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 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 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 explosion was caused by tons of ammonium nitrate (硝酸铵) which is safe unless stored in 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 they caught fire, then 3,000 strong rescue team and fire fighters would all have died.
单选题11.Which of the following statements is true?
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】根据文中第一段的“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．”可知，待在家里、乘公共交通工具上班与在办公室工作的风险相同。与在化工厂工作相比，飞行的风险是前者的65倍。在化工厂工作几乎和待在家里一样安全。据此可知，在化工厂工作比乘飞机旅行更安全，D项正确。
单选题12.Chemical accidents are usually important enough to be reported as news because______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】根据文中第二段的“The trouble with the chemical industry is that when things go wrong they often cause death to those living nearby．It is this which makes chemical accidents so newsworthy．”可知，化工事故经常导致死亡，这是这类事故具有报导价值的原因。据此可知，B项正确。
单选题13.According to the passage, the chemical accident that caused by the fault of management happened at______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】根据文中第四段的“The Flixborough fireball was the fault of management”可知，Flixborough的火球是因错误的管理造成的。据此可知，B项正确。
单选题14.From the passage we know that ammonium nitrate is a kind of______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】根据第四段的“Thus the Texas City explosion was caused by tons of ammonium nitrate(硝酸铵)，which is safe unless stored in great quantity．”可知，得克萨斯城的爆炸是由数吨硝酸铵引起的，这种化学物质大量存储就会发生危险。据此可知，B项正确。
单选题15.From the discussion among some experts, we may conclude that______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】根据第四段的“safe unless stored in great quantity”“the fault of management”“lack knowledge of the danger”和“local leaders were incapable of taking effective action”可知，大量存储的危险、错误的管理、危险知识的缺乏、当地领导者没有采取有效行动都是造成化工厂事故的原因。据此可以推知，从专家的讨论得出的结论是，如果采取有效的措施，所有这些事故都是可以避免或控制的，C项正确。