Question

       While in-car satellite navigation systems are considered a great surprise of the technological age, they are also destroying our ability to read maps and weakening our very sense of self, according to one of the nation’s leading geographers.

       Rita Gardener, president of the Royal Geographical Society, said, “If you are looking at a road map of Great Britain, apart from looking at roads, you will get a feel for the natural environment you are moving through and that will tell you something about the economy and the history.”

       “An ability to place oneself in a spatial (空间的) setting in this way is important,” Dr Gardner added, “because it provides an insight (洞察力) into the societal, environmental and economic changes that govern all our lives. It also sharpens our hunter instincts (本能) and sense of discovery.”

       “Look, for example, at a map of rural East Anglia,” she said, “and you will see the route from Cambridge to the coast with the A14 running through it. You’ll see that Bury St Edmunds has grown dramatically in the last 15 years because there are lots of new development and new light industry. This tells you that it is on the route between the Midlands and the coast at Harwich and it has benefited from increased traffic to the Continent.” She said, “You would get none of that information from a sat-nav.”

       While emphasizing the importance of being able to read a map, Dr Gardner is less concerned about teaching children to memorize maps of continents, rivers and capital cities. A recent survey by National Geographic Kids magazine found that 20 per cent of children in Britain cannot find their own country on a world map, she said.

       “It is much more important that kids know about major continents and different climate zones than that they know the name of a particular country, providing they know how to look it up in a map.”

       “What’s important is that when they fly on holiday from Manchester to Malaga, they have an understanding that they are moving into a different geographical zone and they know why the Mediteranean landscape is different from what they see at home,” she said.

1．The passage mainly deals with _____.

      A．the importance of geography knowledge in our life

       B．the differences between sat-nav systems and maps

       C．the importance of the ability to read maps

       D．the advantage of a sat-nav system

2．What does the underlined word “it” refer to in Paragraph 4?

       A．Harwich                                             B．Midlands

C．Bury St Edmunds                                D．East Anglia

3．In Dr Gardner’s opinion, kids in Britain _____.

      A．should memorize all the continents, rivers and capital cities in maps

       B．had better fly to Malaga to realize different landscapes between Mediterranean and UK

       C．should master some basic principles of geography

       D．can turn to a sat-nav for help for a lack of geography knowledge

4．Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

       A．The road map tells us more than just the route from one place to another.

       B．We can tell the history and economy of a region with the help of a sat-nav.

       C．A sat-nav contains as much information as a map.

      D．Children who know about different climate zones can find their own country in a world map.

Answer 1

CCCA