Which is safer-staying at home, traveling to work on public transport, or working in the office? Surprisingly, each of these carries the same risk, which is very low. However, what about flying compared to working in the chemical industry? Unfortunately, the former is 65 times riskier than the latter! In fact, the accident rate of workers in the chemical industry is less than that of almost any of human activity, and almost as safe as staying at home.
The trouble with the chemical industry is that when things go wrong they often cause death to those living nearby. It is this which makes chemical accidents so newsworthy. Fortunately, they are extremely rare. The most famous ones happened at Texas City (1947),Flixborough (1974), Seveso (1976), Pemex (1984) and Bhopal (1984)。
Some of these are always in the minds of the people even though the loss of life was small. No one died at Seveso, and only 28 workers at Flixborough. The worst accident of all was Bhopal, where up to 3,000 were killed. The Texas City explosion of fertilizer killed 552. The Pemex fire at a storage plant for natural gas in the suburbs of Mexico City took 542 lives, just a month before the unfortunate event at Bhopal.
Some experts have discussed these accidents and used each accident to illustrate a particular danger. Thus the Texas City explosion was caused by tons of ammonium nitrate(硝酸铵),which is safe unless stored in great quantity. The Flixborough fireball was the fault of management, which took risks to keep production going during essential repairs. The Seveso accident shows what happens if the local authorities lack knowledge of the danger on their doorstep. When the poisonous gas drifted over the town, local leaders were incapable of taking effective action. The Pemex fire was made worse by an overloaded site in an overcrowded suburb. The fire set off a chain reaction os exploding storage tanks. Yet, by a miracle, the two largest tanks did not explode. Had these caught fire, then 3,000 strong rescue team and fire fighters would all have died.
1.Chemical accidents are usually important enough to be reported as news because ____.
A.they are very rare
B.they often cause loss of life
C.they always occur in big cities
D.they arouse the interest of all the readers
2.Which of the following statements is true?
A.Working at the office is safer than staying at home.
B.Traverlling to work on public transport is safer than working at the office.
C.Staying at home is safer than working in the chemical industry.
D.Working in the chemical industry is safer than traveling by air.
3.According to passage, the chemical accident that caused by the fault of management happened at ____.
A.Texas city B.Flixborough C.Seveso D.Mexico City
4.From the discussion among some experts we may coclude that ____.
A.to avoid any accidents we should not repair the facilities in chemical industry
B.the local authorities should not be concerned with the production of the chemical industry
C.all these accidents could have been avoided or controlled if effective measure had been taken
D.natural gas stored in very large tanks is always safe
5.From the passage we know that ammonium nitrate is a kind of ____.
A.natural gas, which can easily catch fire
B.fertilizer, which can't be stored in a great quantity
C.poisonous substance, which can't be used in overcrowded areas
D.fuel, which is stored in large tanks
1.B 2.D 3.A 4.C 5
暂无解析
Part IV Translation
The captain realized that the men tried to deceive him so he made them work very hard for the rest of the voyage. (Passage One)
翻译训练:地域特色文明
文明是多彩的,人类文明因多样才有交流互鉴的价值。文明是平等的,人类文明因平等才有交流互鉴的前提。文明是包容的,人类文明因包容才有交流互鉴的动力。
当今世界,人类生活在不同文化、种族、肤色、宗教和不同社会制度所组成的世界里,各国人民形成了你中有我、我中有你的命运共同体。应该推动不同文明相互尊重、和谐共处,让文明交流互鉴成为增进各国人民友谊的桥梁、推动人类社会进步的动力、维护世界和平的纽带。应该从不同文明中寻求智慧、汲取营养,为人们提供精神支撑和心灵慰藉,携手解决人类共同面临的各种挑战。
翻译:
Thecaptainrealizedthatthementriedtodeceivehimsohemadethemworkveryhardfortherestofthevoyage.(PassageOne)
翻译:
最近,一些地方大学开始将方言列为某些学生的必修课程,学生们要学习当地方言,然后被评分以作为毕业的依据之一。一方面,支持此种做法的人认为,将方言列为必修课可防止其消失,从而使当地传统文化和文化多样性得以弘扬,同时城市独特的个性得以保留。另一方面,反对此种做法的人争论说,当地学生与外地学生相比有很多绝对优势,因此将方言列为必修课会引起教育不公平的问题。而且,将方言列为必修课程还会引起一些其他问题,如教材使用、师资问题和考试标准等。在我看来,方言作为传统文化不可缺少的一部分和一种交流工具,可以让学生自愿学习和使用,而不是强制完成。
Part III Cloze
Directions: There are twenty blanks in the following passage. For each blank there are four choices. Choose the one that best fits into the passage and then marks your answer on the Answer Sheet.
What makes a child speak a language has long been a puzzle to linguists. 61 speaking, there are two schools of linguists, both of whom try to explain 62 a child picks up a language so easily. The fact that a child picks a language 63 is 64 : At one year old, a child is able to say “bye-bye”; at two, he is able to use fifty; by there he begins to 65 tenses. The famous American linguist Noam Chomsky 66 that human being have a sort of built-in system for language use, and that the 67 is 68 . Children are not taught language 69 they are taught arithmetic. Other linguists, 70 , hold the view that a child learns 71 of his language from the hints in the environment. 72 , theorists of both schools 73 that there is a biological basis for language use. The 74 is which is more important, the inner ability or the environment. This is certainly a field 75 to be explored. Researchers from both schools are busy finding evidence to 76 their own theory, but 77 side is persuading the other.
It seems that in order to 78 why a child learns a language so easily, we have to 79 the joint efforts of both schools. Some linguist, like De Villiers, has recognized the value of cooperation, and 80 linguists of both sides to work together.
61. A. Surprisingly B. Personally C. Properly D. Roughly
62. A. that B. when C. why D. how
63. A. independently B. naturally C. without help D. with ease
64. A. confusing B. surprising C. questioned D. suspected
65. A. master B. study C. have D. get
66. A. doubts B. believes C. realizes D. criticizes
67. A. help B. teacher C. environment D. hint
68. A. quite essential B. very important C. not necessary D. only secondary
69. A. as B. for C. when D. though
70. A. in particular B. as a result C. however D. therefore
71. A. a little B. some C. nothing D. most
72. A. Before B. From now on C. Just now D. By now
73. A. suspect B. disagree C. agree D. realize
74. A. case B. argument C. problem D. question
75. A. waiting B. planning C. never D. unlikely
76. A. provide B. create C. supply D. support
77. A. not a B. one C. neither D. either
78. A. find out B. rule out C. search for D. look for
79. A. get rid of B. trust in C. rely on D. persist in
80. A. ordered B. criticized C. challenged D. urged