2022高考英语试卷(2022年高考英语全国甲卷)

Goffin's cockatoos, a kind of small parrot native to Australasia, have been shown to have similar shape-recognition abilities to a human two-year-old. Though not known to use tools in the wild, the birds have proved skilful at tool use while kept in the cage. In a recent experiment, cockatoos were presented with a box with a nut inside it. The clear front of the box had a "keyhole" in a geometric shape, and the birds were given five differently shaped "keys" to choese from. Inserting the correct "key" would let out the nut.

戈芬的凤头鹦鹉是一种原产于澳大拉西亚的小鹦鹉，它的形状识别能力相当于两岁儿童。尽管野外的这些鸟不知道使用工具，但事实证明，在笼中长大的可以熟练使用。最近的一次实验中，给凤头鹦鹉一个盒子，盒子里有一颗坚果。盒子正面有一个几何形状的“钥匙孔”，给这些鸟五个不同形状的“钥匙”让它们从中选择。插入正确的“钥匙”坚果会掉出来。

In humans, babies can put a round shape in a round hole from around one year of age, but it will be another year before they are able to do the same with less symmetrical shapes. This ability to recognize that a shape will need to be turned in a specific direction before it will fit is called an "allocentric frame of reference". In the experiment, Goffin's cockatoos were able to select the right tool for the job, in most cases, by visual recognition alone. Where trial-and-error was used, the cockatoos did better than monkeys in similar tests. This indicates that Goffin's cockatoos do indeed possess an allocentric frame of reference when moving objects in space, similar to two-year-old babies.

人类的婴儿大约一岁左右就可以在圆孔中放入圆形物品，但要想在对称性较差的情况下也能做到这一点，还需要一年的时间。这种能够识别形状需要朝特定方向转动才能匹配的能力被称为“异中心参照系”。在实验中，戈芬的凤头鹦鹉能够在大多数情况下仅通过视觉识别来选择合适的工具。经过反复试验，类似的测试中，凤头鹦鹉比猴子表现更好。这表明，当在空中移动物体时，戈芬的凤头鹦鹉确实具有异中心参照系，类似于两岁的婴儿。

The next step, according to the researchers, is to try and work out whether the cockatoos rely entirely on visual clues, or also use a sense of touch in making their shape selections.

根据研究人员的说法，下一步是尝试确定凤头鹦鹉是完全依赖视觉线索，还是在选择形状时也使用触觉。

Can a small group of drones guarantee the safety and reliability of railways and, at the same time, help railway operators save billions of euros each year? That is the very likely future of applying today's "eyes in the sky" technology to making sure that the millions of kilometres of rail tracks and infrastructure worldwide are safe for trains on a 24/7 basis.

一小群无人机可以保证铁路的安全和可靠性，同时帮助铁路运营商每年节省数十亿欧元吗？这就是应用当今“空中之眼”技术确保全世界数百万公里的铁路轨道和基础设施全天候安全的未来。

Drones are already being used to examine high-tension electrical lines. They could do precisely the same thing to inspect railway lines and other vital aspects of rail infrastructure such as the correct position of railway tracks and switching points. The more regularly they can be inspected, the more railway safety, reliability and on-time performance will be improved. Costs would be cut and operations would be more efficient across the board.

无人机已经被用来检查高压电线。它们可以做同样的事情来检查铁路线路和铁路基础设施的其他重要方面，如铁路轨道和变轨点的正确位置。越是定期检查，铁路的安全性、可靠性和准时性就越高。全面削减成本，提高运营效率。

That includes huge savings in maintenance costs and better protection of railway personnel safety. It is calculated that European railways alone spend approximately 20 billion euros a year on maintenance, including sending maintenance staff, often at night, to inspect and repair the rail infrastructure. That can be dangerous work that could be avoided with drones assisting the crews' efforts.

这可以节省大量维护成本，更好地保护铁路人员安全。据计算，仅欧洲铁路维护每年就要花费约200亿欧元，包括派遣维护人员（通常在夜间）检查和维修铁路基础设施。这是件危险的工作，无人机协助工作人员则可以避免。

By using the latest technologies, drones could also start providing higher-value services for railways, detecting faults in the rail or switches, before they can cause any safety problems. To perform these tasks, drones for rail don't need to be flying overhead. Engineers are now working on a new concept: the rail drones of the future. They will be moving on the track ahead of the train, and programmed to run autonomously. Very small drones with advanced sensors and AI and travelling ahead of the train could guide it like a co-pilot. With their ability to see ahead, they could signal any problem, so that fast-moving trains would be able to react in time.

通过使用最新技术，无人机还可以开始为铁路提供更高价值的服务，在铁路或道岔出现任何安全问题之前检测出故障。为了执行这些任务，铁路无人机不需要在头顶飞行。工程师们现在正在研究一个新概念：未来的轨道无人机。它们将在列车前方的轨道上移动，编制好程序自动运行。配备先进传感器和人工智能的微型无人机可以像副驾驶一样引导列车前行。凭借它们的前瞻能力，它们可以发出任何问题的信号，以便快速行驶的列车能够及时做出反应。