When Melissa Mahan and her husband visited the Netherlands, they felt imprisoned by their tour bus. It forced them to see the city according to a particular route and specific schedule--but going off on their own meant missing out on the information provided by the guide. On their return home to San Diego, California, they started a new company called Tour Coupes. Now, when tourists in San Diego rent one of their small, brightly coloured three-wheeled vehicles, they are treated to a narration over the stereo system about the places they pass, triggered by Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite technology.
This is just one example of how GPS is being used to provide new services to tourists. "What we really have here is a technology that allows people to forget about the technology," says Jim Carrier of IntelliTours, a GPS tourism firm which began offering a similar service over a year ago in Montgomery, Alabama. The city is packed with sites associated with two important chapters in American history, the civil war of the 1860s and the civil-rights movement a century later. Montgomery has a 120-year-old trolley system, called the Lightning Route, which circulates around the downtown area and is mainly used by tourists. On the Lightning Route trolleys, GPS-triggered audio clips point out historical hotspots.
Other firms, such as CityShow in New York and GPS Tours Canada in Banff, Canada, offer hand-held GPS receivers that play audio clips for listening to while walking or driving. In South Africa, Europcar, a car-rental firm, offers a device called the Xplorer. As well as providing commentary on 2 000 points of interest, it can also warn drivers if they exceed the local speed limit.
If such services prove popular, the use of dedicated audio-guide devices could give way to a different approach. A growing number of mobile phones have built-in GPS or can determine their locations using other technologies. Information for tourists delivered via phones could be updated in real time and could contain advertisements. "Location-based services", such as the ability to call up a list of nearby banks or pizzerias, have been talked about for years but have never taken off. But aiming such services at tourists makes sense--since people are more likely to want information when in an unfamiliar place. It could give mobile roaming a whole new meaning.
Which of the following is true of the text（）
A. Location-based services are popular in many fields
B. Europcar offers hand-held GPS receivers
C. CityShow offers a service similar to IntelliTours
D. Xplorer can warn drivers when they offend
参考答案：D
解析：
[直击题眼] 第二段第二句：IntelliTours，a GPS tourism firm which began offering a similar service over a year ago；第三段：Other firms，such as CityShow…，offer hand-held GPS receivers that play audio clips for listening to while walking or driving．．．．，Europcar，a car-rental firm，offers a device called the Xplorer．．．．，it can also warn drivers if they exceed the local speed limit．
[深层剖析] 本题是一个无法用关键词进行定位的细节题，要求考生判断选项是否符合原文，其难度在于考生需阅读每个选项及其所对应的原文，然后作出判断，这无形中增加了阅读量。文章第四段结尾谈到Xplorer can also warn drivers if they exceed the local speed limit．，[D]中的offend就是对exceed the local speed limit的同义转换，因此[D]正确。
[主干扰项分析] 文章第二段第二句提到“IntelliTours公司在一年前提供的服务与Tour Coupes公司提供的服务很相似”，而不是第三段提到的CityShow公司，因此[C]错误。同样，CityShow公司提供了游客在步行或开车时可收听到声频剪辑的便携式GPS接收器，而非Europcar汽车租赁公司，因此[B)也错误。这两道题的错误都属于搭配错误，由于本文举例太多，所以考生容易记混各个公司的产：品和行为。
[次干扰项分析] 根据第四段第四句的but这个转折提示可知定位服务还未广泛使用，因此[A]选项错误。本选项考查的其实是对take off的理解。本词有9个常用含义，在考试中经常出现，考生需熟记，见后文“难词过关”。
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