Could a CD player, a laptop computer or a hand-held video game send an airline off course?

　　Unless you are born with feathers, flying requiresfaith. Passengers have to believe, once on board theplane, that a 227000kg machine moving extremelyfast in the air is firmly in the pilot‘s control. Thatfaith was shaken last week by a report that a DC-10plane coming into New York‘s Kennedy airport recently almost crashed(撞毁) when a passengerin the first class turned on his portable compact disc player.

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　　The story, first published in Time Magazine, set off people‘s concern. Can airplanes really bemade to change their courses by something as small as a battery-powered CD player? Or avideo-game machine? Or any of a dozen electronic gadgets(小器具) and computers thatpassengers regularly carry on board?

　　Although it may sound impossible, it can‘t be ruled out. Every electrical device creates acertain amount of radiation. Portable phones, remote-control toys and other radiotransmitters send out signals that can carry for kilometers, and their use on planes has longbeen cassette players, tape recorders and laptop computers, which make far lesselectromagnetic(电磁的) noise.

　　Now there is increasing proof that even these gadgets may be putting aircraft at risk. Awalkman-type radio tuned to an FM station produces oscillations(振荡) that can reach 1.5m to3.5m-far enough, in some planes, to reach the navigation(导航) equipment in and around thecockpit (驾驶员座舱).

　　No planes have crashed and no lives have been lost-so far. But Time Magazine has got quitea few pilot reports linking a series of ―anomalies‖(异例) to a wide variety of electronicgadgets, from laptop computers to Nintendo Game Boys. In one striking example, a planeflying out of Chicago started going off course while its VOR dials became unclear and dancedaround. When the passenger in seat 9-D turned off his laptop, the report states, the ―panellights immediately brightened and all navigation aids returned to normal.‖

　　The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, pressed by pilots to punish the gadget holders onboard, published an advisory late last week that Delta Airlines has already made longer its list offorbidden devices to include video playback machines and CD players.

　　With the arrival of new ―fly-by-wire‖ aircraft, which are heavily computerized and evenmore easily to be interfered with, passengers may have to go back to reading paperbacks andwatching the in-flight movies.

　　1.The purpose of this article is to inform the readers of______.

　　A. the risks connected with flying modern computerized planes

　　B. the conditions connected with taking off and landing in modern planes

　　C. the risks connected with using electronic devices while flying in modern planes

　　D. the conditions connected with sitting within 3.5m off the cockpit in a modern plane

　　2.The following are four points made in the article, Which is the right order of whathappened?

　　1) Many pilots have reported incidents of interference. 2) It is possible that electrical devicesare dangerous. 3) Delta Airlines have forbidden CD players. 4) Passengers put their trust inpilots.

　　A.1,3,2,4 B.4,2,1,3 C.2,3,4,1 D.4,3,1,2

　　3.Which one of the following statements is true according to the informationpresented?

　　A. Remote-control toys are likely to produce radiation.

　　B. A DC-10 almost crashed while taking off from Chicago airport.

　　C. Walkman radios give off signals that can carry for several kilometers.

　　D. The greatest risk to DC-10 planes comes from electromagnetic interference.

　　4.According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the best advice to offersomeone who was about to travel on a plane would be______.

　　A. don‘t use any electronic devices while your plane is in the air

　　B. make sure that you are 3.5m from the cockpit before using electronic devices

　　C. tune into AM radio stations while using your walkman if the plane is in the air

　　D. check on whether the electronic devices you plan to take on board have been forbidden

　　答案

　　1.C

　　2.B

　　3.A

　　4.D

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