文章大意:这是一篇新闻报道。俄罗斯警方开展了一项新的尝试,他们在马身上画上条纹,让马在商业街上走来走去,希望以此提高司机们的安全意识,提高道路安全。文章分析了这项运动背后的原因以及动物保护组织对这种做法的态度。
To improve road safety and raise awareness among Russia’s notoriously (臭名昭著地) careless drivers, Russian police have tried to get drivers to slow down at zebra (斑马) crossings by having painted horses as zebras walk across on the busiest streets in some of the big cities.
The light grey horses, painted with black stripes (条纹), carried signs on their backs reading: “Careful, children are on their way to school.” The police sent the “zebras” to several different locations in the Russian capital, where officials in orange vests walked them over zebra crossings and handed out leaflets (传单) to passing drivers.
Some held up rainbow-coloured umbrellas over the painted animals to protect them from the rain. Russian roads are notoriously dangerous and drivers still rarely take steps to avoid pedestrians (行人). Nearly half of all traffic accidents in the country’s big cities are caused by cars hitting pedestrians, and a third of those occur on crossings, according to traffic police figures published last month.
In the first six months of this year, 378 people were killed and more than 6, 600 injured on pedestrian crossings in Russia, according to police. In Moscow alone, 43 people were killed, including two children.
Though police officials said that only safe paint would be used on the animals, animal rights activists still disagreed with the idea, accusing the police of “treating animals like garbage”.
“Children understand that paints are bad for animals,” the Interfax news agency quoted (引用) president of Vita animal rights group Irina Novozhilova as saying.
Let’s hope this part of the campaign is over and animals are left out of future attempts to raise pedestrians’ awareness.
11. Why do Moscow police have “zebras” walk across on the busiest streets?
A.To make a call on protecting animals. |
B.To raise drivers’ awareness of road safety. |
C.To tell people it is dangerous to cross streets. |
D.To remind people zebras are in danger of extinction. |
12. From the text we can learn that ______.
A.the driving skills of Russian drivers are bad. |
B.Russian drivers often ignore traffic lights. |
C.Russian drivers seldom give way to pedestrians |
D.most Russian drivers have realized the seriousness of the problem. |
13. What do animal rights activists think of the new attempt?
A.Drivers must slow down at pedestrian crossings. |
B.Road safety should be improved. |
C.The paints used on the horses are safe. |
D.These animals are ill-treated by the police. |
14. Which word can best describe the author’s attitude towards the campaign?
A.Critical. | B.Confident. | C.Doubtful. | D.Positive. |