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 ,Flixborough , Seveso , Pemex and Bhopal 。
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,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 cant be stored in a great quantity
C.poisonous substance, which cant be used in overcrowded areas
D.fuel, which is stored in large tanks
答案:1.B 2.D 3.A 4.C 5.B
上一篇: 大学英语六级阅读模拟题及答案(十)
下一篇: 大学英语六级阅读模拟题及答案(十三)
【新人教版】(广东专版)高三英语一轮复习同步精练(附解析):必修5 Unit 3 Life in the future(附解析)
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:Module9 Units 1—2
2017《夺冠之路》高三外研版英语一轮复习课件(山西专用):选修8_M2_Renaissance
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:Module7 Unit 1 Living with technology
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:语法部分 第4讲 形容词和副词
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:Module1 Unit 2 Growing pains
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:语法部分 第9讲 状语从句
2017《夺金之路》高三英语人教版一轮复习课件(安徽专用):1-3
【新人教版】(广东专版)高三英语一轮复习同步精练(附解析):必修5 Unit 4 Making the news(附解析)
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:Module4 Unit 1 Advertising
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:Module7 Unit 3 The world online
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:Module5 Unit 3 Science versus nature
2017《夺冠之路》高三英语人教版一轮复习课件(安徽专用):课时作业11
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:Module1 Unit 1 School life
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:语法部分 第2讲 冠词
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:Module8 Unit 1 The written word
2017《夺金之路》高三英语人教版一轮复习课件(安徽专用):2-3
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:语法部分 第10讲 非谓语动词
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:Module4 Unit 2 Sporting events
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:Module3 Unit 2 Language
2017《夺冠之路》高三英语人教版一轮复习课件(安徽专用):课时作业10
2017《夺冠之路》高三英语人教版一轮复习课件(安徽专用):课时作业12
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:Module9 Units 3—4
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:语法部分 第1讲 名词与主谓一致
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:Module5 Unit 2 The environment
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:Module10 Units 3—4
2017《夺金之路》高三英语人教版一轮复习课件(安徽专用):1-2
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:Module7 Unit 4 Public transport
【新人教版】(广东专版)高三英语一轮复习同步精练(附解析):必修5 Unit 5 First aid(附解析)
2017江苏《夺冠之路》高三英语【牛津译林版】一轮复习精品学案:Module8 Unit 2 The universal language