第六篇：

Car Thieves Could Be Stopped Remotely遥远地

Speeding off超速行驶 in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch2. But he is in a nasty3 surprise. The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer, and a radio signal from a control center miles away will ensure that once the thief switches the engine ____1____, he will not be able to start it again.

For now, such devices _____2____ only available for fleets of trucks4 and specialist vehicles used on construction sites. But remote immobilization technology could soon start to trickle慢慢地移动 down to ordinary cars,5 and ______3____ be available to ordinary cars in the UK____4____ two months.

The idea goes like this. A control box fitted to the car incorporates6 ____5_______ miniature cellphone, a microprocessor and memory, and a GPS7 satellite positioning receiver. ____6____ the car is stolen, a coded cellphone signal will tell the unit to block the vehicle’s engine management system and prevent the engine _____7___ restarted.

There are even plans for immobilizers ____8____ shut down vehicles on the move8, though there are fears over the safety implications of such a system.

In the UK, an array of9 technical fixes10 is already making _____9_____ harder for car thieves. “The pattern of vehicles crime has changed,” says Martyn Randall of Thatcham, a security research organization based in Berkshire11 that is funded in part _____10______ the motor insurance industry.

He says it would only take him a few minutes to _____11______ a novice新手, 初学者 how to steal a car using a bare minimum of tools12. But only if the car is more than 10 years old.

Modern cars are a far tougher艰苦的 proposition任务：13, as their engine management computer will not _____12____ them to start unless they receive a unique ID code beamed out 14 by the ignition key. In the UK, technologies like this _______13______ achieve a 31 per cent drop in vehicle-related crime15 since 1997.

But determined criminals are still managing to find other ways to steal cars. Often by getting hold of the owner’s keys in a burglary. In 2000, 12 per cent of vehicles stolen in the UK were taken using the owner’s keys double the previous year’s figure.

Remote-controlled immobilization system would _____14_____ a major new obstacle in the criminal’s way by making such thefts pointless. A group that includes Thatcham, the police, insurance companies and security technology firms have developed standards for a system that could go on the market sooner than the ____15____expects.

1. A) off         B) on         C) at         D) of

2. A) is          B) was        C) were      D) are

3. A) can         B) have to     C) need to    D) should

4. A) after        B) for         C) in        D) at

5. A) the         B) /           C) a         D) an

6. A) With        B) If          C) But       D) And

7. A) helping      B) being       C) get        D) be

8. A) whose       B) who        C) that        D) when

9. A) life          B) cars        C) warning    D) problem

10. A) about        B) to         C) by         D) on

11. A) use          B) inform     C) ask        D) teach

12. A) let          B) allow       C) make       D) give

13. A) have helped   B) helped      C) had helped  D) was helped

14. A) speak        B) have        C) link        D) put打断；

15. A) lawyer       B) doctor       C) customer    D) specialist