Nuclear power's(核能的) danger to health, safety, and even life itself can be described in one word: radiation(辐射).
Nuclear radiation has a certain mystery about it, partly because it cannot be detected (探测) by human senses. It can't be seen or heard, or touched or tasted, even though it may be all around us. There are other things like that. For example, radio waves are all around us but we can't detect them, sense them, without a radio receiver. Similarly, we can't sense radioactivity without a radiation detector. But unlike common radio waves, nuclear radiation is not harmless to human beings and other living things.
At very high levels, radiation can kill an animal or human being outright by killing masses of cells (细胞) in important organs (器官). But even the lowest levels can do serious damage. There is no level of radiation that is completely safe. If the radiation does not hit anything important, the damage may not be significant. This is the case when only a few cells are hit, and if they are killed outright. Your body will replace the dead cells with healthy ones. But if the few cells are only damaged, and if they reproduce themselves, you may be in trouble. They reproduce themselves in an unusual way. They can grow into cancer. Sometimes this does not show up for many years.
This is another reason for some of the mystery about nuclear radiation. Serious damage can be done without the knowledge of the person at the time that damage has occurred. A person can be irradiated(放射治疗) and feel fine, then die of cancer five, ten, or twenty years later as a result. Or a child can be born weak or easy to get serious illness as a result of radiation absorbed by its grandparents.
Radiation can hurt us. We must know the truth.
1.According to the passage, the danger of nuclear power lies in ________.
A. nuclear mysteryB. radiation detection
C. radiation levelD. nuclear radiation
2.Radiation can lead to serious results even at the lowest level ________.
A. when it kills few cells
B. if it damages few cells
C. though the damaged cells can repair themselves
D. unless the damaged cells can reproduce themselves
3.Radiation can hurt us in the way that it can ________.
A. kill large numbers of cells in main organs so as to cause death immediately
B. damage cells which may grow into cancer years later
C. affect the healthy growth of our younger generation
D. lead to all of the above results
4.Which of the following can be best inferred from the passage?
A. The importance of protection from radiation cannot be overemphasized (过分强调).
B. The mystery about radiation remains unsolved.
C. Cancer is mainly caused by radiation.
D. Radiation can hurt those who do not know about its danger.
In some ways, the United States has made some progress. Fires no longer destroy 18,000 buildings as they did in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, or kill half a town of 2,400 people, as they did the same night in Peshtigo, Wisconsin. Other than the Beverly Hill Supper Club fire in Kentucky in 1977, it has been four decades since more than 100 Americans died in a fire.
But even with such successes, the United States still has one of the worst fire death rates in the world. Safety experts say the problem is neither money nor technology, but the indifference(无所谓) of a country that just will not take fires seriously enough.
American fire departments are some of the world's fastest and best-equipped. They have to be. The United States has twice Japan's population, and 40 times as many fires. It spends far less on preventing fires than on fighting them. And American fire-safety lessons are aimed almost entirely at children, who die in large numbers in fires but who, against popular beliefs, start very few of them.
Experts say the error is an opinion that fires are not really anyone's fault. That is not so in other countries, where both public education and the law treat fires as either a personal failing or a crime. Japan has many wood houses; of the 48 fires in world history that burned more than 10,000 buildings, Japan has had 27. Punishment for causing a big fire can be as severe as life imprisonment.
In the United States, most education dollars are spent in elementary schools. But, the lessons are aimed at too limited a number of people; just 9 percent of all fire deaths are caused by children playing with matches.
The United States continues to depend more on technology than laws or social pressure. There are smoke detectors in 85 percent of all homes. Some local building laws now require home sprinklers (喷水装置). New heaters and irons shut themselves off if they are tipped.
1.The reason why so many Americans die in fires is that _____.
A. they took no interest in new technology
B. they did not pay great attention to preventing fires
C. they showed indifference to fighting fires
D. they did not spend enough money on fire equipment
2.It can be inferred from the passage that ______.
A. fire safety lessons should not be aimed only at American children
B. American children have not received enough education of fire safety lessons
C. Japan is better equipped with fire equipment than the United States
D. America's large population leads to more fires
3.Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A. There has been no great fire in the USA in recent 40 years that leads to high death rate.
B. There have been several great fires in the USA in recent 40 years that lead to high death rate.
C. There has been only one great fire in the USA in recent 40 years that led to high death rate.
D. The fire in Kentucky in 1977 made only a few people killed.
You are watching a film in which two men are having a fight. They hit one another hard. At the start they only fight with their fists. But soon they begin hitting one another over the heads with chairs. And so it goes on until one of the men crashes (撞击) through a window and falls thirty feet to the ground below. He is dead！Of course he isn't really dead. With any luck he isn't even hurt. Why? Because the men who fall out of high windows or jump from fast moving trains, who crash cars of even catch fire, are professionals. They do this for a living. These men are called stuntmen. That is to say, they perform tricks. There are two sides to their work. They actually do most of the things you see on the screen. For example, they fall from a high building. However, they do not fall on to hard ground but on to empty cardboard boxes covered with a mattress (床垫). Again, when they hit one another with chairs, the chairs are made of soft wood and when they crash through windows, the glass is made of sugar! But although their work depends on trick of this sort, it also requires a high degree of skill and training. Often a stuntman' s success depends on careful timing. For example, when he is "blown up" in a battle scene, he has to jump out of the way of the explosion just at the right moment.
Naturally stuntmen are well paid for their work, but they lead dangerous lives. They often get seriously injured, and sometimes killed. A Norwegian stuntman, for example, skied over the edge of a cliff (悬崖) a thousand feet high. His parachute (降落伞) failed to open, and he was killed. In spite of all the risks, this is no longer a profession for men only. Men no longer dress up as women when actresses have to perform some dangerous action. For nowadays there are stuntgirls too.
1.Stuntmen earn their living by ______.
A. playing their dirty tricks
B. selling their special skills
C. jumping out of high windows
D. jumping from fast moving trains
2.When a stuntman falls from a high building, ______.
A. he needs little protection
B. he will be covered with a mattress
C. his life is endangered
D. his safety is generally all right
3.Which of the following is the main factor (因素) of a successful performance?
A. Strength.B. Exactness.C. Speed.D. Carefulness.
4.What can be inferred from the author' s example of the Norwegian stuntman?
A. Sometimes an accident can occur to a stuntman.
B. The percentage of serious accidents is high.
C. Parachutes must be of good quality.
D. The cliff is too high.
Hank Viscardi was born without legs. He had not legs but stumps(残肢) that could be fitted with a kind of special boots. People stared at him with cruel interest. Children laughed at him and called him ‘Ape Man’ (猿人) because his arms practically dragged on the ground.
Hank went to school like other boys. His grades were good and he needed only eight years to finish his schooling instead of the usual twelve. After graduating from school, he worked his way through college. He swept floors, waited on table, or worked in one of the college offices. During all this busy life, he had been moving around on his stumps. But one day the doctor told him even the stumps were not going to last much longer. He would soon have to use a wheel chair.
Hank felt himself got cold all over. However, the doctor said there was a chance that he could be fitted with artificial legs(假腿). Finally a leg maker was found and the day came when Hank stood up before the mirror. For the first time he saw himself as he has always wanted to be—a full five feet eight inches tall. By this time he was already 26 years old.
Hank had to learn to use his new legs. Again and again he marched the length of the room, and marched back again. There were times when he fell down on the floor, but he pulled himself up and went back to the endless marching. He went out on the street. He climbed stairs and learned to dance. He built a boat and learned to sail it.
When World War II came, he talked the Red Cross into giving him a job. He took the regular training. He marched and drilled along with the other soldiers. Few knew that he was legless. This was the true story of Hank Viscardi, a man without legs.
1.Children laughed at Hank and called him ‘Ape Man’ because ______.
A. he didn’t talk to them
B. he kept away from them
C. his arms touched the ground when he moved
D. he couldn’t use his arms
2.It can be inferred from the story that five feet eight inches tall is ______.
A. an average height for a fully grown person
B. too tall for an average person
C. too short for an average person
D. none of the above
3.The sentence “he talked the Red Cross into giving him a job” implies that the Red Cross _____.
A. was only glad to give him a job
B. gave him a job because he was a good soldier
C. gave him a job after he talked to someone whom he knew in the organization
D. was not willing to give him a job at first
4.When Hank marched and drilled along with the other soldiers, he ______.
A. did everything the other soldiers did
B. did most of the things the other soldiers did
C. did some of the things the other soldiers did
D. took some special training
假如你是李明，对今年频繁出现的严重雾霾感触很深，认为绿色生活方式对于改善空气质量十分有益。请根据下列要点写一篇短文，向校刊“英语角”栏目投稿。
注意：词数100左右；文章开头已给出，不计入总词数。
简述雾霾情况 | 倡导绿色生活 |
持续一周左右 影响全国各地 造成极大不便 | 乘坐公交出行 节约水电纸张 …… |
Greener Life, Cleaner Air
It is not easy to forget the heavy smogs that have occurred frequently this year. _______________________________________________________________________________
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假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏子符号（/\），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误仅限1词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Dear Editor,
We are students of Senior Three. We are writing to tell you the result of the survey “To Who You Go When in Trouble ” we have had in our class. Sixty percent of the students prefer to turn on their friends or classmates. Because they think they are of same age and can understand each other better. Thirty percent of the students would rather shared their troubles with their teachers or parents. The reason is that why they are of great experienced and can be believed in. Quite a few students who think them difficult to communicate with others, would rather deal with the troubles by themselves. In our opinions, we’d better turn to our parents or teachers with help. Only in this way can we solve the problems successful.
Yours,
Wang Lin
