One evening in February 2007 . a student named Paula Ceely brought her car to a stop on a remote in Wales . She got out to open a metal gate that blocked her path . That's when she heard the whistle sounded by the driver of a train.Her Renault Clio parked across a railway line. Second later,she watched the train drag her car almost a kilometre down the railway tracks.
Ceely's near miss made the news because she blamed it on her GPS device(导航仪).She had never driven the route before .It was dark and raining heavily . Ceely was relying on her GPS. But it made no mention of the crossing ."I put my complete trust in the device and it led me right into the path of a speeding train ,"she told the BBC.
W ho is to blame here ? Rick Stevenson ,who tells Ceely's story in his book When Machines Fail US, finger at the limitations of technology. We put our faith in digital devices, he says,
but our digital helpers are too often not up to the job. They are filled with small problems. And it’s not just GPS devices: Stevenson takes us on a tour of digital disasters involving everything from mobile phones to wireless key boards.
The problem with his argument in the book is that it’s not clear why he only focuses digital technology,while there may be a number of other possible causes. A map-maker might have left the crossing off a paper map. Maybe we should blame Ceely for not paying attention. perhaps the railway authorities are at fault for poor signaling system. Or maybe someone has studied the relative dangers and worked out that there really is something specific wrong with the CPS equipment. But Stevenson doesn’t say.
It’s a problem that runs through the book. In a section on cars, Stevenson gives an accout of the advanced techniques that criminals use to defeat computer-based locking systems for cars. He offers two independent sets of figures on car theft; both show a small rise in some parts of the country. He says that once once again not all new locks have proved reliable. Perhaps, but maybe it’s also due to the shortage of policemen on the streets. Or changing social circumstances. Or some combination of these factors .
The game between humans and their smart devices is complex. It is shaped by economics and psychology and the cultures we live in. Somewhere in the mix of those forces there may be way a wiser use of technology.
If there is such a way, it should involve more than just an awareness of the shortcomings of our machines. After all, we have lived with them for thousands of years. They have probably been fooling us for just as long .
小题1:What did Paula Ceely think was the cause of her accident?
A．Shewasnotfamiliarwiththeroad.
B．Itwasdarkandrainingheavilythen.
C．The railway works failed to give the signal.
D．Her GPS device didn’t tell her about the crossing小题2:The phrase”near miss” (paragraph 2 ) can best be replaced by _______.
A．closebit
B．heavyloss
C．narrow escape
D．bigmistake小题3:Which of the following would Rick Stevenson most probably agree with?
A．Moderntechnologyiswhatwe can’tlivewithout.
B．Digitaltechnologyoftenfalls shortofoutexpectation.
C．Digitaldevicesaremore reliablethantheyusedtobe.
D．GPSerrorisnottheonly causeforCelery’saccident.小题4:
In the writer’s opinion, Stevenson’s argument is________.
A．one-sided
B．reasonable
C．puzzling
D．well-based小题5:
What is the real concern of the writer of this article?
A．The major causes of traffic accidents and car thefts.
B．The relationship between humans and technology
C．Theshortcomingsofdigital devicesweuse.
D．Thehuman unawarenessoftechnicalproblems.
