(46) A favourite prediction of environmentalism has bitten the dust—too many natural resources, rather than too few, are the cause of an increasing number of wars in the 21st century. (47) Many greens had predicted that the new century would see a rash of wars in countries where natural resources such as timber, water, minerals and fertile soils are running out. But far from it, says the 2002 State of the World report from the prestigious Washington-based think-tank, the Worldwatch Institute. In fact, says the report"s co-author Michael Renner, there are "numerous places in the developing world where abundant natural resources help fuel conflicts." More than a quarter of current conflicts are either being fought over, or are funded by, some lucrative natural resource. Examples cited by the Worldwatch Institute include: -Diamond mines in Sierra Leone and Angola making the two African nations ripe for plunder by warlords -Profits from sapphires, rubies and timber arming the "Khmer Rouge in their interminable jungle war in Cambodia -Guerillas using the threat of sabotage to extort hundreds of millions of dollars from oil companies prospecting in Colombia -Opium funding 20 years of war in Afghanistan -The Congo"s continuing civil war subsisting on the proceeds of elephant tusks and coltan, a vital mineral in the manufacture of mobile phones With the end of the cold war, superpowers no longer fund civil wars for their own geopolitical ends, says Renner. Their place has been taken by the market—in the form of the plunder and sale of natural resources. (48) "Nature"s bounty attracts groups that may claim they are driven by grievance, but which initiate violence not to overthrow a government but to gain and maintain control of lucrative resources," says Renner. Such resource wars are being fought because of "greed rather than need." (49) According to David Keen at the London School of Economics: "We tend to regard conflict as simply a breakdown in a particular system, rather than as the emergence of another, alternative system of profit and powers i.e. a "conflict economy" with the looting of natural resources at its heart." Renner warns that warlords in such conflicts have no interest in winning the war, because its continuance is more profitable. (50) And he says too many Western governments are happy to turn a blind eye as their own corporations reap the benefits in cheap no-questions-asked raw materials. Renner argues the issue of resource conflicts should be added to the agenda of the forthcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development to be held in Johannesburg in August 2002.

Scientists have found that although we are prone to snap overreactions, if we take a moment and think about how we are likely to react, we can reduce or even eliminate the negative effects of our quick, hard-wired responses. Snap decisions can be important defense mechanisms; if we are judging whether someone is dangerous, our brains and bodies are hard-wired to react very quickly, within milliseconds. But we need more time to assess other factors. To accurately tell whether someone is sociable, studies show, we need at least a minute, preferably five. It takes a while to judge complex aspects of personality, like neuroticism or open-mindedness. But snap decisions in reaction to rapid stimuli aren"t exclusive to the interpersonal realm. Psychologists at the University of Toronto found that viewing a fast-food logo for just a few milliseconds primes us to read 20 percent faster, even though reading has little to do with eating. We unconsciously associate fast food with speed and impatience and carry those impulses into whatever else we "re doing. Subjects exposed to fast-food flashes also tend to think a musical piece lasts too long. Yet we can reverse such influences. If we know we will overreact to consumer products or housing options when we see a happy face (one reason good sales representatives and real estate agents are always smiling), we can take a moment before buying. If we know female job screeners are more likely to reject attractive female applicants, we can help screeners understand their biases—or hire outside screeners. John Gottman, the marriage expert, explains that we quickly "thin slice" information reliably only after we ground such snap reactions in "thick sliced" long-term study. When Dr. Gottman rea-lly wants to assess whether a couple will stay together, he invites them to his island retreat for a much longer evaluation: two days, not two seconds. Our ability to mute our hard-wired reactions by pausing is what differentiates us from animals: dogs can think about the future only intermittently or for a few minutes. But historically we have spent about 12 percent of our days contemplating the longer term. Although technology might change the way we react, it hasn"t changed our nature. We still have the imaginative capacity to rise above temptation and reverse the high-speed trend.

Studythefollowingpicturecarefullyandwriteanessayto1)describethepicturebriefly,2)deducethepurposeofthedrawerofthepicture,and3)suggestcounter-measures.Youshouldwriteabout160—200wordsneatly.

It"s seven weeks into the new year. Do you know where your resolution is? If you"re like millions of Americans, you probably vowed to lose weight, quit smoking and drink less in the new year. You kicked off January with a commitment to long-term well-being--until you came face-to-face with a cheeseburger. You spent a bundle on a shiny new gym pass. Turns out, it wasn"t reason enough for you to actually use the gym. People can make poor decisions when it comes to health--despite their best intentions. It"s not easy abiding by wholesome choices (giving up French fries) when the consequences of not doing so (heart disease) seem so far in the future. Most people are bad at judging their health risks: smokers generally know cigarettes cause cancer, but they also tend to believe they"re less likely than other smokers to get it. And as any snack-loving dieter can attest, people can be comically inept at predicting their future .behavior. You swear you will eat just one potato chip but don"t stop until the bag is empty. So, what does it take to motivate people to stick to the path set by their conscious brain? How can good choices be made to seem more appealing than bad ones? The problem stumps doctors, public-health officials and weight-loss experts, but one solution may spring from an unlikely source. Meet your new personal trainer: your boss. American businesses have a particular interest in personal health, since worker illness costs them billions each year in insurance claims, sick days and high staff turnover. A 2008 survey of major US employers found that 64% consider their employees" poor health decisions a serious barrier to affordable insurance coverage. Now some companies are tackling the motivation problem head on, using tactics drawn from behavioral psychology to nudge their employees to get healthy. "It"s a bit paradoxical that employers need to provide incentives for people to improve their own health," says Michael Follick, a behavioral psychologist at Brown University and president of the consultancy Abacus Employer Health Solutions. Paradoxical, maybe, but effective. Consider Amica Mutual Insurance, based in Rhode Island. Arnica seemed to be doing everything right: it boasts an on-site fitness center at its headquarters. It pays toward Weight Watchers and smoking-cessation help, gives gift cards to reward proper prenatal care and offers free flu shots each year. Still, in the mid-2000s, about 7% of the company"s insured population, including roughly 3 100 employees and their dependents, had diabetes. "We manage risk. That"s our core business," says Scott Boyd, Amica"s director of compensation and benefits. But diabetes-related claims from Arnica employees had doubled in four years. "We thought, OK," Boyd says now, "we have to manage these high-risk groups a little better. "

As human children are unusually dependent far an unusually long time, it"s obvious that every society must provide a domestic context in which the children are brought up and educated. In present-day English, the word "family" has two meanings: firstly, the (1)_____ group of parents and children; and secondly, a (2)_____ of relations who might be expected to (3)_____ at a wedding or a (4)_____. At the first level, my brothers and sisters and myself are all in the same (5)_____ as children, but in different ones as parents; but at the second (6)_____, we"re all in the same family from start to finish. As nuclear families become more (7)_____, families of relations become more dispersed (分散). The young mother can still talk to her Mum on the phone, but she can"t ask her to (8)_____ for a few minutes to watch the baby. Ideas about the (9)_____ of women have been changing: wives are thought to be the (10)_____ of their husbands rather than their (11)_____. But perhaps they"re more (12)_____ enslaved to their children than before. The point is that there doesn"t seem to be any (13)_____. There is a genuine (14)_____ between the right of the woman to be treated as a free and self-respected (15)_____, and the right of the child to demand care and (16)_____ We have created for ourselves three (17)_____: social equality of men and women; (18)_____ of the marriage; and lifelong love and (19)_____ between parents and children. However, we have (20)_____ a social system in which it"s quite impossible for these factors to co-exist.

【C1】______. That fact that an airplane is up in the air and cannot stop if anything goes wrong makes it perhaps a matter of life or death that its performance is absolutely dependable. 【C2】______ . Out of that weight as much as possible is wanted for fuel, radio instruments, passenger seats or freight room, and, of course, the passengers or freight themselves. So the structure of the aircraft has to be as small and light as safety and efficiency will allow. The designer must calculate the normal load that each part will bear. This specialist is called the "stress man". He takes account of any unusual stress that may be put on the part as a precaution against errors in manufacture, accidental damage, etc. This stress man's calculations go to the designer of the part, and he must make it as strong as the stress man says. One or two samples are always tested to prove that they are as strong as the designer intended. Each separate part is tested, then a whole assembly—for example, a complete wing, and finally the whole airplane. When a new type of airplane is being made, normally only one of the first three made will be flown. Two will be destroyed on the ground in structural tests. The third will be tested in the air. 【C3】______. The first is to find the resistance to loading of the wings, tail, etc. until they reach their maximum load and collapse. The other test is for fatigue strength. Relatively small loads are applied thousands of times. Each may be well under what the structure could stand as a single load, but many repetitions can result in collapse. One form of this test is done on the passenger cabin. It is filled with air at high pressure as for high altitude flying and completely submerged in a large tank of water while the test is going on. The surrounding water prevents the cabin from bursting like a bomb if there is a failure. 【C4】______. Making the working parts reliable is as difficult as making the structure strong enough. The flying controls, the electrical equipment, etc. must not only be light in weight, but must work both at high altitudes where the temperature may be below the freezing point and in the hot air of an airfield in the tropics. 【C5】______.[A] Two kinds of ground strength tests are carried out.[B] To solve all these problems the aircraft industry has a large number of research workers, with superior laboratories and test houses; and new materials to give the best strength in relation to weight are constantly being tested.[C] It is easy for a plane to pass all the tests in order to fly legally.[D] There are two main things that make aircraft engineering difficult: the need to make every component as reliable as possible and the need to build everything as light as possible.[E] When a plane has passed all the tests it can get a government certificate of airworthiness, without which it cannot be legally flown, except for test flying.[F] Given a certain power of engine, and consequently a certain fuel consumption, there is a practical limit to the total weight of aircraft that can be made to fly.[G] The structure of the aircraft has to be as small and light as possible.

A mysterious "black cloud" approaches the earth—our planet"s weather is severely affected. Throughout the rest of June and July temperatures rose steadily all over the Earth. In the British Isles the temperature climbed through the eighties, into the nineties, and moved towards the hundred marks. People complained, but there was no serious disaster. The death number in the U.S. remained quite small, thanks largely to the air-conditioning units that had been fitted during previous years and months. Temperatures rose to the limit of human endurance throughout the whole country and people were obliged to remain indoors for weeks on end. Occasionally air-conditioning units failed and it was then that fatalities occurred. Conditions were utterly desperate throughout the tropics as may be judged from the fact that 7943 species of plants and animals became totally extinct. The survival of man himself was only possible because of the caves and cellars he was able to dig. Nothing could be done to reduce the hot air temperature. More than seven hundred million persons are known to have lost their lives. Eventually the temperature of the surface waters of the sea rose, not so fast as the air temperature, it is true, but fast enough to produce a dangerous increase of humidity. It was indeed this increase that produced the disastrous conditions just remarked. Millions of people between the latitudes of Cairo and the Cape of Good Hope were subjected to a choking atmosphere that grew damper and hotter from day to day. All human movements ceased. There was nothing to be done but to lie breathing quickly as a dog does in hot weather. By the fourth week of July conditions in the tropics lay balanced between life and total death. Then quite suddenly rain clouds appeared over the whole globe. The temperature declined a little, due no doubt to the clouds reflecting more of the sun"s radiation back into space, but conditions could not be said to have improved. Warm rain fell everywhere, even as favorable as Iceland. The insect population increased enormously, since the burning hot atmosphere was as favorable to them as it was unfavorable to man and many other animals.

How well the predictions will be validated by later performance depends upon the amount, reliability , and appropriateness of the information used and on the skill and wisdom with which it is interpreted.

(46) Scientists at Johns Hopkins have discovered "striking" differences between men and women in a part of the brain linked with ability to estimate time, judge speed, visualize things three-dimensionally and solve mathematical problems. (47) The differences, the researchers say, may underlie well-known trends that vary by sex, such as the fact that more men than women are architects, mathematicians and race-car drivers. In a study reported this week in the Journal Cerebral Cortex, the researchers show that a brain region called the inferior parietal lobule is significantly larger overall in men than in women. The area is part of the cerebral cortex and appears on both sides of the brain just above ear-level. Also, there"s a symmetry difference, with men having a larger left IPL than right. (48) In women in the study, it"s the right IPL that"s somewhat larger, though the difference between the two sides of the brain is less obvious than in men, says psychiatrist Godfrey Pearlson, M.D. who headed the project. Researchers also compared IPL volumes on the left and the right sides of the brain. After allowances for men"s larger overall head and brain size, men had roughly 6 percent more IPL tissue than women. "The inferior parietal lobule is far more developed in people than in animals and has evolved relatively recently, "says Pearlson. (49) It allows the brain to process information from senses such as vision and touch, and enables the sort of thinking involved in selective attention and perception. Studies link the right IPL with a working memory of spatial relationships, the ability to sense relationships between body parts and awareness of a person"s own affect or feelings. The left IPL, Pearlson says, is more involved in perception, such as judging how fast something is moving, estimating time and having the ability to mentally rotate 3-D figures. "To say this means men are automatically better at some things than women is a simplification, "says Pearlson. "It"s easy to find women who are fantastic at math and physics and men who excel in language skills. Only when we look at very large populations and look for slight but significant trends do we see the generalizations. (50) There are plenty of exceptions, but there"s also a grain of truth, revealed through the brain structure, that we think underlies some of the ways people characterize the sexes."

One of the rules for being rich is to avoid frivolous temptations. That is easier said than done, and we do not necessarily recommend that all people should lead a pure and joyless life. We mean only to point out that the great majority of those four percent of Americans who have $1,000,000 in net worth get to where they are because they control their pleasures.【F1】 For example, rich Americans buy cars that are on average only slightly more expensive than those less wealthy Americans buy. Being able to save and accumulate considerable wealth is not automatic.【F2】 People must have a reasonable income in order to save amounts that will make for wealth, which requires several auxiliary rules for achieving an income level that will allow for a minimum saving level. For most—those without the requisite luck, inheritance, special talents, or good ideas—becoming rich means getting an education. Few people who drop out of high school will be rich. The income of high school dropouts is about two-thirds that of Americans with a high school diploma. 【F3】 To have a good chance at being rich, though, most individuals (aside for the lucky ones) will need at least a college education, which just about will double their incomes over what they would have earned with only a high school diploma. A professional degree will result in an average annual income of about twice that of college graduates (or six times the income of a high school dropout). This means that those who invest in education do not have to save as high a percentage of income to become rich at retirement.【F4】 However, in all probability, educated Americans will be richer at retirement simply because they will be able to save more along the way and because they are likely to be smarter and can achieve a higher rate of return on their savings. From our perspective, becoming rich is really a matter of choice. Opportunity to do so abound. Of course, recognizing that you can choose to become rich does not mean that you should.【F5】 As we have noted, choosing to become rich requires sacrifices that many people quite rationally have chosen not to make. One can lead a life rich in satisfaction and accomplishment without becoming rich financially, and nothing we have written here is meant to suggest otherwise.

Teenagers are spending more money than ever. Just last year, 31.6 million teens spent 155 billion, according to the Northbrook, Illinois-based market research group Teenage Research Unlimited. Much of that money, of course, comes from parents. Shocked at how much money kids spend? Maybe you haven"t checked theprice tags lately on some of the younger generation"s must-haves. To some, such extravagant spending on the notoriously fickle young might seem outrageous. Why do some parents give in? One factor is surely the sheer power of marketing through mass media. According to the group Ad-busters, teenagers are exposed to an estimated 3,000 advertisements each day. Combine the ads with programming itself, like the fashion-, music- and skin-filled shows on MTV, and you"ve got a barrage of messages telling kids what they should own if they want to fit in. "The pressures on parents today are enormous," says Tom Vogele, a single father of twin 18-year-old girls in Newport Beach, Calif. "I truly believe it is harder today to raise children without spoiling them, not because parents are less capable or lazy, but because so many forces are working against me." Many working parents probably compensate by spending money on their kids, says Timothy Marshall, an associate professor of developmental psychology at Christopher Newport University in Virginia. For some, there is probably some guilt involved in not spending enough time at home. But, adds Marshall, spending money is also often more convenient in our fast-paced society than going to baseball games or other activities. "It"s easier to say let"s go out and spend some money, in terms of finding time in a busy schedule to spend with kids," Marshall said. For many families, of course, keeping up with their children"s costly demands for designer clothing, CDs, and concert tickets is a financial impossibility. Even for those families who can afford such lavish spending, striking a compromise between spoiling the kids and denying them is tricky, but possible. Teaching kids how to budget and save is key, Marshall says. Instead of just giving children the toys or clothing they desire, give them an allowance and show them how they can save up for whatever they want, he says. And don"t be afraid to just say no, Marshall adds. "We need to step up and tell kids where the boundaries are, that"s part of our responsibility as parents," he said.

Almost every year since the end of the financial crisis has started with rosy expectations among American forecasters, and this one is no different. Stock markets are buoyant, consumer confidence is improving, and economic seers are raising their growth forecasts for 2014. America's S&P 500 share index is at a record high, after rising 30% in 2013—the biggest annual gain in almost two decades. Powered by America, global growth of close to 4%, on a purchasing-power-parity basis, seems possible. That would be nearly a full percentage point faster than 2013, and the best showing for several years. Yet amid the new-year cheer, it is worth remembering that almost every year since the financial crisis upbeat expectations have been disappointed. The biggest danger this time round is the optimism itself. All around the rich world, things are looking better. Britain's recovery is gathering pace. Japan's economy seems strong enough to cope with the imminent rise in its consumption tax. Even Europe's prospects are less dismal. But America is driving this recovery. America's growth rests on strong foundations. First, house-hold and corporate balance-sheets are in good shape. Unlike Europeans, who have barely reduced their private debt, Americans have put the hangover from the financial crisis behind them. The revival in house prices is testament to that. Second, thanks to cheap energy, years of wage restraint and a relatively weak dollar, America is competitive. These two factors have combined to produce faster job growth which, along with high er share prices, suggests stronger consumer spending and higher investment ahead. Finally, the fiscal squeeze is abating. In 2013 the federal government took 1.75% of GDP out of the economy with tax rises and spending cuts. The recently agreed budget deal will help cut the fiscal squeeze to 0.5% of GDP this year. All these factors could boost America's growth to around 3% in 2014, well above its trend rate. More spending by American firms and households will, in turn, buoy demand for goods and services from everywhere from China to Germany. America's appetite for foreign wares is not what it once was, but its economy is so big that faster spending will push up exports around the globe. The resulting support for growth will, in turn, improve domestic confidence from Europe to Japan.

BSection III Writing/B

Green space facilities are contributing to an important extent to the quality of the urban environment. Fortunately it is no longer necessary that every lecture or every book about this subject has to start with the proof of this idea. (46) At present it is generally accepted, although more as a self-evident statement than on the basis of a closely-reasoned scientific proof. The recognition of the importance of green space in the urban environment is a first step on the right way. (47) This does not mean, however, that sufficient details are known about the functions of green space in towns and about the way in which the inhabitants are using these spaces. As to this rather complex subject I shall, within the scope of this lecture, enter into one aspect only, namely the recreative function of green space facilities. (48) The theoretical separation of living, working, traffic and recreation, which for many years has been used in town-and-country planning, has in my opinion resulted in disproportionate attention for forms of recreation far from home, whereas there has been relatively little attention for improvement of recreative possibilities in the direct neighborhood of the home. (49) We have come to the conclusion that this is not right, because an important part of the time which we do not pass in sleeping or working is used for activities at and around home. So it is obvious that recreation in the open air has to begin at the front door. (50) The urban environment has to offer as many recreation activities as possible, and the design of these has to be such that more obligatory activities can also have a recreative aspect. The very best standard of living is nothing if it is not possible to take a pleasant walk in the district, if the children cannot be allowed to play in the streets, because the risks of traffic are too great, if during shopping you can nowhere find a spot for enjoying for a moment the nice weather, in short, if you only feel yourself at home after the front door is shut.

Populations tend to grow at an exponential rate. This means that they progressively double. As an example of this type of growth rate, take one penny and double it every day for one month. After the first week, you would have only 64 cents, but after the fourth week you would have over a million dollars. This helps explain why the population has come on "all of a sudden". It took from the beginning of human life to the year 1830 for the population of the earth to reach one billion. That represents a time span of at least two million years. Then it took from 1830 to 1930 for world population to reach 2 billion. The next billion was added by 1960, only thirty years, and in 1975 world population reached 4 billion, which is another billion people in only Fifteen years. World population is increasing at a rate of 9,000 per hour, 220,000 per day, 80 million per year. This is not only due to higher birth rates, but to lower death rates as well. The number of births has not declined at the same rate as the number of deaths. Some countries, such as Columbia, Thailand, Morocco, Costa Rica, and the Philippines, are doubling their populations about every twenty-one years, with a growth rate of 3.3 percent a year or more. The United States is doubling its population about every eighty-seven years, with a rate of 0.8 percent per year. Every time a population doubles, the country involved needs twice as much of everything, including hospitals, schools, resources, food and medicines to care for its people. It is easy to see that this is very difficult to achieve for the more rapidly growing countries.

Assuming that a manager is going to interview some job applicants and one of his friends gives him a piece of advice that the first impression is not a reliable basis for judgment. This manager wants to hear more from others and decides to have a wall newspaper put up for more views an that topic. 1) You are going to write an article to offer your opinion about it. 2) You should write about 160～200 words neatly.

Human beings have the unique ability to formulate personal goals for themselves. Without this form of personal development, the world would not be what it is today.【F1】 Having dreams gives us the opportunities to find out whom we are, to find what really lays beneath the surface of flesh and bone. Dreams can change a person and just as the seasons change, a person can change their dreams as well. When one has a goal set in mind, he or she should chase it with gusto.【F2】 However, not everyone sticks to his or her dreams, some just give up entirely not always because of choice, but because of the circumstances surrounding them. Many people give up on their dreams because of procrastination.【F3】 Waiting until the last minute to do something is a terrible habit, especially if the dream or goal is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Not to say that there won"t be other chances, but it is better to reap the spoils of your labor the first time around. 【F4】 Procrastination can be born when people look at their dreams in its entirety and they become disheartened because their goal looks difficult and a lot to take in at one time. One can eliminate this fear by breaking down their goals into segments and tackling the smaller pieces to make the process less arduous. A fear of rejection lies within all of us. More specifically, being told "no". Some people let this fear incapacitate their minds and let it take over. While rejection is a terrible feeling, we shouldn"t let it dictate our goals or aspirations. I tend to think that rejection is a stepping-stone to reaching our dreams. Besides, everything doesn"t always go our way all the time, if it did then it wouldn"t be called life. Some people"s dreams are reliant upon support from friends and family. However, the support is not always there. Many people are not blessed with having others that offer a shoulder to lean on in tough times. The path to following one"s goals can be hard at times and will require more than one person to make the dream into a reality. There are people that will give up on their dreams because of this. This goes hand-in-hand with having low self-esteem or a lack of confidence in one"s ability to succeed.【F5】 Losing sight of one"s dreams is one of the most regrettable mistakes a person can ever make. That is why we should push on and believe in ourselves that we can attain any goal we choose to, no matter how far away it seems.

Your eye is a window on the nerves and blood vessels, revealing vital information about your entire body. An (1)_____ exam starts from the outside and works in. First the ophthalmologist(眼科医生) gauges (2)_____ with the familiar wall chart and checks visual field by moving objects in and out of (3)_____. A limited visual field could be the (4)_____ of the high inner eye pressure of glaucoma(青光眼)or (5)_____ a tumor pressing on nerves leading from the eye. The physician also checks for infection around the lashes and notes how fast the lids follow the eyes downward. Lid lag sometimes (6)_____ thyroid disease(甲状腺疾病). If one pupil contracts (7)_____ the other doesn"t, the physician is (8)_____ to the fact that (9)_____ a tumor or stroke, perhaps, has damaged the nerves between the eye and brain. A tumor as far away (10)_____ the lung can cause capillary problems by hitting a nerve that loops through the neck. The white of the eye, tear ducts, lens and retina(视网膜) are checked for (11)_____ of trouble. Too many white blood cells (12)_____ inflammation, blood means tissue has tom or a vessel has burst, and deposits of (13)_____ material can mean eye disease. The orange-red retina holds many more (14)_____ for disease detection. High blood pressure may announce its (15)_____ by pushing the vessels off track at their intersections. (16)_____ vessel growth is a sign of diabetic retinopathy(糖尿病性视网膜病). Narrowed vessels may indicate (17)_____ of the arteries, and damage to tiny capillaries could be a sign of early diabetes. The doctor even examines the pin-head-size hole in the back of the optic nerve on their way to the brain. (18)_____ the appearance of these nerve fibers is abnormal, nerve tissue may have been damaged because of intraocular pressure, indicating glaucoma or the presence of a tumor. When a physician needs quick, (19)_____ information about the body, the eyes have (20)_____.

American and Japanese researchers are developing a smart car that will help drivers avoid accidents by predicting when they are about to make a dangerous move. The smart car of the future will be able to tell if drivers are going to turn, change lanes, speed up, slow down or pass another car. If the driver"s intended action could lead to an accident, the car will activate a warning system or override the move. (46) "By shifting the emphasis of car safety away from design of the vehicle itself and looking more toward the driver"s behavior, the developers believe that they can start to build cars that adapt to suit people"s needs" , New Scientist magazine said. Alex Pentland of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology collaborated on the project with Andrew Liu who works for the Japanese carmaker Nissan. (47) Tests of their smart car using a driving simulator have shown that it is 95 percent accurate in predicting a driver"s move 12 seconds in advance. (48) The system is based on driving behavior which the researchers say can be divided into chains of sub-actions which include preparatory moves. It monitors the driver"s behavior patterns to predict the next move. "To make its predictions, Nissan"s smart car uses a computer and sensors on the steering wheel, accelerator and brake to monitor a person"s driving patterns. (49) A brief training session, in which the driver is asked to perform certain maneuvers, allows the system to calculate the probability of particular actions occurring in two-second time segments ", the magazine said. Liu has also done work on tracking eye movement to predict driving behavior. (50) He said the smart car could be adapted to monitor eye movement which could give even earlier predictions of when a driver is about to make a wrong move.

It is raining.