This “Singing Highway”plays music

難詞探意

1. rumble /'r?mbl/ n. 隆隆聲

2. veer /v??(r)/ v. 改變方向

3. vibrate /va?'bre?t/ v. 振動

4. strain /stre?n/ v. 拉緊；竭力

In terms of famous roads, it's impossible to top Route 66. The two-and-a-half-thousand-mile highway stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles has earned its place in the history books, with songs and even a TV show named after it. But even on this famous road, there's one stretch that stands out.That's because it plays music.

In 2014, the New Mexico Department of Transportation teamed up with National Geographic to create this unique landmark. They chose a 490-yard stretch of Route 66 (about a quarter of a mile) located in New Mexico, between mile markers 4 and 5 as you travel east between the cities of Albuquerque and Tijeras. A group of engineers at San Bar Construction Corp. installedrumblestrips in the road, similar to the type that jars your car if youveerout of your lane. These strips, however, do something much more pleasant. They cause cars driving over them tovibrate, producing sounds with a certain pitch. Those sounds combine to form a recognizable tune: the chorus of the patriotic hit America the Beautiful.

And the best part is that you don't even have tostrainto hear it. The song is pretty clearly audible. The one thing you do have to do is drive the speed limit. The song will only be recognizable if your car hits the rumble strips going 45 miles per hour. And there's a reason for this. In addition to being a cool landmark, the singing highway has another purpose: curbing speeding. National Geographic pitched the idea as part of its series“Crowd Control”, which looks at experiments exploring the habits of the masses (such as speeding) and whether they can be altered.

And don't worry about missing this experience. Signs next to the road let drivers know when the stretch is coming up, reading “Musical Road Ahead” and “Reduce to 45 mph to hear the song”. Once you reach the stretch itself, you'll be able to see white music notes painted on the road.

Reading

Check

1. One stretch of Route 66 is famous because .

A. it can play music

B. its landmark is cool

C. cars are sensitive to it

D. many songs are named after it

2. What's the meaning of the underlined word in paragraph 3?

A. Recording.

B. Limiting.

C. Checking.

D. Adjusting.

3. How do drivers know the stretch is coming up?

A. By playing music in their car.

B. By limiting their speed to 45 mph.

C. By observing signs next to the road.

D. By setting GPS in the car or on the phone.