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       On a November morning in New York, Alan Pakula climbed into his Volvo and began the l00-mile drive from Manhattan to his Long Island house. The well-known movie director (Sophie's Choice, All the President’s Men) had made the mp countless tunes without incident.

       As the 70-year-old Pakula neared Exit 49 on the Long Island Expressway just before noon, a vehicle ahead of him drove over a seven-foot steel bar on the road, kicking it into the air. Within seconds, the bar shot through Pakula's car, smashing into his-forehead and killing him almost instantly. Authorities never determined where the bar came from.

       News reports called it a "freak" accident, which puts it in the same kind as other tragedies to make headlines in recent years, a 22-year-old New Jersey woman was left with broken bones after mining sharply to avoid a deer; a 24-year-old Washington woman needed major reconstructive surgery after a wall unit fell off a truck and smashed into her face; a young couple were killed by a falling tree that crushed their SUV on a suburban New York parkway.

       Though the details of each are unique, these accidents share a common, unsettling theme: the way bidden dangers on, in, and around our roads claim innocent lives.

       It is estimated that there are at least 1.6 million car accidents a year involving trees, animals and vehicle debris (碎片). A Reader's Digest analysis of government data found that in 2007, such crashes caused over 800 deaths. Even scarier: These accidents are increasing. From 2002 to 2007, deaths tied to vehicle debris jumped 43 percent, from 298 a year to 427．Animal-car deaths rose 38 percent, from 152 to 210.

       That's just part of the story. With unexpected crashes just a part of the 6.3 million accidents, 2.9 million injuries and 42, 600 road deaths, they get limited notice compared to drunk driving. That means the root causes go ignored on the documents of the government.

1．Alan Pakula was killed due to _________.

      A．his old age                                     B．a(chǎn) metal debris           

       C．his broken Volvo                             D．careless driving

2．A "freak" accident usually refers to _________.

      A．the headline of a tragedy                B．the action to avoid wild animals

      C．a(chǎn) reconstructive surgery                 D．a(chǎn)n unusual and unexpected event

3．We can infer from the text that drunk driving ________.

      A．leads to at least 1.6 million car accidents a year

      B．is the leading concern over road accidents

      C．gets limited notice by the state government

      D．is a worldwide problem never to be solved

4．The purpose of the author is __________.

       A．to explain the Cause to Alan Pakula's death

      B．to identify what the freak road accidents are

      C．to inform the public of some dangerous roads

      D．to call the government's attention to freak accidents