The trouble with the chemical industry is that when things go wrong they often cause deathto those living nearby. It is this which 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 wasBhopal， where up to 3，000 were killed. The Texas City explosion of fertilizer killed 552. ThePemex fire at a storage plant for natural gas in the suburbs of Mexico City took 542 lives， justa month before the unfortunate event at Bhopal.

　　Some experts have discussed these accidents and used each accident to illustrate aparticular danger. Thus the Texas City explosion was caused by tons of ammonium nitrate(硝酸銨)，which is safe unless stored in great quantity. The Flixborough fireball was the fault ofmanagement， which took risks to keep production going during essential repairs. The Sevesoaccident shows what happens if the local authorities lack knowledge of the danger on theirdoorstep. When the poisonous gas drifted over the town， local leaders were incapable oftaking effective action. The Pemex fire was made worse by an overloaded site in anovercrowded suburb. The fire set off a chain reaction os exploding storage tanks. Yet， by amiracle， the two largest tanks did not explode. Had these caught fire， then 3，000 strongrescue 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.Traverlling 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.According to passage， the chemical accident that caused by the fault of managementhappened at ____.

　　A.Texas city B.Flixborough C.Seveso D.Mexico City

　　4.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

　　5.From the discussion among some experts we may coclude that ____.

　　A.to avoid any accidents we should not repair the facilities in chemical industry

　　B.the local authorities should not be concerned with the production of the chemicalindustry

　　C.all these accidents could have been avoided or controlled if effective measure hadbeen taken

　　D.natural gas stored in very large tanks is always safe

　　參考答案：

　　DBABC

　　六級閱讀理解模擬練習二：

　　40 years ago the idea of disabled people doingsport was never heard of. But when the annualgames for the disabled were started at StokeMandeville, England in 1948 by Sir LudwigGuttmann, the situation began to change.

　　Sir Ludwig Guttmann, who had been driven toEngland in 1939 from Nazi Germany, had been askedby the British government to set up an injuriescenter at Stoke Mandeville Hospital near London. His ideas about treating injuries includedsport for the disabled.

　　In the first games just two teams of injured soldiers took part. The next year, 1949, fiveteams took part. From those beginnings, things have developed fast. Teams now come fromabroad to Stoke Mandeville every year. In 1960 the first Olympics for the Disabled were held inRome, in the same place as the normal Olympic Games. Now, every four years the OlympicGames for the Disabled are held, if possible, in the same place as the normal Olympic Games,although they are organized separately. In other years Games for the Disabled are still held atStoke Mandeville. In the 1984 wheelchair Olympic Games, 1064 wheelchair athletes from about40 countries took part. Unfortunately, they were held at Stoke Mandeville and not in LosAngeles, along with the other Olympics.

　　The Games have been a great success in promoting international friendship andunderstanding, and in proving that being disabled does not mean you can't enjoy sport. Onesmall source of disappointment for those who organize and take part in the games,however, has been the unwillingness of the International Olympic Committee to includedisabled events at Olympic Games for the able-bodied. Perhaps a few more years are stillneeded to convince those fortunate enough not to be disabled that their disabled fellowathletes should not be excluded.

　　21. The first games for the disabled were held______after Sir Ludwig Guttmann arrived inEngland.

　　A. 40 years B. 21 years

　　C. 10 years D. 9 years

　　22. Besides Stoke Mandeville, surely the games for the disabled were once held in______.

　　A. New York B. London

　　C. Rome D. Los Angeles

　　23. In Paragraph 3, the word "athletes" means______.

　　A. people who support the games B. people who watch the games

　　C. people who organize the games D. people who compete in the games

　　24. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

　　A. Sir Ludwig Guttmann is an early organizer of the games for the disabled.

　　B. Sir Ludwig Guttmann is an injured soldier.

　　C. Sir Ludwig Guttmann is from Germany.

　　D. Sir Ludwig Guttmann is welcomed by the British government.

　　25. From the passage, we may conclude that the writer is ______.

　　A. one of the organizers of the game for the disabled

　　B. a disabled person who once took part in the games

　　C. against holding the games for the disabled

　　D. in favor of holding the games for the disabled

　　參考答案：

　　21. D 22. C 23. D 24. B 25. D