高考英语一轮复习阅读理解教育课外自练（四）.doc

山西吕梁市2017高考英语阅读理解教育课外自练（四）阅读理解 Which is safer --- staying at home, traveling to work on public transport, or working at 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 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 was caused by tons of ammonium nitrate, which is safe unless stored in a 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. According to the passage, the chemical accident that caused by the fault of management happened at _________. A. Texas city B. Flixborough C. Seveso D. Mexico City2. 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. 3. From the passage we know that ammonium nitrate is a kind of _____. A. natural gas, which can easily catch fire B. fertilizer, which cant be stored in a great quantity C. poisonous substance, which cant 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. to avoid any accident we should not repair the facilities in chemical industry B. the local authorities should not be concerned with the production of thechemical industry C. all these accidents could have been avoided or controlled if effective measureshad been taken D. natural gas stored in very large tanks is always safe【参考答案】1—4、BDBC阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项。

When 7-year-old Warren Buffett said,“I will be the richest man one day,” his friends made fun of his “daydreaming”. But ever since then the little boy has set about learning how to make money by selling drinks, delivering newspapers and buying stocks. The American had already earned $9,000 (equal to $90,000 today) by the time he graduated from high school. And this month the 78-year-old man, who earned his fortune by making a lot of sound investment in the stock market, took the place of Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, as the world’s richest man. Gates’ worth declined $1.5 billion to $55.5 billion in 33 days after the recent financial storm, according to Forbes Magazine. Buffett, the only son of a stockbroker, was ready to think outside the box to develop his business from a very early age. At 8, he went to golf courses collecting and selling the used balls. At 11 when he sold soda pop door-to-door with a friend, the pair collected lids on streets to judge which flavor was the most popular. As a paper boy during high school, Buffett delivered two competitor papers, so that even when customers canceled one of the subscriptions, he could still make a profit from the other. With his paper delivery savings, Buffett bought 162,000 square meters of farmland and collected rent. Young Buffett stepped into the stock market at 11 but earned only $5. The experience taught him one of the virtues in investing, patience. After graduating from university, Buffett started his venture with stocks with his childhood earnings and money from friends. He researched the stocks and just bought those of solid companies that were under。