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 accident at Lake Sherwood was in our backyard. An SUV(运动型多用途车)had gone off the road, down a hill, and collided with a tree. When we heard the wreck, I remembered to say “call199”. My family was the first on the scene. Nick, my son, was on the cell phone with 911. He saw a friend who was a victim in the crash who was a 15 years old girl who was badly disfigured and had died instantly. It was a terrible scene.
There had been six people in the truck, all between 15 and 17 years old. My husband and I checked all the victims, and I picked one who was conscious and stayed with him. I talked with him and had him lay on the ground. When I asked him if he was hurt, he said he was sore all over. When help arrived, they asked me to stay and continue working with them. I did as Debbie Romine, .my instructor, said in class, and did what they wanted. They even said thank you before they left.
The sheriff deputies came by Saturday night to get our statements and play the 911 tape back, so Nick could identify all the voices in the background. They said over and over that the way he handled the call was the best they had heard in a long time. He was calm and worked with them even when he saw his friend who had died. The Sheriff’s Department is sending some people over to help us work through our emotions.
The first aid and CPR course I took in January really helped me. I just didn’t expect to put it to good use so soon.
Pennyd. Miller
Kansas State Dept of Education, Topeka
1. According to the passage, in case of an emergency, people should dial__________.| A．110 | B．120 | C．800 | D．911 |
| A．A girl. | B．The writer. | C．Debbie Romine. | D．Nick. |
| A．To arrest the offender. | B．To offer them help. |
| C．To get their statements. | D．To help them. |
| A．The writer is a doctor. |
| B．All the people in the car were killed in the accident. |
| C．Debbie Romine offered much help to the victims. |
| D．The writer took a first aid and CPR course in January. |
| A．the first aid and CPR course in January really helped the writer |
| B．the writer’s family were affected emotionally by the accident |
| C．the victims were all conscious after the accident |
| D．the police arrived long after the accident |
﹡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. |
There has been a rise in road traffic accidents from the beginning of this year until Friday, the Traffic Police (TP) said in a statement on Saturday. TP recorded 36 deadly accidents which resulted in 38 deaths, or an increase of three severe accidents and four deaths, respectively, compared with the same period last year. The rise was due mainly to victims who were motorcyclists and vehicle passengers. The top causes of deadly accidents since the beginning of this year were failing to keep a proper lookout, failing to have proper control of the vehicle, and pedestrians crossing roads without paying attention to traffic. ( May 31, 2019)
【写作内容】
1. 用约30个单词概述上述信息的主要内容；
2. 结合上述信息，简要分析导致道路交通事故的主要原因；
3. 根据你的分析，就如何降低道路交通事故的发生率，提出你的建议（不少于两条）。
【写作要求】
1. 写作过程中不能直接引用原文语句；
2. 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；
3. 不必写标题。
【评分标准】
内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。
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5 . 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 |
6 . “What is civilization?” asked Kenneth Clark 50 years ago in the BBC series on the subject. “I don’t know, and I can’t define it in abstract terms, yet. But I think I can recognise it when I see it, and I’m looking at it now.” And he turned to gesture behind him, at the soaring Gothic towers and flying buttresses of Notre Dame.
It seems inhuman to care more about a building than about people. That the sight of Notre Dame going up in flame has attracted so much more attention than floods in southern Africa which killed over 1,000 arouses understandable feelings of guilt. Yet the widespread, intense grief at the sight of the cathedral’s collapsing steeple (尖塔) is in fact profoundly human—and in a particularly 21st-century way.
It is not just the economy that is global today, it is culture too. People wander the world in search not just of jobs and security but also of beauty and history. A building on whose sunny steps you have rested, in front of which you have taken a selfie with your loved one, becomes a warm part of your memories and thus of yourself. That helps explain why China is in mourning—WeChat, young China’s principal means of talking to itself, has been throbbing with the story, and XiJinping, the country’s president, sent a message of condolence (慰问) to Emmanuel Macron, his French counterpart—while India was largely indifferent. Tourism from India to the West is a stream compared with the flood from China.
This visual age has blessed beauty with new power, and social media have turned great works of art into superstars. Only a few, though, have achieved this status. Just as there is only ever a handful of world-famous actors, so the number of globally recognisable cultural symbols is tiny: the Mona Lisa, Michelangelo’s David, the Taj Mahal, the Great Pyramid—and Notre Dame. Disaster, too, is visual. In the 24 hours after the fire started videos on social media of the burning cathedral were viewed nearly a quarter of a billion times.
Yet the emotions the sight aroused were less about the building itself than about what losing it might mean. Notre Dame is an expression of humanity at its collective best. Nobody could look up into that vaulted ceiling without wondering at the genius of the thousands of anonymous craftsmen who, over a century and a half, realised a vision so grand in its structural ambition and so delicate in its hand-chiselled detail. Its survival through 850 years of political turbulence—through war, revolution and Nazi occupation—binds the present to the past.
The fire also binds people to each other. The outpouring of emotion it has brought forth is proof that, despite the dark forces of division now abroad, we are all in it together. When nationalism is a rising threat, shared sadness makes borders suddenly irrelevant. When politics is polarised, a love of culture has the power to unite. When extremism divides Muslim from Christian and religious people from atheists, those of all faiths and none are mourning together. An edifice (宏伟建筑) built for the glory of God also represents the unity of the human spirit.
And it will be rebuilt. The morning after the fire, the many Parisians who went to the cathedral to mourn its destruction found comfort instead. Although the spire is gone, the towers are still standing and it seems likely that the whole building can be revived. The effort to rebuild it, like the fire, will bring people together. Within 24 hours,￡6000m ($677m) had been raised from businesses and rich people, and a lot of crowdfunding campaigns started. A high-resolution laser scan of the building, carried out recently, should help.
It will never be the same, but that is as it should be. As Victor Hugo wrote in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, a three-volume love-letter to the cathedral: “Great edifices, like great mountains, are the work of centuries. Art is often transformed as it is being made...Time is the architect, the nation is the builder.”
1. What do the first two paragraphs imply?| A．We should feel guilty about ignoring the floods in southern Africa. |
| B．People in modern times tend to care a lot about history and civilization. |
| C．The destruction of a historic building is more serious than the loss of life. |
| D．The human civilization is gone with the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral. |
| A．Familiarity produces affection. |
| B．A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
| C．Absence makes the heart grow fonder. |
| D．Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. |
| A．news has wings in the age of social media nowadays |
| B．only a few cultural symbols can become world-famous |
| C．disasters become more powerful with some visual effect |
| D．cultural symbols have taken on new meanings in the visual age |
| A．the destruction of its artistic and time-honored ceiling |
| B．the fading of its structure with carefully made details |
| C．the loss of the link between the past and the present |
| D．the death of the unknown craftsmen who created it |
| A．Technological support is more important than anything else in the rescue work. |
| B．The fire has united everyone in the world to focus on the restoration of the cathedral. |
| C．Donations were made overnight, most of which were from the rich businesses and people. |
| D．Influenced by the disaster, people with different beliefs have abandoned their prejudices. |
| A．Notre Dame like any other art should be transformed |
| B．time heals everything and we will soon forget the sorrow |
| C．the rebuilt Notre Dame will not enjoy the same reputation |
| D．time constantly gives Notre Dame new meaning and value |
7 . “WHAT IS CIVILIZATION?” asked Kenneth Clark 50 years ago in the seminal BBC series on the subject. “I don’t know, and I can’t define it in abstract terms, yet. But I think I can recognize it when I see it, and I’m looking at it now.” And he turned to gesture behind him, at the soaring Gothic towers and flying buttresses of Notre Dame.
It seems inhuman to care more about a building than about people. That the sight of Notre Dame going up in flames has attracted so much more attention than floods in southern Africa which killed over 1,000 arouses understandable feelings of guilt. Yet the widespread, intense grief at the sight of the cathedral’s collapsing steeple is in fact profoundly human—and in a particularly 21st-century way.
It is not just the economy that is global today, it is culture too. People wander the world in search not just of jobs and security but also of beauty and history. Familiarity breeds affection. A building on whose sunny steps you have rested, in front of which you have taken a selfie with your loved one, becomes a warm part of your memories and thus of yourself. That helps explain why China is in mourning—WeChat, young China’s principal means of talking to itself, has been throbbing with the story, and Xi Jinping, the country’s president, sent a message of condolence to Emmanuel Macron, his French counterpart—while India was largely indifferent. Tourism from India to the West is a trickle compared with the flood from China.
This visual age has endowed beauty with new power, and social media have turned great works of art into superstars. Only a few, though, have achieved this status. Just as there is only ever a handful of world-famous actors, so the pantheon of globally recognizable cultural symbols is tiny: the Mona Lisa, Michelangelo’s David, the Taj Mahal, the Great Pyramid—and Notre Dame. Disaster, too, is visual. In the 24 hours after the fire started videos on social media of the burning cathedral were viewed nearly a quarter of a billion times.
Yet the emotions the sight aroused were less about the building itself than about what losing it might mean. Notre Dame is an expression of humanity at its collective best. Nobody could look up into that vaulted ceiling without wondering at the cumulative genius of the thousands of anonymous craftsmen who, over a century and a half, realized a vision so grand in its structural ambition and so delicate in its hand-chiselled detail. Its survival through 850 years of political turbulence—through war, revolution and Nazi occupation—binds the present to the past.
The fire also binds people to each other. The outpouring of emotion it has brought forth is proof that, despite the dark forces of division now abroad, we are all in it together. When nationalism is a rising threat, shared sadness makes borders suddenly irrelevant. When politics is polarized, a love of culture has the power to unite. When extremism divides Muslim from Christian and religious people from atheists, those of all faiths and none are mourning together. An edifice built for the glory of God also represents the unity of the human spirit.
And it will be rebuilt. The morning after the fire, the many Parisians who went to the cathedral to mourn its destruction found comfort instead. Although the spire is gone, the towers are still standing and it seems likely that the whole building can be revived. The effort to rebuild it, like the fire, will bring people together. Within 24 hours, €600m ($677m) had been raised from businesses and rich people, and a rash of crowdfunding campaigns started. A high-resolution laser scan of the building, carried out recently, should help.
It will never be the same, but that is as it should be. As Victor Hugo wrote in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, a three-volume love-letter to the cathedral: “Great edifices, like great mountains, are the work of centuries. Art is often transformed as it is being made…Time is the architect, the nation is the builder.”
1. What’s the writer’s attitude towards the fact that people care more about a building than floods in Africa?| A．indifferent | B．critical |
| C．confused | D．understandable |
| A．sympathy | B．compliment |
| C．gratitude | D．agreement |
| A．Because Indians care more about jobs and security. |
| B．Because Indians have no access to social media like WeChat. |
| C．Because Indians have less familiarity with Notre Dame. |
| D．Because Indians are not fond of travelling. |
| A．People are more sad about losing the building than about what losing it might mean. |
| B．Not only does Notre Dame bind the present to the past but also binds people to each other. |
| C．Owing to the big fire, people around the world will unite forever despite their differences. |
| D．Unrest existed in history for quite a long time and it still exists now. |
| A．the high-resolution laser scan of the building helps but far from enough |
| B．it’s impossible to replicate (复制) it for lack of the cumulative genius of craftsmen |
| C．dark forces, nationalism and extremism are barriers to replicating it |
| D．time has changed and the rebuilding will change accordingly |
| A．What is civilization? | B．Why do people care about Notre Dame? |
| C．What binds people together? | D．How should we rebuild Notre Dame? |
1. What is the distance between the woman’s house and the new supermarket?
| A．One block away. | B．Two blocks away. | C．Three blocks away. |
| A．Its goods are cheaper. | B．Its environment is nicer. | C．Its workers are friendlier. |
| A．A racing club. | B．A car exhibition. | C．A driving school. |
| A．Strange. | B．Common. | C．Challenging. |
1. What do we know about the man?
| A．He was questioned by the security men. |
| B．He flew back home in the next flight that day. |
| C．He was the last passenger who boarded the plane. |
| A．The Greek didn't board the plane as he lost his boarding pass. |
| B．189 people from 35 countries died in the Ethiopian air crash. |
| C．Many people suspected Boeing of being responsible for the crashes. |
| A．A Lucky Flight. | B．A Narrow Escape. | C．A Deadly Crash. |
注意：每个空格只填1个单词。请将答案写在答题卷上相应题号的横线上。
A total of 604 people injured in a chemical plant explosion on March 21 in Xiangshui, Jiangsu Province were still receiving medical care in nearby medical facilities, including 19 in critical condition and 98 seriously wounded. The fire quickly spread to 16 neighboring enterprises, with the latest death toll at 64.
At the same time, rescuers were busy inspecting chemical plants damaged in the explosion for possible poisonous substance leaks. Since the explosion, six rounds of search and rescue missions have been launched, and the search area has been expanded from 1.1 square kilometers to 2 sq km. More than 4,500 medical workers and 116 ambulances have so far participated in rescue work. The National Health Commission sent 16 leading experts to treat the injured. As of the noon of March 24, victims were being treated in 16 hospitals. Specialized treatment plans had been made for every patient. Psychologists have also been sent to help the recovery of the patients, their relatives and rescuers. Workers have been sent to comfort the families of the killed. The bodies will be treated according to ethnic and religious customs where applicable.
Sang Shulou, 36, discharged from the hospital after receiving treatment, with signs of obvious injury on his face, said that he was blessed to have survived the explosion that happened just 100 meters away from him. “I was driving a car passing the explosion site when the car was pushed away fiercely by the wave,” he said.
More than 1,600 homes near the explosion site have been repaired. Owners of homes beyond repair will receive compensation and assistance in moving to new homes.
The State Council, China’s Cabinet, has set up a special investigation group to look into the explosion. The investigation would be thorough. It also severely criticized the local government and the company involved for their not learning lessons from previous environmental violations and failing to make effective corrections, Official records show that the concerned company had been punished several times before for taking advantage of safety loopholes and violating environmental protection regulations. Chenjiagang Chemical Park also experienced several similar safety accidents over the past few years.
| Outline | Information about a chemical plant explosion |
| Introduction | On March 21, a chemical plant |
| Rescue work | ※ Potential poisonous stuff release was being inspected. ※ Search area has been expanded. ※ For the treatment of the injured, sixteen experts from The National Health Commission were ※ Patients have also received ※ Comfort is provided for the families of the killed, whose bodies will be treated, (75) ※ Damaged houses have been mended. Those, whose houses are beyond repair, will be assisted and (76) |
| A (77) | Sang Shulou, released from hospital, expressed he was in luck to weather the disaster, in which his car shook due to a fierce explosion wave. |
| Investigation | ※ The accident will be (78) ※ Local government and the involved company has received severe criticism for (79) ※ Chenjiagang Chemical Park underwent considerable safety accidents alike. |
