2 . I was in seat 10F next to the emergency exit. A few minutes after take-off there was a loud explosion. Everybody gasped (倒抽气) and there were a few screams. Then, surprisingly, it went very quiet — everyone was assessing the situation.

It soon became obvious we weren’t going back to LaGuardia Airport and that we were heading for the water. I started thinking this was it. Then I heard the announcement, ‘This is the captain, brace for impact,’ and everything suddenly got clear. I had to stop thinking about death, and instead, about what I should do once the pilot landed in the water. ‘You sat in this seat,’ I thought, ‘you’ve got to get this door open.’

At about 300 feet (91.5 meters), I started reading the instructions. There were six steps, and I had just read them two or three times when we hit the water. It felt like the worst car crash you could imagine. Fortunately, I’d just read the instructions and managed to get the door open. The wing was sinking lower and lower. I walked out onto it and walked as far along as I could to make room for other people. It was freezing, and nobody had a jacket. Some people were underwater to their waists.

It felt like half an hour before we saw the first ferry, though it could have been only five or ten minutes. I was fourth onto the ferry, and I started helping people onto the boat. To our relief, everyone had survived the crash.

I got through the whole incident by taking it one step at a time: get the door open, throw the door out, figure out if you’re sinking. I just kept on doing that until I reached solid ground. Only then did I go into the men’s room and cry for a few minutes.

1. After hearing a loud explosion, what did passengers, including the writer, do?

A．They put on life jackets as instructed.

B．They tried to figure what had happened.

C．They couldn’t help shouting for help on end.

D．They asked the pilot to fly to LaGuardia Airport.

2. What did the writer think helped him open the emergency exit successfully?

A．He sat by the emergency exit.	B．He had an experienced neighbor.
C．He was once taught how to open it.	D．He read and understood the instructions.

3. Which of the following words best describes the writer?

A．Humorous.

B．Aggressive.

C．Organized.

D．Expressive.

4. Which of the following statements is true of the air crash?

A．No one got killed in it.	B．It happened at the end of the trip.
C．The pilot managed to land the plane safely.	D．A ferry came to the rescue the moment it happened.

4 . SOUTH PARIS, Maine For eight students in the Wilderness Leadership class at Oxford Hills High School, a three-day weekend hike in the White Mountain National Forest sounded like a fun, challenging course requirement.

But when a storm dumped up to 3 feet of snow on western Maine, a harsh learning experience turned into a crash course in winter survival.

Reported missing from their scheduled meeting place in Gilead at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, the eight students and two teachers were not found until 11 a.m. yesterday [Monday], after a pilot spotted the group moving in rugged snow-blanketed area. The discovery followed an unsuccessful ground search by volunteers on snowshoes.

After the group was reported missing Sunday, volunteers hiked 3 miles into the woods to look for the students. The five-hour effort turned up nothing and the decision was made to wait until yesterday morning to also canvass the area by air.

A Maine Warden Service pilot lifted off and spotted the group close to their intended trail at about 11 a.m. Strong airflow prevented him from descending toward the hikers but the group clearly recognized the plane as part of a search team.

“They waved at the plane. They laid down, spread out, and waved,” said Mark Latti, a spokesman for the Maine Warden Service. “The pilot then guided a search party into their location.”

1. Before yesterday, the three-day weekend hike was supposed to be a _____.

A．fun and relaxing excursion	B．ridiculous course requirement
C．crash course for wilderness survival	D．challenging learning experience

2. The underlined word “canvass” in paragraph 4 probably means _____.

A．intrude

B．search

C．harvest

D．exploit

3. Which of the following is in the correct order?
① The group was reported missing.
② A pilot spotted the group in the snow-blanket area.
③ A rescue team arrived at the site of the accident.
④ A volunteer search group set out to look for the students.
⑤ The hikers waved to make themselves discovered.

A．①②④⑤③	B．①④⑤②③
C．①④②⑤③	D．①③④②⑤

4. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．The volunteers gave up the search at last because of the airflow.

B．The pilot succeeded in landing besides the hikers.

C．The hikers almost stuck to their planned route in spite of the heavy snow.

D．The search party went into the woods by air, and saved the students out.

5 . 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 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 explosion was caused by tons of ammonium nitrate (硝酸氨), 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 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.

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.

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

3. 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

4. From the discussion among some experts we may conclude that ________.

A．natural gas stored in very large tanks is always safe

B．to avoid any accidents we should not repair the facilities in chemical industry

C．all these accidents could have been avoided or controlled if effective measures had been taken

D．the local authorities should not be concerned with the production of the chemical industry