Believe it or not, optical illusion(错觉)can cut highway crashes.
(78) Japan is a case in point. (79) It has reduced automobile crashes on some roads by nearly 75 percent using a simple optical illusion. Bent stripes, called chevrons(人字形), painted on the roads make drivers think that they are driving faster than they really are, and thus drivers slow down.
Now the American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety in Washington D.C. is planning to repeat Japan's success. Starting next year, the foundation will paint chevrons and other patterns of stripes on selected roads around the country to test how well the patterns reduce highway crashes.
(80) Excessive speed plays a major role in as much as one fifth of all fatal traffic accidents, according to the foundation. To help reduce those accidents, the foundation will conduct its tests in areas where speed - related hazards' are the greatest--curves, exit slopes, traffic circles, and bridges.
Some studies suggest that straight, horizontal bars painted across roads can initially cut the average speed of drivers in half. However, traffic often returns to full speed within months as drivers become used to seeing the painted bars.
Chevrons, scientists say, not only give drivers the impression that they are driving faster than they really are but also make a lane appear to be narrower. The result is a longer lasting reduction in highway speed and the number of traffic accidents.

单选题 The main point of the passage is ______.
A. a new way of highway speed control
C. a new approach to training drivers
B. a new pattern for painting highways
D. a new type of optical illusion

单选题 On roads painted with chevrons, drivers tend to feel that ______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[分析] 本题考查对文章细节的理解。文章第2段第2句话说：Bent stripes，called chevrons(人字形)，painted on the roads make drivers think that they are driving faster than they really are，and thus drivers slow down．也就是说，人字形线使驾驶员产生错觉：车速太快，于是他们觉得应该减速。而本题C项说“(他们往往感觉)应该减速”。因此，C项是答案。

单选题 The advantage of chevrons over straight horizontal bars is that the former ______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[分析] 本题考查对文章重要情节或细节理解的准确性。本文中人字形线区别于垂直横线正是重要细节，人字形线的优越之处在于它能在较长的时间内对驾驶人员起作用。可见，本题的答案是C项。

单选题 The American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety plans to ______.

单选题 What does the author say about straight, horizontal bars painted across roads?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[分析] 本题考查对倒数第2段的准确理解。文章说：“最初能让驾驶员减速一半”，“但数月后驾驶员便恢复到原来的速度”。也就是说，垂直横线只能在短时期内影响到驾驶员的行驶速度，过一段时间就不起作用了，因此B项是本题的答案。