Which is safer --- staying at home, traveling to work on public transport, or working at 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 that 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 was caused by tons of ammonium nitrate, which is safe unless stored in a 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 of 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.
【小題1】Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A.Working at the office is safer than staying at home.
B.Travelling 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.
【小題2】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
【小題3】According to the passage, the chemical accident that caused by the fault of management happened in_________.
A.Texas city B.Flixborough
C.Seveso D.Mexico City
【小題4】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
【小題5】From the discussion among some experts we may conclude that _____.
A.to avoid any accident 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.a(chǎn)ll these accidents could have been avoided or controlled if effective measures had been taken
D.natural gas stored in very large tanks is always safe


【小題1】D
【小題2】B
【小題3】B
【小題4】B
【小題5】C

解析試題分析:文章大意為:先對(duì)比一些人類活動(dòng)的安全性,接著列舉發(fā)生在一些城市的化工事故,用數(shù)字說明那些事故造成的后果;最后文章解釋發(fā)生事故的原因。
【小題1】D 細(xì)節(jié)理解題:從文章第一段可知staying at home ="traveling" to work on public transport="working" at the office” all is very low. 根據(jù)這句子“However, what about flying compared to working in the chemical industry? Unfortunately, the former is 65 times riskier than the latter!”可知D項(xiàng)正確。
【小題2】B 細(xì)節(jié)理解題:從第二段的第一、第二句The trouble with the chemical industry is that when things go wrong they often cause death to those living nearby.It is this that makes chemical accidents so newsworthy.可知,化學(xué)工廠由于出現(xiàn)問題而引起死亡。
【小題3】B細(xì)節(jié)理解題:根據(jù)第四段第三句“The Flixborough fireball was the fault of management, which took risks to keep production going during essential repairs.”可知B正確。
【小題4】B細(xì)節(jié)理解題:根據(jù)第四段第二句“Thus the Texas City was caused by tons of ammonium nitrate, which is safe unless stored in a great quantity.”可知硝酸銨是一種不能大量存放在一起的化學(xué)物質(zhì)。故B正確。
【小題5】C 推理判斷題:A 根據(jù)常理,若不對(duì)設(shè)備進(jìn)行維護(hù),會(huì)增加發(fā)生事故的可能。所以不能避免,故排除;B 官方是應(yīng)該關(guān)系化工廠的生產(chǎn)活動(dòng)的。D 文章分明已列出氣體爆炸引起的事故,說明那不是總是安全的。所以C 正確。
考點(diǎn): 考查敘事記敘文的理解。

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Son’s Help
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