Text 2
Last year, America’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, thought it would be a good idea to organize a robot race across the Nevada desert. The idea of the Grand Challenge, as DARPA dubbed it, was for autonomous robot vehicles to steer a 227km (142-mile) course and claim a $1 m jackpot. This would be a first step towards DARPA’s ultimate goal of being able to build unmanned self-driving military vehicles and thus keep American troops out of harm’s way on the battlefield.
This year’s crop of 23 entrants were offered an even greater incentive--a $ 2m prize for the win ner. That, plus the intervening 18 months, seems to have done the trick. This time, five vehicles finished the 211kin course. The winner, a modified Volkswagen Touareg dubbed Stanley by its makers, a team from Stanford University, did it in a mere six hours and 54 minutes.
Stanley was, of course, specially hardened by its designers for the rou
A. was a waste of time and money.
B. attracted nationwide attention.
C. encouraged the development of autonomous vehicles.
D. will not be organized again.
Text 2
Last year, America’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, thought it would be a good idea to organize a robot race across the Nevada desert. The idea of the Grand Challenge, as DARPA dubbed it, was for autonomous robot vehicles to steer a 227km (142-mile) course and claim a $1 m jackpot. This would be a first step towards DARPA’s ultimate goal of being able to build unmanned self-driving military vehicles and thus keep American troops out of harm’s way on the battlefield.
This year’s crop of 23 entrants were offered an even greater incentive--a $ 2m prize for the win ner. That, plus the intervening 18 months, seems to have done the trick. This time, five vehicles finished the 211kin course. The winner, a modified Volkswagen Touareg dubbed Stanley by its makers, a team from Stanford University, did it in a mere six hours and 54 minutes.
Stanley was, of course, specially hardened by its designers for the rou
A. there were only 23 vehicles competing in the race.
B. it has 18 months to prepare for the race.
C. it is specially made for the desert.
D. the brain of the vehicle was delicate and intelligent.
Text 4
The good news is that after last year’s precipitous decline, worldwide demand for microchips is rising again. The not-so-good news is that the recovery is likely to be more muted than the industry had hoped. In fact, it could be years before the market makes up fully for 2001’ s record fall of 32% in chip sales. The latest figures from World Semiconductor Trade Statistics, an industry body, suggest that demand will creep up this year by 2.3% (to $142 billion) and by a healthier 16.6% or so in 2003. Se it could still be 2004 or beyond before the market for chips regains its former heights.
Why is the recovery so weak The main reason is that sales of personal computers(PCs), which run on such chips and which dominate the market for them, are still struggling to recover from last year’ s collapse in demand. Gartner Dataquest, a research firm, says worldwide sales of PCs rose by 5.8% year-on-year in the three months to the end of Septem
A. contrary to expectations
B. far from certain
C. not so quick as expected
D. at a record-breaking speed
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