1 . 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

2 . Norwood, a junior High School student, was driving three friends home in St. Petersburg, when another driver crashed into her from her left and made her car hit the tree. The impact jammed shut the driver’s side door, so Norwood climbed out the front window. Two of her friends managed to get out of the car unharmed, but her 16-year-old friend Zarria didn’t. She run back to the car only to find Zarria was just sitting there reactionless.

A lot of people started to gather around to see what was happening. Norwood started yelling, “Back up, back up, she needs space.” Norwood pulled Zarria out of the back seat, avoiding broken glass from the window. “That’s when I checked her pulse on her neck. I put my head against her chest, and I didn’t really hear nothing. So that’s when I just started doing CPR on her.” Norwood told the reporter. After the 30 compressions and two rescue breaths, Zarria regained consciousness. Ambulance quickly arrived and rushed her to the hospital to receive medical help.

When Miller, Norwood’s high school teacher, learned that Norwood saved a friend just   one day after completing CPR training, she was at a loss of words and so proud. Norwood participates in the school’s Athletic Lifestyle Management Academy (ALMA). The program prepares students for various careers in health science. “We do vital signs and they learn how to take blood pressure and check pulse.” Miller introduced. And another one of the skills learned is CPR. “There are two components, a hands-on skills component where they have to demonstrate that they’re able to do CPR well, and then there’s a written test component, showing that they remember that knowledge.”

Thanks to Norwood’s quick thinking, Zarria is recovering well. She also isn’t surprised by her friend’s actions. “She will always help any way she can, so I wasn’t really shocked about that.”

1. What happened to Norwood and her friends on their way home?

A．They lost their way.	B．They suffered a car accident.
C．They crashed into another car.	D．They were stuck in a traffic jam.

2. What did Norwood do first when finding Zarria reactionless?

A．To give her first aid.	B．To ask people for help.
C．To call ambulance at once.	D．To send her to hospital immediately.

3. What can we infer about the ALMA?

A．It normally lasts for one day.

B．It is for medical students only.

C．It focuses on both theory and practice.

D．It trains students to live a healthy lifestyle.

4. Which of the following can best describe Norwood?

A．Considerate and flexible.	B．Kind and ambitious.
C．Hardworking and clever.	D．Brave and calm.

6 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

“Dad,” whispered Tarig. “Are you awake?” Dad opened his eyes. “What’s the matter, son?” Tarig couldn’t sleep and he felt that it was too hot. Maybe there’s a storm coming. All day long he felt like something was about to happen. Dad whispered back to his son, “You could be right. Go back to bed, there’s a good boy.”

Tarig shook his head. “I’m going downstairs where it’s cooler. Why don’t you come with me?” Dad refused, saying that he would stay there. Tarig went down the landing. He and his father were alone in the house. His mother and sister had gone to visit relatives. He went into the kitchen and lay on the floor. He felt cooler and fell sleep at last.

Suddenly he awoke with a shock. In the distance he could hear a roar, like thunder. It seemed to be coming closer and closer. The storm must have arrived, just as they expected. But this was no ordinary storm. Within seconds the whole house began to shake. The vase fell off the shelves with a crash. Tarig could feel the floor moving beneath him. What on earth was happening? He jumped to his feet and tried to turn on the light. It didn’t work. He reached the back door, but just then came aloud cracking noise. Next moment a pile of bricks came down around him. A terrible choking(窒息的) smell filled the air.

At last the dust cleared. Tarig was amazed to find that he was still alive. The framework of the doorway must have saved him. He called out, “Dad? Dad, are you all right?”

No answer. But he heard a rescue dog barking. He struggled to know what was going on outside, but he couldn’t move. Maybe someone was approaching here. “Are they my family? Or my relatives?”

注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Without any more thought, Tarig determined to call for help.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tarig asked where his dad was but nobody replied.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8 . Most people are hoping the recent stranding (搁浅) of the 1,300-foot, 220,000-ton Ever Given container ship (集装箱货运船) in the Suez Canal was a one-off---just a case of a very big ship getting stuck in a narrow waterway. However, more than 100 ships of similar size are passing through the world’s waterways, and even bigger ones are being built.

Capt.Andrew Kinsey, a senior marine-risk consultant (海洋风险顾问) for a global financial services firm, says with heavy weather in the North Pacific Ocean over the past year, a lot of containers are going overboard (落水). Part of the problem is the way the ultra-large ships handle at sea with towering stacks (堆叠) of containers, especially in strong winds.

Alan Murphy, chief executive of a container-shipping research and advisory firm in Copenhagen, Denmark, says it’s difficult to know whether there has been an increase in the number of containers going overboard or if trans-Pacific container losses over the past year have just received more attention.In a November report, the World Shipping Council found the number of such incidents to be falling in recent years, although the report does not cover 2020. There is no central database for reporting container losses, so it’s not known exactly how many containers fall overboard, Murphy says.

Murphy says container ships are often fully loaded nowadays, as demand for consumer products has jumped during the corona virus pandemic. “In the past, these huge ships have never really sailed as fully loaded as they are now,” he says.“Obviously, the more the ship carries, the greater the risk of an incident happening.”

“The stranding of Ever Given in the Suez Canal is a warning,” Kinsey says.“We’ve been bring up the issue of size in our yearly safety and shipping review and in papers for over five years.”

Carrying more containers needs bigger and wider ships, which means it is harder for them to sail through narrow waterways like the Suez Canal and move when they get stuck.

1. What can we imply from paragraph 1?

A．It might be a tough task to build bigger ships.

B．Costs of overseas shipments might rise sharply.

C．There might be changes in the world’s waterways.

D．More accidents like the recent stranding might happen.

2. What did the World Shipping Council find in the November report?

A．No database for reporting container losses had been created.

B．Trans-Pacific container losses had received more attention.

C．The number of container losses had dropped in recent years before 2020.

D．More container losses happened in 2020 than in the past few years.

3. What leads to fully loaded container ships nowadays according to Murphy?

A．The extreme weather.	B．The increasing size of ships
C．The slow transportation.	D．The growing demand for consumer goods.

4. What do Kinsey’s words in the 5^th paragraph show?

A．Warnings about the risks of stranding are given yearly.

B．Concern about larger ships has been voiced for some time.

C．Some container ships can carry as many goods as Ever Given.

D．Ships bigger than Ever Given won’t be allowed through the Suez Canal.