s poison on a map, the computer can tell us where the car is. (T)

2. Part Division of the Text

3. Further Understanding

Questions and Answers

1.    How important was the automobile industry in the 20th century?

2.    Did the automobile industry change a lot in the last seventy years?

3.    What will happen to cars and roads in the 21st century?

4.    Why does the author say the key to tomorrow’s “smart cars” will be sensors?