Driven to Distraction

　　Joe Coyne slides into the driver’s eat, starts up the car and heads¹ to town. The empty stretch of interstate gives way to urban congestion², and Coyne hits the brakes as a pedestrian suddenly crosses the street in front of him.
　　But even if he hadn’t stopped in time, the woman would have been safe. She isn’t real. Neither is the town. And Coyne isn’t really driving. Coyne is demonstrating a computerized driving simulator that is helping researchers at Old Dominion University³ (ODU) examine how in-vehicle guidance systems affect the person behind the wheel⁴.
　　The researchers want to know if such systems, which give audible or written directions, are too distracting—or whether any distractions are offset⁵ by the benefits drivers get from having help finding their way in unfamiliar locations.⁶
　　“We’re looking at the performance and mental workload of drivers,” said Caryl Baldwin, the assistant psychology professor leading the research, which involves measuring drivers’ reaction time and brain activity as they respond to auditory and visual cues⁷.
　　The researchers just completed a study of the mental workload⁸ involved in driving through different kinds of environments and heavy vs. light traffic. Preliminary results show that as people “get into more challenging driving situations, they don’t have any extra mental energy to respond to something else in the environment,” Baldwin said.
　　But the tradeoffs could be worth it, she said. This next step is to test different ways of giving drivers navigational information and how those methods change the drivers’ mental workload.
　　“Is it best if they see a picture…that shows their position, a map kind of display?⁹” Baldwin said. “Is it best if they hear it?”

Navigational systems now on the market give point-by-point directions that follow a prescribed route. “They’re very unforgiving,” Baldwin said. “If you miss a turn, they can almost seem to get angry.”
　　That style of directions also can be frustrating for people who prefer more general instructions. But such broad directions can confuse drivers who prefer route directions, Baldwin said.
　　Perhaps manufacturers should allow drivers to choose the style of directions they want, or modify systems to present some information in a way that makes sense¹⁰ for people who prefer the survey style, she said.
　　Interestingly, other research has shown that about 60 percent of men prefer the survey style, while 60 percent women prefer the route style, Baldwin said. This explains the classic little thing of why men don’t like to stop and ask for directions and women do, Baldwin added.

词汇：

interstate  / ˈɪntə’steɪt / n. 洲际公路 

workload  / ˈwɜ:kˌləʊd / n. 工作负担，工作量
congestion  / kənˈdʒestʃən / n. 拥挤

tradeoff  n. 交替使用；交替；换位
computerize / kəm"pju:təraɪz / v. 使计算机化；用计算机操作
unforgiving  / ˌʌnfəˈgɪvɪŋ / adj.不原谅人的，无情的

注释：

1.head：意为“to go in a certain direction”（朝着一定方向前进）
2.The empty stretch of interstate gives way to urban congestion…：空荡荡的那段州际公路结束了，进入拥塞的城市……interstate：州际高速公路体系；give way to：让位于。
3.Old Dominion University：Old Dominion是美国吉尼亚州的别称。
4.the person behind the wheel：开车人
5.offset：意为“to counterbalance or compensate for”（平衡或补偿）
6.whether any distractions are offset by the benefits drivers get from having help finding their way in unfamiliar locaations：这个句子的大意是“驾驶员在陌生环境里从那些可读和可听的说明（audible or written directions）中所得到的的寻路指南的鞥益处是否抵消了这些东西引起的注意力不集中的问题”。
7.auditory and visual cues：听觉和视觉提示
8.mental workload：精神负荷　

9.a map kind of display：有点像地图那样的显示图片。kind of：是一种非正式表达，意思是“rather；somewhat”（相当；有一些），如：I am kind of hot我有点热。
10.make sense：使有意义，意思清楚

What kind of directions do men and women prefer?

A:Women prefer more general directions and men prefer route directions. B:Men prefer more general directions and women prefer route direction. C:Both men and women prefer general directions. D:Both men and women prefer route directions.

The law says that women should have the chance of doing the same jobs as men and earn the same as them.
The reality is very different. Women lose because, 25 years after the Equal Pay Act, many of them still get paid less than men.
They lose because they do lower-paid jobs which men just won’t consider. And they lose because they are the ones who interrupt a career to have children.
All this is reported in an independent study ordered by the Government’s Women’s Unite.
The biggest problem isn’t equal pay in workplaces such as factories. It is a sort of work women do.
Make a list of the low-paid jobs, then consider who does them.
Try nurses, secretaries, cleaners, clerks, teachers in primary schools, dinner ladies, and child care helpers. Not a lot of men among that group, are there
Yet some of those jobs are really important. Surely no one would deny that about nurses and teachers, for a start.
So why do we reward the people who do them so poorly There can be only one answer —— because they are women.
This is not going to be put right overnight. But the Government which employs a lot of them, and other bosses have to make a start.
It is disgraceful (可耻的) that we have gone into the 21st Century but still treat women as second-class citizens.
We can learn from the text what the problem really matters is ______.

A:that women interrupt a career to have children B:what sort of work women do C:because they are women D:what an unfair pay women get in workplaces

The law says that women should have the chance of doing the same jobs as men and earn the same as them.
The reality is very different. Women lose because, 25 years after the Equal Pay Act, many of them still get paid less than men.
They lose because they do lower-paid jobs which men just won’t consider. And they lose because they are the ones who interrupt a career to have children.
All this is reported in an independent study ordered by the Government’s Women’s Unite.
The biggest problem isn’t equal pay in workplaces such as factories. It is a sort of work women do.
Make a list of the low-paid jobs, then consider who does them.
Try nurses, secretaries, cleaners, clerks, teachers in primary schools, dinner ladies, and child care helpers. Not a lot of men among that group, are there
Yet some of those jobs are really important. Surely no one would deny that about nurses and teachers, for a start.
So why do we reward the people who do them so poorly There can be only one answer —— because they are women.
This is not going to be put right overnight. But the Government which employs a lot of them, and other bosses have to make a start.
It is disgraceful (可耻的) that we have gone into the 21st Century but still treat women as second-class citizens.
We can learn from the text what the problem really matters is ______.

A:that women interrupt a career to have children B:what sort of work women do C:because they are women D:what an unfair pay women get in workplaces

The law says that women should have the chance of doing the same jobs as men and earn the same as them.
The reality is very different. Women lose because, 25 years after the Equal Pay Act, many of them still get paid less than men.
They lose because they do lower-paid jobs which men just won’t consider. And they lose because they are the ones who interrupt a career to have children.
All this is reported in an independent study ordered by the Government’s Women’s Unite.
The biggest problem isn’t equal pay in workplaces such as factories. It is a sort of work women do.
Make a list of the low-paid jobs, then consider who does them.
Try nurses, secretaries, cleaners, clerks, teachers in primary schools, dinner ladies, and child care helpers. Not a lot of men among that group, are there
Yet some of those jobs are really important. Surely no one would deny that about nurses and teachers, for a start.
So why do we reward the people who do them so poorly There can be only one answer —— because they are women.
This is not going to be put right overnight. But the Government which employs a lot of them, and other bosses have to make a start.
It is disgraceful (可耻的) that we have gone into the 21st Century but still treat women as second-class citizens.
We can learn from the text what the problem really matters is ______.

A:that women interrupt a career to have children B:what sort of work women do C:because they are women D:what an unfair pay women get in workplaces

The law says that women should have the chance of doing the same jobs as men and earn the same as them.
The reality is very different. Women lose because, 25 years after the Equal Pay Act, many of them still get paid less than men.
They lose because they do lower-paid jobs which men just won’t consider. And they lose because they are the ones who interrupt a career to have children.
All this is reported in an independent study ordered by the Government’s Women’s Unite.
The biggest problem isn’t equal pay in workplaces such as factories. It is a sort of work women do.
Make a list of the low-paid jobs, then consider who does them.
Try nurses, secretaries, cleaners, clerks, teachers in primary schools, dinner ladies, and child care helpers. Not a lot of men among that group, are there
Yet some of those jobs are really important. Surely no one would deny that about nurses and teachers, for a start.
So why do we reward the people who do them so poorly There can be only one answer —— because they are women.
This is not going to be put right overnight. But the Government which employs a lot of them, and other bosses have to make a start.
It is disgraceful (可耻的) that we have gone into the 21st Century but still treat women as second-class citizens.
We can learn from the text what the problem really matters is ______.

A:that women interrupt a career to have children B:what sort of work women do C:because they are women D:what an unfair pay women get in workplaces

The law says that women should have the chance of doing the same jobs as men and earn the same as them.
The reality is very different. Women lose because, 25 years after the Equal Pay Act, many of them still get paid less than men.
They lose because they do lower-paid jobs which men just won’t consider. And they lose because they are the ones who interrupt a career to have children.
All this is reported in an independent study ordered by the Government’s Women’s Unite.
The biggest problem isn’t equal pay in workplaces such as factories. It is a sort of work women do.
Make a list of the low-paid jobs, then consider who does them.
Try nurses, secretaries, cleaners, clerks, teachers in primary schools, dinner ladies, and child care helpers. Not a lot of men among that group, are there
Yet some of those jobs are really important. Surely no one would deny that about nurses and teachers, for a start.
So why do we reward the people who do them so poorly There can be only one answer —— because they are women.
This is not going to be put right overnight. But the Government which employs a lot of them, and other bosses have to make a start.
It is disgraceful (可耻的) that we have gone into the 21st Century but still treat women as second-class citizens.
We can learn from the text what the problem really matters is ______.

A:that women interrupt a career to have children B:what sort of work women do C:because they are women D:what an unfair pay women get in workplaces