1、Questions before reading:1.What do you know about self-driving vehicles?2.What impact do you see it may have on our life?3.How do you understand the title“Driverless Cars Could Make Transportation Free for Everyone-with a Catch?”a catch:a hidden problem/trap in an apparently ideal situation The titl
2、e means driverless cars could make transportation free for everyone,yet it will also bring problems to us.Skim the text and get to know the structure and the content of the article.Para.1It presents predictions from journalists,futurists,economists and ethicists,serving as a backdrop to the authors
3、prognostications.Paras.2-6The authors predictions:transportation will become free.Unchecked consumption,customers being manipulated by businesses,potential pitfall and inherent conflicts Paras.7-20 Analyze how the system of driverless transportation works for the benefits of businesses through compa
4、ring it to the existing promoted rides,like UberFree.The author points out that the only difference,if there is any,is that the new hi-tech system is better at persuading people to buy.Scan the text and answer the following questions:1.What are the hidden problems with driverless vehicles according
5、to the author?Answer:Driverless vehicles provide free transportation to passengers,which in turn may result in unchecked consumption,more damage to the environment and even more health problem.2.For the driverless vehicle system who would be the“driver”?Answer:The company that controls the algorithm
6、.Learning paraphrasing skillLearning the skill of paraphrasing (expressing the meaning of the literary text by using different words)is very important skill as it is instrumental for you to show your understanding of the original text.Furthermore,learning to paraphrase is a preparatory and fundament
7、al for summary writing.Now try to paraphrase some sentences from the text.Tasks1.As self-driving cars inch closer to everyday reality,journalists,futurists,economists,and ethicists have weighed in with numerous predictions about autonomous vehicles future impact.(Para.1)The sentence can be understoo
8、d as:As auto-driving cars are coming into reality,journalists,futurists,economists and ethicists have considered the possible impact the autonomous vehicles may have on our life in future.2.Summon a car and travel for nothingthat is,so long as you are willing to stop en route at sponsoring locations
9、.The sentence could be understood as:Get a driverless car and travel for free-that means so long as you are willing to stop at the sponsoring shops you dont have to pay for your travel.3.On top of that,some clubs present customers who arrive in a cab with high cover charges to make up for the driver
10、s kickback.It can be understood as:The most complaints are some clubs have customers who arrive in cab pay high service fees in order to compensate the drivers kickback.4.Payments(whether kickbacks or sponsorships)from a business to a driver(whether human or algorithmic)in return for redirecting peo
11、ple are a way for businesses to align the drivers incentives with their own.(Para.14)It could be understood as:Business pay drivers(whether in the form of kickbacks or sponsorships),in return the drivers will take more customers to the sponsorship shops.In this way the interests of both business and
12、 drivers are allied.Getting the main idea of a paragraphGetting the main point of a paragraph is one of the most challenging tasks in reading activity.Yet,compared with writing the main idea,recognizing it is less challenging.Now work in group and match the summary sentence with its corresponding pa
13、ragraph based on your comprehension.1._para._3_Routes and relevant stops are tailored based on riders personal data.2._para.1_With the emergence of autonomous autos,people have made predictions about the impact these vehicles will make on peoples life.3._para._4_More examples of riders tailored tran
14、sportation services.4._para.2_ According to the author,riders wont need to pay in a world full of self-driving cars if the riders are willing to stop at shops on the route.5._para._5_ The rides with relevant stops at sponsored locations will appeal to both passengers and marketers.6._para.13_Cities
15、may have more control once these algorithms are routing autonomous cars.7._para.6_People concern such free transportation with relevant stops at shops lead people to consume unrationally,which in turn will cause problems to individuals even to the society.8._para.7_There are potential pitfalls of th
16、is transportation arrangement that are obvious in the present promoted ride.9._para.17_With the intense technical development,the system supporting autonomous cars will work in a more human-like way.10._para.10_Under this system,divers get benefit at the passengers expense.11._para.18_Autonomous car
17、s will be part of an ecosystem of intelligent agents and personal-data vendors.12._para.16_There are a few reasons why we do not have widespread sponsored rides today.Translate the following into Chinese.There are different opinions on who should be held liable in case of a crash,in particular with
18、people being hurt.Many experts see the car manufacturers themselves responsible for those crashes that occur due to a technical malfunction or misconstruction.Besides the fact that the car manufacturer would be the source of the problem in a situation where a car crashes due to a technical issue,the
19、re is another important reason why car manufacturers could be held responsible:it would encourage them to innovate and heavily invest into fixing those issues,not only due to protection of the brand image,but also due to financial and criminal consequences.However,there are also voices that argue th
20、ose using or owning the vehicle should be held responsible since they know the risks involved in using such a vehicle.Experts suggest introducing a tax or insurances that would protect owners and users of autonomous vehicles of claims made by victims of an accident.Answer key for your reference由谁来承担
21、车祸责任，特别是事故中有人受伤，对这个问题人们有不同的观点。很多专家认为汽车生产商应该承担由于技术故障或汽车结构缺陷引发的事故责任。除了由于技术故障引起的事故中生产者是事故的根源这一事实外，另一个让厂家负责的重要原因是它会促使生产者进行技术改进，投重资以解决技术问题，这么做不仅仅是为了保护品牌形象，也是因为承担经济和犯罪后果的需要。但也有另外的声音，他们认为既然车辆的使用者或拥有者知道其风险，他们也应该承担责任。专家们建议引入新的税种或险种，以保护这种自动驾驶车辆事故受害方的理赔主张。Translate the following into English.随着自动驾驶汽车的出现，产生了各种伦
22、理问题。虽然从道义上讲，撞车事故会减少90%，另外残疾人、老人及年少者都能用，将自动驾驶交通工具引入大众市场似乎是不可避免的，但仍有一些伦理问题尚未得到完全解决。Answer key for your reference.With the emergence of autonomous cars,there are various ethical issues arising.While morally,the introduction of autonomous vehicles to the mass market seems inevitable due to a reduction o
23、f crashes by up to 90%and their accessibility to disabled,elderly and young passengers,there still remain some ethical issues that have not yet been fully solved.TED:“What moral decisions should driverless cars make?”Check out the video and try to find information to fill the answers in the followin
24、g questions:1.How can we understand the swerve-or-sway dilemma？Answer:The swerve-or-sway dilemma is the problem of how to _ and enforce the trade-offs they are comfortable with.Its a _.2.What does the speaker think of the regulation driverless cars?Answer:He thinks the regulation of driverless cars
25、is not only a technological problem but also a _.TED:What moral decisions should driverless cars make?Check out the video and try to find information to fill the answers in the following questions:1.How can we understand the swerve-or-sway dilemma？Answer:The swerve-or-sway dilemma is the problem of how to get society to agree on and enforce the trade-offs they are comfortable with.Its a social dilemma.2.What does the speaker think of the regulation driverless cars?Answer:He thinks the regulation of driverless cars is not only a technological problem but also a societal cooperation problem.
