1 . Road traffic accidents are caused by a number of factors which can be grouped into three categories: human factors, vehicle factors and road environment factors. Table 1 explains each factor and gives examples.
Table 1: Factors involved in road traffic accidentsFactor | Description | Example |
| Human | Things people do or don’t do | Speeding, not obeying traffic rules, using phone while driving |
| Vehicle | Things that are wrong with the vehicle | ? |
| Road environment | Things outside the vehicle that affect driving | Condition of road, time of day, weather conditions, road repairs |
One factor alone or several factors together can cause an accident. However, human actions are by far the greatest causes of car accidents. Diagram 1 shows that human factors are involved in 95% of all car accidents. Although other factors are also involved in 28% of these accidents, in 67% of cases, human factors alone are the cause of the accident.
Although behavior such as not paying attention to road, swerving to avoid an animal and eating while driving causes accidents, most road deaths are caused by speeding, driving after drinking alcohol, driving when tried and not wearing seat belts. As shown in Diagram 2, speeding is involved in more deaths than any other behavior in both city (50%) and country accidents (32%). Drivers and / or passengers not wearing seat belts is the second most common cause of road deaths.
1. Which of the following is best suited in the blank in table 1?| A．Vehicles of this type to be recalled at once. |
| B．Weak brakes, no seat belts in cars, old tyres. |
| C．250,000 people killed in car accidents in 2023. |
| D．Regular car maintenance, professional service. |
| A．Speeding kills more drivers in cities than in countries. |
| B．Two or more factors are combined to cause an accident. |
| C．Country drivers are more likely to get tired when driving. |
| D．Drunk driving cause more deaths than not wearing seat belts. |
| A．The dangers of driving a car. | B．The effects of alcohol on driving. |
| C．Human factors in road traffic accidents. | D．How to prevent deaths on our roads. |
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. |
| 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. |
| A．Humorous. | B．Aggressive. | C．Organized. | D．Expressive. |
| 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. |
