时间:2018-12-27 作者:英语课 分类:一起听英语


英语课

驾车的朋友深有体会,有了卫星导航系统,去哪里都不用愁。


Alice: Hello, I'm Alice.


Stephen: And I'm Stephen.


Alice: And this is 6 Minute English! This week we’re talking about sat navs.


Stephen: Sat navs – that’s short for satellite navigation systems.


Alice: They’re the gadgets 1 people put in their cars to help give them directions.


Engineers have been asking if we’re becoming too reliant on them. Before we


find out more, here’s a question for you, Stephen:


Stephen: Ok – I’m ready and waiting.


Alice: When we talk about ‘satellite navigation’ in English, there is an abbreviation


we use called GPS. Do you know what it stands for? I’ll give you some choices.


Is it:


a) greater place signal


b) global positioning signal, or


c) global positioning system


Stephen: I’m pretty sure I know the answer – but I won’t spoil it for everyone else. I’ll


tell you at the end of the programme. 


6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011


Page 2 of 6


Alice: That’s fine. Sat navs using GPS have become very popular in recent years. But


they can sometimes get people into trouble. The BBC News website has lots of


examples about people driving into rivers or getting stuck on roads which are


too narrow. This woman is talking about the lorries which keep getting stuck


under a 15th century stone archway in her town because they’re following


directions on their sat navs.


Insert 1: Woman


The amount of lorries that we see nearly every day - they get to that point and there’s no


signs anywhere. At the bottom of the road, it doesn’t say: “Don’t go down there - there’s


a bridge.” And they get to this point here and every one of them have to reverse - and


there’s cars everywhere. It’s just absolute mayhem.


Alice: Oh dear – she says it’s mayhem. Lorries either get stuck under the bridge or


they cause lots of problems trying to turn around - or to go backwards 2, to


reverse - on a very narrow road. She says it’s absolute mayhem.


Stephen: Mayhem – chaos 3.


Alice: In another incident, a car got stuck on the edge of a steep hill when its sat nav


directed it down a path which wasn’t suitable for vehicles any more. Antony


Chmarny, who works for a satellite navigation manufacturer, says the gadgets


should only be used as an aid to driving:


Insert 2:


Sat nav voice: Turn around when possible – then turn right.


Antony Chmarny: If it doesn’t look suitable, don’t drive down it, don’t drive down a


one-way street the wrong way if a sat nav tells you to do that. 


6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011


Page 3 of 6


Alice: I think he means, use your common sense – don’t drive down a one-way street


the wrong way even if a sat nav tells you to do it!


 


Stephen: I like the sat navs which you can programme with different voices – so you can


have your favourite singer or actor with you in the car as your navigator!


Alice: What a good idea! Let’s hear now from an engineer who is worried that we’re


becoming too reliant on sat nav and GPS technology. Professor Martyn


Thomas from the Royal Academy of Engineering says the weak radio signal it


uses can easily be messed up.


Stephen: Messed up – that’s interfered 5 with, or destroyed.


Insert 3:


Professor Martyn Thomas: You can get interference – either deliberate or accidental


interference, because it is a very weak radio signal.


BBC interviewer Justin Webb: Yes, it’s quite easy, isn’t it, to mess it up?


Professor Martyn Thomas: Oh, extremely, yes. The radio signal is about the strength…


in light terms, it’s like looking at a 100 watt 6 bulb from 12,000 miles away.


Justin Webb: So someone who really wanted to put out a large area – satellite


navigation systems, could do so?


Professor Martyn Thomas: Yes, you could. It would essentially 7 have to be


jammed line-of-sight, so you’d have to do it from high ground.


Alice: Researchers were able to interfere 4 with GPS signals on a ship using a


transmitter on high ground.


Stephen: A transmitter produces radio signals or interference - signals which, if strong


enough, can block other signals. 


6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011


Page 4 of 6


Alice: Professor Martyn Thomas said all kinds of things went wrong with the onboard


equipment on the ship.


Stephen: Without saying anything was wrong – incorrect – the ship reported that it was


travelling ten miles inland and moving faster than the speed of sound:


Insert 4: Professor Martyn Thomas


All kinds of things went wrong. The onboard equipment, that was reporting where they


were, at one point said that they were ten miles inland and moving faster than the speed


of sound. But more alarmingly, quite often the onboard systems, without saying


anything was wrong, was reporting their position as being just subtly wrong. And of


course, the onboard systems would broadcast that position and information to other


ships.


Alice: Professor Martyn Thomas from the Royal Academy of Engineering who thinks


we should be careful about becoming too reliant on GPS and sat navs, because


they can be interfered with. Apparently 8 some people buy blocking gadgets to


put on their sat navs in company cars, so their employers won’t know where


they’ve been! Well, before we go, Stephen, can you tell us about the


abbreviation ‘GPS’?


Stephen: So, does it stand for global positioning system?


Alice: Yes, well done. So, before we go - a chance to hear some of the words and


phrases we’ve heard in the programme today: would you mind, Stephen?


Stephen: Sure.


 satellite navigation systems


 gadgets 


6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011


Page 5 of 6


 abbreviation


mayhem


 


to reverse


aid


common sense


navigator


messed up


interfere with


Alice: Thanks, Stephen.


Stephen: You’re welcome.


Alice: Well, that’s all we have time for today. We’ll have more 6 Minute English next


time.


Both: Bye! 



1 gadgets
n.小机械,小器具( gadget的名词复数 )
  • Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
  • This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置,做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
2 backwards
adv.往回地,向原处,倒,相反,前后倒置地
  • He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
  • All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。
3 chaos
n.混乱,无秩序
  • After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后,城市一片混乱。
  • The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。
4 interfere
v.(in)干涉,干预;(with)妨碍,打扰
  • If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话,可能弊多利少。
  • When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件,棘手的事情就来了。
5 interfered
v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 );调停;妨碍;干涉
  • Complete absorption in sports interfered with his studies. 专注于运动妨碍了他的学业。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I am not going to be interfered with. 我不想别人干扰我的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 watt
n.瓦,瓦特
  • The invention of the engine is creditable to Watt.发动机的发明归功于瓦特。
  • The unit of power is watt.功率的单位是瓦特。
7 essentially
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上
  • Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
  • She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。
8 apparently
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
学英语单词
active trimming
activity restart cycle
Advertisement Regulation Act
Andaman Islands, Andamans
average-weight
beamtherapy
binomial distribution probability
Boselaphus
break release
break-even price
Bretton Woods Monetary Agreement
Briterlich variable radius technique
Changsando
channel address half word table
choga
cigar wrapping
Cinnopropazone
cluster spring
coal storage yard
contractual forum
coriandrol
Cremanthodium angustifolium
cross software
crownhills
crucilly
diagnoser
docuhistory
Donghai
double venturi tube
driving motion
ease someone out
epigenetic mineral
every two years
fate of particles
functional density
GDP dissociation inhibitor
general inquiry
General of the Army
grays in silicon
h. h. munroes
Hanke-Koessler's tests
heldover
heteromorphous combination
hormonagoga
HTML
image-motion compensator
instantaneous error of rotation
Itapicuru
kemmons
kertzmen
kroeng
lanagan
lasta
letter stock
Lord High Chancellor
lubricating oil starting pump
mark of the beast
Mitreola
morphoanatomically
negative viscosity
noninterlocked area
only the good die young
options tariff
oral bundle
parenchyma strand
pecornut
Pedicularis siphonantha
pennorth, pennorth
phosphor laser
placodes
plant colo(u)ring matters
plug-ins
Pyrularia sinensis
reacton turbine
receiving-departure yard
reindustrialising
remote readout
rosies
rotary cultivator
s phenomenon Bordet
schmoozer
scumbered
sideelevation
sight feed siphon lubricator
single-chip
solar satellite
solvd
spot trading
Strait of Hormuz
superior phrenic arteries
tensile
tubular resistance
tyre building
ultraphysical
under-the-counters
uniform divergence
uraeotyphlids
wood-hen
Working Tax Credit
X car
xylariopsis uenoi