Mind reading crash course

Transcript

Stopped in the nick of time!

This road safety system uses lasers to detect potential hazards. If the driver doesn’t brake, the car does.

Now a new Swiss project is looking to take things further by reading drivers’ minds.

Researchers are testing its viability by monitoring brainwaves to see if they can predict the driver’s next move.

The hope is technology could intervene to prevent accidents.

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Vocabulary

in the nick of time - just in time

road safety - driving without accidents

hazards - dangers

viability - workability

intervene - act on behalf of someone else

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Exercise

Use one of the words or phrases below to complete each of these sentences from a BBC news report.

Note that you may have to change the form of a word to complete the sentence correctly.

in the nick of time / road safety / hazzards / viability / intervene

1. An iceberg of the size expected will need to be monitored carefully, and not just because it could eventually become a __________ to shipping. The biggest icebergs can have a major impact on their surroundings.

2. During the debate Mr Cameron said a no-fly zone had "effectively been put in place over Libya". He added: "It is also clear that coalition forces have helped to avert what could have been a bloody massacre in Benghazi. In my view they did so just _______________."

3. Twenty soldiers also died in fighting in the central city of Homs. Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, has warned western powers not to _________ - saying that could cause what he called an "earthquake" that would burn the whole of the Middle East.

4. Plans have been announced to improve ___________ in a Staffordshire town. The scheme includes installing a pedestrian crossing and improving a footpath close to where a person was knocked down and killed, in 2009.

5. Even the __________________ of the euro has always been in question, with its creation having been seen by many to have been driven by political rather than economic reasoning. The crisis has just brought all of these issues firmly into focus, but quite what will happen in the long run is of course speculation.

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Answers

1. An iceberg of the size expected will need to be monitored carefully, and not just because it could eventually become a hazard to shipping. The biggest icebergs can have a major impact on their surroundings.

Huge iceberg forms in Antarctica

کلیک http://bbc.in/uCTAoR

2. During the debate Mr Cameron said a no-fly zone had "effectively been put in place over Libya". He added: "It is also clear that coalition forces have helped to avert what could have been a bloody massacre in Benghazi. In my view they did so just in the nick of time."

MPs back United Nations action against Col Gaddafi

کلیک http://bbc.in/fP6ykA

3. Twenty soldiers also died in fighting in the central city of Homs. Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, has warned western powers not to intervene - saying that could cause what he called an "earthquake" that would burn the whole of the Middle East.

Syria's Assad warns of 'earthquake' if West intervenes

کلیک http://bbc.in/sjZAYU

4. Plans have been announced to improve road safety in a Staffordshire town. The scheme includes installing a pedestrian crossing and improving a footpath close to where a person was knocked down and killed, in 2009.

Tamworth roadworks scheduled to improve safety

کلیک http://bbc.in/mULqT6

5. Even the viability of the euro has always been in question, with its creation having been seen by many to have been driven by political rather than economic reasoning. The crisis has just brought all of these issues firmly into focus, but quite what will happen in the long run is of course speculation.

Is the world facing fundamental changes?