第二篇 Red for Danger
On 5 October 1999, a local train in west London went through a red light and ran into another one. As a result, more than 30 people died. This kind of error can’t be made in Spain or in Sweden. Nor can the French high-speed-train, the TGV, go through a red light. All these trains are protected by automatic train protection (ATP), which stops trains if they pass through a red light.
In the end we may never know why the driver, who died in the accident, went through the red light. But the evidence points to a system failure. Eight other drivers had been through the same red light in recent years.
Humans make errors. Technology is less likely to fail concerning many repetitive(重复性的医.学全在线提供
www.lindalemus.com) tasks. And we can find in the statistics for railway accidents. Britain’s accident rate is 0.36 deaths for every billion kilometers that passengers travel on the railways. The Swedish accident rate is only 40 per cent of this while the Spanish accident rate is only a quarter of the British rate. If both the trains in last week’s crash had ATP, we would not now be asking such searching questions about why one caught fire.
The years ago, an inquiry into another London train crash showed that it was necessary to install ATP on British railways. The government did not accept the idea, fearing that the 1 billion cost would make the railways difficult to privatize (私有化).
This week, the government said ATP would be now installed on all major routes running express trains — but not on all the network. It is too late. Let’s hope it is not too little.
36 Which of the following is true of the accident on 5 October?
A More than 30 people were killed in it.
B The driver survived the crash.
C Similar accidents often occur in Spain and Sweden.
D There was something wrong with the traffic lights.
37 According to the passage, which of the following is true of ATP？
A It can stop trains if they pass through a red light.
B It has been installed on all French trains.
C It fails when a train passes through a red light.
D It is useless for high-speed trains.
38 According to the passage, which country has the highest train accident rate?
A France.
B Sweden.
C Spain.医学全在线.搜集整理
www.lindalemus.com D Britain.
39 Ten years ago, the British government did not agree to install ATP on its railways mainly because
A the system was not reliable.
B train drivers did not like it.
C they wanted to privatize the railways.
D they could not afford to install it.
40After the October accident, the British government decided to
A pay 1 billion to the families of the victims.
B install ATP on all major routes running express trains.
C buy ATP from France.医.学全在线提供
www.lindalemus.com D stop using express trains.
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