1 . Cars are “boxes collecting toxic(有毒的)gases” that stunt the growth of children, a leading expert has warned. Professor Sir David King said that parents should avoid driving their little ones to school and encourage them to walk instead. Vehicles(车辆)provide hardly any protection from the deadly gases, while walking is already known to be good for health.
Sir David told The Guardian: “Children sitting in the backseat of vehicles are probably breathing in polluted air. You may be driving a cleaner vehicle but your children are sitting in a box collecting toxic gases from all the vehicles around you. The best thing for all our health is to leave our cars behind. It’s been shown that the advantages of walking and cycling far outweigh the costs of breathing in pollution.” Sir David added: “If more drivers knew the damage they could be doing to their children, I think they’d think twice about getting in the car.”
His warming comes after recent research found that children’s brains slow down when they are put in high levels of air pollution. The study found pupils who breathed in toxic gases on the way to school had difficulty in performing as well as their classmates Spanish researchers said their findings appeared to show that polluted air is harming children’s brains as well as their lungs.
Toxic air is responsible for 40,000 deaths a year in the UK---and Brussels has warned Britain it could face if it continued to break EU safety rules. Former research has shown that too much polluted air will shorten people’s life length. Air pollution falls only behind cancer, obesity and heart disease in the biggest health risks to the nation, Prime Minister Theresa May recently said.
1. What does the underlined word “stunt” in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Slow down | B．Speed up |
| C．Set down | D．Keep up |
| A．It’s better to cycle or walk kids to school |
| B．Driving costs more than walking and cycling |
| C．A cleaner vehicle will not collect toxic gases |
| D．Most people have a good knowledge of toxic gases |
| A．Air pollution only affects kids’ lungs |
| B．Air pollution levels have risen in Spain |
| C．Air pollution has greatly changed kids’ character |
| D．Air pollution may worsen kids’ school performance |
| A．Ignore EU safety rules |
| B．Take steps to improve air quality |
| C．Encourage people to drive cleaner vehicles |
| D．Stop parents from driving children to school |
