The main structure of Notre-Dame cathedral (巴黎圣母院) — including the two bell towers — has been saved after firefighters worked through the night to put out the big fire.
Now that it has been put out, experts have been able to explain the difficulties fire crews faced as they fought to save such a large, historic building.
A complex flammable (易燃的) roof?
It’s not yet known exactly how the Notre-Dame fire began, but it appears to have started near the top, eventually spreading across the rest of the wooden roof.
Gregg Favre, former commander at St Louis Fire Department in the US, pointed out how flammable the building is. He explained on Twitter: “Let’s pause to remember how fires actually burn. It involves key elements like fuel, oxygen, heat and a chemical chain reaction.” Unfortunately, none of these elements are easy to remove in this case.
“To start with, removing the fuel is a no go. Churches have no shortage of things to burn. Although a huge oak beam(梁) is generally difficult to get burning, as smaller timbers (木材) fuel the fire and the temperature rises, the timbers will eventually ignite (点燃) in a phenomenon known as a flashover.”
“The heat that a fire this size is putting off is terrific. Little options for interrupting that. The chemical chain is off to the races.”
“That leaves the oxygen. Unsurprisingly, even if the roof had not burnt off, churches are nearly impossible to control ventilation (通风) in. Their design is to be open and airy. Great for Sunday worship, terrible for managing fire spread.”
Dumping water from above?
As the fire burned, US President Donald Trump suggested that flying water tankers (罐车) could be brought in to fight the flames from above.
Professor Rein, the head of Imperial College London’s fire-studying Hazelab said“ Trump wasn’t the first person to come up with the suggestion, however, it was not a good idea because it would have damaged the structure of the cathedral, collapsing the walls”.
The force of water coming from an air tanker is strong and no-one has been trained to use one in a city. He added that Monday’s fire was “not the time to test this”.
How safe can they make Notre-Dame?
Professor Rein says that “fire engineering” will need to be considered when reconstructing the cathedral. Fire engineering is now in place in modern landmarks such as the Shard in London.
“We keep seeing these buildings go up in flames like this. However, it’s relatively easy to prevent. Notre-Dame should install sprinklers (消防喷淋).” he said.
Much as the Notre-Dame fire is a tragedy, information from studying it will be priceless in protecting other buildings.
| Background | Despite difficulties, firefighters | |
Elements | The roof is made up of flammable wood, so Heat and chemical chain are also hard to get | |
Dumping water from above doesn’t make | The strong force of water would have put the structure of the cathedral at | |
| Conclusion | Fire engineering should be considered in the protection of heritage sites in an effort to avoid | |
2 . The phone rang. I waited for the answering machine to get it, but for some reason, it was not picking up. I sighed, annoyed because I knew the call was either going to be for my wife, Susan (she was the only one who received calls on the home line, and she left to take Alyce to school ten minutes ago), or it was the latest of 300 attempts to sell me something I had absolutely no interest in.
''Hello, '' I said, an edge in my voice. 12-year-old daughter, ''Mommy was just in a car accident. '' My heart stopped and then began pounding. ''Are you all right? '' ''Yes. '' ''Is Mommy? '' A deep sob. ''I don't know…I don't think so. Come quick. '' I rushed a few blocks to what looked like a shoot for a disaster movie. Fire engines, police cars, and ambulances were randomly parked in the street; helicopters circled. A city bus was on the wrong side of the road. In front of it were the smashed remains of Susan's car. Susan was pinned under the dashboard (仪表盘). There was no front windshield (挡风玻璃).
Alyce was standing on the corner crying, covered in tiny pieces of glass but uninjured. Inconceivable! Susan wasn’t so lucky. But she was alive. It turned out that she had broken nearly every bone in her body, and she would spend almost three months in the hospital.
More than two years later, Susan and I were at a musical event. Our director, Danny, rushed up to us. He said excitedly, ''There's a woman here tonight from one of the church choirs who you have to meet! '' He returned with an African American woman with a bright, glowing smile. She told us she lived in the apartment building by where the accident had happened. That morning, she had rushed to the street, still in her bathrobe, and seen Alyce standing by the side of the wrecked car, crying. She approached her, asking, ''Is that your mom in there? '' Alyce nodded, and the woman said, ''Let's pray together. ''
Sweet, innocent Alyce looked at this woman wearing a cross around her neck and told her that she needed to call me, but her backpack with her phone was trapped inside the crushed vehicle. So the woman lent Alyce her phone. After the accident, she said, she had continued to pray for our family. We had our picture taken together, and as we were saying goodbye, she hugged us all warmly. We realized we had never been formally introduced, so she said to me, ''I'm sorry, I never got your name. '' I told her it was Doug, and she paused, as if maybe she hadn't heard me. I repeated, ''Doug, like Douglas. '' She looked at us and said, ''Wait, your name is Susan? '' Susan nodded. ''And your name is Douglas? '' The woman put her hand over her heart. ''Oh my goodness, '' she said. ''My name is Susan Douglas. ''
1. Which of the following is true according to the passage?| A．Both the author's wife and the daughter were not severely injured. |
| B．The author was calm when he heard about the accident. |
| C．The author was the only one who received calls on home line. |
| D．The author rushed to the accident like a shoot. |
| A．Innocent. | B．Unconscious. |
| C．Incredible. | D．Unfortunate. |
| A．They were from the same church choir. |
| B．She witnessed the whole accident and offered to help two years ago. |
| C．She shared the same first name with the author's wife. |
| D．She would like to talk about her experience and had a picture taken. |
| A．The Bus Crash Angel | B．The Unwanted Call |
| C．An Expected Crash | D．A Fun Encounter |
﹡After the fire, what now?
Bishop Patrick Chauvet, Notre Dame (巴黎圣母院)’s manager, admitted that the famous building would close for “five to six years” as he spoke with local business owners Wednesday. He added that it was unclear what the church’s 67 employees would be doing in the future. French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that he wanted the church rebuilt in five years.
﹡What are the new rules?
While tourists can’t go inside the site itself, the area still may prove popular to those paying their respects. Visitors are welcome to write messages of support in both the main and local city halls.
The island that houses the church has been closed and the people there have been evacuated since the fire. Paris businessmen who depend on Notre Dame tourism are worried about the church’s future as well as their own.
﹡
It’s known that spring is a busy time for tourists in Paris. The travel company recommends people visit other places, like the Basilique Saint-Denis, the Sacre-Coeur and so on. Those who tend to observe church services during Holy Week are advised to go to Saint-Eustache.
﹡Looking ahead to rebuilding
It seems rebuilding can begin, since firefighters put out the fire early Tuesday, more than 12 hours after nearly 400 firefighters had battled the flames that changed the city’s skyline. Two policemen and one firefighter were not badly injured, according to the Paris Fire Service.
A large campaign to raise money already is underway to rebuild the church. Up to Wednesday, donations came to $1 billion.
1. What does the underlined word “evacuated” mean?| A．removed | B．examined | C．accused | D．ruined |
| A．Saint-Eustache is favored by tourists. |
| B．Tour companies offer other choices. |
| C．Church culture develops fast in Paris. |
| D．The best time to visit Paris is spring. |
| A．The government will arrange work for 67 employees. |
| B．Visitors will be forbidden to leave messages anywhere. |
| C．Churches in Paris will also be examined and repaired. |
| D．More money will be donated for the rebuilding project. |
4 . They had to get many people out of the burning building as quickly as they could. So they told them to jump out of the window.
The first one out of the window was a man. He was followed by his two children. Next, a baby and then the baby's mother came flying out of the third-storeyed window, all driven by desperation and the smoke that was coming from the apartment. Brian Smith and Corey Boykin helped them all. "We caught everything that came out of the window. " Smith said.
A fire started on the second floor. "I got my family out," said Smith. "Then I started banging on doors on the first floor. I tried getting to the second floor, but the smoke was too black. I couldn't see; I couldn't breathe. So I turned around and came outside. That's when I saw people hanging out of the window.”
Boykin was at his friend Melanie Nunemaker's house, across the street from the apartment. He knew something was wrong when he saw a baby drop out of the window. Catching the child below was Smith.
Boykin ran to a nearby house to get a ladder and rushed back to help. He found Smith with his arms outstretched, shouting," Jump! I get you. "He caught several people. Boykin climbed the ladder to warm people on the third floor to turn around and come toward him because they couldn't see through the smoke.
And he wasn't finished. When Boykin saw his burnt-out neighbors，he took 20 of them back to Nunemaker's house. "They gave us clothes，shoes，whatever they had-and we didn't，"one of the neighbors Chase Ray said, "They saved us."
1. Why did people jump from the building？| A．They faced deadly threat. | B．Their houses were damaged. |
| C．Their doors were locked. | D．They knew they would be safe. |
| A．He got his family out. | B．He came to the rescue. |
| C．He caught a dropping baby. | D．He started banging on doors. |
| A．Nunemaker and Chase Ray. | B．Smith and Nunemaker. |
| C．Chase Ray and Boykin. | D．Boykin and Smith. |
| A．We didn't give clothes to others. | B．We didn't live comfortably. |
| C．We didn't have these things. | D．We didn't accept these things. |
| A．A Heroic Act | B．"Help" |
| C．An Accident | D．Four Men |
5 . PARIS-A scaffolding(脚手架) firm that has worked on the roof of Notre Dame said some of its workers had smoked on the site, but ruled out that a cigarette butt(烟蒂) might have started the fire that destroyed the cathedral’s oak-framed roof last week.
A spokesman for family-owned Le Bras Freres, confirming a report in French weekly Le Canard Emchaine, told Reuters that some workers of its Europe Echafaudage scaffolding unit had informed police that they had "sometimes “smoked the scaffolding, despite a smoking ban on the site.
“We blame it. But the fire started inside the building... so for company Le Bras Freres this is not a hypothesis(假设 )， it was not a cigarette butt that set Notre Dame de Paris on fire, "Le Bras Freres spokesman Mare Eskenazi said. The Canard Enchaine reported that police had found the remains of seven cigarette butts in the burnt-out cathedral. “This is not wrong, "said a source close to the investigation, who declined all other comment. Eskemazi said it was impossible to set a log on fire with a cigarette butt and questioned how cigarette butts could have been found on the site. " If cigarette butts have survived the fire, I do not know what material they were made of, "he said
Europe Echaffaudage also ruled out the possibility that the fire might have been started by an electricity incident at one of the two lifts on the site. " The lifts' electricity was perfectly within specifications and well maintained. "he said. He added that the two lifts were on the outside of the building, situated at 45 and 65 meters from the base of the spire( 尖顶), where the first smoke and flames had been spotted and that the workers had cut the power to the lifts at 17: 50 when they had left the site for the day.
The Canard Enchaine also reported that electrical wiring ran through the roof of the cathedral, but the church administration denied that safety norms had not been respected. “Nothing was ever done without the approval of the state.....There were no wires dangling everything was properly installed, "Notre Dame spokesman Andre Finot said. In 2012,electrical engines had been installed to sound the bells in the spire.
1. Why did Le Bras Errs spokesman Mare Eskenazi disagree that cigarette butts had caused the fire?| A．Because no one had thrown a cigarette butt on a log |
| B．Because there is a smoking ban on the site of Notre Dame. |
| C．Because the cigarette butts couldn't have survived the big fire |
| D．Because no cigarette butts had been found in the burnt-out cathedral |
| A．The two lifts were on the inside of the building of Notre Dame |
| B．The two lifts were situated at the same height from the base of the spire. |
| C．The lifts' electricity was perfectly within specifications and well maintained. |
| D．The workers forgot to cut the power to the lifts when they left the site for the day |
| A．Set or kept apart. |
| B．Hang or swing loosely |
| C．Have the parts or elements linked together. |
| D．Put somewhere so that it is ready to be used |
| A．Scaffolding firm says workers smoked at Paris' Notre Dame |
| B．Scaffolding firm blames workers' smoking at Paris Notre Dame |
| C．Scaffolding firm is investigating the cause of the fire at Paris' Notre Dame |
| D．Scaffolding firm says cigarette butts might have started the fire at Paris' Notre Dame |
6 . Most people agree that being a good driver means being safe and not aggressive on the road. One debate some people still argue, however, is who drives better: men or women? Although it’s impossible to say that one gender drives better than another definitively, there are some noteworthy trends.
Male drivers tend to have more accidents
Data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) shows that male drivers tend to have more total accidents than females. The IIHS, an independent non-profit devoted to reducing car accidents, also found that 71 percent of all motor vehicle crash deaths in 2017 were males. Although the gap has narrowed, almost every year from 1975 to 2017, the number of male crash deaths was more than twice the number of female crash deaths, per the IIHS.
Women might be less-confident behind the wheel
Although male drivers have more accidents, other research shows women aren’t “perfect” drivers, either. Researchers from the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute studied traffic accidents over 20 years and found that female drivers are more likely to run into a car driven by another woman than a man. The study, however, doesn’t explain possible reasons for this pattern.
One that they might consider testing in the future is that some research also shows women are less-confident behind the wheel than men. A study from UCLA exploring the relationship between new drivers’ skills and different variables, including gender(性别), shows female students were less confident drivers than men.
So are men better drivers than women?
Gender is just one factor when it comes to safe driving, along with others such as age, and even the time of day people drive. One study shows that both genders have a greater accident risk when driving at night, but males still have a higher risk at all times of the day. Driving quality also changes based on location, too, as some states are more dangerous than others. Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that Wyoming, Mississippi, and Montana have high accident death rates, without regards to gender. It goes to show that everyone should learn and practice safe driving habits instead of worrying about who drives better.
1. According to the data from the IIHS, what is the percentage of males among car accident victims before 2017?| A．Bigger than 71% | B．Smaller than 71% | C．Exactly 71% | D．Not clear. |
| A．In recent years, the number of car accidents caused by males is twice as much as that that by females. |
| B．Researchers have found out why there's higher possibility for women drivers to run into each other. |
| C．While driving in the daytime, male drivers have a greater accident risk than female drivers. |
| D．Many studies have shown that females are better and safer drivers than males. |
| A．factors | B．varieties | C．phenomena | D．consequences |
| A．Science | B．News | C．Culture | D．Traffic |
7 . Ahead of the summer travel season , airlines in the United States usually compete to sell tickets and fill seats. But the airlines that operate the grounded Boeing 737 Max planes have a new problem : there are not enough seats to meet the demand .
The revenue(收益)is right in front of them . They can see it , but they can’t meet it , said Mike Trevino. He is an airline industry expert for Southwest Airlines Pilots Association .
The grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max came after two deadly crashes in five months . Southwest Airlines is the world’s largest 737 Max operator. The company has 34 of the planes .
American Airlines operates the second-most, with 24. These planes have been removed from use until at least August, The grounding of the planes has led Southwest to cancel 160 of its 4,200 daily flights between June 8 and August 5.
American Airlines will cancel 115 daily flights, or 1.5 percent of its total summer flights . Southwest only flies Boeing 737s. It had estimated $ 150 million in lost revenue between February 20 and March 31 --- mostly because of MAX cancellations .
The 737 Max was grounded worldwide in March following a deadly Ethiopian Airlines crash . It came five months after a Lion Air crash in Indonesia. All on board both planes died .
Boeing is under pressure to provide additional software. Experts are examining the original software as a possible reason for the crashes .
Boeing must prove to worldwide regulators that the plane is safe to fly. That process may take more than 90 days. Planes in the United States are usually mostly full during the months of June , July and August .
1. It can be inferred from the second paragraph that__________.| A．the competition among the airlines is becoming more and more fierce |
| B．Boeing needs some time to prove to the world that their 737 Max planes are safe |
| C．after the two deadly crashes, more and more have decided not to travel by air |
| D．Southwest Airlines suffers the most in revenue |
| A．About 4,200. | B．About 115. | C．About 160. | D．About 7,600. |
| A．The terrible management of the airlines. |
| B．The inexperience of the pilots. |
| C．A bug in the operating system. |
| D．The pressure from Boeing. |
| A．some ways to fill the seats |
| B．how to earn enough with each seat |
| C．how long the problem will last |
| D．how to deal with the increasing cost |
8 . Notre-Dame de Paris, a cathedral church in Paris, is the most famous of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages. For the French, it represents something immortal, ever-present and unchanging, like a mountain. Built over almost two centuries, the Notre-Dame is, as President Emmanuel Macron said, “where the French lived all their great moments”. Soldiers prayed here before leaving for the Crusades; Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned here; it survived the French Revolution, two World Wars and the Nazi occupation. It is where men bend their knees to profess love and thousands of tourists take photos every day.
A fire, whose cause was not identified yet, engulfed(吞没), on April 15th, the cathedral's upper structure. More than 400 firefighters took part in the 15-hour battle to control the blaze(火苗) that triggered sorrow over the globe. The extent of the damage is still unknown, but the fire destroyed much of the gothic cathedral’s wood-timbered roof and spire(塔尖). The cathedral will certainly be restored (the French government promises), but the sight of flames bringing down the spire moved the world in a manner far exceeding its religious significance.
French Culture Minister Franck Riester on Thursday said the government would draw all the consequences from the huge flames that destroyed the centuries-old Notre Dame Cathedral, adding measures to protect the national heritage were on the table. “Staff from the fire department, the culture ministry and the city town hall rushed to the Cathedral, when the fire started, to protect the main artworks that were inside. The artworks, which include relics such as the Christ's crown of thorns and French king Saint-Louis's 13th century tunic, were first moved to the city town hall and will now be transferred to the nearby Louvre Museum .” the minister told Le Parisian newspaper in an interview without giving details on the possible measures.
1. What can we learn about the Notre-Dame de Paris?| A．It is the most well-known cathedral. | B．Most of the French think little of it. |
| C．It was built by Napoleon Bonaparte. | D．It’s still in existence after two World Wars. |
| A．destroyed. | B．avoided. | C．caused. | D．prevented |
| A．Only the spire was brought down by the flames. |
| B．It was completely burnt in the fire. |
| C．The gilded crown of thorns in it was gone forever. |
| D．The cause of the accident to the Cathedral was still unknown. |
| A．Rebuild the cathedral. |
| B．Rescue the artworks inside the cathedral. |
| C．Transfer the relics to the nearby Louvre Museum. |
| D．Release the cause of the fire to the public. |
