While drunken driving may be on the decline, traffic safety experts remain puzzled over how to deal with another alcohol related danger: drunken pedestrians(行人).
Pedestrians struck and killed by cars often are extremely drunk. In fact, they are intoxicated(喝醉的) more frequently and with higher blood alcohol levels than drunken drivers who are killed in accidents, various studies have shown. Forty percent of adult pedestrians involved in fatal crashes have a blood alcohol level of at least 0.10 which by law in most states signifies intoxication compared to only 25 percent of drivers in deadly accidents, according to recent federal data.
Some types of pedestrain accidents have been declining nationally, especially those involving children, but the number of adult pedestrians who are drunk when killed in traffic has remained relatively steady at 2500 a year. The total number of pedestrians killed annually in U.S. traffic accidents is at least 7000, or one of every seven highway accidents resulting in death.
“We’re dealing here, we think, with a very severe drinking problem that leads to a severe highway safety problem,” said Richard Blomberg, president of Dunlap and Associates Inc, in Norwalk, Coon.
Blomberg, whose consulting company found a very high rate of alcohol involvement in a controlled study of pedestrian accidents in New Orleans, was among several researchers who spoke on the topic at the annual meeting of the Research council’s Transportation Research Board(TRB) in Washington in January.
Pedestrian accidents have not received enough attention in the past, according to Kay Colpitts, who chairs the board’s committee on pedestrians. Few methods exist to monitor walking habits, she said, and researchers have been mystified（迷惑不解） about how to prevent disasters.
1.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A. Traffic Safety.
B. Drunken Drivers.
C. Drunken Pedestrian Accidents.
D. A Severe Highway Safety Problem.
2.Among the causes of walkers’ accidents, the most serious problem is ________.
A. long delays in traffic signals that may make people cross streets ignoring traffic rules
B. the alcohol level in their blood which is too high.
C. a lack of adult keeping eyes on many children involved in accidents
D. former drunken drivers whose licenses are not allowed to use for a time
3.According to recent federal data, drunken drivers with an over 0.10 blood alcohol level in deadly accidents ____.
A. are 15 percent less than drunken adult walkers with the same level
B. are 2500 a year in US traffic accidents
C. are at least 7000 in US traffic accidents
D. make up one seventh of highway accidents
4.According to the passage, what is Blomberg?
A. A researcher.
B. A specialist in traffic safety.
C. A clerk of a consulting company.
D. A government official
Across the rich world, well-educated people increasingly work longer than the less-skilled. Some 65% of American men aged 62-74 with a professional degree are in the workforce, compared with 32% of men with only a high-school certificate. This gap is part of a deepening divide between the well-education well off and the unskilled poor. Rapid technological advance has raised the incomes of the highly skilled while squeezing those of the unskilled. The consequences, for individual and society, are profound.
The world is facing as astonishing rise in the number of old people, and they will live longer than ever before. Over the next 20 years the global population of those aged 65 or more will almost double, from 600 million to 1.1 billion. The experience of the 20th century, when greater longevity translated into more years in retirement rather than more years at work, has persuaded many observers that this shift will lead to slower economic growth, while the swelling ranks of pensioners will create government budget problems.
But the notion of a sharp division between the working young and the idle old misses a new trend, the growing gap between the skilled and the unskilled. Employment rates are falling among younger unskilled people, whereas older skilled folk are working longer. The divide is most extreme in America, where well-educated baby-boomers (二战后生育高峰期出生的美国人) are putting off retirement while many less-skilled younger people have dropped out of the workforce.
That even the better-off must work longer to have a comfortable retirement. But the changing nature of work also plays a big role. Pay has risen sharply for the highly educated, and those people continue to reap rich rewards into old age because these days the educated elderly are more productive than the preceding generation. Technological change may well reinforce that shift: the skills that complement computers, from management knowhow to creativity. Do not necessarily decline with age.
1.what is happening in the workforce in rich countries?
A. younger people are replacing the elderly
B. well-educated people tend to work longer
C. unemployment rates are rising year after year
D. people with no college degree do not easily find work
2.what has helped deepen the divide between the well-off and poor?
A. Longer life expectancies
B. Profound changes in the workforce
C. rapid technological advance.
D. A growing number of well-graduated.
3.what do many observers predict in view of the experience of the 20th century?
A. Economic growth will slow down.
B. Government budgets will increase.
C. More people will try to pursue higher education
D. There will be more competition in the job market.
4.What is the result of policy changes in European countries?
A. Unskilled workers may choose to retire early.
B. more people have to receive in-service training.
C. Even wealthy people must work longer to live comfortably in retirement.
D. People may be able to enjoy generous defined-benefits from pension plans.
5.What is characteristic of work in the 21st century?
A. Computers will do more complicated work.
B. More will be taken by the educated young.
C. Most jobs to be done will be creative ones.
D. Skills are highly valued regardless of age.
完形填空，阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项A、B、C和D中，选出空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A certain good woman one day said something that hurt her best friend of many years. She regretted it immediately and would have done anything to have taken the words back. So she went to an older, wiser woman in the village and advice.
Listening to her, the older woman the younger woman’s distress and knew she must help her. She also knew she could ease her pain, but she could teach.
Then, she said. “There are things you need to do. The first is extremely difficult. Tonight, Take your best pillows and open a small hole in each one. Then, the sun rises, you must put a single feather on the doorstep of each house in town. When you are through, to me. If you’ve done the first thing , I’ll tell you the second.”
The young woman hurried home to prepare for her chore, the pillows were very to her and very expensive.
All night long, she went from doorstep to doorstep. Her fingers were . The wind was so sharp that it caused her eyes to water, but she ran on through the streets, that there was something she could do to put things the way they once were. Finally she placed the last feather on the steps of the last house. Just as the sun rose, she returned to the older woman.
She was exhausted but ,thinking that her efforts would be rewarded.
“Now,” said the wise woman, “Go back and your pillows. Then everything will be as it was before.”
The young woman was stunned, “You know that’s impossible! The wind each feather as fast as I placed them on the doorsteps! You didn’t say I had to get them back! If this is the second , then things will never be the same.”
“That’s true,” said the older woman. “Never forget. Each of your words is like a feather in the wind. Once , no amount of effort, how heartfelt or sincere, can ever return them to your mouth. Choose your words well and guard them most of all in the presence of those you love.”
1.A. asked about B. asked for C. asked to D. ask around
2.A. witnessed B. touched C. guessed D. sensed
3.A. ever B. almost C. never D. seldom
4.A. one B. two C. three D. four
5.A. feather B. leather C. woolen D. cotton
6.A. when B. after C. as D. before
7.A. come back B. go back C. put back D. draw back
8.A. promptly B. absolutely C. completely D. unfortunately
9.A. so as to B. even though C. now that D. in spite of
10.A. hard B. rare C. nice D. dear
11.A. freezing B. freezingly C. froze D. frozen
12.A. brightened B. widened C. darkened D. broadened
13.A. amazing B. lucky C. thankful D. surprising
14.A. on B. up C. off D. back
15.A. tired B. relieved C. grateful D. nervous
16.A. refill B. get C. purchase D. seek
17.A. blew up B. blew on C. blew away D. blew over
18.A. requirement B. situation C. consequence D. circumstance
19.A. speak B. spoken C. speaking D. being spoken
20.A. however B. whatever C. although D. regardless
— Can I look at the menu before I make an order?
— Of course. ___________, madam.
A. Take your time B. Don’t mention it
C. Never mind D. Help yourself
Is this TV set___ you wish to have___?
A. the one; repaired B. which; it repaired
C. the one; it repaired D. which; repaired
Shut the window, ______ it’ll get too cold in here.
A. so B. yet C. but D. otherwise
