2012年12月英语四级阅读备考：全真试题(16)_大学英语阅读

2012年12月英语四级阅读备考：全真试题(16)

　　A) unequal treatment of boys and girls in developing countries

　　B) the potential earning power of well-educated women

　　C) the major contributions of educated women to society

　　D) the economic and social benefits of educating women

　　Passage Three

　　Speeding off in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch. But he is in for an unwelcome surprise. The car is fitted with a remote immobiliser (锁止器), and a radio signal from a control centre miles away will ensure that once the thief switches the engine off, he will not be able to start it again.

　　The idea goes like this. A control box fitted to the car contains a mini-cellphone, a micro-processor and memory, and a GPS (全球定位系统)satellite positioning receiver. If the car is stolen, a coded cellphone signal will tell the control centre to block the vehicles engine management system and prevent the engine being restarted.

　　In the UK, a set of technical fixes is already making life harder for car thieves. The pattern of vehicle crime has changed, says Martyn Randall, a security expert. He says it would only take him a few minutes to teach a person how to steal a car, using a bare minimum of tools. But only if the car is more than 10 years old.

　　Modern cars are far tougher to steal, as their engine management computer wont allow them to start unless they receive a unique ID code beamed out by the ignition (点火)key. In the UK, technologies like this have helped achieve a 31%drop in vehicle-related crime since 1997.